Elizabeth and Darcy
1. Introduction.
2. First impressions.
a. Mr. Darcy
i. Ungentlemanly, ungenerous, unkind and hostile towards
Elizabeth.
ii. His comment indicates his deep-seated class prejudice.
iii. Doesn’t ascribe to the stereotype of the ideal gentleman hero.
iv. Aware that women might be wishing to gain his favour simply
because of his wealth.
v. However, his awareness can quite easily be seen as his pride
and vanity.
vi. Acc. to Mary, Darcy’s pride is natural – due to his wealth and
position in society.
vii. Darcy’s manners suffer from his high-mindedness and selfsufficiency.
viii. Austen provides the readers with an opportunity to survey the
superficial nature of manners and agreeableness.
ix. One’s manners become the mark of their character. However,
Austen herself refutes this idea in the later parts of the book.
b. Elizabeth Bennet
i. Elizabeth is unbothered.
ii. Does not endeabour to make herself likeable in public.
iii. Doesn’t fit the stereotype of the ideal romantic heroine.
iv. Antithetical to the social, conformative values of femininity.
v. Disengaged from romance.
c. Established as adversaries in the social battlefield.
3. Darcy’s change/Elizabeth’s anger.
a. Darcy, having provoked Lizzy, is however attracted to her
unconventional beauty. Social conventions put a barrier on his
appreciation in the preliminary encounters but now he is quite unable
to ignore his growing attraction towards her.
b. Elizabeth is, unfortunately, blind to any form of appreciation. Her
vision is quite certainly (and one may even say rightly) blurred by her
prejudice.
4. Small note on Wickham.
a. Wickham appears as an ideal gentleman – foil to Darcy.
Establishment of a kind of a love triangle by eliciting Elizabeth’s
sympathy by tapping into her already heightened emotions for him
and turning her against Darcy – the uncertain credibility of gossip in
Regency England; deception by appearance.
5. Darcy’s proposal.
a. Lizzie surprised.
b. Darcy’s catalogue of all of the reasons why Elizabeth is an unsuitable
match for her.
c. Darcy is unable to dismiss the underlying material concerns of his
marriage to Lizzie.
d. Aristocratic pride wounds and affects Lizzie. The proposal, fostered
by pride and complacency, is ridiculed by Austen – parody of the
burlesque theme of love.
e. She wants marriage for love and at the moment Darcy’s behavior is no
different from that of Collins.
f. She charges him with two offenses:
i. Ruination of her sister’s love.
ii. Injustice towards Mr. Wickham.
g. A personal gulf added to ever-present social divide.
h. Lizzie’s refusal - unconventional heroine – but the dangers are still
there – radical change for the image of a woman (but she fears Darcy
won’t propose to her again because of her refusal at first – does she
somewhat fear the wrath of the hurt patriarchal man?) – freedom of
choice and agency of the female partner in a relationship – protest
against the imposition of old ideals of morality.
6. Darcy’s letter.
a. Induces a change of attitude.
b. Revision of prejudice against Darcy.
c. Darcy’s nobility constantly falsified by Wickham’s falsity and untrue
allegations.
d. Elucidation of the reasons for his actions – an account of Wickham’s
true character with evidences – reason for distancing Bingley – does
not appeal to Lizzie’s affection.
e. Reaction:
i. Lizzie’s disbelief reflects the errors of her prejudice (important
quote).
ii. Darcy’s pride is matched with her prejudice – these are faults
but necessary faults which must be overcome for a desirable
marriage. Darcy’s pride originates from a sense of self-respect
and dignity and Lizzie’s prejudice from her intelligence, quick
wit and insight. Darcy’s pride results in prejudice and Lizzie’
prejudice stems from her pride in her own perceptions.
f. Dangers of intellectual complexity and failures of perception. The
epistemological chasm is filled by the information from Darcy’s letter.
g. Wickham is adjudged to be guilty in all aspects of the term.
Reevaluation and self-meditation.
h. Darcy possesses inner good qualities.
i. A critique upon the way in which information gets muddled n the
realm of 19th century domestic gossip.
7. Elizabeth’s doubt.
a. By accepting Wickham on face value Lizzie repeats the follies of the
18th century heroines. She realizes how badly she has treated Darcy.
b. Pemberley Park – a metaphorical representation of Mr. Darcy. Nature
is retained despite apparent pomp – Darcy’s manners being
impeccable despite his apparent rudeness. His good character is
justified by Mr. Reynolds. Lizzie’s inner monologue.
c. Darcy’s unselfish actions endear him to Lizzie.
8. Darcy’s actions and second proposal.
a. All marriages have contradictions in them, but Darcy and Lizzie’s are
overcome by them.
b. “Forces do not meet and resolve. They constantly shift and dissipate
rather than clash.”
“The reductions of pride and prejudice always cause grief, and
Elizabeth learns to recognize and overcome the limitations of hu- man
vision which threaten her happiness.”
“Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy, after she has sorted out her feelings, is
not a rejection of her values but a fulfillment of them.” – “Pride and
Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice” by Everett Zimmerman.0
9. Conclusion.