GCSE · English Literature · AQA · Spec 8702

Pride and Prejudice: pride and prejudice

One evening. That's all it takes for a ballroom to decide Darcy is 'the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world'. Elizabeth decides too. Who is really judging too fast?

Pride and Prejudice · Make the call

Who owns the title?

The claim

Darcy has the pride; Elizabeth has the prejudice.

Place each piece of evidence to load the balance. Mark the strong ones — they count double.

  1. Chapter 3: the whole room finds Darcy 'proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased'.

    Evidence 1: does it support or challenge the claim?

  2. Chapter 5: Elizabeth says she could easily forgive Darcy's pride, if he had not mortified her own.

    Evidence 2: does it support or challenge the claim?

  3. Chapter 34: Darcy's proposal dwells on 'His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation'.

    Evidence 3: does it support or challenge the claim?

  4. Chapter 34: Darcy answers that her accusations might have been overlooked, 'had not your pride been hurt'.

    Evidence 4: does it support or challenge the claim?

  5. Chapter 36: she begins his letter 'With a strong prejudice against everything he might say'.

    Evidence 5: does it support or challenge the claim?

  6. Chapter 36: 'But vanity, not love, has been my folly.'

    Evidence 6: does it support or challenge the claim?

  7. Chapter 58: Darcy admits he followed his principles 'in pride and conceit'.

    Evidence 7: does it support or challenge the claim?

  8. Chapter 58: Elizabeth says, 'The conduct of neither, if strictly examined, will be irreproachable'.

    Evidence 8: does it support or challenge the claim?

Close reading · Chapter 3

One evening, one verdict

Darcy arrives at the local assembly. Watch how fast the room makes up its mind. Tap each underlined phrase.

The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend. […] His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 3: the assembly

Context: Austen's nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, records in his family memoir that she began the novel in October 1796, finished it in August 1797, and first meant to call it 'First Impressions'. The memoir says it was published at the beginning of 1813. Read this passage with that first title in mind.

Tap each underlined phrase to see what it's doing.

Reading “looked at with great admiration for about half the evening”

A precise time phrase

What to notice

Notice the clock. The admiration lasts 'about half the evening'.

Effect

Austen times the room's opinion, and it's short. The judgement looks quick and changeable, not carefully weighed.

Focused phrase “looked at with great admiration for about half the evening”. technique A precise time phrase. Notice the clock. The admiration lasts 'about half the evening'.. effect: Austen times the room's opinion, and it's short. The judgement looks quick and changeable, not carefully weighed.

Watch out: Don't mistake the neighbourhood's verdict for Austen's final word on Darcy. She reports what 'everybody' decided, and the rest of the novel puts that verdict to the test.

Chapter 5 · A tool for thinking

Pride or vanity? Use Mary's test

Mary Bennet, Chapter 5: 'Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain.' Pride is about our opinion of ourselves; vanity is about what we would have others think of us. Using Mary's test, is each moment closer to pride or to vanity?

Still to sort

Pride: my opinion of myself (0)

It's about how you rate yourself, whoever is watching.

Where the line is: If the feeling depends on someone else's opinion of you, it has crossed into vanity.

Vanity: what I want others to think of me (0)

It's about how other people see you.

Where the line is: If it would still hold with nobody watching, it's closer to pride.

5 of 5 still to sort.

Mary gives you a precise tool. Use it and a surprise appears: Elizabeth's fault isn't quite the one she first names.

Watch out: In everyday speech 'proud' often gets used where Mary would say 'vain'. Austen gives you her line so you can tell them apart. Use the two words carefully in your own writing.

Chapter 34 · The first proposal

Two people, two cases

Darcy proposes, and Elizabeth refuses. Put their cases side by side and look for the word they both use.

Chapter 34: whose pride spoils the proposal?

Darcy's case

Darcy and the narrator, Chapter 34

  • He is honest about his scruples: the match feels like a step down for him. Could she expect him 'to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections'?
  • Her accusations, he says, might have been overlooked, 'had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples'.
The narrator: 'he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride'.The narrator on what he dwelt on: 'His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation, of the family obstacles'.

Elizabeth's case

Elizabeth, Chapter 34

  • His manners showed 'your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others'.
  • He was the principal, if not the only, means of dividing Mr. Bingley from her sister Jane.
  • His character was unfolded to her months ago, in Mr. Wickham's account of him.
  • The way he proposed only spared her the concern she might have felt in refusing him, 'had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner.'
Her dislike, she says, began 'From the very beginning, from the first moment, I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you'.

Common ground

  • Each blames the other's pride: she sees 'arrogance' and 'conceit'; he says her 'pride' was 'hurt'.
  • Both are certain they are right. Neither, yet, has examined their own part in it.

Tap a side to bring it forward. Both stay on the page.

Where this leaves you

Both cases contain truth. Darcy's proposal really does dwell on her 'inferiority'. But look at what Elizabeth's case rests on: Mr. Wickham's account, and a dislike formed 'from the first moment'. Hold that thought. Darcy's letter is about to test it.

Comparing 2 positions: Darcy's case, Elizabeth's case.

Chapter 36 · Reading the letter

Put Elizabeth's change in order

The order in which these moments happen as Elizabeth reads Darcy's letter

1 · First4 · Last

  1. 'She grew absolutely ashamed of herself.'

  2. 'Till this moment, I never knew myself.'

  3. 'With a strong prejudice against everything he might say'

  4. 'It was all pride and insolence.'

Watch out: The change isn't instant. She begins the letter sure it is 'all pride and insolence'; the turn comes as she weighs what it says.

English Lit · Close reading

'Properly humbled': Darcy looks back

Chapter 58. Darcy looks back on the first proposal. Tap each highlighted phrase.

Chapter 58 · Darcy to Elizabeth

You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.Darcy to Elizabeth, Chapter 58

01Word choice
—
He admits the lesson hurt. 'At first' tells you his view of it changed over time.
02Technique
—
Contrast: 'hard indeed at first, but most advantageous' sets the pain against the gain.
03Effect
—
The refusal that stung him becomes, in his own telling, a lesson he is grateful for.
04Reader response
—
A reader who remembers the Chapter 34 proposal sees how far he has travelled.
Watch out: Don't stop at Darcy. In the same chapter Elizabeth shares the blame for that evening, and she explains that his letter removed her former prejudices gradually, not in a flash.

WHAT YOU'VE LEARNED

A quick recap of today's lesson.

It's tempting to hand out the title like two name badges: pride for Darcy, prejudice for Elizabeth. Austen doesn't let it split that neatly.

What you need to know

  • Chapter 3: the neighbourhood judges Darcy in one evening. 'His character was decided.' The Austen-Leigh memoir records that the novel's first intended title was 'First Impressions'.
  • Chapter 5: Mary Bennet separates the two faults. Pride is our opinion of ourselves; vanity is what we would have others think of us.
  • Chapter 34: each blames the other's pride. Elizabeth sees 'arrogance' and 'conceit'; Darcy says her pride was hurt.
  • Chapter 36: Elizabeth reads Darcy's letter and recognises her own faults: 'Till this moment, I never knew myself.'
  • Chapter 58: Darcy says 'By you, I was properly humbled', and Elizabeth shares the blame.

The big picture

Austen doesn't split her title neatly between the two lovers. Darcy's pride is real: the neighbourhood sees it in Chapter 3, it shapes his proposal in Chapter 34, and he confesses it in Chapter 58. Elizabeth's prejudice is real too, but her own pride is wounded by Darcy's slight, and when she reads his letter in Chapter 36 she blames vanity. By Chapter 58 each has been humbled by recognising their own fault.

Key points

1The title does not split neatly: pride shapes both Darcy's behaviour and Elizabeth's.
2Elizabeth traces her own misjudgement to vanity: she was 'offended by the neglect' of Darcy.
3Darcy's pride shapes his first proposal, which dwells on 'the inferiority of your connections'.
4Both are humbled by recognising their faults. Neither's conduct, Elizabeth says, is 'irreproachable'.
5Analyse how Austen shows this, through the narrator's comments, the characters' dialogue and Elizabeth's private thoughts, rather than retelling what happens.

Worked example

Problem

Write two or three analytical sentences answering this question: is Elizabeth proud as well as prejudiced? Use her cry in Chapter 36: 'I, who have prided myself on my discernment!'

⚠ Watch out

Handing out the title like labels: pride to Darcy, prejudice to Elizabeth. Elizabeth says Darcy mortified her own pride (Chapter 5), Darcy says her pride was hurt (Chapter 34), and she blames 'vanity, not love' (Chapter 36). Show pride in both.

🧠

Memory hook

Don't split the title like a bill, one half each. Pride is on both tabs, and both of them pay: he is 'properly humbled'; she admits, 'Till this moment, I never knew myself.'

✓

Check yourself

From memory: one moment showing Darcy's pride, one showing Elizabeth's pride and one showing her prejudice, each with a chapter. Then, in one sentence: how far does the title split between them?

Flashcards

(14)
What does the neighbourhood decide about Darcy by the end of the Chapter 3 assembly?
'His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world.' Admiration lasted about half the evening.
What does Darcy say about Elizabeth at the assembly?
'She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt' him. She is left 'with no very cordial feelings towards him'.
What was the novel's first intended title, according to the Austen-Leigh memoir?
'First Impressions'. The memoir says it was begun in October 1796, finished in August 1797, and published at the beginning of 1813.
How does Mary Bennet tell pride from vanity (Chapter 5)?
Pride is our opinion of ourselves; vanity is what we would have others think of us. 'A person may be proud without being vain.'
What excuse does Charlotte Lucas give for Darcy's pride?
He has 'family, fortune, everything in his favour', so she thinks his high opinion of himself is understandable.
How does Elizabeth answer Charlotte about Darcy's pride?
She could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified her own.
What does the narrator say Darcy dwells on in his first proposal (Chapter 34)?
'His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation, of the family obstacles'.
How does Elizabeth describe Darcy's manners when she refuses him?
'your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others'.
What does Darcy say would have let her accusations be overlooked?
They 'might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples'.
How does Elizabeth begin reading Darcy's letter (Chapter 36)?
'With a strong prejudice against everything he might say'.
After weighing the letter's account of Wickham, how does Elizabeth judge herself?
She grew 'absolutely ashamed' and felt she had been 'blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd' about Darcy and Wickham.
Which line marks Elizabeth's moment of self-knowledge?
'Till this moment, I never knew myself.' (Chapter 36)
How does Darcy describe what Elizabeth's refusal did to him (Chapter 58)?
'By you, I was properly humbled.' It showed him 'how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased'.
How does Elizabeth divide the blame for the first proposal (Chapter 58)?
'The conduct of neither, if strictly examined, will be irreproachable'.

Tap any card to flip it, or use Study as deck to go through them one at a time. In the full lesson these run as a spaced-repetition deck — you rate each card Hard, Good or Easy and the tricky ones keep coming back until they stick.

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