First Impressions In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austen in 1797, tells of the social expectations during the Georgian era and how the main character Elizabeth Bennet challenged these expectations. Marrying for love, instead of money and convenience, was simply unheard of during this period and that was exactly what Elizabeth strived to do. After meeting Mr. Darcy, an exceedingly proud man, Elizabeth was forced to face her own prejudices against his aristocratic wealth and upbringing. Additionally, Mr. Darcy had to battle with his prideful nature and the opinion he formed against Elizabeth because of her family’s improper and tasteless manners.
Before Pride and Prejudice was published, the original title of the novel was supposed to be First Impressions. First Impressions should have been the title of novel because the entire story is based on Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s first impression of each other. Mr. Darcy’s first impression of Elizabeth was immensely influenced by her family's actions at the ball and the opinions of the Bingley women toward her. Elizabeth’s opinion of Mr. Darcy was also affected by his actions at the ball and by the remarkably cynical manner in which Mr. Wickham spoke of him. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy met for the first time at a ball being held in Meryton. While …show more content…
Repeatedly throughout the novel the initial impressions were where the pride and the prejudice stemmed from. These impressions left the characters to discover and learn the authentic history and personality of one another. They made Elizabeth and Darcy realize their judgments of one another were entirely wrong and taught them to communicate instead of letting the opinions of others affect the way they felt. Without the first impressions, they would not have discovered their faults with having pride and being