My Favourite Passage from P&P-Vijay 08S403

In an hurried manner he immediately began an inquiry after her health, imputing his visit to a wish of hearing that she were better. She answered him with cold civility. He sat down for a few moments, and then getting up walked about the room. Elizabeth was surprised, but said not a word. After a silence of several minutes he came towards her in an agitated manner, and thus began,

"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement, and the avowal of all that he felt and had long felt for her, immediately followed. He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority- of its being a degradation- of the family obstacles which judgement had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.

In spite of her deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man's affection, and though her intentions did not vary for an instant, she was at first sorry for the pain he was about to receive; till roused to resentment by his subsequent language, she lost all compassion in anger. She tried, however, to compose herself to answer him with patience, when he should have done. He concluded with representing to her the strength of that attachment which, in spite of all his endeavours, he had found impossible to conquer; and with expressing his hope that it would now be rewarded by her acceptance of his hand. As he said this, she could easily see that he had no doubt of a favourable answer. He spoke of apprehension and anxiety, but his countenance expressed real security.

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This is my favourite passage from Pride and Prejudice as it shows that despite how stubborn both Elizabeth and Darcy can be, they still are susceptible to changes in their feelings, as the passage shows. Darcy's proposal shows that his feelings for Elizabeth have changed from the first time they met, when he said that she was not "handsome enough". In the following chapters he also expresses his diapproval of Elizabeth. As the reader goes on, slowly but surely, Dacrcy's feelings of Elizabeth turn from dislike, to admiration and finally to love. This passage marks a turning point for both Lizzie and Darcy, as I'll explain in the following paragraphs.

Firstly on Darcy, where he might have noble intentions(that of his love for Lizzie) in making his proposal to her, but we can see he struggles to admit it in a gentle, loving way, instead he comes across as proud of his social status and even condescending on Elizabeth's lowly status in society. Austen even writes that he "was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride." While Elizabeth would probably have expected him to dwell on the reasons why he fell in love with her, instead he spends most of the time expressing that she was of a lower status("her inferiority-of its being a degradation-") to him and thus thair match was probably not appropriate. He also expresses a great deal of pride due to his aristocracy in a very subtle way. During his proposal, Austen notes that while he "spoke of apprehension and anxiety", she writes that Elizabeth noticed that "his countenance expressed real security'. This shows that Darcy, being of high social status, was confident that he would receive a favourable reply from Elizabeth due to his sense of superority over her. While she did shock him by turning him down, I feel that this was siginificant as it showed that he had to prioritise his love for her over the pride that he had over his standing in society when compared to Elizabeth before he finally won her hand, which does happen towards the end of the novel.

For Elizabeth, this passage represents the beginning of her change in feelings for Darcy. While admittedly she does turn him down as she remembered his arrogance towards her, of Darcy trying to split Bingley and Jane and the accusations that he mistreated Wickham, Austen does state that Elizabeth was not "insensible to the compliment" of Darcy's affections. Her initial reaction to her proposal was actually that of pity as she knew that she would reject him, but she then her anger towards him returned as he rambled on about her low social status. In my opinion, I feel that even with her negative reaction, the proposal from Darcy probably did change her impression of him in a positive way, which was further eccentuated by incidents later on in the novel which highlighted his good character(eg. getting Lydia married). While her change of heart was probably not significant at the point where Darcy proposed, it may have led Elizabeth ultimately changing her feelings towards him eventually.

Overall, I think that the passage highlighted a key moment in the novel, one where the pride(of Darcy and his social status) and prejudice(of darcy towards Elizabeth's social status and Elizabeth's negative impression of Darcy)of both charaters began to erode slowly. They both saw the other in a new light and I feel gave both characters the time to explore their feelings towards one another(especially Elizabeth) before she finally accepted his proposal at the end of the novel, where Darcy's admiration of Elizabeth's strong character and her realising his goodness eventually greatly outweighs the sense of prejudice they may have had for each other.