Pride and Prejudice has many small plots inter wound amongst the main plot, which makes the novel difficult to explain. However I can still briefly outline the main plot. People are in controversy to find that a young man of good income has recently moved into Netherfield. As explained earlier he is an eligible bachelor because he has a high income. The Bennetts are especially pleased because they have five unmarried daughters and desperately wish for them to get married. A ball was organised and coincidently both Mr. Bingley and the Bennetts were present. Jane Bennett (the eldest of the Bennett’s daughters) becomes further acquainted with Mr. Bingley and from this the readers can assume that a relationship is to develop between these two. Also we are introduced the character of Mr. Darcy, who is a close friend to Mr. Bingley. At first the female population of the ball is amazed to see such a handsome man and even more ecstatic to find his income is more than Bingleys! But later he appears very arrogant and his popularity declines as he refuses to dance with Elizabeth (the second eldest daughter of the Bennetts). As the novel progresses we meet another character by the name of Mr. Wickham, an officer who doesn’t have such a high income as that of Bingleys and Darcys. Although, the Bennett sisters (Elizabeth especially) find him very attractive. Unbelievably Wickham used to be a good friend of Darcys but claims that he cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance and consequently their friendship is no longer existent. Much to Jane’s dismay Bingley leaves (along with Darcy) and they return to London. Mr. Darcy begins to realise that he adores Elizabeth and he tries his best to acknowledge that by making a shocking proposal of marriage towards her. Predictably Elizabeth refuses his proposal and her reasons are he is arrogant and unpleasant, then scolds him for steering Bingley away from Jane and disinheriting Wickham. He admits that he urged Bingley to distance himself from Jane, but claims he did so only because he thought their romance was not serious. As for Wickham, Darcy informs Elizabeth that the young officer is a liar and that the real cause of their disagreement was Wickham’s attempt to elope with his young sister, . Soon after Wickham runs away with Lydia Bennett (the youngest of the Bennett’s daughters), as clarified earlier the Bennett sisters can no longer get married as their reputation is now considered inferior. Elizabeth appreciates that Darcy was telling the truth when he informed her that Wickham was dishonest and a liar. Darcy pays Wickham to marry Lydia and as a result the Bennett sisters can now get married. After the spring when Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield Bingley marries Jane. A little later, Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he tells her that his feelings have not altered. She affectionately accepts his proposal and Elizabeth too marries.
The main characters of this novel are Mr. & Mrs. Bennett, Lizzie (Elizabeth), Jane, Darcy and Bingley. In some cases the character shown in the opening chapters of the novel is completely different to how the character is displayed towards the end of the novel.
Mr. Bennett is a very comical character and often handles serious situations in a humorous way. Some evidence I can give to support this is when Mr. Collins (a male heir, who stands to inherit the Bennett’s property) makes a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennett extremely desperate to get Lizzie married comments she would never see Lizzie again if she didn’t accept Mr. Collins’s proposal. Mrs. Bennett frantically calls upon Mr. Bennett to convince Lizzie to marry Collins, Mr. Bennett’s response, ‘An unhappy alternative is before you.’ ‘Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.’ This not only exposes Mr. Bennett’s humour but also his affection towards Lizzie as his decisions are influenced upon Lizzie’s happiness. Here is another quote to reinforce the idea that Mr. Bennett favours Lizzie to his other daughters, ‘Lizzie has more of quickness than her sisters.’ I find that the early chapters show Mr. Bennett to be sarcastic as supported by this quote, ‘If she should die, it would be a comfort to know it was all in pursuit of Mr. Bingley, and under your orders,’ he is showing sarcasm because he wouldn’t be comforted by the idea that Jane died in pursuit of Mr. Bingley and moreover under Mrs. Bennett’s order. Throughout the novel Mr. Bennett always seems to withdraw himself from serious situations, for example when Lydia runs away with Wickham it is left to and Darcy to track Lydia down and rectify the situation. His character doesn’t really develop through the novel but we are reinforced by the narrator his fondness of Lizzie when she has left, ‘Mr. Bennett missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do.’ Therefore an effective first impression of Mr. Bennett is displayed in the opening chapters as his personality changes little throughout the novel.
Mrs. Bennett is a foolish and boisterous character, who passionately wishes to marry all her daughters and will try to grasp any opportunity in getting them married, ‘The business of her life was to get her daughters married.’ As in the situation with Mr. Collins she went to the extreme in saying she wouldn’t see Lizzie again if she didn’t marry Collins; here we are shown Mrs. Bennett’s foolishness as she fails to understand social consequences of Lizzie marrying Mr. Collins. Throughout the novel Mrs. Bennett always seems to deal with serious situations in a foolish way, like with Mr. Collins’s proposal of marriage to Lizzie. Therefore from this evidence in the opening chapters the first impression of Mrs. Bennett is she is a brainless character. Like Mr. Bennett’s favourite daughter is Lizzie, Mrs. Bennett’s favourite is clearly Jane as supported by this quote when Mrs. Bennett is talking to Mr. Bennett, ‘She (Lizzy) is not half as handsome as Jane.’ In the opening chapters of the novel Mrs. Bennett isn’t really in much anxiety, ‘Oh! My dear. I am quite delighted with him.’ Here you can unmistakably see that Mrs. Bennett is in high spirits because her favourite daughter (Jane) has taken the sight of Bingley; she believes that he is quite fond of her and she is convinced this will ultimately end in marriage, so she is happy. However you can see her boisterous character developing through the novel when the Bennetts are in a bad situation, especially when their reputation is in jeopardy she is always screeching and complaining to seek attention, ‘Oh you have no compassion on my poor nerves.’ How she develops through the novel allows me to make the assumption that she truly cares about the reputation of the Bennett family (unlike Mr. Bennett), and when their reputation is bad she is in great anxiety as her daughters cannot get married. This reinforces the fact that her goal in life is to get her daughters married and further reinforcement is shown when at the end of the novel when the majority of her daughters are married she is perfectly happy, ‘ Good gracious! Lord bless me! Oh! My sweetest Lizzie!’ ‘I am so please – so happy.’ Therefore this reinforces the effective first impressions of stupidity given to the character of Mrs. Bennett, because of her ‘childlike’ behaviour presented throughout the novel.
Elizabeth is a kind and intelligent character and the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice. She is hated much my Bingley’s household, ‘Her hair so untidy, so blowsy,’ as quoted by Miss. Bingley. However I wouldn’t consider her character to develop much through the novel but I would consider her opinion to change greatly. At the beginning of the novel we are acknowledged her hatred towards Mr. Darcy and when Darcy exclaims, ‘She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me,’ who can blame her for hating Darcy so much? When she is informed by Wickham that Darcy cheated him out of an inheritance her hatred towards Darcy grows even more. Then the turn of the novel, she begins to realise that Darcy is a good man and Wickham is the one who is corrupt. Now it is clear why Jane Austen named part of this novel under the title Prejudice, because at first Elizabeth’s opinion of Darcy is forced by her Prejudice and only when she gets to know Darcy’s character is that Prejudice erased and her true opinion revealed.
Darcy is exposed to be a character of different personalities. His character in the opening chapters is the complete opposite to what it develops to at the end of the novel. In the opening chapters, Darcy’s character can be portrayed as arrogant or proud. There are a number of quotes from different characters to indicate that Mr. Darcy is very proud of himself and considered big headed, ‘I could easily forgive his pride if he had not mortified mine’ quoted by Lizzie, even the narrator comments, ‘his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud.’ It is clear from this that Jane Austen wished Darcy to be depicted as Pride hence the reason she has titled part of the novel as Pride. However we only see Darcy’s personality through Lizzie’s prejudice opinion of him in the opening chapters. Darcy makes the following statement about Lizzie, ‘She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me,’ it is this quote that allows Lizzie to make the judgement that Darcy is proud and enforce hatred. But I think Darcy made this comment and behaves in the way he does as he wants to give the impression of Pride and give a sense of social superiority. I believe Austen deliberately wishes Darcy and Elizabeth to start of on a rough patch so she can hint that later in the novel they can stitch things up. We find out later that Darcy’s character is actually pleasant and his reasons for behaving the way he did was he is unsociable, ‘You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner.’ In this case the first impression of Darcy in the opening chapters isn’t successful in giving an outlook on Darcy’s true character, because the first impression of Darcy is prejudice.
Jane is the eldest and most beautiful of the Bennett’s daughters. The way in which I can make the supposition that she is the most beautiful because of the comments made by the other characters. Such as Darcy says, ‘You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room,’ referring to Jane. After, Mr. Bingley exclaims, ‘Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld!’
Bingley is an easy-going and pleasant man, ‘I never saw such happy manners so much ease, with such perfect good breeding. ‘What a contrast compared to his friend,’ here Austen has used a good technique to identify Bingley’s qualities and making him feel superior to Darcy. We can immediately assume that a strong relationship is to form between Jane and Bingley the moment they are acquainted, not only from the fact that the two instantaneously bonded at the ball but from the positive comments each of them made about each other. Both Jane’s and Bingley’s first impressions are successful in revealing their personality as in the opening chapters they are shown to be friendly and pleasant, which is their true character.
Much of the opinions made about certain characters are passed on to others by conversation, therefore showing that it is easy for Elizabeth to make a prejudice opinion about Mr. Darcy and for people that haven’t even met him to assume that he is haughty from others opinions. For example even though Elizabeth didn’t directly talk to Mr. Darcy she confirmed her opinion of Darcy from the conversation she had with Mr. Wickham and his claims that he cheated him out of an inheritance therefore making Wickham look like the innocent ‘good guy’ and Darcy the ill-mannered ‘bad guy’. This is why in some cases the opening chapters of the novel are not successful in giving first impressions.
The social historical background to this novel is society and amongst that class and reputation. As mentioned earlier the majority of characters in this book are members of the gentry; they were the class below the aristocracy and above the emerging professional class of doctors, lawyers and businessmen. The gentry had servants and did not need to work for a living as the majority of their wealth was inherited from land. The gentry was so strict, they had elaborate codes of behaviour such as: rules for dress, visiting, making friends, dancing, courtship and even rules for travelling. If some of these rules were broken then people would be frowned upon, depending on which rules were broken the consequences would be more extreme. For example when Jane is unwell and staying at Netherfield Mrs. Bennett urges Elizabeth to go and visit her. The Netherfield household would expect her to travel by horse and carriage but to their surprise she walks. As Lizzie hasn’t followed the usual conduct of travel Miss Bingley scowls upon the situation, ‘To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or what ever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! What could she mean by it?’ This gives us an idea of how severe the rules of Austen’s day were and the impressions given to others if these rules were not followed. From the novel we learn that one’s society/values are very important and people can judge one’s character and how to treat them from their class. That’s why people expected Darcy to be a good man in the opening chapters because of his large inheritance; this is an example of people judging a character to be pleasant due to his class status. Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Darcy’s aunt) is considered upper class however Mr. Collins is considered middle class, as result of this class difference the treatment Collins gives to Lady Catherine shows that he is her inferior. He is always complimenting her and always looking up to her, ‘Mr. Collins on his return highly gratified Mrs. Bennett by admiring Mrs. Phillips’s manners and politeness. He protested that except Lady Catherine and her daughter, he had never seen a more elegant woman,’ this is an example of how one’s class can affect their treatment.
Austen’s style and language is a vital factor in allowing us to interpret the novel. We find that in this novel Austen communicates her views and tells the story as the narrator. Along side this, a good deal of the novel is seen from the viewpoint of Lizzie Bennett (however I am led to believe that the views shown from both the narrator and Lizzie are the same due to my belief that Austen has depicted herself as Lizzie in this novel). The reader’s response is greatly affected when attempting to achieve an opinion of a character, especially when following Lizzie’s opinion as we are judging a character on the basis of Lizzie’s prejudice. This is were the novel is unsuccessful in giving first impressions of the characters. We can undoubtedly see that Austen uses a verbose style which was typical of the writer’s in the 18th century. Austen has also been described as a miniaturist, meaning her novels do not cover great sweeps of time, distance or events. This in a sense is true as due to the verbose language much of the novel covers descriptions and conversations and a minute amount of the novel covers the events which take place. Nowadays the style used is more concise hence less verbose giving more space to comment on events and time. I believe the style is formal which gives a reflection on the society, also linking in with this is the fact that language too reflects on the society in those days. Lexis was more complex, with more accurate use of ‘may’ when today we would use ‘can’. The language had an absence of abbreviations making it sound more formal. The context in which certain words were used is different from today. In example they would refer to their father as ‘Sir’ and both men and women could be considered ‘handsome’. Ultimately the language and style reflects on the formal society and the respect they showed by using words such as ‘Sir’ to refer to their own father, however this shows how they would relegate women as they wouldn’t show them respect by calling them ‘Miss, Lady or Mrs’ unless they were above their class.
Referring back to the initial question which I aimed to answer: How successful this novel is in giving first impressions of the characters? I can note in most cases highly successful. For example the first impression relationship created between Jane and Bingley immediately highlights that it will end in marriage and the first impressions of these characters themselves does sum up their character (this is the case with most of the characters). However the first impression relationship created between Elizabeth and Darcy doesn’t give us the impression of a relationship to develop between the two at all, and the first impression of Darcy does not display his true character. It is only through Lizzie’s Prejudice do we see Darcy’s Pride. I assume because of this reason Jane Austen called the novel Pride and Prejudice rather than First Impressions. Only on that instant are the opening chapters ineffective in giving the first impression of a character, as the first impression is a prejudice opinion. I can conclude that Jane Austen has appeared to illustrate herself as the character of Lizzie not only because most of the novel revolves around her giving us the impression that she has been in the same social situation as Lizzie, but she is also expressing the same ideas as Lizzie as given earlier in the essay. I deem that it was essential for Austen to name this novel Pride and Prejudice to give a moral to it; that never allow one’s prejudice to judge one’s character.