Ah, Pride and Prejudice! If you haven’t read any other books by Jane Austen, you’ve read Pride and Prejudice. If you haven’t seen any other movies based on those books, you’ve either watched Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth or Kira Knightly. It’s not my job to tell you which one you should watch, but let’s just say that six hours is better than two when considering an adaptation from a novel to film.

Regardless, Pride and Prejudice is closely integrated into our culture, with adaptations galore and fandom posts to boot. And many of these sites are all talking about the same thing. Or rather, the same person.

That’s right. Mr. Darcy.

Be warned: this review/commentary contains spoilers, so if you are not familiar with Austen’s beloved story, you may reread my previous paragraph to your heart’s content but nothing more until you’ve read the book!

Now that that’s out of the way, we can discuss what many fans miss when they only focus on the character of Mr. Darcy. Granted, his development throughout the story is beautiful. The arrogant yet shy “friend of a friend” pridefully assumes he can sweep the woman of his dreams into marriage just because she needs a husband to survive in their society. But Elizabeth’s strong-tongued rejection sets him on a different path. First, he must prove his worth. He must rid himself of his destructive, deep-set pride and un-gentlemanly manner to win the affections of his dear Lizzie.

Nearly every fan post I’ve found about P&P, however, focuses solely on this development. “Get you a man like Mr. Darcy!” is a famous phrase in the literary sects of Pinterest I follow. “One who respects you, realizes his flaws, and changes– even if he doesn’t know if you’ll ever love him back!”

They have a point—that is half of the author’s message, after all. But if Austen’s main purpose for writing the book was to convey the importance of finding a respectful and mindful husband, she would have written it in the perspective of someone without flaws of her own to criticize in order to focus solely on Darcy. Someone similar to Jane Bennet, who’s only perceivable flaw is believing too much in the goodness of people. (Also, don’t think we didn’t catch the first name of one of your most innocent characters, Jane).

Instead, the clue is in the name: Pride and Prejudice. It’s not merely Darcy’s pride that needs to be addressed—it’s Lizzie’s inherent judgement of people. I just read this novel for the third time this October, and for perhaps the first time I realized the character development Austen creates for our protagonist. Elizabeth is not flawless. After hearing Darcy’s remark “not tolerable enough to tempt me,” she automatically writes Darcy off as a self-absorbed jerk, and jumps at the opportunity to believe word-for-word George Wickham’s account of the man upon her first interaction with the latter. Rather than considering why a person she barely knew wished immediately to slander Darcy’s reputation, Elizabeth takes his word as law. She builds her opinion of Darcy on a stranger’s words.

She not only holds this grudging disrespect for Darcy, but her own best friend. Once she finds out Charlotte Lucas agreed to marry the Bennets’ stumbling, brown-nosing cousin, Lizzie wonders if she and Charlotte can ever be true friends after the marriage. Charlotte is not like Elizabeth—she sought security in a patriarchal society at the expense of love for a husband. However, most in her time would have seen that as a perfectly acceptable decision.  But Lizzie not only balks at the idea but completely questions the foundation of their friendship over it.

Even if Lizzie had accepted Mr. Darcy’s offer of marriage the first time, Darcy’s pride and Lizzie’s prejudice would have prevented them from enjoying a life together.

Then, Lizzie goes through her own refining fire—reading Darcy’s letter, visiting Pemberley, finding out all Darcy did for Lydia—which changes her judgement’s focused beam from others…to herself. Lizzie must also prove her worth by examining her own errors and grudges that cause her to hate Darcy: The Idea, rather than seek Darcy: The Person.

In this way, Austen proves that when it comes to relationships, there must be mutual sacrifice and change—only then can there be possibility for growth. There’s a reason this 1817 novel is considered “timeless” by many. Austen questions and examines the many nuances of humanity in such an entertaining, dramatic, and poignant way through this book. All in all, there is much more to be said on this topic, but you shall have to explore the novel on your own to discover all its beautiful nooks and crannies. What will you find in your next perusal? Leave a comment below, or join the Goodreads forum to discuss it with other readers of this beloved and impactful novel here.

(Also, if you want to read this book during break but don’t have time to sit and read for hours, check out a LibroVox recording on Youtube, or the Rosamund Parks audio book for Audible users!)

Thank you, and adieu!