The first time I read Pride and Prejudice,by Jane Austen was for this class. I had never even seen the movie with Kiera Knightley before. While reading through the first 30 or so pages some of the story and the names seemed familiar. I have seen Bridgit Jones Diary and from what I can remember, it seems like a more modern time rendition of Jane Austen’s original story. I noticed that Austen uses several themes and repeated concepts that carry on throughout the story, but the themes I noticed most prevalently were ones that related to the title itself: the varying definitions of the word pride and the inability to properly asses another upon the first encounter.
The word pride is used quite often within the novel and very early on too, which is uncommon considering that it is also the title of the book. We are introduced to this theme primarily between the two main characters in the novel. In the first 5 chapters of the story, we meet the Bennetts, more importantly Elizabeth Bennett as well as Mr. Darcy. After their first interaction she perceives him as clever, rude, disagreeable, and proud. She quickly jumps to conclusions about him and speaks with her family and their friends about the disagreeableness, overwhelming pride, and rudeness he showed towards her. In the same chapter, Miss Lucas pointed out that Darcy has every right to be prideful in his social status and wealth. While Elizabeth agreed, she claimed she would have no issue with it had he not embarrassed her and wounded her pride.
There is then an extensive paragraph defining pride and separating its definition from vanity as if to clear up for the readers not only the margins of the meaning of the word, but also to clarify the theme that Austen will carry through the story. We are told that pride is a common failing that everyone experiences and it is one’s own way of seeing themselves In the case of Elizabeth and Darcy it is the way Darcy sees himself that is the problem. Later in chapter 11, vanity and pride are referenced again clarifying that pride is good in certain levels whereas vanity is a weakness. Darcy is prideful, while maybe too much, it is a strong-suit of his. At this point in the story we are influenced to despise Darcy, being influenced by the Bennetts’ feelings as well as the rest of the town. These lines spent defining and clarifying the two words seem to be Austen’s way of speaking directly to the reader through the dialogue of her characters. These lines struggle to fit into conversation through the voices of the characters and read as more of the authoritative voice of the author coming through. It seems to be Austen’s ways of justifying a goodness in Darcy and leaving messages that he isn’t just rude and disagreeable, a means of hinting towards the resolution of the story.
In chapter 34 we get more references to pride in the argument between Darcy and Elizabeth after he proposes. He claims the reason she says no is because he damaged her pride. Darcy believes the real person in the room who is too prideful to listen to reason is Elizabeth. In chapter 41 we hear of a secondary character, Whickham also referencing Darcy’s pride as the one thing that has kept Darcy in the status he is in. Up until this point we have been introduced to pride as a means of making Darcy disagreeable, something that he has taken beyond the levels of what is socially acceptable, and something that he manipulated to maintain the high social status that he has to this day. The scene where we see pride discussed by Darcy himself, he turns the word back against Elizabeth. This scene is important as it gives us a new insight into Elizabeth and raises questions as to the bias and unreliableness of the third person-limited narrator. To this point we have believed that Darcy is the one who has been over prideful, but could it very well be Elizabeth?
We later hear from Darcy’s maid who has been working for him all of her life in chapter 43. She tells a far different story of Mr. Darcy: someone who is falsely accused of being too proud. She claims he is really misunderstood because he behaves differently than the other men in social settings because his personality is more introverted. This comes as quite a shock to the reader, but is reassuring. There is a reason that Darcy is such an intriguing character who is quite liked, even though the characters in the story present him as disagreeable. Also within this chapter, we see the first instance of Darcy overcoming this pride and lack of communication with others. Elizabeth presents a shocking interaction where he approached the Gardiners and was quite agreeable and gave off a good impression. The Gardiners even went on to say that they did not see his foolish pride that everyone has talked so much about and they quite like him, another moment where the characters judged someone off of the first interaction and meet.
This chapter is Austen’s turning point in our perceptions of Darcy. Without this point it would have been too hard to jump to his good natured attempts at resolving the bad reputation of Lydia, reuniting of Jane and Bingley, and his love for Elizabeth. As well as Austen’s turning point, I believe it to also have been Elizabeth’s. This was the start of her acceptance of Darcy’s side of the story, the goodness in him, and the point where she chooses to let down her injured pride that lets her find that she too loves him.
In the final chapters of the novel, the Bennetts as a whole begin to change their opinions and perceptions of Darcy, steering away from that of proud. In chapter 59, Elizabeth herself admits to her father that she was wrong in her estimations of Darcy’s character from the start and that there is no improper pride about him. After hearing Elizabeth’s profession of reasoning, Mr. Bennett turns around. Jane was hurt for a long time over the insult to Elizabeth’s pride that occurred, but upon Elizabeth’s request she moved to accepting Darcy as well. The Gardiners, the Miss Bennetts, and even Mr. Bennett who favors and loves Elizabeth the most, come around to the truth of Darcy’s pride in the end. (Ironically since they were the ones in the beginning who spread the rumors and the gossip of Darcy’s prideful demeanor in the first place.)
The title of the novel Pride and Prejudiceis used by Austen to show the changing dynamics of Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship and speaks to the themes of pride and not judging one based off of first appearances without knowing them. In the start of the novel, Elizabeth perceives Darcy as overly proud and her perceptions move towards a man who has been misunderstood and too harshly judged upon their first meet. Elizabeth herself is wounded in her pride at the start and becomes very prejudice towards Darcy. She is too quick to jump to judgements based off of the first encounter and stories she heard by words of mouth. She later realizes that she shouldn’t have judged a book by its cover, let’s go of her own pride that she didn’t realize that she had, and opens herself up to Darcy. She begins to perceive his pride in a new light and finds justification in her love for him.
Jane Austen has developed a pattern of pride throughout her novel in the theme of being too quick to judge. Yet, there is irony and contradictions in Jane Austen’s message, you may not be able to judge a book (a person) by its cover (the first interaction), yet her own novel Pride and Prejudiceclearly states the primary theme and topic not only as a pattern throughout the novel, but very straightforward right on the cover. In the case of the novel Pride and Prejudicethe reader can accurately judge the book by its cover, but Elizabeth as well as the rest of the characters in the novel have been proven to do so quite inadequately.
Nice points here, Elana. I wonder whether you think Austen might be suggesting a positive version of pride in this novel, one not based on vanity and ego but on a sense of propriety. Family pride, for instance, seems to be an important issue for both Darcy and the Bennets (think of Darcy stepping in to help with the Lydia-Wickham situation–a potential source of shame to the Bennets).