Pride and Prejudice: The Evolutions of Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has emphases on how characters are perceived by the world they live in. Mr. Darcy is an unpopular and misunderstood character who is the symbol of pride throughout the novel. Mr. Wickham is a charismatic soldier who is perceptive of those around him and capitalizes on his knowledge. Throughout the novel similarities and differences between characters are highlighted. Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy grew up together, yet Mr. Darcy is known for having a disagreeable countenance and a large sense of pride and Mr. Wickham is more charming, charismatic, and socially well-versed. In the fourth chapter of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth says “It does not necessarily
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Darcy’s, Mr. Wickham is received well by Elizabeth when they first encounter one another. Wickham seems to embody what any and every eligible young woman should desire in a partner, except for wealth. “Mr. Wickham…was happy to say he had accepted a commission in their corps. This was exactly as it should be; for the young man wanted only regimentals to make him completely charming. His appearance was greatly in his favour; he had all the best parts of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address. The introduction was followed up on his side by a happy readiness of conversation – a readiness at the same perfectly correct and unassuming…” (Austen 49). Mr. Wickham shows traits that make him appear to be a good, well-mannered man. He exudes a confidence and likability that allows him to be met with positive impressions and left with an affirmative encounter.
Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy is a grave symbol of pride. He notes on how his societal ranking is too high above Elizabeth’s for it to be rational to marry her, while proposing to her for the first time. In a letter to Elizabeth, Darcy also notes how the Bennet family’s improper manners and actions negatively influence the perception of their family and undermine the acceptable traits and actions of Elizabeth and Jane. He is easily looked down upon, most pertinently by Elizabeth until his past is revealed in a
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Wickham makes it so he will only marry Lydia for money, as he had intended to do with any nuptial. In order to persuade Wickham to wed, Darcy pays Wickham’s debts “amounting…to considerably more than a thousand pounds, another thousand in addition” to settle with Lydia and Darcy also purchases Wickham’s commission (Austen 217). Darcy pays for Lydia and Wickham’s entire wedding, after paying Wickham’s debts and paying off Wickham to marry. Darcy’s character is enforced by the fact that he makes it so the two wed. He is involved with all of the finances and duties surrounding their wedding until they are officially wed; he goes as far as standing at their wedding, to ensure Wickham follows
At first, when he believes he is superior to the Bennet family and lets gives his pride control over his thoughts, he seems to be arrogant, snobbish, and morally bad. Nevertheless, his love for Jane overpowers his pride and begins to change the way Mr. Darcy is seen. This shift is not immediate as evidenced by his initial proposal to Elizabeth which is insulting and offensive to her, but as Lizzy confronts him by confessing her thoughts about him and he gets a chance to explain himself and Mr. Darcy is seen through a different light. This also makes Mr. Darcy more aware of what society thinks of him and as a result, makes his pride fade away. This is seen when he secretly pays for Mr. Wickham’s debts and bribes him to marry Lydia. For much of the novel, the moral question towards his character is uncertain, but when we see how Mr. Darcy’s mannerism change the complexity of his character become more intricate.
Darcy’s proposals help to manifest his personal growth by showing the difference in his manner, rationale, and result. His haughty words and actions are the crux of his indifference towards the feelings of others in the beginning of the novel. Although Mr. Darcy is ignorant of his own highfalutin attitude at first, the rejection of his proposal by Elizabeth is just the tocsin he needs to salvage the small amount of respect she still had for him. Through her rejection, he comes to terms with his own pride and prejudice against Elizabeth and her family. Also, he realizes that she is not one to marry for money or social status, but she wants to marry a man that she truly loves, which is a surprise to him. This radical modification of his attitude results in a second marriage proposal for Elizabeth, where he genuinely expresses his feelings. Although he is uncertain of her answer, he simply wants to make his love for her known. The slightly astonished Elizabeth immediately recognizes how much the tone and motive in his second proposal have changed from his first and also reveals her love for him. Mr. Darcy’s two proposals do not simply act as means to communicating his feeling to Elizabeth, but as a documentation of his significant change in
As a retaliation Elizabeth stuns Darcy by refusing his proposal very harshly stating "I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry." This shows the extent of her prejudice against Darcy as she says that even from the beginning she disliked him. She condemns him for his arrogant manner in which he proposed his actions to separate Jane and Bingley and his actions of unfairness on Wickham. He accepts these accusations without apology, even with contempt. However, he flinches when she accuses him of not behaving like a gentleman and when Elizabeth finishes her denunciation of him, Darcy angrily departs.
Darcy, the illusion that Mr. Wickham had built surrounding himself was now shattered: “How different did everything appear in which he was concerned.” Elizabeth now realizes her mistakes, which her prejudice was built and hopefully will never fall for such deceit again. Mr. Darcy is not the only one who is haughty, Elizabeth’s pride takes a massive blow after reading the letter, “she grew absolutely ashamed.” Realizing her mistakes will make Elizabeth grow as a person as she realizes how despicable she was, and has learned from her mistakes. Elizabeth had always thought she had the perfect judgement, but in fact she was horribly blind: “Till this moment I never knew myself.” Elizabeth now sees that she has flaws and it got in the way of her judgement rendering it blind. It is in maturity that people see their flaws; now Elizabeth has to make sure the same mistakes does not happen again. It was only after her prejudice of Mr. Darcy was finally gone that Elizabeth realized her true feelings towards him: “She explained what it’s [the letter] effect on her had been, and how gradually all her former prejudice has been removed.” After reading the letter, Elizabeth was able to realize her flaws as a character and grow into maturity and because of that she was able to see her true feelings about Mr.
In the beginning of the novel we view Mr. Darcy as being ill-mannered for no certain reason, other than the fact that he was just being insulting. As the novel progresses we learn of the scandalous occurrences between Mr. Darcy’s little sister and Mr. Wickham. These occurrences led Darcy to protect his family name and keeping his sister’s status in tact, in a society where status is everything. Leading to the conclusion, that Mr. Darcy was not simply being rude, but was in an everlasting attempt to preserve his noble name. “Regard for my sister's credit and feelings prevented any public exposure… will acquit me henceforth of cruelty towards Mr. Wickham.” (137) When Georgina was tricked by Mr. Wickham into running away, if anyone had found out, her reputation would have been tarnished. Mr. Darcy wanting to prevent this from happening made sure that anyone who was aware stayed quiet, and made certain that Wickham would not touch a cent of Georgina’s dowry. He then took Georgina into the proper care so that nothing like this would happen again, and that she would stay protected. However we can see that in contrast to Darcy, Elizabeth’s circumstances are an exaggeration to what a patrician hero should be. The exaggeration of her circumstances is that, even though Darcy shows strong heroics with helping his sister and protecting his family name, it is more difficult for Elizabeth
She should accept the right of Darcy to have some sense of pride toward his class and she has to learn to comply to social rules .therefore, it is not about marriage as much it is about learning to comply to rules. Elizabeth and Darcy will meet on common grounds. It is about finding moderation between nature represented by Elizabeth and art represented by Darcy. Only then the marriage would be successful.
Since Wickham is not wealthy, he tries to take advantage of this situation. He agrees to marry Lydia as long as his debts are paid off and if he continues to receive money from Darcy. Just like Mr. And Mrs. Bennet 's marriage, their “passion” dies out very quickly. “His affection for her soon sank into indifference...hers lasted a little longer...” True love never dies. Lydia is too young to understand Wickham and his schemes because she is blinded by the infatuation she has for him. Their marriage is an example of an unsucessful marriage.
The reader is first acquainted with Mr. Darcy's arrogance at the Meryton Ball. Speaking of Elizabeth Bennet, he so snobbishly says that she was, " tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me" (Austen 9). His feelings of superiority to the people of the town lend Mr. Darcy to be judged as a man with a repulsive and cruel personality. The women, who had found him dashingly attractive at first glance, deemed him a man unworthy of marriage because he offered no positive qualities other than wealth. Not only did Darcy refuse to dance with Elizabeth, but he makes it clear that no woman in the room was worthy or met his standards of a suitable partner stating that, " there is not another woman in this room, whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with" (Austen 8). In the beginning of the novel, Mr. Darcy is only concerned with the wealth and social standing of the people in the town. Because of their lesser social rank, he feels they are un-deserving of his presence and refuses to communicate with them. As the novel progressed, however, Darcy became more and more accepting of the Bennet family. Growing most fond of Elizabeth Bennet, the straightforward, clever daughter, he finally breaks and confesses his true feelings of love for her. "In vain...
Austen takes the time to actually describe him as a truly handsome man, and that is his primary bait for his victims. In addition to his physical appearance, he possesses the charm of a fox, and the first person to fall into his trap is Elizabeth. Lizzy, whose prejudice lies in basing her entire opinion of someone mainly on first impressions, experiences a pull to Wickham’s character due to his superficially angelic disposition and equally handsome demeanor. Once Lizzy realizes the truth about Wickham, he has already moved onto his next victim: her younger sister, Lydia. He uses his looks to convince the stupidly foolish Lydia to elope with him, showing the reader the true power of his face and charm.
Elizabeth is a romantic, and wants to find a man worthy of her love. On the other hand, Charlotte believes “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” Elizabeth laughs at her friend, and replies, “You know it is not sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself” (24). However, Charlotte soon enters into a marriage that offers her a good home and security, but a repulsive husband. With these two characters, Austen illustrates the two kinds of marriages most common in the novel: Charlotte’s is an example of a secure, if not pleasant, marriage arrangement. Elizabeth eventually marries Darcy out of genuine love for him, not for want of money or prospects. Unfortunately, others still see the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth as
Wickham is quite handsome and has a nice countenance when the readers are first introduced to his character. All of the young women advance to a first impression that he is the perfect man to be in a relationship with since he is extremely handsome. The next quotation shows how the young women immediately become captivated by Wickham’s appearance, “But the attention of every young lady was soon caught by a young man, whom they had never seen before, of most gentlemanlike appearance, walking with an officer on the other side of the way” (Austen 68). This quotation shows how all the young ladies were enraptured by Mr. Wickham’s image. However, throughout the book, the readers learn that Mr. Wickham’s appearance is misleading. Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy do not have a friendly past. Mr. Wickham attempted to acquaint himself with Georgiana, Mr. Darcy’s sister, to get her money. However, he soon learned that the inheritance would not be inherited by her so he left her and she was left heartbroken. This shows how Mr. Wickham may be handsome but he may not be trustable. This shows how women can come to a wrong first impression by only examining appearance and not a man’s story or
While this is going on, Mr. Darcy realizes he has feelings for Elizabeth and proposes to her, this is the climax of the novel. She is astonished by his actions, and turns him flat. She explains that she feels he is arrogant, and feels he stood in the way of Jane and Mr. Bingley marrying, and also feels he is a cruel man, especially in his treating of Mr. Wickham, she is expressing her prejudice towards him. He leaves and they part very angry with each other. Mr. Darcy then writes Elizabeth a letter, explaining his feelings, defending his actions, and revealing the true nature of Mr. Wickham.
Austen's view of true love is clearly evident in the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth. Elizabeth Bennet is an unfailingly attractive character, but what everybody notices about her is her spirited wit and good sense. She has a keen, critical mind when expressing her opinions and is unwilling to believe only the best of everyone. It is this intelligence that brings Mr. Darcy's admiration of her and her sense that she can rely on both mind and heart. Darcy carries the persona of a snobbish, arrogant, and self-assured man who assumes that he can get everything he wants. He explains his attitude by stating, " I was spoiled by my parents, who though good themselves … allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing." However, his arrogance is challenged when he is faced to deal with the fact that ...
The work focuses its attention on the pride and prejudices the character Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth’s assessment of other characters dispositions are fairly correct but her track record is still about fifty-fifty. Even though Elizabeth is correct about Lady Catherine de Bourgh and how self-righteous and condescending she is, furthermore Mr. Collins and how ridiculously self-centered he is, her first impressions of Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy prove to be inaccurate. To start with Mr. Wickham is seen to be a gentle...
This statement shows that Elizabeth was influenced by others to make negative opinions of Darcy, without taking the time to get to know him herself. One of the most negative influences on Elizabeth's take of Darcy comes from Mr. Wickham, a militia man from Meryton that feeds Elizabeth lies about how Mr. Darcy supposedly left him out of his father's estate.... ... middle of paper ... ...