When prejudice does occur in this novel, Jane
Austen has shown it in the hands of a notoriously proud character
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Jane Austen has depicted pride in her minor (functional) characters
as a means of demonstrating it's importance as a theme of this novel. Lady
Catherine is one of the main offenders, her airs, arrogance and pride are
fuelled by other characters like Mr Collins who is put there to satire
proud people and their followers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth reveals the characteristics which constitutes a successful marriage. One of these characteristics is that love cannot be brought on by appearances, and must gradually develop between the two people as they get to know one another. Darcy¹s immediate opinion of Elizabeth is that she is ³tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me² (pg 13). Mr Darcy was not remotely attracted to Elizabeth and yet when he learns of her true personality he admits that ³My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you² (pg 157). From Darcy not being remotely tempted by Elizabeth he grows so passionate for her that he believes his love is strong enough to spend the rest of his life with her. This proves that he does not love her for his physical desires towards her but instead, he loves her for her personality. The relationship between the two characters reveals Austen¹s values on love not being centered around beauty or immediate attraction but rather, knowing the personality of your partner before you devote your life to them. Darcy and Elizabeth are amongst the few characters within the novel that marry for love. They are also among the few characters who find happiness. Austen represented her beliefs on the importance of marrying for love through Darcy and Elizabeth and uses the Darcy-Elizabeth relationship to prove to the audience that happiness in marriage can only be achieved if the couple feel love for one another.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Austen uses the relationships of Wickham and Lydia, Mr and Mrs Bennet and Charlotte and Mr Collins in juxtapositioning with the relationship of Darcy and Elizabeth. The most fatal of these marriages is between Wickham and Lydia. These two characters are literary devices used and manipulated by Austen merely to prove the outcomes of relationships which are not based on the grounds of love.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darcy alienated himself from the others at first because of his
intense pride. His prejudice against the Bennet's because of their poverty was
also something that he would have to overcome. For Elizabeth, her prejudice
against Darcy came from his snobbery. It caused her to not see his feelings for
her and to believe whatever Wickman said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darcy's fierce pride often alienated him from others. For example, he
acted so snobby and superior at the first ball with the Bennet's that they were
all turned off by him. His eventual love, Elizabeth, was disgusted at his
behavior and formed a prejudice against him. Even after he fell in love with her
and proposed to Elizabeth, he completely debased her family. Darcy realized
eventually that he was going to have to change. He tried to look at his behavior
and analyze why he acted as he did. In the end, he fought his intense pride so
that he and Elizabeth could be happy together.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prejudice was also an issue for Darcy in that he disliked Elizabeth in
the beginning because of her low social status, poverty, and socially inept
family. Darcy was forced to deal with his prejudice when he fell in love with
Elizabeth. This was not easy for him to do but it was necessary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth had her own issues with prejudice with which to deal. Darcy's
cold arrogance and snobbery prejudiced her from him from the beginning and it
took Elizabeth a lot longer time to overcome her prejudices than it did Darcy.
This was because Elizabeth was a very caring person and did not like the things
that Darcy had said about her and her family.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elizabeth's judgments about other characters' dispositions are accurate about half of the time. While she is correct about Mr. Collins and how absurdly self-serving he is and about Lady Catherine de Bourgh and how proud and snobbish she is, her first impressions of Wickham and Darcy steer her incorrectly. Wickham is first thought to be a gentleman by all. His good looks and his easy manner fool almost everyone, and Elizabeth believes without question all that he tells her of Darcy. Elizabeth's first impressions of him are contradicted when she realizes that he has lied about Darcy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------