Explore Jane Austen’s presentation Of Mr Darcy Essay

For this piece of coursework, I have been asked to explore Jane Austen – the author’s presentation of the misunderstood character Mr Darcy in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. I will be looking at how Jane Austen has presented the different aspects of Mr Darcy’s personality. These will include Mr Darcy’s language, behaviour, others’ opinions of him, a comparison with other male characters in the story, such as Mr Collins and finally what I think Jane Austen’s opinion on Mr Darcy is. This story was set in a nineteenth century Georgian society and in this time, the situation of marriage was that if a wealthy man proposed to you, you could not possibly give â€Å"no† as your reply. Mothers encouraged their daughters to get married by taking them to lavish balls and occasions where they would be acquainted with the wealthy. I will also be looking at the stages of Mr Darcy’s development throughout the book. This will include differences at the beginning of the novel – where he was very proud and self-centred, going on to the middle and end of the book, where his attitude changes and he turns into a caring, loving and considerate bachelor – the â€Å"perfect† man. The title of the story in itself represents Darcy’s attitude – â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† – Darcy’s pride where he thinks he is superior and his prejudices against the people he believes are less fortunate than him. Darcy is an extremely rich bachelor where he owns many houses, lands and villages. This adds to the change in his character as throughout the beginning and middle of the play, we are made to think that he is selfish and greedy, whereas in actual fact, he is the complete opposite! At the ball at Hunsford, Darcy refuses to dance with anyone, saying â€Å"there is not another woman in this room, whom it would not be a punishment to dance with.† Here is comes across as very self indulgent and pompous, having said that no other girl in that room is acceptable for him to dance with. He then goes on to say that â€Å"You (Mr Bingly) are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room†. From reading this, the mind of the audience has been already been made up – Mr Darcy is a rude and arrogant character and we are forced to immediately dislike him and his attitude because of this. As Mr Darcy talks, you can tell he has a very high opinion of himself as he talks to people as though they are beneath him and he is looking down on them. An example of this behaviour is as follows – â€Å"I certainly shall not†¦I detest it†. From this I feel that Jane Austen wants us to dislike him for a reason not yet known to the reader. Darcy’s arrogance then ceases to continue as at Lucas Lodge, where he rudely addresses the people who we at Hunsford Ball as savages â€Å"Every savage can dance† clearly suggesting that all the people at that ball were mere scavengers and did not deserve to be there as they did not deserve to be with him. In Darcy’s opinion, they were not high enough in society to be with him. He also suggests this as Sir William Lucas says â€Å"Do you not think it would be a proper compliment to the place (St James’, if he danced there), which he then replies â€Å"It is a compliment which I never pay to any place if I can avoid it.† – meaning Darcy not dancing at any certain place is in fact a compliment to him, as again he believes he is far too superior to dance at those occasions. Surprisingly, as Elizabeth Bennet’s hand is offered to Darcy, she gracefully refuses. However he accepts to take her hand when offered to her by Sir William, â€Å"Mr Darcy is all politeness†, she says this in a very sarcastic manor, and she was attempting to get back at Darcy at this ball, as he was so arrogant not to dance with anyone at Hunsford. Here, we support Elizabeth because we like her persona. At Netherfield, when Jane (Elizabeth’s sister) is ill, we again experience Mr Darcy’s arrogance and rudeness. This is a main build up of Darcy’s character as we see that he is a very serious and superior man, but at the same time, also very intelligent. We also see Elizabeth’s intelligent and witty side when she and Darcy have a minor quick-fire debate where it starts with Elizabeth saying â€Å"I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good† meaning, unlike some (Darcy) she hopes not to take advantage of the serious and good things in life. She then goes on to state after Darcy has said that everyone should understand what is good, â€Å"Such as vanity and pride† which Darcy then quickly fires back â€Å"†¦vanity is a weakness indeed†¦pride will always be under good regulation†. Finding this very funny, â€Å"Elizabeth turned away to hide a smile†. This suggests that Elizabeth is mocking, teasing and making fun of Mr Darcy, when the whole time, he is being serious. This brings an element of comedy into the story. At Netherfield Ball, Elizabeth tells Mr Darcy while they are dancing of her acquaintance with Mr Wickham, â€Å"who is blessed with such happy manners†. It then seems as though Elizabeth goes too far on talking about Wickham when she says â€Å"he (Mr Wickham) has been so unlucky as to lose your friendship†. You can tell he is not fond of Mr Wickham immediately as Austen writes â€Å"and seemed desirous of changing the subject†. At Longbourne, we experience Mr Collin’s proposal to Elizabeth. With the words that he speaks, almost made â€Å"Elizabeth so near laughing that she could not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him farther†. Again, this adds an element of comedy throughout the story, and is a comparison to Darcy’s surprise proposal. Mr Wickham uses his charm to his advantage by painting a bad picture of Mr Darcy, using his convincing persona to feel everyone. Mr Collin’s proposal is very abrupt and is obvious that he is only proposing because he feels that it is an obligation for him to do. He is therefore not proposing/marrying for the purpose of true love. â€Å"My reasons for marrying are, first†¦secondly†¦thirdly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The fact that he is proposing in this manor also comes across as quite arrogant and selfish as he is only marrying for the purpose of himself. Before Elizabeth had had a chance to agree or disagree on the proposal, Mr Collin’s seems to already think he knows what she will say (yes), as he then refers to â€Å"When we are married†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This was the point at which Elizabeth stopped him before he gained further ideas of them married in his head. Elizabeth gracefully declines his offer â€Å"It is impossible for me to do otherwise than to decline them (offer of marriage)†. This proposal here at Rosings is what begins the change of Darcy to the considerate, kind and loving man that he turns out to be. Elizabeth still believes that Darcy is a terrible person however, as he has taken Wickham’s job (as a vicar) away from him. However, Mr Darcy begins to open up and explain to Elizabeth about his attitude. He begins with â€Å"In vain I have struggled†, making his life seem like a constant battle. He then goes straight to the point about his feelings towards Elizabeth when he says â€Å"I admire and love you† This gives a sense of truth and deep meaning and is an extremely brave thing to say. However, his use of language, as he speaks to Elizabeth, such as â€Å"†¦pride†¦inferiority†¦degradation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  suggests that Elizabeth still isn’t making him charming. Darcy also realises that his family are very much like himself too – proud and arrogant, when he says â€Å"degradation – of the family obstacles†, meaning he knows his family would object to him marrying such a â€Å"common† girl. But despite this, he still decides to go ahead. I particularly admire this moment, because it gives a sense of teasing the audience and confusing them – just as they thought they knew Darcy’s mind, they were wrong. It is extremely clever as Austen has now moved from what was portrayed as the man â€Å"in love† to suddenly a man becoming so frank and rude. Elizabeth declines Darcy’s proposal, apologising to him – quite sarcastically for any confusion or misunderstanding she has caused â€Å"I am sorry to have occasioned pain to any-one†. She insults him which is what changes him later. When looking back and comparing both Mr Collins’ and Mr Darcy’s proposals, it is clear that Mr Collins’ is the more heartfelt and honest one. Mr Collins was more careful and undoubtedly loving about his words, even though it was asked in a comical manner. It shows how much he cares for Elizabeth. Whereas Mr Darcy was just direct and abrupt and had not thought about anything else when asking, except for him; Darcy doesn’t even contemplate the fact that there is some chance of Elizabeth declining his proposal. â€Å"Wholly unmoved by any feeling of remorse†, is what is described as when the subject is brought up on Darcy’s feelings towards the end of the friendship between him and Wickham. Elizabeth still despises Darcy for stopping Bingly and her sister (Jane) from getting married. But here, Darcy is able to shake off the main â€Å"charge† against him which is arrogance, pride and prejudice; however Jane’s pain still remains the same, as she continues to say â€Å"†¦your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others†. However, in the reader’s eyes, Mr Darcy has become acceptable because he still cannot overcome the great force of love he feels for Elizabeth. We can see this as he leaves after Elizabeth’s speech on his behaviour, he remorsefully says â€Å"†¦I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and have now only to be ashamed of what my own have been†. Here, the reader has been made to feel sorry for Darcy and for us to think that Elizabeth is being too harsh on him, when in actual fact; the audience knows at the back of their minds that she is being perfectly honest. He explains himself for the break up of Jane and Mr Bingly as he says â€Å"Her look†¦ (was)†¦without any symptom of peculiar regard†. He then goes on to apologise about his rude arrogance in opinion of Elizabeth’s family, saying that â€Å"your mother’s family†¦betrayed by herself†¦it pains me to offend you†. We can see here that even though he is still extremely snobbish, he has some remorse for the way he spoke to Elizabeth and her family. This is obviously a tremendous change in his attitude as before, at Hunsford and Netherfield, he cared about no body except himself. He explains to Elizabeth why he feels such great hatred towards Wickham, which obviously because he ran away with Darcy’s 15/16 year old sister, after the Darcy family have done many things to try to do the best they can for Wickham. But however much they had tried; Wickham stayed a gambler with no money. As the letter continues, he opens up more and at the very end, he ends with â€Å"I will only add, God bless you†. This suggests care, consideration, regard and love for her. This comment alone in my eyes shows a true depth of feeling Darcy is encountering about Elizabeth right now. This feeling of love for Elizabeth grows as she and her family visits one of his houses at Pemberley. The first thing she notices is that his house is very tasteful and is compatible with all the things that she would look for in a house. She realises that this house has â€Å"†¦more real elegance, than the furniture at Rosings†. As Elizabeth continues to explore the house, she finds out from the housemaid that Darcy was â€Å"always the sweetest tempered, most generous hearted, boy in the world†. She then carries on to say that Darcy will be â€Å"affable to the poor†¦He is the best landlord and the best master†¦that ever lives† meaning he is a very good, kind man, who is not selfish at all as he gives some of his earnings to the poor and that he obviously treats her well†¦as a human being not as a slave â€Å"not like the wild young men nowadays†. This reinforces our changing view of Darcy. However when Mr Darcy does walk in to find Elizabeth there with her family, she sees him as â€Å"strikingly altered† so he has dramatically changed â€Å"his manners so dignified†¦such gentleness†. All of this evidence tells us that from Rosings Park to here at Pemberley, his love for Elizabeth has grown stronger. The climax of Pemberley is when he sees Elizabeth and her family and asks to be introduced to them. This was an extremely major compliment towards both Elizabeth and her family. However, Elizabeth is still hesitant about Mr Darcy’s (to her) sudden change, and therefore she is still slightly prejudice â€Å"†¦she felt like he would probably strike into some other path†. Then, Darcy shocks Elizabeth even more when he asks her is it’d be ok for him to introduce her to his friends which she didn’t expect at all as it reads â€Å"†¦for which she was quite unprepared†, and following that, he asks if it’d be alright for him to introduce himself to his sister. With his sister being the only close family he has, this must have been very important for Darcy to ask. Here Elizabeth finds that Darcy has in fact been having conversations with his sister about her. The shock of Lydia running away with Mr Wickham causes the reader to think this incident will drive Darcy away from Elizabeth’s family, but in fact it has brought Elizabeth and Darcy closer together because Darcy has lived with this torment before, having known that Wickham has tried to do it with his own sister. Therefore, Darcy does everything in his power do help find Lydia. He now realises that in order to be able to accept Elizabeth, he must take on Wickham as a brother-in-law, having seen that everything wild about Elizabeth’s family is seen in the naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve Jane herself. Despite all this, Darcy still goes ahead to try to find them. To Darcy, it would be mortifying if Lydia and Wickham got married he would hate his brother-in law and think his sister-in-law was a stupid child. Mr Darcy helps Elizabeth’s family to find Lydia and when he does pays Wickham ten thousand pounds for him to marry her. But he ensures that Mr Gardner takes credit for it. In this asset of his personality he is a complete gentleman and in fact very modest. This is very cleverly done by Austen as she plans that we are told about this later. Privately, Mr Darcy has saved the family and Wickham single hand idly, by paying off debts of Wickham. While all the time, everyone else is left thinking it was the Uncle paying for everything. Here, we see a big change in Darcy’s behaviour, Jane Austen now wants us to think of Darcy as a misunderstood and misinterpreted character. She does this very well when we see Darcy’s gratifying behaviour, saying that Elizabeth’s â€Å"family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe, I thought only of you†. He then describes his feelings that he is â€Å"violently in love† with Elizabeth. Compared to Netherfield Ball, where he didn’t want to dance with a single person in the room, he is very compassionate. He even understands why Elizabeth insulted him and he realises that what she said about him was in fact true and he despises himself for this. He says the words have â€Å"tortured† him. He then tries to justify his behaviour by saying that it is due to his childhood â€Å"As a child†¦not taught to correct my temper†¦pride and conceit†¦many years as an only child†¦I was spoilt by my parents† He the goes on to say â€Å"†¦dearest, loveliest Elizabeth†¦you taught me a lesson†¦by you, I was properly humbled† Here, he is thanking her for helping him change and for helping him realise that he was a very arrogant man who wanted things his own way, he thanks her for changing him into a kind considering, loving man who fears that if Elizabeth didn’t come along to change him, he would still have been the selfish person he was at Netherfield. Jane Austen has clearly waited until the very end of the book, where she drops many ideas as pints such as the above of Darcy not being a bad man at all. This causes enjoyable tension for the audience. Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s mother still dislikes Darcy for his arrogant behaviour, and believes he hasn’t changed, not knowing he has helped the whole family and saved them from great debt and embarrassment. But this doesn’t bother us much as we know that Elizabeth’s mother is quite stupid and ridiculed. In conclusion we find that Fitzwilliam Darcy has undergone great change in his attitude from being rude, arrogant and full of pride at Hunsford, Netherfield and Rosings, to flourishing into the perfect gentleman as he meets his love, Elizabeth the audience finds Darcy acceptable after the letter and the second proposal, but he was never a bad person, he had never done anything to hurt anybody, it was just his personality. Maybe he was always kind hearted, but put on a show to suit his status. Mr Darcy is well worth his change as he has transformed into a humble gentleman with deep emotions. I think Jane Austen has done a very good job of portraying Mr Darcy as the loveable and romantic man she wants us to perceive him as. The whole story is structured well, with many exciting twists and turns which will keep the audience interested throughout. It is a true love story of a kind woman and a kind man, who make the perfect couple. As expected, Elizabeth becomes Mrs Darcy and everybody remains happy.