In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen shows through the interactions of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy that they had been influenced by societal values, customs and norms, which refer to manners, behaviors, and etiquette, that were deemed necessary in society and were oftentimes determined by social classes; the influence of which caused them to develop a sense of pride and prejudice. Through the external influence of the society and environment they grew up in, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth came to value different aspects of their lives which led to the ensuing conflict that arose between them. The scene when Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth shows that while Mr. Darcy does indeed love Elizabeth, he takes pride in the social connections that he holds, while Elizabeth is shown to value her family, friends, and her own ability to judge a person’s character.
When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth he expresses his true feelings, but is hindered by his pride that stems from his wealth, social position, and connections, as well as his prejudice towards families that are not as well off as his own. The dialogue that is used by Mr. Darcy when he proposes to Elizabeth is direct and unrestrained, which a stark contrast with his initial pattern of speech which was reserved and indirect because as Elizabeth says when speaking of herself and Mr. Darcy, “We are each of unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room…” (63), showing that Mr. Darcy rarely if ever speaks of what is on his mind. After a while, Darcy says, “In vain I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” (128-129); Darcy’s use of the word...
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...blinds her from seeing faults in the ridiculousness of her younger sisters, the vulgarity of her mother, and the passive nature of her father. Elizabeth’s anger at Darcy for finding fault with her family is evidenced through the words: “…she was at first sorry for the pain he was to receive; till, roused to resentment by his subsequent language, she lost all compassion in anger.” (129). Austen uses indirect language to contrast Elizabeth’s anger to the anger she feels when recalling Darcy’s mannerisms, the latter of which is shown to be greater because she loses all composure evidenced through the use of direct language; this in turn demonstrates that even though Elizabeth was offended at Darcy looking down on her social status, she was more affected by his lack of social etiquette.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: Dover, 1995. Print.
Darcy is portrayed as a selfish, vain man at first and he is the second to propose to Elizabeth and swiftly denied. Mr. Darcy’s overbearing phrase “You must allow me to tell you,” has a dominant tone, implied by the demand: “you must” (Austen 185). Mr. Darcy’s superiority, even in confessing his love, cuts off the possibility of personal attachment by placing him and Elizabeth on two different levels and repels love for him by condescending her with dominance. Elizabeth being a character of independence and strong will, his superiority over her is an insult. Mr. Darcy’s high status gives him credibility as well as his brutal honesty: “In vain have I struggled” (Austen 185). He tells her outright that he has tried to resist his feelings for her, but he cannot, which tells one that he is not lying. Especially with his reputation of not associating outside his social group, the reader understands this must be outside his comfort zone to be “tempted” by one inferior to him. However, his credibility is trodden underfoot by his insulting language and lack of
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.
Elizabeth’s love towards Mr. Darcy does bring questions towards the idea of love. This is because Elizabeth’s love for Mr. Darcy grows without direct contact. When Elizabeth visits Darcy’s home she realizes she has feelings for Darcy, and learns about his character. The house is a mirror to Darcy’s character himself. It is well kept, clean, and “real”. These feelings of love arose from admiration. Elizabeth falls for Darcy through learning about his character. At the same time, the author allows the reader to see Darcy admiring and taking interest in Elizabeth and her wit. Darcy says, "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you (Austen 34)” Darcy shows the reader that he has been struck with admiration for some
It is not unusual for an individual to disagree with social customs or expectations. Some people are only happy when they can rebel against society. Most mature adults eventually realize that compromise is necessary to achieve happiness. This is the case in the early nineteenth century England setting of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. In the novel, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is a lively, independent woman, whose family's financial situation and whose strong mindedness suggest that she may never marry. Mr. Darcy, is a rigid and proper man, who falls in love with Elizabeth, despite their differences. By the end of the novel, Elizabeth and Darcy learn to compromise, and, in doing so, become truly happy. In marrying, they not only fulfill themselves as individuals, but also affirm the principle values of society. The marriage at the end of the novel shows Jane Austen's ideal view of marriage as a social institution.
Darcy begins to reexamine his corrupt tone, motives, and the consequential end result of his proposal. In reviewing this, he has a change of heart and proceeds to assist in the reunion of Jane and Mr. Bingley and in the locating of Lydia from Wickham. Through these generous actions, Mr. Darcy proves he does care deeply about Elizabeth and his feelings for Elizabeth are true. Proposing a second time, Mr. Darcy completely changes his approach and therefore hopes for a different outcome. This second proposal catches Elizabeth off guard, yet she does have a more docile reaction than she did to the first proposal. Mr. Darcy’s true love for Elizabeth shines through in the sincere and loving tone of his proposal. Also, he apologizes to Elizabeth for his former arrogance, extreme pride, and rudeness in his prior proposal. Not only does his tone shift, he now has a new set of motives to support his proposal. Mr. Darcy explains to Elizabeth how fervently he loves her and how he does not care about money or social status as much as his love for her. Unlike the last proposal, he is not sure of what her answer will be, but this only causes the proposal to be more sincere. Mr. Darcy also does not want to pressure Elizabeth into marriage, so he tells her, “‘If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.’” (314). She then informs
Elizabeth's lively, straightforward, daring character and her disregard for considerations of rank show through clearly in her reaction to Darcy's proposal. Her pride is also evident, for the lack of civility in her refusal is due primarily to injured pride resulting from Darcy's frank explanation of his reservations about proposing to her because of her inferior connections.
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.
...ews of these ideologies. While Elizabeth does accept many of the norms of the period she also challenges the purpose for marriage and has an outspoken mind. Her confident personality doesn’t allow the fact that she has less wealth than many others and is constantly being scorned at to interfere with her happiness. She doesn’t permit the social expectations of her times to hinder her strong beliefs and fate in life. Pride and Prejudice is so vastly different to most other novels during the early 19th century that Jane Austen must have held some very alternative views. The heroine Elizabeth challenges the most social expectations of that time and she ends up the happiest of all the characters. This theme must have opened Romantic readers minds, perhaps to the way society should be and this I believe is why this novel is one of the great classics of English literature.
She emphasizes that marriages can only be successful if they are founded on mutual love. Elizabeth and Darcy 's relationship is really different from all the others in the novel. Elizabeth does not care about him being super rich and he does not find her the most beautiful. At the beginning, he thinks she is “tolerable”. They do not like each other at the beginning, they argue a lot and are really sassy towards each other. They are the opposite of amiable. Their relationship is far beyond just physical attraction. Darcy secretly helps out with Lydia 's situation. He does not want Elizabeth to be hurt nor does he want her family to ruin their repuation. He helps Elizabeth and does not bring it up, let alone brag about it. Love is not boastful. This shows the reader how contrasting Darcy and Collins ' characters are. “Elizabeth 's heart did whisper, that he had done it for her...” She has a feeling that Darcy is the one who helped out but she is not one hundred percent sure. Elizabethis wistful about saying so many bad things about him and she regrets her little speech when she rejected him. Unlike every other character in this novel, Darcy and Elizabeth took things slowly. Darcy purposes to her after a long time, when he was sure about his feelings for her. Even when she rejects him once he did not ask her over and over again, unlike
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...
During this time period, men are expected to marry accomplished women who are on the same intellectual level as them, but it is almost impossible for women to be on the same intellectual level as men because they do not receive the same level of education as the men do. Also, women are expected to marry man whose family has a high social status, whether he is accomplished or not. Darcy and Elizabeth disobey this social value at the end of Pride and Prejudice where they get married to each other. Darcy is looked down on for getting married to someone of a lower social status, while Elizabeth is seen as someone who has married up into a higher social standing. Their marriage is seen as an untraditional one because instead of getting married because of society’s social values, they were getting married because of their love for each other. This is an example of how Darcy’s horrible first impression on Elizabeth was turned around by his ability to change his manners because of his love for
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
Darcy is widely perceived as the “proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (13). In the beginning of the novel, Darcy exhibits bad pride by putting his reputation in front of Elizabeth’s feelings. For instance, Darcy says to Bingley at the Netherfield ball, “[Elizabeth is] not handsome enough to tempt me” (13). Darcy does not only unveil his arrogance, but he also offends Elizabeth by calling her too ugly for his satisfaction. Although Elizabeth “remained with no very cordial feelings towards [Darcy]” (14) after his rude remark, Darcy’s comment holds the potential to lower Elizabeth’s self-esteem and pride in her beauty. In this example, Darcy favors his pride, consequently revealing a harmful trait that can negatively affect Elizabeth, or in fact anybody, which ultimately makes Darcy seem narcissistic and vain. Although Darcy originally shows bad pride, his character reveals later that he, as a matter of fact, obtains mostly good pride. In a conversation between Elizabeth and Wickham, Elizabeth asks, ‘“can such abominable pride as [Darcy’s], have ever done him good?”’ (80). Wickham responds, ‘“Yes... brotherly pride, which with some brotherly affection, makes him a very kind
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 ...
Jane Austen is very clear in her writing about class distinction and she uses the novel to look beyond the widely stratified community divided by social classes experienced in the 18th century in England. This distinction shows that class snootiness is simply but an illusion rather than a real obstruction to marriage, given that Elizabeth, though socially inferior to Darcy, she is not in any way academically inferior to him. In this sense, Darcy realizes that his class pretentiousness is mislaid toward Elizabeth, since she also finds out that her prejudice towards Darcy’s snobbish and superior manner is misplaced when he rescues Elizabeth’s family from a scandal and disgrace. In this context, the writer uses Darcy and Elizabeth to show that class distinction does not guarantee one’s happiness in life, neither does it allow him or her to own every good thing desired. For instance, Darcy is brought out as a haughty character, who initially fails to think that Elizabeth is worth him for she originates from an unrecognized family; a middle class girl not so beautiful enough to suit him. However, as the...