TÌNH yêu GIỮA MR DARCY AND MS ELIZABETH TRONG TÁC PHẨM KIÊU HÃNH VÀ ĐỊNH KIẾN CÙA JANE AUSTEN

Abstract

I watched the movie “Pride and Prejudice” a few of years ago and I have had
a deep impression on the movie. Therefore, when doing the thesis, I choose it to be
able to understand the novel more. The main topic of the work “Pride and
Prejudice”, written by the female author Jane Austen, is love and marriage in the
eighteenth century. Among a large number of love stories in the work, the love
between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth is the most cherished love affair in my mind
and I want to discover the author’s implication as well as her own opinions through
the couple.
In order to fulfill my research, I use certain research methods such as
searching the Internet, reading review books, discussing with people who like this
work, including my supervisor, and exchanging opinions on literature forum. In
general, I hope that in these way, I can listen to more ideas, acknowledge more
reviews and have a more critical and multidirectional view on the topic.
In the work, there are a number of marriages symbolizing some types of
marriages in the eighteenth century society. However, just the love between Mr.
Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth can impress the readers and me. It is because their love
goes beyond the context of the eighteenth century and is ideal love human beings
want to have. In my mind, their love is not only passionate but also intense. The
more ardent their love is, the more powerful it is. The intense love helps them
overcome both internal barriers- their pride and prejudice and external barriers
formed by their relatives and friends. Specifically, their powerful love overcomes
the prejudices of the eighteenth century. In addition, the ardency in their love
impresses me very much because it has hidden inside them for a long time and not
expressed outside until the end of the work. In my thesis, I exploit the details in the
work to make clear how intense and passionate their love is.
I hope that my thesis, to some extent, can help you feel the extraordinary
power and ardency in their love. Furthermore, you can realize what true love is and
how to build up a true love such as the love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth
Table of content

Acceptance Page
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………… i
Abstract…………………………………………………………………… ii
Table of contents………………………………………………………… iii
Part 1: Introduction
1. Rationale…………………………………………………………… 1
2. Aims and objectives………………………………………………… 2
3. Significance………………………………………………………… 3
4. Research methodology……………………………………………… 3
5. Scope of the study………………………………………………… 3
Part 2: Content
Chapter 1: Literature review
1.1 The definition of a fiction…………………………………………….4
1.2 The elements of a fiction
1.2.1 Theme………………………………………………………… 5
1.2.2 Plot………………………………………………………………6
1.2.3 Setting………………………………………………………… 7
1.2.4 Point of view…………………………………………………….7
1.2.5 Character……………………………………………………… 9
Chapter 2:
2.1 Historical background…………………… 10
2.2 English literature trends in the 19
th
century…………………… 12
2.3 Jane Austen’s life and career
2.3.1 Jane Austen’s life………………………………………… 13
2.3.2 Jane Austen’s career………………………………………….14
2.4 The summary of “Pride and Prejudice”……………………… 15
Chapter 3:
3.1 The love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth is intense

3.1.1 Their love overcomes the internal barriers…………… 21
3.1.2 Their love overcomes the external barriers……… 29
3.2The love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth is passionate
3.2.1Their love is passionate at Netherfield…………… ………34
3.2.2 Their love is passionate at Rosings……………………… 38
3.2.3Their love is passionate at Derbyshire . …………… …….40
3.2.4 Their love is passionate at Longburn ……………… … 42
Part 3: Conclusion…………………………………………….
………….43
Bibliography…………………………………………………… 45
Part 1
Introduction
1. Rationale
There are a great number of reasons that are both subjective and
objective for my choice in studying the masterpiece “Pride and prejudice” by
the famous English female writer Jane Austen. At first, I asked my friends for
certain suggestions of my research topic and one of the suggestions is the
work “Pride and prejudice”. Two years ago, I watched the film adapted from
this novel by chance and it actually appealed to me as well as persuaded me
although it is a classical movie. Until recently, when holding the novel “Pride
and Prejudice” by the female writer Jane Austen on my hands, my eyes
sticked to a range of its ranks. I had an extremely special impression on the
fact that it was the book helping women change their viewpoint of themselves
most and ranked twelfth in twenty of the most beautiful love stories over the
world. This encouraged me to read the novel because of both my admiration
with the female author and my curiosity in exploring the love story in the
novel.
After finishing my reading, my interest in the work pushed up my
decision in studying it. First of all, the work mentions a topic that is simple,
familiar, but never timeless, even in our modern society. The novel answers

the question: “what is a true love and marriage”. It is clear that in our present
society; money, reputation, and social stand are evaluated more highly than a
great number of other values, even morals or love among human beings. In
order to be superior to other people in the society, numerous girls desire a
practical love and marriage instead of a true love and marriage. Perhaps, it is
the reason why the love story in the novel is still appreciated and timeless.
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Secondly, I had my special adoration for the main female character “Elizabeth
Bennet” in the novel due to that she or the writer herself taught me to
communicate, behave, and love intelligently, wittily. In the twenty-first
century, this is more essential than ever. Last but not least, my admiration for
the author is quite great. Through the work, the writer- a woman in the
nineteenth century, dared to raise her voice and expressed her radical opinion
over the world. To her, a true marriage is not brought on by property, or
social position; but love from two people. This opinion is opposite to the
opinion of people living in her society.
With all of reasons above, I truthfully desired to study deeper on the
work, in specific, the love between Elizabeth and Darcy. I want to live,
experience, be happy, be sorrowful with my favorite characters more, and
enjoy their beautiful love more. I hope that the study will benefit not only me
but also a deal of readers or the fans of the literary fiction because of meaning
and valuable love message that Jane Austen leave readers of all times.
Moreover, in my belief, the cherish love between Elizabeth and Darcy
provokes my thoughts, my aspiration for a pure love and marriage in myself.
2. Aims and Objectives
The topic of my study is love relationship between two main
characters: Darcy and Elizabeth in the novel. My objective of studying is
analyzing the love in order to discover people‘s opinion in general and
women‘s opinion in particular of love and marriage in the nineteenth
century. Additionally, I concern the reasons of social setting that leads to

their opinions or beliefs. Moreover, I want to make comparison between
women and people’s conception of love and marriage in nineteenth century
and nowadays, then identify whether the author‘s message is valuable or not
and in which aspect.
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3. Significance
I hope that my research will be significant to readers thanks to its
practicality. Literature is not simply a scientific subject, but it is useful
lessons for human being, especially a masterpiece like “Pride and prejudice”.
Through my research, according to my deep belief, you can think critically
and draw out lessons, especially lessons about moral, love and marriage for
yourselves.
4. Research Methodology
In order to fulfill my research, I use certain research methods such as
searching Internet, reading review books, discussing with people who like this
work including my supervisor, and exchanging opinions on literature forum.
In general, I hope that in these way, I can listen to more ideas, acknowledge
more reviews and have a more critical and multidirectional view on the topic.
5. Scope of the study
In my thesis, I research the content: “The love between Mr. Darcy and
Ms. Elizabeth” in the work “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.
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Part 2
Chapter 1: Literature review
1.1 Definition
The knowledge of “what is a literary fiction” varies owing to different
approaches as well as senses from individuals. Among a great deal of the
knowledge, it is objective that literary fiction is understood based on the origin of
the word “fiction” itself. It is derived from the Latin “fictum”, meaning invented. In
fact, literary fictions are products of imagination by which writers can create make-

believe characters and events in their works. Nevertheless, such unreal characters
and events do not cause a strange sense or isolation with readers on account of
numerous familiar real-life details and human feelings that authors match with
them. It is combination of reality and unreality that leads to a magic attraction and
powerful effects on readers. In particular, writers gradually guide readers into a new
world that is so vivid and appealing, then let them experience by themselves.
Through the characters and events, readers have a chance to discover themselves or
recognize certain issues underlying the words that may be implied by writers.
Therefore, entertainment is not the last aim that writers want readers to obtain, but it
is universal issues of a society or a period, even an era. According to Joyce Saricks
at mostlyfiction.com, literary fiction is "critically acclaimed, often award-winning,
fiction. These books are more often character centered rather than plot oriented.
They are provocative and often address more serious issues these are complex,
literate, multilayered novels that wrestle with universal dilemmas". Truthfully, a
literary fiction is not only art but also a picture reflecting real life with the most
outstanding problems that stir writers’ mind as well as readers’ one. Literary fiction
is a basic part of literature with certain genres such as short story, novella, novel
and novel sequence.
1 .2. The elements of a fiction
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According to Judi Clark at mostlyfiction.com, a literary fiction “can be the
broadest category and in a sense is a catch all, but the intention is to list books that
really draw you in with language, imagery, character insight and sense of place”.
This can be acknowledged that a literary fiction includes a large numbers of
elements that are related closely to each other and make a unified literary work.
Hence, in order to catch ideas as well as beauty of the whole literary fiction, readers
need to be aware of elements of a fiction and the contribution of each element to it.
In the following part, I would like to introduce five elements of a literary
fiction: theme, plot, setting, point of view, characters.
1.2.1 Theme

In a literary fiction, theme is the representation of its controlling idea. It
can be considered as its root as well as its soul. It means that all of aspects of a
literary work are imagined and presented around the central theme. The theme is
not simply a topic, but it is the author’s idea or conception about the topic that she
or he would like to impart to readers through the fiction in a non-didactic way. In
other words, the theme is the authors’ message as well as valuable morals that the
readers can obtain from the fictions. They may be the morals about life, society,
period, human nature. The literary masterpieces can be said that their vitality is
timeless owing to what readers are taught through the works are extremely
meaningful and valuable in every period. Nevertheless, writers do not expose the
theme explicitly and directly to the readers. Instead of that, writers let readers
extract it actively themselves and keep them thinking about it in their own ways.
The role of writers is their attempt in conveying the theme to readers through their
using characters, literary style, and different figures of speech like similes,
metaphors and personification. The art is situated in that how the writers can
express the theme underlying literary fictions to readers cleverly, effectively and
affect them magically. In another meaning, a successful literary fiction is created
thanks to not only a good theme but also an interesting exposition of the theme.
Moreover, the theme is evaluated as a special ornament. This results from its role
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in weaving the literary fiction together. When, all of the aspects of the fiction are
built based on a theme, the work become unified and coherent. In general, a theme
is the soul of a fiction because it gives a purpose, a reason for readers and writers:
writers want to express a message and readers like to discover the message. A
successful work is a work whose theme is left to the readers as long as possible.
1.2.2 Plot
Plot is defined as the organization or the arrangement of main events,
incidents from the beginning to the end of a literary fiction in a certain pattern. The
events need to be related to each other; moreover, in a close relationship with main
characters. In particular, the events must affect characters, enact them struggle

with certain problems and then leads to changes in characters’ thoughts,
conceptions, decisions, or characteristics. The fiction ends when the issues are
resolved according to the authors’ desire or its theme. Therefore, in fact, a plot can
be divided into several parts: the exposition (beginning), conflict (problems’
arising), rising action (premises for the climax), climax (the highest and often the
most exciting part of the fiction), falling action (the outcome of the climax), and
resolution (conclusion).
There is a fact that some people believe that literary fictions are plotless. By
contrast, the truth is that literary fictions still compose of a plot, but it is
underemphasized and overshadowed by several different factors such as literary
style, characters…This is the difference between literary fictions and commercial
fictions. While the focus of commercial fictions are sequences of characters’ actions
and outer expressions, the focus of literary fictions are characters’ inner thoughts,
desires, feelings, motivation, and psychological movements. Specifically,
underneath characters’ mental expression is the base of theme, society, and culture.
In other words, according to the literary agent and the novelist Nathan Bransford,
“In literary fiction the plot usually happens beneath the surface, in the minds and
hearts of the characters.”
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In general, the plot of a literary fiction is underneath of its surface; therefore,
literary fictions become more challenging to readers. They require more inference,
more recognition of turning points of the work from readers. Truthfully, readers
need to experience with characters in order to be able to have an insight in them, the
beauty of the literary work and the ideas of authors hidden underlying it.
1.2.3 Setting
Setting is the time and the location in which the story of a literary fiction
takes place. Setting of time is called chronological setting and setting of place is
named physical setting. Regardless of chronological setting or physical setting,
they may be general or specific. In other words, in a fiction, both general and
specific settings exist.

Moreover, settings play an important role in a literary fiction. Along with a
theme and a plot, settings may initiate the conflicts in a work that characters deal
with, solve, discover and express their feelings. It is easy to realize that settings
refer to any social milieu, culture features, historical period, geography, and hour.
In summary, setting not only is an integral part of a story but also reappears a
picture reflecting a specific period, a space, or an atmosphere that maybe existed
long decades ago.
1.2.4 Point of view
Point of view mentions the method that an author narrates. In specific, it is
writers’ choice of the narrator in a literary fiction, which depends on that from
whose viewpoint writers want readers approach to and comprehend the work.
There are three modes of narration: first- person view, second-person view,
and third- person view. In first- person view, the narrator is a character in fictions.
Thus, the pronoun is used throughout the work is “I”. The narrator may be a major
character or a minor one, but she or he is often a major character. In this way, a
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character can reveal a lot of his or her own thoughts, emotions, conceptions, even
prejudices, and spiritual life. Moreover, readers can figure out the nature of the
character through his or her narration. Nevertheless, it is disadvantageous for
readers because of that it is challenging readers to comprehend all of the
character’s thoughts, senses as himself or herself. In the second-person view, the
narrator is a character whose position is like a reader. This mode often matches
with first-person view in order to make comparisons between the narrator and the
central character in terms of thoughts, opinions, and emotions…The last mode of
narration that is also the most popular is third-person view. In this type, the
narrator is an imagined character who relates the characters in a story to readers.
This mode is easier and more flexible for writers, especially beginners.
1.2.5 Characters
Characters can be regarded the most important element of a literal fiction
since writers can not communicate their message with readers without characters

in spite of that there is an interesting plot, beautiful settings, a meaningful theme
for a literary fiction. Characters are an extremely fundamental element in a work
that relates all of other elements to each other and themselves in order to create a
unified work. Moreover, characters are the comprehensive representation of all of
the thoughts, the ideas, and the message that writers desire to confide to readers.
Although characters’ portrayals in a work are a painstaking product of writers’
wonderful imagination, it is not strange to readers at all because it is related
closely to human being. Specially, characters often refer to certain classes in the
society. Characters are often people, but they maybe animals such as the bird in the
work “Nightingale and the Rose” of the author Oscar Wilde. Characters are
classified into four major types: major character, minor character, dynamic
character, and flat character.
• Major character (round character, protagonist) are the central character
of a fiction and often are readers’ favorite character. She or he often face
and struggle with certain issues, incidents or themselves until the end of
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work when there is a change in the character’ personality, opinions, and
beliefs. Therefore, this type of character accounts for the most words in a
fiction and so complex.
• Minor characters (flat character, antagonist) are opposite to main
characters. Unlike a major character, she or he does not experience
difficulties, incidents, or challenges and then change. Thus, the type of
character is simpler than protagonists are.
• Dynamic character (developing character) is a character that changes
significantly in a fiction, specifically in terms of his or her viewpoints.
• Static character is a character that is depicted unchangeably from the
beginning to the end of the story.
Besides four main types, there are several different types such as foil,
confidante. However, almost of the types do not exist separately, but they
often come with each other. For example, a round character may be a

dynamic one while a flat one may be a static one.
The writer expose characters’ features through their thoughts, speech, action,
appearance themselves or through other characters’ thoughts, opinions of the
character.
In general, readers should evaluate characters from a great number of different
angles of a fiction in order to understand characters deeply and give more love for
their favorite characters. The last aim is how to discover the theme, the message or
the implied morals from the characters.
Chapter 2
9
English literary trends in the 19
th
century
2.1 Historical background
The social milieu of Austen’s Regency England was particularly stratified,
and class divisions were rooted in family connections and wealth. In her work,
Austen is often critical of the assumptions and prejudices of upper-class England.
She distinguishes between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit
(rank and possessions). Though she frequently satirizes snobs, she also pokes fun at
the poor breeding and misbehavior of those lower on the social scale. Nevertheless,
Austen was in many ways a realist, and the England she depicts is one in which
social mobility is limited and class-consciousness is strong.
Socially regimented ideas of appropriate behavior for each gender factored
into Austen’s work as well. While social advancement for young men lay in the
military, church, or law, the chief method of self-improvement for women was the
acquisition of wealth. Women could only accomplish this goal through successful
marriage, which explains the ubiquity of matrimony as a goal and topic of
conversation in Austen’s writing. Though young women of Austen’s day had more
freedom to choose their husbands than in the early eighteenth century, practical
considerations continued to limit their options.

Even so, critics often accuse Austen of portraying a limited world. As a
clergyman’s daughter, Austen would have done parish work and was certainly
aware of the poor around her. However, she wrote about her own world, not theirs.
The critiques she makes of class structure seem to include only the middle class and
upper class; the lower classes, if they appear at all, are generally servants who seem
perfectly pleased with their lot. This lack of interest in the lives of the poor may be
a failure on Austen’s part, but it should be understood as a failure shared by almost
all of English society at the time.
2.2 English literary trends in the 19
th
century
(A History of English and American Literature – Nguyen Xuan Thom)
2.2.1 Early 19
th
century literature English Romanticism
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Romanticism was the embodiment of disillusionment in the consequences of
the French revolution and in the great theories of the Enlighteners. In addition,
romanticism was also the embodiment of the negative attitude of various social
layers towards the way of life that the post- industrial revolution bourgeoisie
created. The Romanist made a point of contrasting the earthy prosaic life of the
bourgeoisie, their pretty calculation and boredom, their limited outlook and utter
practicality. Hence, the aesthetic code of romanticism was determined by
contradictions between reality and dreams. The real material world was to be
ignores, an abstract idea was to be preferred to it.
2.2.2 Middle of the 19
th
English critical realism
Critical realism is a literary trend the writers of which used novels as a
means to protest against vices of contemporary social and economic life, to picture

the world in a realistic way. The writers expressed deep sympathy for the working
people and described the unbearable conditions of work and life. They voiced a
passionate protest against exploitation and described the persistent struggle for the
rights of the working people.
Some of the great writers of this trend are William Makepeace Thackeray,
Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and Charlotte Bronte.
2.2.3 End of the 19
th
century English literature
2.2.3.1 Writers of the progressive trend
Writers of the progressive trend continued the realistic tradition of their
predecessors and presented in their creative works a truthful picture of their
contemporary life. Compared to the critical realists of the mid- 19
th
century, their
criticism of life is not as sharp and the social panorama drawn in their works is not
as grand, but their greatness is by no means lessened. They are great in their own
ways, in a deep psychological analysis of their characters, and a detailed description
of their characters’ inner world. Writers of this trend are George Eliot, George
Meredith, Samuel Butler, Thomas Hardy, and William Morris.
2.2.3.2 Writers of the regressive trend
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Writers of the regressive trends behaved as victims of the crisis of bourgeois
culture at the end of the 19
th
century, they found their escape from the harsh and
severe reality in a self- constructed or imagined world of unearthly sighs and
beauty. They denied the function of art and literature as a tool for recording and
reflecting social reality. They proposed a school of art. Known as Art for Art’s sake
according to which art is no longer art if it is not aimed at giving pleasure to people.

They idealized the function of artistic form as the only criteria for the immortality
of a work of art.
It includes three trends: pre-raphaelitism, neo- romanticism, and decadence
2.3 Jane Austen’s life and career
2.3.1 Jane Austen’s life
Jane Austen is one of the few novelists in the literature world being
considered classic, yet is widely read because of her masterpieces moving the
readers’ heart, specifically women’s one every time. The deep massage conveyed
through her works in general, in “Pride and Prejudice” in specific is so moving and
live that the readers wonder whether the female writer’s life and fate are closely
related to her characters’ life and fate in her work. Therefore, in order to
acknowledge more deeply about the work “Pride and Prejudice”, the writer of the
thesis seek for, study her life.
Jane Austen was born into the rural professional middle class. She was the
second daughter and the seventh child in a family of eight children. Her childhood
is full of happiness and peace with the unlimited love from her parents her brothers,
and her sister. In 1785-1786, Jane and Cassandra went to the Abbey boarding
school for formal education consisting of the appropriate teachings of the time.
Returning home, she was mostly tutored by her father and brothers, and her own
free reading in her father's library of 500 books. Therefore, she received a broader
education than many women did of her time. Anyway, it was in these exercises that
the true talent of Jane Austen was being nurtured - through observation,
improvisation, acting and participation. Her earliest-known writings date from
about 1787. In December of 1795, a nephew of nearby neighbors whose name was
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Tom Lefroy began placing several visits to Steventon. They fell in love with each
other, but unfortunately, they are not supported by their families. Even every effort
to keep Tom from Jane was made and Jane was never to see her love again for the
rest of her life. In 1801, her secure days in her life ended because of her father's
unexpected retirement. Jane, aged twenty-five and Cassandra, her elder sister aged

twenty-eight were considered old maids and followed their parents. Leaving her
friends and rural roots in Steventon, she abandoned her literary career for a decade.
In the December in 1802, Jane receives her one and only known proposal of
marriage from Mr. Bigg-Wither because of his well-being and inheriting a sizeable
amount of real estate, not love. Nevertheless, Jane revoked her acceptance the next
day and was greatly upset by the whole episode. In 1809, she along with her mother
and her sister moved back to their beloved countryside Hampshire countryside
when her brother Edward provided them with a permanent house on his Chawton
estate. Here, she is interested in her writing again.
At the beginning 1816, Jane noticed a decline in her health. On July 18,
1817, Jane Austen died in Winchester in her sister’s arm and with her; she took the
conclusions of her unfinished works. Henry worked to have his sister buried at the
Winchester Cathedral.
Actually, her works are nameless at the beginning without her brother’s
revelation. Nevertheless, she is loved and memorized forever by the readers of
every time with her immortal works created by her literary talent. Today, the
museum at Chawton is visited by Jane Austen admirers from across the Globe.
There are many mementoes of her life on display. Jane's mother and her beloved
sister, Cassandra are buried in the churchyard.
2.3.2 Jane Austen’s literary career
Beginning in her teen years, Austen wrote poems, stories, and comic pieces
for the amusement of her family. She compiled several of the pieces written
between 1787 and 1793 into three bound notebooks, which are now referred to as
Austen’s “Juvenalia.” Austen was also exposed to drama and comedy; the younger
children in the family often staged theatrical productions at home. Among her early
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works, certain well-known works are: “Love and Friendship” at the age of 14 which
is the first novel, then a satirical “History of England, by a partial, prejudiced and
ignorant Historian” and the epistolary work “Lady Susan.” During this time, Austen
also planned ideas for the novel that would later be reworked and published by

“Sense and Sensibility” (1811). After the broken love story between her and Tom
Lefroy, she began write the second novel “First Impression” that are renamed later
is “Pride and Prejudice” (1813). Then, “Northanger Abbey” (1818) was written
with a satire on the Gothic literary genre and revised at Bath where she wrote little.
Besides, she wrote “Mansfield Park” (1814), then Emma (1816), and completed
“Persuasion” (1818). In the winter in 1816, although Austen suffered serious illness
resulting in her death the following year, she continued to work on her writing,
revising the ending to “The Elliots” and starting work on “Sandition”. She died in
1817, leaving “Sandition” unfinished. Specifically, all of the works published in her
lifetime are described as being written by a lady.
Although her novels received favorable reviews, she was not celebrated as
an author during her lifetime. However, her novels were fairly received when they
were published, with Sir Walter Scott in particular praising her work: “That young
lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of
ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with”.
2.4 The summary of “Pride and Prejudice”
The Bennet family including seven members: a father, a mother, and five
daughters living together at Longburn. One day, Mr. Bingley- a rich man in Britain
accompanied by two his sisters and his friend- Mr. Darcy resides at his favorite
estate in the area- Netherfield. No sooner does he goes, an exciting ball with a large
number of residents in the area is hold and it is the place that he meets Ms. Jane- the
eldest daughter of the Bennets while Mr. Darcy- his close friend in Britain gets
acquaintance with Ms. Elizabeth- the younger sister right after Ms. Jane. In the ball,
Mr. Darcy who is one of the richest men in Britain with overwhelming pride is
despised by majority of people and even Ms. Elizabeth by his degrading comments
on her. Mr. Bingley’s sentiment for Ms. Jane motivates him to invite her to have
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dinner at Netherfield to which on the way she is cold seriously. Ms. Elizabeth walks
three miles to Netherfield to take care of her sister. Here, Ms. Elizabeth always
expresses her pride and opposition to him. His passionate love motivates him to

propose her but his proposal hurting her self- respect makes her refuse him and
blames him bitterly. On an expedition to the north of England with her uncle and
aunt- Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, she visits Derbyshire and he suddenly comes back
with the considerable change in his behaviors shocked her and making her love
him. On returning Longburn, he proposes her at the second time and Mr. Bingley proposes
Ms. Jane after obstacles. Eventually, two couple holds marriage at the same time and have
a happy family life.
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Chapter 3
3.1 The love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth is intense.
The love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth in the work “Pride and
Prejudice” which is so intense that the “no wall that enough love will not throw
down” (Emmet Fox) helps them overcome the strong barriers that not every love
can triumph. Human beings may have known two possible types of barriers in love
and marriage: external barriers and internal ones. The external barriers are the
oppositions of relatives, family, friends, acquaintances, and the society under which
most love affairs become more intense, more passionate. The immortal love story
between Romeo and Juliet is such one. The internal barriers are the oppositions
originating from lovers themselves under which love may either survive more
powerfully, more ardently or may die forever.
The love between Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth encounters both of the types
of barriers mentioned above but it is opposed more by the internal barriers - their
own pride and prejudice. Although at the beginning of the work, both of them make
great effort in holding their rational will firmly and acting on it, they eventually fail
because of their burning love. In other words, in the fierce struggle between the love
and the rational will, ultimately rational will has to surrender to their intense love.
And once defeating or breaking the most difficult barrier - their own pride and
prejudice, their love can overcome the other obstacles coming from the people as
well as the society around them easily to achieve the perfect goal of love - marriage.
Therefore, the writer of the thesis analyzes their love’s triumphing over the internal

barriers, and then over the external barriers. Furthermore, in order to make clear
how intense their love is in defeating their own pride and prejudice, the writer of the
thesis exploits significant changes in their rational will resulting from the hard
struggle between itself and their love on both sides: Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth.
3.1.1 Their love overcomes the internal barriers.
In order to realize how hard their love overcomes and changes their rational
will, first of all, it is very necessary for us to acknowledge completely what pride
and prejudice are in general and in the work in specific.
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In Oxford Dictionary, pride means a too high opinion of oneself and
prejudice is defined as an unfair dislike of somebody or something. In this light,
both pride and prejudice lie in Mr. Darcy and Ms. Elizabeth. In specific, Mr. Darcy
is proud of his superior social standing and is prejudiced against socially inferior
people such as Ms. Elizabeth. She is proud of her sound judgment, her opinions,
and her own dignity; simultaneously, is prejudiced against higher-class people such
as Mr. Darcy. At the beginning of the work, their pride and prejudice are extremely
strong. Nevertheless, after that, the light of the powerful love awakes them, does
away with strong pride and prejudice inside both of them, and change their rational
will.
3.1.1.1 Darcy overcomes his “pride and prejudice”
In terms of Mr. Darcy, there is a sweeping change in his characteristics,
thoughts, and behaviors before and after he falls in love with Ms. Elizabeth. So
great is the power of his love that it not only triumphs but also change his mind
positively. At the end of the story, he is far from proud and prejudiced. By contrast,
he becomes modest, friendly, polite, and kinder.
The image of Mr. Darcy before falling in love with Ms. Elizabeth
In advance of getting acquaintance with Ms. Elizabeth and falling in love
with her, Mr. Darcy is a quite hateful and undesirable man because of his pride and
prejudice.
In the ball in Netherfield, in spite of being regarded highly by almost all

people present, especially the women during the first half of the evening with his
large fortune, he is hated, and later on, even despised by the majority. The people in
the ball make critical remarks on him: “he was the proudest, most disagreeable man
in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again”. He is
claimed to be the wealthiest men in England with ten thousand pounds a year and
this is appreciated in the eighteenth century society putting money above anything.
Were he not too proud, he would have been an idol in the people’s eyes. However,
even Ms. Bennet always showing her preference for propertied men detests him at
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all. This proves that his pride is too much for most of the residents in Netherfield to
accept him. Perhaps, great as his fortune is, it cannot compensate for his
shortcomings. Therefore, it is impossible for him to create a good impression to a
woman who is full of self-esteem and pride like Ms. Elizabeth.
In addition, his degrading comment on Ms. Elizabeth’s beauty filled with his
pride hurts her pride: “she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to temp me”. His
careless comment on Ms. Elizabeth’s appearance shows that he thinks too highly of
himself and does too meanly of other people. In other words, he gives himself the
right to scorn the people and maybe nobody out of his class is evaluated highly
through his proud prism. Moreover, his unhesitating comment turns his pride into
his selfishness when he does not care for anybody’s emotions but his.
Prejudice, ground of pride, has a close relationship with pride. Unless he had
his own prejudices against lower-class people, he would not be proud. Therefore,
not only is he proud but he is also extremely prejudiced. The prejudice is expressed
indirectly through his opinions of a perfect woman: “have a thorough knowledge of
music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, possesses a certain
something in her air, manner of her walking, the tone of her voice, to all this she
must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by
extensive reading”. His criteria of a perfect woman implicitly indicate his prejudice
that such tiptop women can only be found in his high class. With such bigotry,
perhaps, he never wants to get married to a woman out of his class. In addition, he

expresses explicitly that even a beautiful and dignified woman such as Ms. Jane
cannot marry a propertied man because of her unrespectable family. The fact that he
attempts to part Mr. Bingley and Ms. Jane is a clear evidence for the prejudice.
Indeed, if he may choose a wife with his mind, he will never think of marrying
below himself such as Ms. Elizabeth because of his deep prejudice against inferior
socially people.
It is clear that he is quite proud and prejudiced at the beginning of the work.
In fact, two these characteristics – pride and prejudice does not belong to his nature.
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Actually, they result from his parents’ education and he himself confesses, “I was
spoiled by my parents, who allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and
overbearing to think meanly of all the rest of the world”. One more extremely
important reason is the eighteenth century society that was not only hierarchal but
also discriminated classes sharply. He would not be proud unless his large fortune
raised him up in everybody’ eyes. Though not an innate part of himself, his pride
and prejudice have unconsciously affected deeply his behaviors and thoughts for a
long time. Thus, it is extremely difficult for him to realize his faults – the
shortcoming of the society, overcome and change himself for the love. Without the
intense love, perhaps, he would have been a proud and prejudiced man like that
forever.
The image of Mr. Darcy after falling in love with Ms. Elizabeth
Nevertheless, after falling in love with Ms. Elizabeth, his rational will is
gradually defeated by his powerful sentiment for her. The more intense his love is,
the more quickly his pride and prejudice diminish. This can be realized through the
changes in his expressions and acts every time.
At the first ball, he is so proud that he refuses to dance with her. By contrast,
in later balls, his feeling and burning desire inevitably leads him to ask her to dance
with him, which surprises herself very much. In addition, he pays attention to her
more every time. With such expressions, it seems that his powerful love makes him
temporally neglect his pride, prejudice, and his superior social standing.

However, he has to experience a thorny struggle between his rational will
and his heart later. As soon as his sentiment motivates him more ardently than he
expects and he is aware of this, he has to hold back his affection for Ms. Elizabeth
by himself: “She attracted him more than he liked. Steady to his purpose, he
scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday, and though they
were at one time left by themselves for half-an-hour, he adhered most
conscientiously to his book, would not even look at her”. Obviously, he tries to
stick to his rational will that never allows himself to love a woman whose
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background is as low as that of Ms. Elizabeth. It looks as if his rational will were
successful in preventing him from affecting her. In fact, his conforming to the ration
will just makes him miserable inside. He is torn by the two inner powers: his strong
radical will and his intense love. His mind voices up and torments him as soon as
his heart beats fast for love. Nothing is more pitied than forcing his own heart to
stop loving. Therefore, it can be seen how hard the struggle between his love and
his will is inside him!
His affection for her does not fade away at all through time and distance.
This is like a famous love quotation by Francois de la Rouchefoucauld: “Absence
diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle
and blows up the bonfire”. Moreover, when he meets her again at Rosings, his
powerful love forces him to betray his rational will and propose her. One more time,
he witnesses the struggle between his mind and his heart. The love burns more
ardently inside him whereas his rational will still does not allow him to get married
to a low class woman like her. The more he tries to forget his love, the more
passionate his love is. As a result, in order to release himself from misery, he must
propose her reluctantly with his proud expressions. Specifically, even though he is
accused of his impoliteness, pride, and mistakes with Ms. Elizabeth’s
straightforward and harsh words, his love would not die. Anyway, his rational will
partly becomes powerless under the power of love. Indeed, after her insulting words
of his pride, his sentiment for her becomes more intense than ever.

The intense love leads him to not only conquer completely his radical will
but also innovate it. Instead of being a proud and prejudiced man, he tries his best to
become modest, friendly, and behave reasonably. Specifically, he is no longer
selfish now that he desires to satisfy other people. This change has been shown
clearly through his mild attitude and behaviors in Pemperly toward the Gardiners to
whom he never lowers himself to talk before because of their inferior social class. It
is Ms. Elizabeth that is greatly surprised of the enormous power of love affecting
him. Furthermore, thanks to his sentiment for her, not only does he stop despising
her even after the issue between Mr. Wickham and her younger sister but also helps
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her family secretly. He sacrifices for her, for the love without expecting anything in
return. He does thirst for her affection for him; therefore, hardly does he realize her
sentiment indirectly through her communication with Lady Catherine when he
immediately sets off for Longburn to propose to her one more time.
The substantial difference in the image of Mr. Darcy between at the first
meetings in Netherfield and at the later ones at Rosings, Pemperly, and Longburn,
between his first proposal and his second one reflects the extraordinary power of his
love. Many a time is his love opposed by his strong rational will, it exists and grows
up more intensely inside him. Eventually, his pride and prejudice are eliminated
from his nature and have to leave room for his powerful love. Truthfully, it not easy
to find a man loving a woman more after being insulted, especially a rich man like
him in the eighteenth century.
In general, the intense love does drive him from his acquaintance with her to
his marriage. At the beginning, the love forces him to struggle against his strong
rational will- his own pride and prejudice hurts him so much. After that, thanks to
itself, he gives up his rational will and acts on the voice of his heart. Eventually, it is
the love that awakes him to his faults and leads him to his happy marriage.
3.1.1.2 Ms. Elizabeth overcomes her “pride and prejudice”.
In order to be able to achieve its perfect goal- marriage, the powerful love
necessarily springs from both of them. Thus, not only Mr. Darcy but also Ms.

Elizabeth has to conquer her strong rational will. In fact, like Mr. Darcy, it is her
powerful affection for him that helps Ms. Elizabeth overcome all of her own pride
and prejudice. The letter that Mr. Darcy sends to her after proposing is a turning
point resulting in changes of both her sentiment for him and her characteristics.
Before receiving his letter, she looks extremely proud and prejudiced.
Indeed, her pride results from both his degrading comments on her beauty and his
pride itself. In addition, along with her prejudice against socially superior people,
the pride results in her serious prejudice against him. She always thinks quite ill of
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him, even groundlessly and keeps a fierce opposition against him leading her to
challenge him, to despise him with as many the unacceptable words and behaviors
as possible at any time. Such is her deep prejudice against him that she believes
blindly in Mr. Wickham’s lies. The climax of her pride and prejudice is shown
clearly and straightforwardly through her bitter accusation of him at the first time he
proposes to her: “Long before it had taken place my opinion of you was decided.
Your character was unfolded in the recital which I received many months ago from
Mr. Wickham”. Actually, her words themselves are a clear evidence for her own
pride and prejudice. With her strong rational will, it is impossible to image that she
loves him passionately later, and eventually gets married to him.
After she receives his letter, her pride and prejudice are all gone for she
realizes that owing to her prejudice against him, she misunderstands him.
Moreover, the love hidden inside her is intense enough not only to allow her to
forgive his pride and faults easily but also to innovate completely the image of Ms.
Elizabeth. She is no longer proud, gentler, less stubborn and even shy in the love
with Mr. Darcy. When facing him at Pemperly and in her house, she is embarrassed
a lot by her intense love in spite of her belonging to the type of woman who can
control her mind. In addition, she gets less prejudiced when believing that Mr.
Darcy’s opposition to the love between Mr. Bingley and Ms. Jane is reasonable.
She seems to put herself in his position to think about the problem more objectively
and sympathize more with his act and thought. In addition, she feels ashamed of

Ms. Lydia’s problem and dare not to hope for his love anymore. This proves that
the love awakens her and neutralizes her rationale will – her overwhelming pride
and prejudice.
Not until Ms. Elizabeth receives the letter from Mr. Darcy after his first
proposal does she deal with her pride and prejudice. Besides, the struggle between
her mind and her heart does not take a lot of time because she quickly realizes that
she misunderstands his nature owing to her pride and prejudice. As soon as she is
aware of this, she is not as stubborn as before and becomes mild, even shy in her
love with him.
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