As seen at the beginning of Pride and Prejudice, a novel written by Jane Austen, a set of characters can be seen being either too prideful or too prejudiced. Two of these characters take part in their fair share of change during the course of the novel. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are the most prominent characters in Jane Austen’s writing career. Furthermore, they are two of the most recognizable characters in the entirety of literature. In the same way all people are, Elizabeth and Darcy are molded by the events which take place around them.
The ultimately noteworthy change in their developments is the way that they perceive others. Both characters are disgusted with each other, either for atrocious manners or social standings. Throughout the story, they appear to have revelations about their flaws. Consequently, both characters aim to fix their wrongdoings to be more admirable people. Changes like those expressed in the characters, Elizabeth and Darcy, do not happen instantly, as they take place during the entirety of the plot. These changes can be seen as Elizabeth and Darcy develop their characters.
Elizabeth is a witty, amusing girl that constantly attempted to crack a joke whenever the opportunity was available. Consequently, other characters within the novel had a hard time telling whether Elizabeth was serious or not. When her character was first defined, she was described as having, “a lively disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous. ” (3, 14) Her father is a wealthy middle-class man, who was incapable of passing his estate on to a girl. Therefore, she was approaching poverty. When she met Mr. Darcy at Mr. Bingley’s ball, his pride provided her the idea that he was a disagreeable person.
As for Darcy, he is first portrayed with, “his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. ” (3,5) At the ball, his pride clouds his judgement, making him out to be a disagreeable person. He believed himself to be above all others at the party, as he refused to dance with anyone at the ball. Later in the book, he asked Elizabeth to share a dance with him.
“Do not you feel a great inclination, Miss Bennet, to seize such an opportunity of dancing a reel? ‘ (10, 47) Elizabeth declined the invitation, believing that he would have had the chance to mock her if she had taken him up on his offer. At this point, Elizabeth and Darcy begin undertaking changes to their characters. This change is more recognizable in Darcy’s character. Evidence for this includes Darcy asking Elizabeth for a dance. At this point in the plot, readers will likely start comparing Elizabeth and Darcy in the way that they do not like dancing with certain people. After meeting Mr. Wickham, Elizabeth finds him to be gentlemanlike.
The two seem to admire each other very much. Darcy did not appreciate the fact that Elizabeth is hanging out with Wickham. At the second ball, Wickham does not make an appearance, leading Elizabeth to believe that Darcy was somehow related to the matter. “But in an instant arose the dreadful suspicion of his being purposely omitted for Mr. Darcy’s pleasure in the Bingley’s invitation to the officers. ” (18, 1) Darcy resolved to beg Elizabeth to dance with him. She brought herself to accept his proposition, to the astonishment of anybody that observed them.
Then, the subject of Wickham came up. Mr. Darcy seemed cautious to tell Elizabeth that Wickham may not be the best person to be with. “Mr. Wickham is blessed with such happy manners as may ensure his making friends – whether he may be equally capable of retaining them, is less certain. ” (18, 18) Darcy’s cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, later explained to Elizabeth that Darcy had convinced Bingley not to begin a relationship with Jane, Elizabeth’s older sister. As a result, Elizabeth was infuriated because she had seen how Darcy’s decision had affected Jane.
She then assumed that Darcy ampered Jane’s relationship with Bingley because Jane’s family was not from the proper social class. Incidentally, Darcy came to check up on Elizabeth. He decided to propose to Elizabeth, though the way he did so was quite questionable. Furthermore, he revealed that he tried to hide his feelings for her because of her inferior status in life. “Could you expect me to rejoice in your inferior connexions? – to congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own? ” (34, 22) Consequently, Elizabeth was aggravated further, leading her to decline his proposal.
The theme of change in characters has not been fully expressed at this point in the storyline, yet change is visible in the way that Darcy is willing to dance with Elizabeth and vice versa. Even though Elizabeth and Darcy have not completely undergone change, the slight changes that have been made lead into Jane Austen’s next point in the novel. Afterwards, Darcy chose to compose a letter to Elizabeth rather than converse with her face to face. In the letter, Darcy acknowledged that he felt fine about what he did, except for not informing Bingley that Jane was in London.
In addition, Darcy exposed Wickham and reported on how Wickham had tried to elope with Darcy’s sister in order to obtain Darcy’s fortune. “‘Wickham’s chief object was unquestionably my sister’s fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds; but I cannot help supposing that the hope of revenging himself on me was a strong inducement. His revenge would have been complete indeed. ” (35, 11) However, Elizabeth did not relax before going on a lengthy walk while re-reading the letter. Elizabeth attempted to exempt Wickham by thinking about the good traits that Wickham had showed.
She searched in vain for a defense for Wickham. Eventually, Elizabeth realized that Darcy may have been right, even about her family. A couple days later, Elizabeth was invited to Pemberley, the Darcys’ home. Darcy was much more polite than expected. When Wickham refused to marry Lydia, Darcy paid all of Wickham’s debts in order to get him to marry her. “Since such were her feelings, it only remained, he thought, to secure and expedite a marriage, which, in his very first conversation with Wickham, he easily learnt had never been his design. (52, 5) Elizabeth soon managed to catch a moment to speak with Darcy.
She took this time to show her gratuity for his work to help her family. Finally, after hours of talking, they became an engaged couple. As the book draws close to its resolution, the final results of change are given to the audience. Readers that consider the results of this change can deduce that Elizabeth and Darcy shared the same flaw, allowing the audience to find pride and prejudice comparable. Jane Austen likely portrayed the change in these characters to show how easy and difficult habits are to break.
The way she changes the characters also highlights the fact that everyone needs to undergo change at some point. Nobody can be a perfect person without developing a better character. That theme can be seen in the way that none of the characters are without mistakes in the novel. In conclusion, Jane Austen was likely using the characters and their changes to explain how pride and prejudice are the same, as shown as Elizabeth and Darcy’s characters find themselves in the same problem, judging a book by its cover.
