Mr. Darcy was first thought ‘to be a fine figure of a man’, this was until ‘his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity’, proving him to be rude, offensive, abrupt, unapproachable and also proud.
In these early chapters we hear Mr. Darcy’s voice only three times and each time his tone is negative, but it is in his final statement that readers create their final decision on him. Mr. Darcy states that Elizabeth, who is the protagonist of this novel, is ‘tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt’ him, it is this that makes the readers immediately develop negative feelings towards him, as they have created an instant bond with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s rudeness to her offends them as well.
Austen structures her novel in such a way that she simultaneously introduces pairs of contrasting characters.
The first pair of contrasting characters is Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet. There is a contrast in their views on both life and marriage. Mr. Bennet is ‘a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice’, which suggests he takes life as it comes, while his wife is described as ‘a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper’. Mrs. Bennet’s description is a total contrast to that of her husband, and creates the reader to feel as if she forms an opinion on someone or something very easily.
Mrs. Bennet wants to get her daughters married, and Austen emphasises this point by saying that getting her daughters married is ‘the business’ of Mrs. Bennet’s life. This is again contradicted by the opinion of Mr. Bennet, who feels that just because a man has moved into the neighbour hood it does not mean that it is his wish to get married, ‘Is that his design in settling here?’. By saying this it seems to the reader that Mr. Bennet sees no reason for his wife to be getting so over-whelmed that there is a new comer, as this person may not have moved there for the purpose that Mrs. Bennet seeks.
Elizabeth and Jane are another example of contrasting characters, as their approaches to life are different yet contradicting. Elizabeth is the character that will only marry for true love, while Jane feels that, although to marry for love would be good, marrying to move up the social ladder would also be acceptable, proving to the reader the true differences between the beliefs of society.
Another contrast between Elizabeth and Jane is the way they see life. Jane sees the good in the entire world and is positive towards everything; whereas Elizabeth has a ‘more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister’.
The final contrasting pair is Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley. There is a contrast in their characters and also their views of social class, love and marriage.
Mr. Darcy’s character is seen as rude and also he is ‘continually giving offence’, making the negative feelings towards him become even stronger; while Mr. Bingley’s character has more of an ‘easiness’ and ‘he never appeared dissatisfied’. This also creates the reader to see the true contrast between Mr. Darcy and other characters, which forces the feelings towards him into even further depression.
Austen’s purpose in grouping the characters as she has is to highlight further differences between the different views held by society.
It is when she introduces contradicting characters that Austen tries to propel her moral and philosophical message, ridiculing the belief of one opinion by that of another.
Austen uses a great deal of dialogue. This creates a conversational tone and involves the reader by giving the effect that the characters are directly speaking to them.
The omniscient narrator, along with dialogue, is one of the most distinguishable narrative techniques used by Austen. The omniscient narrator is all seeing and all knowing and it is often commonly used, by Austen, to emphasis a point a character has made. When this occurs the readers can see that this is important information that they should acknowledge. Austen uses the voice of the omniscient narrator for her didactic purpose. Although it is subtle, the omniscient narrator does ridicule society, ‘However little known the feelings of such a man … of their daughters. The omniscient narrator is also used to create the reader to receive more negative feelings towards Mr. Darcy, ‘What a contrast between him and his friend!’
One of the most subtle forms of narrative techniques, used by Austen, is the centre of consciousness of Elizabeth Bennet. This is the thought process of Elizabeth when she is not talking. An example of this is how Elizabeth reacts when Mr. Darcy says she is tolerable; she ‘remained with no very cordial feelings towards him’. This shows her thoughts and feelings towards Mr. Darcy yet Elizabeth did not say anything.
The themes that are shown thought out the novel include:-
- Pride
- Prejudice
- Marriage
- Manners and Morals
The themes are conveyed effectively by words and phrases used by characters.
The character that conveys the theme of pride most effectively is Mary as she states, ‘Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us’. This is very effective as it makes the reader see Mr. Darcy as proud and that he does not care what others think of him, thus giving the reason to why he is so rude and obnoxious.
Mr. Darcy conveys the theme of prejudice the most, as he prejudges Elizabeth saying she is ‘tolerable’ before he gets to know her, and then he changes his mind and says, ‘I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow’ (referring to Elizabeth), proving that prejudices can be totally wrong.
It is Mrs. Bennet who conveys the message of marriage as it is all she refers to in the first chapter, ‘You know I am thinking of his marrying of one of them’. This shows that marrying was an important occurrence at the time and that it was important to mothers to get their daughters married as soon as possible to enable them to have a social position in life.
The theme of manners and morals is conveyed most effectively, not by a character, but by the omniscient narrator. This is because the omniscient narrator states how the different characters felt about the manners and morals of others, especially those of Mr. Darcy, ‘…discovered to be proud, to be above his company and above being pleased…’ By doing this Austen has created further negative feelings towards Mr. Darcy, making the reader feel as his manners and morals are the total opposite of others.
The language of the text is used to describe characters’ physical appearance and behaviour, and show their beliefs and relationships. The settings are not described, as it distracts the audience from Austen’s didactic purpose.
This fits in with Austen’s didactic purpose as it uses the opinions of characters and their beliefs to ridicule society. Also, by continually describing the characters it creates the reader to have further pessimistic feelings towards Mr. Darcy, ‘…most forbidding, disagreeable countenance…’
There are several tones showed throughout the novel, these tones include:-
- Conversational
- Sarcasm
- Self-importance
- Ridicule
The conversational tone is put across by the large amount of dialogue used, while the sarcasm is seen through what the characters actually say. An example of this is when Mr. Bennet talks to his wife, ‘Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty I will visit them all.’
Self-importance is put across by what Mr. Darcy says, ‘…would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.’ This make the reader see him as someone who feels only about himself and not those around him.
The tone of ridicule is shown through the way characters react towards other characters and the way they go about dealing with them, for example when Mr Darcy called her tolerable ‘she told the story however with great spirit among her friends…’ This enables the readers see that Elizabeth is making a joke out of Mr. Darcy’s comment and therefore ridiculing him.
As a reader this novel has affected me in a number ways, making me see that having pride can not only affect me but it also affects those around me. Also it shows that prejudices are just irrational feelings that are usually based on insufficient knowledge or information, that create people to judge others.
As a result of reading Pride and Prejudice I have had to ask myself a lot of questions towards my attitude of the themes shown in the novel. These questions include:-
- Are pride and prejudices dangerous to those that they are held by and to those they are against?
- Should marriage be a result of true love or should it only be undertaken for those that seek financial security?
- Does true love exist?
To me Austen’s approach has been subtle and indirect, making the reader have to think intensely about their feelings towards certain characters; especially towards Mr. Darcy, who there can be a great deal of feelings towards which are mainly negative.
I think Austen’s message will apply across generations as it evokes readers of all ages to create opinions on characters, and therefore placing there own prejudices on certain characters. Also, no matter how slight, the reader ridicules the society at the time, adhering to Austen’s didactic purpose.
