The Journey of Lizzie’s and Darcy’s Relationship

“Her face was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes” The adverb ‘uncommonly’ suggests that the aspect darcy falls in love with is her contrasting behaviour to other woman The motif ‘eyes’ throughout the story reveals that darcy admires and loves elizabeth for her truthful personality rather than the way she looks and the class she is considered to be in. This statement exposes the growth and development of darcys character and his change of feelings towards elizabeth. Darcy also describes elizabeth with the adjective ‘intelliegent’, displaying that unlike other men in Regency England, he highlights important characteristics rather than looks.

“AND TO THIS SHE MUST YET ADD SOMETHING MORE SUBSTANTIAL, IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF HER MIND BY EXTENSIVE READING” The adjective “substantial” is used to imply that a woman’s intelligence and understanding is an important part of their character. It shows that Darcy puts knowledge first, which is evident when he begins to become more attracted to Lizzie due to her intelligence and quick wit that other women (such as Miss. Bingley) do not possess.

“But since then, we have both, I hope, improved in civility” Elizabeth’s kinder attitudes reveal her more mature character developing. She has fully put aside her prejudice towards Darcy as she has full knowledge of Wickham’s wrongdoings, revealing that she has begun to trust Darcy. This device foreshadows Darcy’s proposal, as both characters are true to their feelings and open to one another at the end of the novel. “I hope” implies that Lizzie has accepted that she does no know everything and her obnoxious attitude towards wealthy members of society have been shattered. This implies that Lizzie wants Darcy to reveal his romantic intentions, now that she is aware of his true personality. The repeated commas used emphasise the natural, pleading speech pattern, revealing that Elizabeth is not guarded and argumentative like she was at the beginning of the novel, she has grown to be open and happy.

“By you I was properly humbled… you showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased” Mr. Darcy is an incredible character — arguably stronger morally than anyone else in the novel — for this reason. He takes a verbal beating at Elizabeth’s hands and, after stewing for a bit, realizes she is right and tries to change his behaviour. This, of course, is why he’s a fantasy object for women readers, but it also, again, shows how others’ perception of us can influence how we see ourselves. Everyone flatters Mr. Darcy; as a result, the one person who calls him out ends up attracting him most. This is a beautiful, concise series of psychological observations that perfectly capture Austen’s ability to show us that her characters must make leaps forward as human beings before they fall in love. For Austen, understanding oneself is the key to finding lasting happiness with someone else.

“It taught me to hope” – Darcy talking about his experience with Elizabeth and unrequited love This quote shows how his experience has changed him and contrasts with his negativity towards social situations and affection in the exposition of the novel. The phrase past tense “taught me” shows his journey to self-understanding and his evaluation of his feelings, and how they’ve evolved as he fell in love with Elizabeth, leading to his happiness. He also sees negatives, mentioning how her words ‘tortured’ him, showing reason and ability to weigh up the good and bad. Modern readers would see this statement as more effective, as for them, he’s gone through a more drastic change, defeating his internalised prejudices that a contemporary reader may find harder to see as they may posses the same prejudices from the society they grew up in.