Preconceived Impressions In Pride And Prejudice

Judging by reality and fiction, there is not a single person to exist that has been purely evil or purely good. Yet it is in human nature to judge others as good or evil. Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice was quick to judge Fitzwilliam Darcy, the second central character of the novel, harshly based on her false assumptions of the arrogance of the wealthy. His initial egocentrism, due to his belief in a structured social hierarchy, caused her to form a prejudiced opinion of him. Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Fitzwilliam Darcy is shown to exhibit both good and evil qualities, although not always apparent to the narrator, Elizabeth. Jane Austen’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy as a morally ambiguous character uncovers the significance of class in English society during the late seventeenth century.

Just as the characters unknowingly follow Darcy's example of pride, they commit Elizabeth's crucial mistake, prejudging people (especially Darcy) according to horribly inadequate experience. Elizabeth's positive judgement of Wickham and negative one of Darcy prevent her from seeing Wickham's devious and whimsical nature and Darcy's honest efforts to improve despite the apparent lack of incentive. Like Elizabeth, the rest of the Bennets, and indeed the rest of those living in the vicinity of Meryton, believe Darcy to be a wholly disagreeable man. (In fact, he began as such, but even when he began to change, everyone refused to realize it, and maintained their dislike of him because of their previous judgements.) Mrs. Bennet is prejudiced against all other mothers with young daughters, believing them to be just as ambitious and scheming as she herself is. When told that Mrs. Long promised to introduce the Bennet sisters to Bingley, Mrs. Bennet hisses

Pride & Prejudice starts off with Darcy being evaluated as a stuck up, evil man. However, the readers are only seeing Elizabeth’s perception of Darcy by gathering information from her outside community. The climax of Pride &

As Fitzwilliam Darcy combats the moral flaw of pride, Pride and Prejudice’s protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, grapples with her own character downfalls. Elizabeth is a young woman of clever, astute, and sharp-witted manner. Notwithstanding, her satirical speech and propensity to make impetuous judgements often blind her as to the unbiased truth of matters. Elizabeth, who deems herself a superior judge of character,

Even though, Elizabeth is very smart she is too quick to let her opinions stop her from understanding the people around her. She also lets her emotions cloud her judgment, especially when her friend Charlotte Lucas decides to marry Mr. Collins. She states, “And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself and sunk in her esteem, was added the distressing conviction that it was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had chosen”(87). About halfway through the book, Elizabeth realizes ‘“How despicably have I acted!” she cried. “I, who have prided myself on my discernment... Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment, I never knew myself”’. She sees that her clouded judgment has misled her in seeing the true nature of Darcy and Wickham. Towards the end Elizabeth and Darcy are finally together and she reveals to him that she was being rude towards him at the beginning and he tells her that he was attracted to her because of her ‘liveliness ’, she tells him “You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less”. In observing this evolution Austen shows us that we need to put our pride

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen creates a unique environment which allows her characters to evolve and to transform. One of the characters, Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, faces challenges that impact her decisive demeanor. Likewise, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Elizabeth’s love interest, confronts many obstacles which come against his character as well. Through several key experiences, both Elizabeth and Darcy undergo internal transformations – Elizabeth’s quick judgments become humbleness while Darcy’s arrogance is replaced with humility.

Elizabeth thinks Mr.darcy is a cruel and arrogant person, but she later finds out that he is not. Also in, Pride and Prejudice when Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham she gets the impression that he is very nice and gentlemen like, but she finds different with him too. In the story " The Importance of

The original title of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is “First Impression”. The idea of first impression appears many times through various characters, and it imposed a large impact in the story. For example, Elizabeth had a bad first impression of Mr. Darcy because of his pride, and she took a very long time to change her prejudice against him. Also, Darcy had bad first impression on Elizabeth due to his prejudice against her “lower class” family. In contrast, good first impressions can hide the bad side of people, like Wickham hiding his bad habits from the people in town. To summarize, people often judge one another from first impressions, but it could be wrong as sometimes people are not exactly what they looks to be.

As for Mr.Darcy he seems to have a preconception with every word that comes out of his mouth. Even when he confesses his love to Elizabeth he tells her he did not want to confess his love because he was to good for her. “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feeling will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire you and love you.” (Austen 227). He tells her something he wishes to keep secret, but she listens to what Mr.Darcy has to say

Beginning with Mr. Darcy's failed proposal and his later letter of explanation, Elizabeth's proud and judgemental nature is altered by the pressure placed on her to decide if she wishes to marry Mr. Darcy or not. Introspection and her eventual acceptance of her romantic feelings for Mr. Darcy demonstrate that strenuous emotional situations can lead to a change in character, by allowing her to open up her prejudiced mind and see that the opinions she has are not always correct. Prior to her relations with Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth is a young woman who sees little point in marrying if she does not find a man whom will bring her happiness in life. This provides a foundation from which she can change, placing her in an ideal position to change in response to the

Elizabeth thinks of Darcy as being “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world” (15). After Darcy discomfits Elizabeth, “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me” (13), she herself becomes prideful and prejudiced against him. Prejudice also is an issue for Darcy because he dislikes Elizabeth in the beginning for her low social status, for being impecunious and socially inept family: “Their struggle is as much as against each other as it is against the pressure of society or family. The novel presents a balance of power not only between two characters but between two conflicting modes of judgment” (Bloom 50), but Darcy is forced to deal with his pride and prejudice when he falls in love with Elizabeth. Elizabeth rejects Darcy’s first proposal based mostly on his pride and condescension.

In the beginning, Elizabeth thinks that Darcy is "the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world"(7).  Given that the point of view in this work is predominantly based upon Elizabeth's observations, the descriptions of Darcy can be rendered as Elizabeth's attitude toward him.  Another evidence supporting her dislike of Darcy is represented by following depiction: "He[Darcy] was at the same time haughty, reserved, and fastidious..."(11).  Thus, repulsed by Darcy's detached conceit and arrogance, Elizabeth rejects his offer to dance(38).  The negative impression toward Darcy is reinforced by Wickam's impartial statement about him: "for almost all his[Darcy's] actions may be traced to pride"(61).  Superficially Darcy is "condemned as the worst of men"(104).  The accumulated prejudices against Darcy unfailingly culminates in Elizabeth's blunt rejection to Darcy's proposal.  The reason for her refusal, she argues, is his arrogance, conceit and selfish disdain of the feelings of others(145).  Taken together, the overall situation strongly suggests that Elizabeth regards Darcy as "the last man in the world whom I[she] could ever be prevailed on to marry"(145).

When Elizabeth flatly turns down his marriage proposal, it startles Darcy into realizing just how arrogant and assuming he has been. Soon, there is reconciliation between Darcy and Elizabeth where each admits how much they have changed as a result of their earlier encounters. An example of this is when Lady Catherine visits to insure the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth. She came in order to prevent it, but when Darcy hears the manner in which Elizabeth answered Lady Catherine, he realizes that Elizabeth regards him differently. He saw that her attitude of him had changed which prompted him to make his marriage proposal. Thus, we can now see that Darcy and Elizabeth both have balance in their relationship because they are able to reflect against each other and each is capable of undergoing a change. In the end, Darcy is willing to marry into a family with three silly daughters, an embarrassing mother and is willing to make Wickham his brother-in-law .It may be that he is more easygoing about other people's faults because he is now aware of his own.

This is why she despises Mr Darcy for so long, but initially admires the lying Wickham. She thinks her initial opinions and ideas are always correct and this leads us to 'prejudice'. Prejudice is affected by first impression and would also affect the personal thoughts of a person or an object in the future. The great prejudice which Lizzy holds toward Mr Darcy is just because their first unpleasant met at the ball. Within a few sentences, Mr Darcy has already given Lizzy a feeling that he is really pride and never cares for others' feelings. This makes Lizzy to hold prejudice towards Mr Darcy for a long time and leads to some misunderstanding between them as well. On the other hand, Mrs Bennet has prejudice towards Mr Darcy since the start of the book. 'I simply just hates him!' Said by Mrs Bennet after the ball. Mrs Bennet had such strong prejudice towards Mr Darcy just because that he refused to dance with Elizabeth at the ball and embarrassed their whole family. As we can see here, prejudice is mostly depend on the first impression of a person.

Darcy’s conception of Elizabeth was established on the fact that her family is embarrassing and discourteous, making her promptly inferior to him. However, Elizabeth’s strong-willed and independent character attracted Darcy’s difficult attention, proving to him her true and unique reeling personality. Particular plot twists throughout the novel have occurred that helped Darcy and Elizabeth reveal their true identities. Darcy’s boastful attitude backfires when he first proposed to Elizabeth, who immediately refuses his offer due to his unintentional insults concerning her class and familial relations. However, Elizabeth’s reason for rejecting Darcy was not only for his abusive remarks, but also because of his interference with Jane’s happiness owing to the fact of his belief that her social class and emotional status were not good enough for his dear companion. After the incident, Darcy and Elizabeth did coincidentally meet when Elizabeth and the Gardiners were visiting Darcy’s estate thinking he would be out of town. Darcy got to see the other half of Elizabeth’s family, who were well mannered and delightful. While Darcy and Elizabeth explored other sides of each other, Wickham was taking advantage of Lydia’s ignorance and ran away with her. When Darcy receives the news about what Lydia and Wickham have done, instead of just mocking how reckless the Bennet’s are he decides to help them. Having a