First Impressions in Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice are the characteristics that have been expressed in this book by the author to show how people behave towards others because of their behaviors and how the behaviors change in the end. Prejudice is a characteristic of unfair feeling towards something or someone without enough reasoning. In this novel, the two characters; sensible and intelligent Elizabeth Bennet and a wealthy and handsome Fitzwilliam Darcy are discussed on their pride and prejudice. In the beginning, Elizabeth dislikes Darcy because of his pride, but later they recognize each other’s good quality and the fall in love. Elizabeth at first does not use her intelligence to judge the behavior but instead is so quick to judge Darcy.

At the beginning of the novel, it clear that Darcy is a very proud man who feels that he cannot associate with people who are below his class. He insults people who are’, in the novel it's said that; “you have no compassion for the poor for my poor nerve.” Darcy thinks so highly of himself when he said to Lizzy that “where there is the superiority of mind, pride will always be under good regulation.” This pride shows that Darcy was not ready to marry someone inferior to he was. The pride of Darcy is well shown in their dinner with friends where the man became violent and less associative with people below her class in the party and during the dance. When invited to dance by his friend he says” there is no other woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to stand out with” this statement is a sign of great pride. When Elizabeth who is also in the party hears this, she dislikes the man for being so proud. The first impression makes Elizabeth to quickly judge the man and feels that the man has egoism. Darcy was handsome but very offensive in any interaction the made with people he associated with.

He was honest to bring out his complaint, he shows his interest to Bennet, but he says that she smiles too much. Elizabeth says that she cannot forgive Darcy for his pride. She has not justified that Darcy has the right to be proud because of the fortune.

Later in the course of the novel, the characteristics change slowly by slowly. The process was quite long, but in the end, it was worth it. Some of Bennet’s friends such Lydia would not approve the fact that Darcy would change his character because of how he treated them. The resentment of these friends made them advise Elizabeth negatively, which made the process take longer enough. The friends of Darcy and Bennet made sure they brought these two together through parties and friends activities. By bringing them together, Bennet learned the behaviors of Darcy and realized that he should reason on why he behaves the way he does. Prejudice ruled over Bennet’s life thinking that Darcy was the worst man to associate with, but through their increased meetings, she learned to be tolerable. Through the interactions, Elizabeth happens to tell Darcy that he is not a gentleman because of his pride. Fortunately, Darcy listens and admits that Elizabeth is right. He decides to explain why he behaves this way through a letter.

“ I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles but left to follow them in pride and conceit. I was spoilt by my parents, who thought good themselves almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing; to care for none beyond my family circle; to think meanly of all the rest of the world; to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own”.

This letter explains that the parents to Darcy taught him to feel high of himself since he was rich. They taught him that richness defines the status of an individual and that he should not associate with those who are ion the low class.

Through this writing, Elizabeth changed her opinion towards the pride of Darcy. She realized that the character was due to the upbringing of Darcy by the parents. The letter resulted in the changes in behaviors between the two characters towards each other. Darcy ends up being a humble man in the end and a gentleman. He no longer thinks that he is the best among all people around him (Jane & Austen, 2013). Elizabeth realized how unjust she had condemned him on his behavior. Her opinion towards Darcy changed, and if she would finally make a decision on the marriage partner, then it would be Darcy who had changed into a kind humble gentleman.

If Elizabeth considered the opinion of the family, she would not have approved Darcy for marriage. At the end of the novel, Elizabeth leaves his friends opinion and only think about the civility of Darcy. “The occurrences of the day were too full of interest to leave Elizabeth much attention for any of these new friends; and she could do nothing but think, and think with wonder, of Mr. Darcy’s civility.”

It is also evident that many women wished to be Darcy because he was handsome and rich. They would not mind his arrogance and rudeness. The jealousy of Elizabeth’s friends who wished to be with Darcy who showed interest in Elizabeth made the process of changing the characters longer. Lady Catherine who tried all she could to keep Elizabeth from Darcy because of her low class compared to the Darcy.

With the help of Miss Bingley who was a middle class was involved in the process to draw the attention of Darcy towards Elizabeth and this improved on his the character. Darcy changed attitude towards Elizabeth because of the strong character she possessed to ensure he changed his pride attitude. Attending their friend’s wedding made Elizabeth feel that she needed to get married to the man she fell in love with. With the change of the prejudice towards Darcy, she felt that she needed to make a firm decision on her marriage. Mr. Darcy was the object for her, and she could not resist this feeling she had for him. On the other hand, Darcy had fallen in love with Elizabeth besides her backroad. His pride changed to humbleness to associate with people of low class. ‘I must trouble you once more for congratulations. Elizabeth will soon be the wife of Mr. Darcy.

The author is trying to tell the reader on humbleness. The author advice individuals to be humble when dealing with people. The status one is living in should not determine how one behaves towards others. In case the behavior is out of upbringing, then one should work towards it positively especially if warned by friends. On prejudice, the author tries to warn against being quick to judge someone's behavior without understanding them first. One is able to understand why the person behaves the way he/she does before making an opinion on the behavior. These two people finally accepted their mistakes of pride and prejudice and accepted to make the necessary changes. Individuals, therefore, should be ruled by pride and prejudice.

References

1. Jane, A., & Austen, J. (2013). Pride and prejudice. Oldcastle Books.