Q. With close reference to the passage’s language and tone, discuss what it contributes to
your understanding of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth here and elsewhere in the text.
During the time spent at Netherfield, Elizabeth and Darcy become more acquainted as they
discuss: reading, letter writing, the pliancy of Bingley as a friend, and the desirable
accomplishments of young women.
As their characters are revealed through dialogue, Austen grants the reader a better
understanding of the relationship they share. At first, Darcy feels attracted to Elizabeth’s
“pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman” despite his pride, whilst Elizabeth seems
oblivious to the fact in spite of her prejudice. “Mrs. Darcy’s eyes were fixed on her” illustrates
the growing attraction. Austen, therefore, presents the misunderstanding between the two
through a narrative strategy known as free-indirect discourse, whereby the 3rd person point
of view adapts Elizabeth’s thought and feelings. “She hardly knew how to suppose that she
could be an object of admiration…because he disliked her.”Elizabeth misinterprets Darcy
being drawn to her as him trying to find fault so he can use his observations to insult her,
likewise to their previous encounter at the Meryton Ball when she was described at
“tolerable”.
Second, the themes of miscommunication and misunderstanding are linked to Austen’s
ironic style; this confusion tends to exist because of the frequent gaps between literal and
actual meaning. The verbal irony with her assertion, “Mr. Darcy is not to be laughed at”
qualifies Elizabeth’s prejudice through taunts, juxtaposing the “wise and good” which Darcy
represents yet her vision is so veiled in the obscurity of hatred that her implications of the
opposite become ironically true.
On the other hand, Austen utilises reference to epistles: Darcy's writing and speaking style
reveals his personality. He states that he writes "rather slowly" and that his letters "are
generally long." Miss Bingley comments that he writes evenly and Bingley declares that
Darcy "does not write with ease. He studies too much for words of four syllables." These
characteristics of Darcy's writing style serve to reinforce and expand that: Darcy is thorough
in thought and cautious when making choices or decisions, even when choosing the right
word to write. As soon as Elizabeth makes a comment, Darcy begins responding at length,
easily matching her intelligence and wit ,thus, Austen elongates sentences to fit the slow
pace, “I have no..lost forever”, whilst his reaction to Elizabeth indicates his enjoyment
challenging and being challenged by her sharp mind.
Austen’s theme of “first impressions” is shown to have ripple effects which span to other
points of the text and fulfils her didactic purpose in illustrating how one’s perception of
another often leads to the actions and decisions they make. An example is the effects of
Darcy’s self-criticism in Chapter 11, “My temper i dare not vouch for…” whereby he implies
he has anger management issues. This is supported by the conversation of the previous
evening where Charles Bingley hinted to the moroseness in Darcy’s temper and both
accounts, thus, set the foundation for Elizabeth to believe Wickham and his account of
Darcy’s injustice to him.
Regardless of their oppositions, Mary Lascelles notes “the symmetry of correspondence and
antithesis…this pattern is formed by diverging and converging lines, by the movement of two
people..” That is, the characters are shaped to contrast each other until a point of climax
which would bring them together in the end. Jane Austen foreshadows this reconciliation by
creating similarities shown in the chapters 10 and 11: Jane Austen begins to tighten the
threads which link her and Darcy as Elizabeth likes reading whilst Darcy is always buying
books.
The two, however, “converge” in the Chapters 10 and 11 which ends of with Darcy’s feelings
as of the “danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention”. He considers his attraction
threatening to his status and detrimental to his own pride and position, thus, the noun
‘danger’. When the two discuss the difference between vanity and pride, Elizabeth ironically
represents the former as she is constantly fixated on Darcy's opinion of her. Elizabeth is
shown to be teasing to Darcy's seriousness and self-importance which causes an opposite
effect and gains Darcy's attraction leading to the following events of unrequitted love as the
story progresses. Therefore, Austen employs a style of burlesque to depict the ironic
drawbacks of Elizabeth’s scheme to annoy him.
In conclusion, the chapters also illustrate the limitations of social class and status which
would continuoully keep the 2 characters apart, therefore, Jane Austen presents the
difficulties that 2 people face encounters to a long lasting relationship, due to first
impressions and misunderstandings.