Character Analysis of Darcy in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Introduction

To many modern readers and critics the great blot on the book is the Austen’s portrayal of Darcy. To all appearances, there are two Darcys that we meet in Pride and Prejudice — the Darcy in the first half of the novel — proud, cold, haughty and unfriendly and the Darcy of the second half — warm, loving, considerate, a kind master, hospitable and eager to please. This seemingly irreconcilable aspects of Darcy’s character is often taken to be failure on the part of Jane Austen’s characterization.

Jane Austen was in her early twenties when she wrote Pride and Prejudice and hence her failure in delineating Darcy’s character is attributed to her immaturity. Secondly, some critics believe that Jane Austen was generally unsuccessful in drawing credible male characters However, opinion is divided and many believe that Darcy is a credible and convincing character and what appears as irreconcilable aspects of his character is simply a result of our having misread Darcy’s character along with Elizabeth.

Darcy’s Pride

Definitely, Darcy is proud in the beginning. His behaviour on his first appearance, is so appallingly insolent that few readers can entirely forgive him for it, and it is doubtful if Meryton could ever have learnt to make excuses for a man who slighted the whole neighborhood, refusing to dance and declaring audibly that none of the women present were handsome enough for him. Read More https://www.eng-literature.com/2021/02/darcy-pride-prejudice.html