The first time Elizabeth saw Mr Darcy, she had no particular feelings towards him other than the fact that he was rich and handsome. Then Elizabeth begins her dislike for Mr Darcy, when she overhears a conversation between Mr Bingley and Darcy.She overheard Mr. Darcy say “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me,” about Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard what Mr Darcy had to say, she had formed a bad opinion of him, and thought he was unfriendly and arrogant. This also makes Mr. Darcy seem to the readers as if he thinks he is above everyone else and very full of himself, which is not a good image to portray.
Another main point about Mr. Darcy is that he is very good looking: “Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, and noble mien.” His good looks, and his wealth would be enough to tempt any single woman, however his proud manner and rude first impression in Netherfield made him unfavourable with Elizabeth at first, as he tries to ignore her: “Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday, and though they were at one time left by themselves for half an hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.” This means that Mr Darcy was either too shy to talk to her or found it rather uncomfortable as he does not socialize very well. Therefore Darcy’s manners makes Elizabeth feel that she knows his character already: “I have seen a great similarity in our minds. – We are each of an unsocial, tactiturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room” and therefore is quick to judge him and makes a false first impression of him, there are many misunderstandings like this in the novel.
When Elizabeth meets Wickham, at another ball, her perception of Darcy grows from bad to worse. Once she finds out that Mr Wickham was the son of Mr Darcy’s father’s steward and she becomes enraged when she hears what Wickham tells her, even though it was all a lie. Wickham portrays Darcy as a bad man and her suspicions are aroused. Elizabeth believes that Mr Darcy is extremely spiteful, selfish and ill-tempered. Wickham also makes Elizabeth believe that Darcy has no reason to hate him and that it was only because, the earlier Mr Darcy loved him so much that Darcy could not stand it, so he makes him out to be a jealous self centred man and we find out later in the novel that this is not true. Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship seems to go from not much to opposite ends of the spectrum. Elizabeth states that she thought Mr Darcy ill tempered and proud but not this low, which really exaggerates her dislike for him. Mr Wickham also portrays himself as the good person and from Elizabeth’s point of view, comparing Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, it looked as though Wickham was the perfect man and Darcy was the selfish evil man.
The second ball, which is at Netherfield, is very significant to Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship because this chapter shows Darcy approaching Elizabeth, and showing signs of likeness in this scene, which is very different and compares to the first ball where he said that she was not good enough for him.
Lizzie’s feeling for Darcy is, however, much like they were during the first ball, uncaring and ignorant. When Darcy addresses her she says: ``Heaven forbid! -- That would be the greatest misfortune of all! -- To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! -- Do not wish me such an evil.'' This shows that her feelings for him are still the same, and she dislikes him so much that she doesn’t even wish to speak to him. This could also indicate that she was hurt by what he said in the first ball and still holds a grudge against him. Their relationship at this point is very one sided.
Although Lizzie despises Darcy, she finds herself dancing with him at the ball and their conversation leads on to talking about Mr. Wickham. At this point in the novel, Elizabeth knows Mr. Wickham’s side of the story about why Darcy dislikes him. Mr. Darcy says to her ``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.'' Elizabeth thinks that Mr. Wickham has been completely truthful to her about him and Mr. Darcy’s relationship, which means she doesn’t trust Mr. Darcy at all even though she has yet to hear his side of the story, you can see from this that she is very quick to jump to conclusions, so she dislikes Darcy even more for this as she thinks Mr. Darcy is simply insulting Mr. Wickham.
When Darcy first starts to have feelings for Elizabeth, he realizes through a course of time very slowly that he actually has feelings for Elizabeth because of her clever, witty personality and her strong character, he does not know how to approach her: “It struck her…that he was asking some odd unconnected questions- about her pleasure in being at Hunsford, her love of solitary walks, and her opinion of Mr and Mrs Collins’s happiness”, she does not sympathize with him and just thinks him as being odd and not himself, she does not realize that Mr Darcy has changed his views towards her.
After Mr Darcy’s first proposal to Elizabeth, she is so outraged by what Mr Darcy had done to Jane and Mr Bingley that she holds nothing back: “From the first moment…of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit and selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground- work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immoveable a dislike…I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.” These were very harsh words and she was judging him very wrongly and Mr Darcy was taken aback and hurt. He felt that no woman would ever turn down a proposal to marry a man of his status and he did not propose in a manner of how Elizabeth would ideally have imagined.
Mr. Darcy’s letter to Lizzie is very significant to their relationship because, it shows that Mr. Darcy really wants Lizzie to know the truth so that she won’t have the extreme dislike that she has for him at that point. This letter is also extremely important, because if Lizzie knew the truth about him, her opinion of Mr. Darcy could change completely. It also ties up all the misunderstandings in the novel and comes to a clean agreement. In his letter he explains fully about everything that she disliked about him. She did not know any of these things and completely understands him afterwards and her views towards Mr. Darcy have changed slightly. Elizabeth did not contact Mr Darcy after receiving the letter, this may have been because she felt a fool for being quick to judge him or she was embarrassed and because of this their reunion at Pemberly was an akward one. Both of them didn’t know that they would be there but Mr Darcy is more relaxed than at their last encounter and this surprises Elizabeth. They greet each other like nothing happened and when they part, she cannot believe what has just happened and she is deeply ashamed of herself. Her aunt and uncle are very impressed with Mr Darcy and praise Elizabeth at her acquaintance. Elizabeth is very confused at this point and this may be because she feels sorry for what she said to Mr. Darcy and his kind reactions.
There is another point in the novel where their relationship changes. This is when Mr Darcy’s sister, Georgiana gets introduced. Both Elizabeth and Darcy seem much more relaxed. Mr Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship develops a lot when she is in Derbyshire and they become much closer and open with each other, they talk about a lot of things and they come to realise that they are very similar in personality and that there is more than each others original perceptions. At this point in the book Mr Darcy and Elizabeth are the ideal couple, easy going and friendly.
When Elizabeth receives the letter from her family about Lydia, she tells Mr Darcy straight away, but he leaves her straight away saying he has important business to attend to. This is misinterpreted by Elizabeth believing that she has lost all chances with Mr Darcy as she believes he wants nothing to do with her or her family. However Mr Darcy is going to find Mr Wickham and sort everything out with him for Elizabeth. Not knowing this Elizabeth sort of gives up on Mr Darcy. When Elizabeth finds out that Mr Darcy paid her Mr Wickham for her sister to get married to him, she is grateful and worried at the same time. She really admires Mr Darcy at this point and thinks highly of him and Mr Darcy also really likes Elizabeth as this was the reason why he paid Mr Wickham, they are both very suited to each other and seem perfect.
She sees that, in the end, he is a kind, loving person and maybe they could be happy together. In the novel it does not say that Mr Darcy proposes to her but it is revealed when she tells Jane. Jane and the rest of the family cannot believe that Elizabeth is going to marry a man she used to detest and could not stand to be with which means that they were looked upon as a very unlikely couple and they think it is very ironic but, it is apparent to the reader that Elizabeth’s opinion of him has changed drastically throughout the novel. However, the phrase goes “opposites attract,” and this was the case with Darcy and Elizabeth.
Mr Darcy would make a great suitor, what with his wealth and prospects. However seeing as Elizabeth’s first impression was a bad one, Mr Darcy does not come off very well but towards the end, we see that the more Elizabeth gets to know him, the more he lets his guard down, and she sees he’s a kind man underneath and they have a growing relationship, and their relationship makes the reader want to find out more and know more about them.
Overall, Mr Darcy is very well suited to Elizabeth, although it cannot be seen at first, you can see that her attitude and opinions towards him change and this is what the novel is trying to hilight. That people’s opinions can change due to many different happenings and that the first impression may be wrong so you shouldn’t judge people on what you are told or what you first believe. Mr Darcy also comes under this category and Elizabeth bennet and Mr. Darcy’s relationship benefit from this and they both suit each other very well.
