Evolving of Characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

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Evolving of Characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

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.

Early in the novel, Elizabeth is quick to judge and criticize others. Elizabeth rapidly judges Wickham, a military man of Darcy’s acquaintance, as an upstanding gentleman. Mingling falsehoods with truth, Wickham misleads Elizabeth to believe not only lies about Darcy but also disadvantages he himself suffered (76). Perceiving his words as truth by the sole authority of his countenance (178), Elizabeth’s quick judgment allows her to unwisely trust in Wickham’s “amiable” character (77). Elizabeth also does not hesitate to criticize Darcy for his rude and proud demeanor. After Elizabeth hears Darcy speaking of her “tolerable” features to Bingley (15), Darcy’s good friend and owner of an estate located in the same shire as that of the Bennets, Elizabeth passes judgment on Darcy by gossiping “with great spirit among her friends,” recounting the story of his description of her beauty (15-16). Criticizing Darcy further, Elizabeth expresses how his arrogant demeanor offends her, proclaiming “I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” (24) Elizabeth is also quick to judge Bin...

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...rous to please.” (224). Additionally, Darcy’s humility allows him to help Wickham and Lydia, Elizabeth’s youngest sister who elopes with Wickham. Before his transformation, even the pronunciation of the name Wickham and the silliness of Lydia would have kept Darcy as far as possible from either (172, 175). Because of his newfound humility, however, Darcy takes upon himself all the “trouble and mortification” of locating Wickham and Lydia and bribing the former into marrying the latter (277).

Changing from their former selves to embrace new identities, Darcy and Elizabeth learn to look past arrogance and criticalness to gentler ways of approaching both people and circumstances. They transform. And although Elizabeth’s shortcomings reside in her mind and Darcy’s in his money, both lose sight of their prideful and prejudiced natures to embrace humility.

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