She is forced here to confront some of her prejudices and earlier judgements, and in doing so realises that she has not been as sharp a reader of character as she has previously supposed. Darcy is all politeness’, as a way of avoiding dancing with him after his rude remarks earlier.Ī key passage in reviewing Elizabeth’s growth is Chapter 36 when we see her painfully coming to terms with her mistaken understanding of Wickham and Darcy while reading Darcy’s letter. She often says the opposite of what she really means.
This allows her to stand back and offer judgements on certain situations. She shares her capacity for irony with her father and the narrator. She likes to laugh at people, including herself. (See Chapters 8,9, and 11, when she is looking after Jane at Netherfield, in her conversations with Bingley, his sisters and Darcy). She is Mr Bennet’s favourite daughter and her ‘quickness of mind’ is made evident in her witty and teasing conversations, where she often adopts striking and independent views. The novel is concerned with pride and with prejudice and she and Darcy are the main players. Her personality, her attitudes and her development throughout the novel bring together the story and all the other characters. She is the main focus of our interest, she is the novel’s heroine, even though she makes mistakes and is not particularly heroic. Elizabeth is the central character in Pride and Prejudice – indeed it could be said that Elizabeth is Pride and Prejudice.
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