Prideful Characters In Pride And Prejudice

In the novel Pride and Prejudice, if a character is reserved in social situations and generally unfriendly, he or she is viewed as prideful. Many of the characters in the novel also exhibit great prejudice, especially judging the prideful, and lower class. These two characteristics, pride and prejudice, help develop certain characters in the novel. Some characters such as Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bennet almost scream “I am prideful” and others, such as Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth Bennett, give off the “I will judge you on first encounter” vibe. Some of these characters actually show both qualities of pride and prejudice throughout the novel in different ways. Jane Austen uses the two characteristics in her novel as faults and she shows that they hold …show more content…
His hubris drives Elizabeth and many townspeople to have a poor opinion of him, and it also causes him to make poor judgments of most women and families in the novel. In the first few chapters, Darcy makes it obvious that he believes himself to be too good for any of the women in the town by not dancing with anyone at the ball. Darcy’s pride puts him at an immediate disadvantage in his new town because all of the people in the town dislike him for his seemingly arrogant behavior. Eventually, Darcy starts to love Elizabeth and is very taken aback and almost impressed with her rejection of him to dance. Darcy also has the flaw of being extremely prejudice. He always assumes that all women just want him for his money, therefore he chooses not to pursue women in general. Darcy’s prejudice of women sets him back because he initially judges Elizabeth incorrectly. After Elizabeth rejects Darcy and shows no interest to him, he realizes his mistake of prejudice and pursues …show more content…
Elizabeth immediately assumes that Darcy is a disagreeable man, after she overheard him saying that he “does not take interest in women who are slighted by other men.” After this experience, Elizabeth declines to dance with him, and can not see him as anything else besides an arrogant jerk. This is very prejudice of Elizabeth because she is not in Darcy’s position and does not know what he has been through with other women. Elizabeth’s prejudiceness delays her from falling in love and getting married to someone who was meant for her. Her prejudiceness also changes her opinion of other people, such as when her best friend Charlotte marries Mr. Collins, Elizabeth immediately looks down on her. Elizabeth tends to base her opinion too much on what other people say about others