Pride and Prejudice
encapsulates a wonderful story of the trials and tribulations that people
faced during the Georgian era in England. Men and women are both faced with societal
pressures; men are to accumulate wealth and settle down with a woman (to
procreate and pass down the wealth), while women are seeking to leave their respective
families and marry a respectable man. This ideology is introduced in the very
first sentence of the novel: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a
single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen
1).
The story follows our witty protagonist, Elizabeth, the
second daughter of the Bennett family, as she finds her soulmate, the beloved
Darcy. In the first half of the novel, Elizabeth forms a very negative view of
Darcy. He comes off as a snobbish, narcissistic person, constantly reminding Elizabeth
of her family’s inferiority. At the ballroom, when he first meets Elizabeth,
Darcy remarks to Bingley, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt
me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who
are slighted by other men” (Austen 7). This quote is significant to the plot
because it shows the excess pride in Darcy’s character; he says this to Bingley
in proximity to Elizabeth herself. Elizabeth’s distaste in Darcy is further
accentuated when she meets Wickham (the villain) and blindly believes his
stories of Darcy ruining his life. Personally, I felt the same feeling of hatred
towards Darcy at this point in the novel, as I’m sure other readers have also.
In the second half of the novel, however, readers (along
with Elizabeth) begin to see the honesty and nobility in Darcy’s true
character. In other words, the gap between Elizabeth’s prejudice and Darcy’s
pride begins to close (hence the title of the novel), and they begin to fall madly
in love. Elizabeth finds out that Wickham’s story about his conflict with Darcy
was false, and later hears praise of Darcy from the Pemberley housekeeper. The
housekeeper remarks to Mr. Gardiner (with Liz present), “But I have always observed,
that they who are good-natured when children, are good-natured when they grow
up; and he was always the sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted, boy in the
world” (Austen 169). Elizabeth is shocked to hear this, causing her attraction
to Darcy to increase further. Meanwhile, Darcy continues to fall further for Elizabeth
after each rejection he faces, slowly putting aside his pride and feeling of
being superior due to his social class. As expected, they later go on to get
married.
As someone who felt the task of reading this novel to be
somewhat daunting, this dynamic between Elizabeth and Darcy proved to be the
most attractive aspect of the novel to me. The progression of their love
throughout the plot, which stemmed from the two characters putting aside their
differences, was, in my opinion, the most enchanting facet of the novel.
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