Pride and Prejudice - In detail and with the use of brief quotations, explore how the charcters of Elizabeth and Darcy develop

Throughout the novel of “Pride and Prejudice”, the relationships between men and women are centred throughout the story. It is critical that the right selection between partners becomes a central chioice to be made in life. The novel shows us the development of various relationships between different types of people and how they end up in marriage, especially the Bennetts. Most of these marriages are happy; some are simply prudent and possible and it is the key factor which would determine the happiness and fulfilment in life.

Mr. Darcy initially embraces a personality of self-superiority and conceit. It is because of his feelings for Elizabeth that he learns to reveal his emotions more openly and develop into a modest character.

When Darcy first sees Elizabeth, he is not especially attracted to her, nor is she to him. At an instance, he fully reveals to Mr. Bingley at the ball that “she is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt” him, which sugests that he is filled with his own pride and high financial status and fails to acknowledge Elizabeth as a beautiful and fine-quality woman, and this lack of consideration creates a mutual dislike between them. Elizabeth states that she “could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified” hers. Even as Darcy begins to show a liking for Elizabeth, he has still not shown himself of this like from his over-sized ego, which has outspoken his kindness. When Sir William proposes for Elizabeth to dance with Darcy, she refuses, and although Darcy requests “to be allowed the honor of her hand,” however he does this, “ in vain”. Moreover, Darcy’s opinion of Elizabeth is one of a higher quality than when he first noticed her; however, his arrogance is too high for her independent and bright manner to be undermined. If she gave in to his advances, it would only make him more self-absorbed; thus, refusing him aids in reducing his pretentiousness. However, she eventually “attracted him more than he liked”, as he is too preoccupied with the fact that she is of a lower financial status than he is, however, love progressively overcomes his prejudgment, and he begins to see Elizabeth’s true nature. This is what diminishes his conceit and allows him to fall in love with Elizabeth for who she is.

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When Darcy visits Elizabeth, he waits no longer than several minutes when he hastily opens up to her and declares that “in vain I have struggled. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you”, which explains that in only a matter of months, Elizabeth has had such an affect on him that he has put aside his conceitedness and discrimination to focus on whom he truly loves. Their overall marriage is proof that someone’s love for another can alter the former’s initial flaws. Darcy admits to Elizabeth, that he has always been too proud, and that she has changed him for the better, as he states to Elizabeth that: “As a child…I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit…such I might still have been but for you, dearest, loveliest Elizabeth! What do I not owe you! You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you I was properly humbled,” which implied that at this point Darcy had truly changed his ways and he is no longer the judgmental, pompous man that the reader has met in the beginning of the novel. He is now humble and in love.

It seems that if a man is in love with a woman, he will focus on obtaining a relationship with her, even if it means abandoning any former traits or values, moreover Darcy is now a wonderful, romantic man who is in love with Elizabeth and changes his prideful ways because of her influence. As well as Darcy’s initial self-importance and prejudice against Elizabeth’s lack of wealth, which the absence of Darcy’s pride and prejudice that ultimately brings them together.

Knowing that Darcy has changed throughout the novel of “Pride and Prejusdice”, Elizabeth Bennett too changes throughout this book, as her first impressions of Mr. Darcy is that he is too “proud, above his company, and above being pleased,” while Mr. Darcy’s first impression of Elizabeth is that she is not handsome enough to tempt him, but in fact that her and her family are not wealthy and her mother is a bit overwhelming and presumptuous, making Mr. Darcy’s pride and prejudice towards Elizabeth.

It continues, as Elizabeth’s pride and prejudice towards Mr. Darcy grow stronger. She is oblivious of his admiration towards her, since she figures that a man like Mr. Darcy would never love her and she could never love a man with so much pride and conceit. With the confusion of Mr. Darcy’s true character it takes her almost the entire novel to discover the truth about him: the truth about him and Wickham and his true reasoning for parting Bingley and Jane.

Elizabeth learns to see beyond her perception of Mr. Darcy and learn how to make things right. She acts out of misjudgement, pride, prejudice and a lack of open communiction right from the very beginning of the novel. Both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy go through an extreme guilt of their flaws towards each other, as Elizabeth accomplished a greater transformation, due to her ironic pride and prejudism, which overtakes Mr. Darcy, who was known throughout the novel in the first two volumes.

Now knowing that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are quite similar, considering their vast transformation in “Pride and Prejudice”.

In fact Mr. Darcy is rich and of a higher class than Elizabeth, which seems to lead her to immediately assume his lack of interest in anything else going on around him during the ball, as Mr. Darcy is hooked up with his wealth, “I should have judged better had I sought an introduction; but I am ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers… I certainly have not the talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done." As Elizabeth hasn’t come to know about Mr. Darcy yet, is that he isn’t shallow or as arrogant as she conceives, in the fact of Mr. darcy just doesn’t relate to the surface level conversations, about who is interested in.

Elizabeth makes judgments also about Mr. Darcy and Wickham. Elizabeth believes Wickham’s story about him and Mr. Darcy when they’ve only just met. Elizabeth has not begun to understand Wickham’s character, yet she believes him whole heartedly without first asking Mr. Darcy about that matter. She foolishly allows her prejudice to grow inside her against Mr. Darcy; and she even talks to her family and friends, causing disaster in their mouths as well, making Elizabeth more immature and prejudice than Mr. Darcy.

The sense of prejudism against Mr. Darcy is shown throughout this novel for Elizabeth, until she finally admits herself of being “blind, partial, prejudiced, and absurd.” She admits that she has acted despicably, by priding herself on her accuracy towards Mr. Darcy and Wickham, that it’s her pride that shows her prejudism, “Vanity, not love, has been my folly. 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.” Elizabeth’s character transforms at this point, where she finally realises that her first impression, her pride and prejudice have been false and wrong towards Mr. Darcy.

Both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy could not have experienced such a character transformation, if it weren’t for their initial first impressions of each other, as they both grew to know one another better and deeper; they caused each other to mature and transform into a greater man and a greater woman. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were both so stubborn about what they thought about each other for most of the novel that it caused them to see each other unclearly; luckily they overcame their false first impressions and were able to see the truth about each other and help each other grow to fall in love and have a respectful marriage, unlike the Bennetts, who have no respect for each other.