Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a story of revelations. These revelations are meant to display the theme: there is more to a person than someone’s first impressions of them. This is shown through the character of Wickham. His manipulative character is revealed despite his appearance of a gentleman. The gossip he spreads about Darcy and his previous goal of marrying Darcy’s sister for her fortune displays his ulterior motives. He also is paid off to marry Elizabeth’s sister Lydia. It is clear that he would have left her dishonored had he not been paid to marry her. The whole Bennet family, excluding Mrs. Bennet, hates to have her marry such a scoundrel. This is in total contrast to the first impressions most of the family makes of him. His popularity among the women of the story displays this near the beginning of the novel: “Mr. Wickham was the happy man towards who almost every female eye was turned,...” (75).
Another revelation comes in the form of Darcy’s love for Elizabeth. His feelings are revealed to her when he abruptly proposes to her. He explains that “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed” which show how he was attempting to hide them from her (185). However, Elizabeth rejects him on the basis of his behavior. It also is revealed that Darcy tried to hide his emotions at that point because the Bennet family is from such a lower status. He makes this clear in the argument following the proposal by saying “Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections?” (188). In the biggest revelation of the novel, Elizabeth comes to find that Darcy is very well regarded by the people who work for him. His housekeeper attests to his good nature by saying “If I was to go through the world, I could not meet with a better” (238). As Elizabeth is shown more and more of his estate, she comes to find more and more of Darcy’s true nature. Elizabeth’s first impressions of Darcy are that he is prideful. However, as an opposite to Wickham, she finds out that he is a true gentleman. The surface level impression made of him does not even compare to his deep and compassionate nature. All in all, Austen writes many revelations in Pride and Prejudice that display the story’s theme: there is more to a person than someone’s first impressions of them.
I believe that the characters of Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy are quite interesting throughout the novel, and I really enjoyed how Austen wrote them. Mr. Wickham is first presented as a very gentleman-like figure, who captures Lizzy’s attention, whereas Mr. Darcy is first presented as a very non-gentleman-like figure who Lizzy very much despises.
ReplyDeleteI can see what you mean by revelation in the sense that the two characters surprised us as not being who we first thought they were, but I also think that Austen wrote them in this way to show her audience that being a gentleman isn’t as black and white as most women think.
Austen utilizes the term “gentleman-like” very often throughout Pride and Prejudice, and she uses Mr. Wickham as a man who appears to be all what a man should be and Mr. Darcy as a man who does not fit the mold. She tells her audience that there exist men, like Mr. Wickham, who present themselves as the perfect gentlemen, but deeper than the surface lies unloving attributes that prohibit them from being a man worthy of the gentlemen title. In addition, she also tells her audience that there exist men, like Mr. Darcy, who do not present themselves well in the eyes of others, but underneath have what it takes to love and treat a woman with the respect she deserves.
I just really enjoyed how Austen wrote both Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy’s character development was my favorite throughout the novel.