Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen uses devices and techniques to develop the characters in

the book "Pride and Prejudice". Looking at the complex character of Mr

Darcy provides a good example of how she does this. Mr Darcy is a

thought provoking man, whose character develops slowly throughout the

novel. We start off knowing very little, and then move on to acquiring

more knowledge about him throughout the course of the novel.

We first meet Mr Darcy's character at the famous Meryton Ball. Jane

Austen shows Darcy, although handsome, as cold, distant and

unfriendly. This is shown in chapter 3 where he refuses to dance with

Lizzy, calling her "tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me"

Although Lizzy laughs off the insult; it causes Mrs Bennett to "quite

detest the man". This portrayal of Darcy seem to become worse, due to

the good-natured and outgoing Mr Bingley, that Jane Austen seems to be

comparing Darcy with. By showing them both in the same scene, we draw

the line between them and feel that Darcy is the disagreeable one.

Bingley dancing twice with Jane and charming the whole company shows

this. Whereas in comparison to that, Darcy refuses to take part and

walks off leaving Elizabeth with "no very cordial feelings towards

him" (chap. 3).

As we read on, we see a change in Darcy, and feel that his heart of

iron is capable of melting. We find out that he finds himself

attracted to Elizabeth, and calls "Miss Elizabeth Bennett" the object

of his admiration. Jane Austen uses these words, which make us see him

in a different light. The way Jane Austen writes his actions makes him

seem a reserved, shy man. We can te...

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have been genuine but there is a slight glitch. Most of the ways in

which we have seen Darcy, have been the result of meeting with or

about Elizabeth. This for example happens when he returns back to

Pemberley and speaks to Elizabeth with the utmost "impeccable

civility." Also, when his "boiling passions" came out when Lizzy was

spoken of badly. This gives us quite a bias view of Darcy, which we

see through Lizzy's eyes.

We have now seen a variety of Darcy's different characteristics and

how Jane Austen changes and influences them throughout the novel. He

has been transformed from "the proudest, most disagreeable man in the

world" (chapter 3), to his appraisal in chapter 43 by the gardener.

This is a change that has been done by Jane Austen carefully and

gradually, and makes this novel the appealing one it is.