In Defense of Mr. Darcy

For my British Lit class I had to read Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This has become one of new favorite novels. I did a paper on Mr. Darcy for class which I turned in this evening. I'm posting it here because I like Mr. Darcy, and I like my paper. It does contain spoilers, however; so if you have not read the novel, you should skip this post until you have.


In Defense of Mr. Darcy
In Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, the character of Mr. Darcy cannot be correctly understood until late in the story. Austen describes Mr. Darcy almost exclusively through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennet and her circle of friends. This indirect characterization of Mr. Darcy makes the reader complicit in Elizabeth Bennet’s faulty judgment of him. Mr. Darcy is first and foremost a gentleman of character and honor. He suffers from a social shyness and awkwardness that is received by others as rudeness. He undergoes a change in the novel in which he learns to be more polite in social settings. Mr. Darcy is aware that he does not always come across well in social situations, and entreats Elizabeth to “not to sketch my character at the present moment, as there is reason to fear that the performance would reflect no credit” (Austen 54). In keeping with Darcy’s wish, now that time enough has passed to get to know him, his true character will be examined.
The narrator of Pride and Prejudice is unreliable as a source of objective information about Darcy. In the first introduction to Mr. Darcy, the narrator reports “he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased” (Austen 7). The narrator is not saying this as a fact about Mr. Darcy, but as a fact about what the other people at the dinner party thought about Mr. Darcy. Jane Austen is being somewhat tricky here by allowing the reader to accept as fact what others have judged based on superficial interaction with him. Mrs. Bennet concludes that Mr. Darcy is “a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing” (Austen 9) and “he is ate up with Pride” (Austen 12). Elizabeth interprets each social failing of Mr. Darcy’s as yet more evidence of his general contempt for others. The narrator does give small clues that perhaps all may not be as it seems with Mr. Darcy such a when Jane says “he never speaks much unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he is remarkably agreeable” (Austen 12). However, these clues are few and far between, and weak in contrast to the landslide consensus that Mr. Darcy is a proud, disagreeable man, and do little to offer a counter-argument. If the reader should begin to like Darcy as he begins to have feelings for Elizabeth, this emotion is frustrated by Wickham’s tale of mistreatment at Darcy’s hands (Austen 46), and thus Darcy’s character appears to be as bad as his manners. In this manner, Austen deftly prevents the reader from having an objective picture of Darcy’s character.
Mr. Darcy’s true character is far from what the reader is led to believe in the first portion of the novel. He considers himself a gentleman. For him, this means having a ruthless sense of honesty, of personal responsibility, and withstanding moral judgment. Darcy shows how important honesty is to him several times throughout the novel. For Darcy, “disguise of every sort is my abhorrence” (Austen 107). Miss Bingley’s attempts at raising her esteem in Darcy’s eyes by putting Elizabeth down draws harsh criticism from Darcy: “There is meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable” (Austen 24). Further, Darcy admits to Bingley that he had kept from him Jane’s presence in London. This could in no way reflect positively on Darcy, but his sense of honor demanded that he be honest (Austen 203).
His sense of personal responsibility is evident in the way that he responds to the crisis brought about my Lydia’s elopement with Wickham. Since he had not made Wickham’s character known to the public before, he felt responsible for what Wickham had done (Austen 175). Out of this sense of responsibility, he paid off Wickham’s debts in order to get Wickham to marry Lydia. No one but Darcy felt he had any role in Wickham’s dishonesty. Another example of Darcy’s personal responsibility is apparent in the way he deals with the relationship with Bingley and Jane. He believes that Jane does not feel much affection for Bingley, and convinces Bingley to quit his pursuit of Jane; but when Elizabeth makes clear to Darcy the depth of Jane’s feelings for Bingley (Austen, 106), he recognizes his mistake and acts to correct it. Joseph Wiesenfarth in “The Errand of For: An Assay of Jane Austen’s Art” observes “he sees to it that Bingley returns to Netherfield and consequently to Jane” (Wiesenfarth).
Darcy’s sense of moral judgment is severe. Once he concludes that he has been morally wronged by someone, his sense of justice will not allow him to “forgive and forget.” Elizabeth challenges him on this point. She wishes to know if he is as cautious in making his judgment as he is severe in keeping it. He affirms that he is, and the reader can see that a few paragraphs later when Elizabeth insults his character on the basis of the lies that Wickham has told her. The narrator, in one of the few insights into Darcy’s internal life, tells the reader of “a tolerable powerful feeling towards her, which soon procured her pardon, and directed all his anger against another” (Austen 54).. Darcy recognizes that Wickham has misled Elizabeth and sees past his immediate anger at her insults and directs it instead toward Wickham.
If Mr. Darcy is in fact a gentleman of such virtue, it remains to be explained why Elizabeth Bennet and others see him as being so proud and disagreeable. In part, this image of Darcy is justified. Darcy himself admits “I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit” (Austen 202). Even so, this does not suffice as a full explanation of his initial unpopularity. What then are the other components?
The key to understanding Darcy lies in his social awkwardness. Jane had earlier alluded to his amiability with his close friends; but he appears shy, and unable to express himself well with people he does not know. He is often unable to think of anything to say. At the Nertherfield ball, Darcy asks Elizabeth to dance. His silence is so exasperating to Elizabeth that “after a pause of some minutes” Elizabeth is obliged to comment “It is your turn to say something now, Mr. Darcy” (Austen 52). Elizabeth does not interpret his silence as shyness however. Marcia McClintock Folsom observes in “Pride and Prejudice: Past, Present, Future” that “Her comment is intended as a reproach to him for what she thinks is his failure to meet the requirements of common civility” (Folsom). Darcy’s poor communication skills are also apparent when he attempts to compliment Elizabeth on her enjoyment of reading. He offers as a description of an ideal kind of lady the virtues that he sees in Elizabeth. His comments are so vague and general however, that what Elizabeth hears is a description of such high standards that no one could match them (Austen 28).
Mr. Darcy undergoes a significant change throughout the novel, and his pride is part of what drives the change. He is aware that he does not come across well to many people at first, but he is not aware of how offensive he actually is to other people. Even during his proposal to Elizabeth, while he is insulting her and her family, he fully expects her to accept his proposal (Austen 104-108). His pride in his stature as a gentleman blinds him how others see him. Elizabeth’s rejection is a devastating shock. In particular he is struck by Elizabeth’s statement that he had not “behaved in a … gentleman-like manner” (Austen 107). “She saw him start at this, but he said nothing.” Mr. Darcy’s own statement on this scene bears special attention:
“The recollection of what I then said, of my conduct, my manners, my expressions during the whole of it, is now, and has been [for] many months, inexpressibly painful to me. Your reproof, so well applied, I shall never forget: ‘had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner.’ Those were your words. You know not, you can scarcely conceive, how they have tortured me” (Austen 201).
Elizabeth’s statement was a slap in the face that awoke him to how egregiously he had betrayed his ideals. He was deeply ashamed. That he had not felt this shame before shows that he had not been aware that people saw him in this light. His desire to be a gentleman—his own sense of virtue and honor—drives him to give full attention to his public manners. The reader first sees this change in him when Elizabeth visits Pemberley. As Dvora Zlicovoci noted in “Reversal in Pride and Prejudice” “The great courtesy, warm hospitality, and attentions showered on Elizabeth and the Gardiners are clear evidence that Darcy has taken to heart Elizabeth's strictures regarding his presumptuous, ungentleman-like behavior” (Zlicovoci).
Mr. Darcy spends the first two-thirds of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice being maligned by practically everyone. To be sure, his own rudeness encourages and justifies some of the criticisms levied against him. However, the conclusion that he is not a gentleman is unfair. His rudeness is largely unknown to him and is in part a consequence of his shyness with people he does not know well. When his collision with Elizabeth Bennet reveals it to him, he sets out immediately to change, and he succeeds. This dichotomy between his actual character and his personal rudeness drives Elizabeth Bennet’s, and the reader’s, prejudice against him. The unreliable narration leaves the reader at the mercy of Elizabeth Bennet’s judgment of Mr. Darcy, thus making the reader complicit in her prejudice. When Darcy’s true character is revealed, the result is that the reader feels some of the shame of misjudging Mr. Darcy, thereby granting emotional reality to part of Jane Austen’s theme.

Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 2001.

McClintock, Marcia. “Pride and prejudice: past, present, future.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal 22 (2000); 115. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Spartanburg Technical Coll. Lib. Discus. 6 February 2006.

Wiesenfarth, Joseph. “The Plot of Pride and Prejudice.” The Errand of Form: An Assay of Jane Austen’s Art; 60-85. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Spartanburg Technical Coll. Lib. Discus. 6 February 2006.

Zelicovici, Dvora. “Reversal in Pride and Prejudice.” Studies in the Humanities Journal 12, no. 2; 106-14. Literature Resource Center. Gale. Spartanburg Technical Coll. Lib. Discus. December 1984.