Virtue and Vanity
The
novel, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, is ultimately a tale of the
romances of the Bennet family and most importantly, a detailed description of the
characteristics of a suitable romantic partner.
Throughout the novel, Austen provides numerous accounts of the virtues
that the Bennet sisters should seek as they search for their desired
partners. The most prominent example of
Austen’s depiction of a gentlemanly suitor revolves around the character
transformation of Darcy. Elizabeth originally
rejects Darcy’s proposal because she deems him to be arrogant and preoccupied
with wealth. For example, during Darcy’s
initial proposal, Austen explains Elizabeth’s sentiment towards Darcy with the statement,
“His sense of her inferiority – of it being a degradation – of the family
obstacles which judgement had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with
a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding” (Austen 185).
Austen’s description obviously highlights Darcy’s incompetence as a suitable
romantic partner for Elizabeth due to his arrogant behavior. However,
as the novel progresses, Darcy realizes his fault and begins to behave in a
more virtuous way. In fact, after
Elizabeth encounters Darcy at the Pemberley, Mrs. Gardiner comments on his behavior,
“‘On the contrary, there is something pleasing about his mouth when he speaks.
And there is something of dignity in his countenance, that would not give one
an unfavourable idea of his heart” (247).
For the rest of the novel, Darcy treats Elizabeth in a noble manner, and
the two eventually marry, largely due to this character transformation.
On
the other hand, Austen also identifies the traits of an unsuitable romantic
partner through her depiction of Lydia’s husband, Wickham. Ultimately, Lydia, because of her reckless
and impulsive nature, engages in a relationship with Wickham, who is a charming,
yet devious character. To describe his
unethical behavior, Austen describes Lydia’s revelation towards Wickham’s true
nature with the statement, “She saw the indelicacy of putting himself forward
as he had done, and the inconsistency of his professions with his conduct” (200). This account of Wickham characterizes him as
an unsuitable partner to marry Lydia and ultimately a vile, dishonest man. Furthermore, he bears an extreme preoccupation
with wealth in the novel, which further attributes to his poor image. After Darcy and Elizabeth get married, Austen
reveals that Wickham “was not wholly without hope that Darcy might yet be prevailed
on to make his fortune” (365). Ultimately, Austen uses Wickham, who suffers
from greed and dishonesty, as a character foil to Darcy, who overcomes his own
arrogance to reveal a sense of respectability and virtue. I found this contrast to be relevant to an
important theme in the novel, the importance of choosing a suitable romantic
partner. Furthermore, the novel
highlights what constitutes an appropriate partner through the exemplary
behavior of Darcy, in contrast with the shallow, self-centered nature of
Wickham.
Prior to reading this blog post I had not thought to consider the character of Wickham and Darcy as intentionally contrasting each other’s character, but in light of the argument proposed in this blog post I can see the clear contrast between these two characters opposite roles in the narrative. I did not originally think of Darcy’s character developing as the narrative progressed, but rather his actual nature being revealed which contrasted with his initial appearance of being cold and unwelcoming when he is first introduced. I still think that this initial impression does hold true, and the character development noted in this blog post is an observation of how the Darcy’s character is discovered by the reader.
ReplyDeleteThe observation that Darcy and Wickham are foils of each other in this novel is interesting because, from my interpretation, Darcy and Wickham differ in two specific aspects; how they are initially perceived, some might say others prejudices of them, and their true characters which is gradually revealed to the reader. As you noted in the blog post, Wickham, upon first appearance, is very charming and “Darcy [appeared] impenetrably grave” (98). Later in the novel these prejudices are revealed to be not wholly representative of these characters as Wickham is discovered to be reckless and his marriage to Lydia causes her sisters to bear “the dread of Lydia’s infamy” (283), and Darcy is revealed to be tender and caring, seen through his relationship to his sister, and quite charming as described by Mrs. Gardiner (247).