First_Impressions_in_Pride_and_Prejudice

Judgments in Pride and Prejudice Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice takes place in England during the 1800's. During this time period, society focused a lot of attention on social encounters through dances and formal gatherings. The culture held the art of being gentlemanlike and well mannered in very high regards, and through this standard, first impressions on individuals became incredibly important. Austin shows this cultural standard in different ways in her novel to teach the reader that making judgments off of first impressions is immoral and wrong. In the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to the town of Meryton. They are quick to note that the town is primarily made up of wealthier, proper people, who are quick to judge others based on physical appearance, social status, and possessions. When one is surrounded by a group of people that act a certain way, it is hard to not follow instep. Austin introduces a sense of being judgmental through humor. She uses Mrs. Bennett as her target, and through her dialogue, Austin is able to portray her judgments. When Mrs. Bennett first meets Mr. Bingly, she bases her opinion of him based off only his physical appearance:   'Oh! My dear, I am quite delighted with him. He is so excessively handsome!'’ (pg. 16)   Removing the light humor from the subject, the reader can see the more serious side of Mrs. Bennett’s judgmental side when she becomes determined to have her daughters married to only wealthy men. Because Mr. Bingly fits into this category, Mrs. Bennett cannot help but like him more when the prospect of her daughter Jane marrying him comes into play. 'Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with her twice. Think of that my dear; he actually danced with her twice; and she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second time!' (Pg 15)  In this quote, the reader can see how consumed Mrs. Bennett becomes with the notion of a wealthy man finding interest in one of her daughters. In contrast, Mrs. Bennett's first impression of Mr. Darcy was the complete opposite, even though his salary doubled that of Mr. Bingly. Mrs. Bennett came to a conclusion based off his behavior and personality that he is too proud and arrogant. 'Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined   being introduced to any other lady and spent the rest of the evening walking about the room speaking occasionally to one of his own party. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again. Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs. Bennett, whose dislike of his general behaviour, was sharpened into particular resentment, by his having slighted one of her daughters.' (pg 12)     In return to Mrs. Bennett’s judgments, Mr. Darcy judges Elizabeth and the Bennett family as a whole on their social status. He finds he immediately doesn’t like them because of their financial situation. Although the Bennetts are upper-middle class, they are still poorer than the other families that they associate themselves with. Because of the massive amount of money that is under Mr. Darcey’s name, he cannot help but feel that he is above most other people. In the end, he feels as if he can be rude to anyone he likes, because the society of Meryton is lower than him. Continuing Darcy’s prejudice towards the Bennett family, when he sees Jane together with Mr. Bingley at the dinner party, Darcy concludes Jane is only after Mr. Bingley for superficial reasons. These reasons consist of security and financial stability. Instead of understanding the love they have towards each other, Darcy allows his pride to blind him of the truth and thoughtlessly assume that only a lady of equal status is worthy of Bingley's love. For him, love is a synonym with salary, and has nothing to do with true emotions. It is not only Mr. Bingly and Mr. Darcy that are part of the prejudice in this novel. Mr. Wickham is yet another example of first impressions based on superficial qualities. Because of his looks, acceptable salary, and gentlemanlike cheery manner, Mr. Wickham becomes very well liked by not only Mrs. Bennett, but the daughters as well. 'But the attention of every young lady was soon caught by a young man, whom they had never seen before, of most gentlemanlike appearance, walking with an officer, on the other side of the way.' (pg 62) Because of his charming personality, Mr. Wickham is quickly well liked by the community. Austin proves through Mr. Wickham’s character however, that even though the first impression of someone may be appealing, the actual person may end up being terrible. Later on in the novel, the reader learns of Wickham’s dirty history with Darcy. On top of his history, he follows up by eloping away with Lydia, until he is finally forced into a position to marry her, only to save the Bennett’s reputation.   It wasn’t just the men that were expected to uphold a life of proper manners; women were also expected to conform to high standards of behavior and courtesy. Women were expected to take no part in any business deals or work, but instead lead a very domestic, tamed life. It was expected from every girl to successfully be able to sew, dance, read, and play an instrument. Throughout the novel, this stereotype is incredibly enforced, and when a woman fails to perform these abilities to their finest, the other women are quick to point it out. An episode of this happens when Mary attempts to play the piano, and ends up performing poorly. In general though, the Bennett girls enforce this stereotype into their lives, and try to maintain their female duties. 'It is amazing to me how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished, as they all are. They paint tables, cover screens and net purses. I scarcely know anyone who cannot do all this, and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished.' (Pg 35) Mr. Bingley recognizes the Bennett girl’s talents and their ability to do all that is required of them. The reader can start to develop an understanding that these harsh judgments lead to a demise in the 19th century European culture. Their culture has made no free room for new ideas of different lifestyles, but instead only embraces one of etiquette and manners to its fullest. This leads to a very shallow look at life, where all one is concerned about is another’s salary and physical appearance. Everyone starts to become a little too proud of their own life and overly prejudice of others. Mr. Darcy is no exception to those being prejudice against others. For a duration of the novel, he continues to look down upon Elizabeth. Because Mr. Darcy grew up with such favorable conditions, it has been worked into his mind over the years that everyone is socially lower than him because their statistics do not add up. On top off his salary and good looks, his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh is incredibly condescending and prejudice of anyone that is less fortunate than her. She speaks to Darcy regularly and makes sure that her sinister views are lodged away in his head. The reader doesn’t realize how serious Darcy takes his prejudice until the day comes when he proposes to Elizabeth. Instead of just proposing, and feeling happy with it, Darcy feels that she is his inferiority because of her family’s income, and they are also one with a poor reputation because of Lydia’s unfortunate events with Wickham. '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 judgment 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.' (Pg 157) Once again, Elizabeth is also subject to being judgmental herself. Although she is generally more thought of to be a more rational, idealistic character, she judges Darcy just as much as he judges her. In the end, she still manages to fall in love with him.  When she first meets Mr. Darcy though, she sees him as arrogant and self-centered. Her impression of him is amplified after talking to Mr. Wickham and hearing a false history of Darcy, giving the idea that Darcy has a bad history and Mr. Wickham a good one. It is not until the near end of   the novel where Elizabeth realizes she was foolish for judging both Darcy and   Wickham on first impressions and her impressions on Darcy begin to turn around.   Elizabeth seems to be the only one in the novel that learns from making bold judgments based off of first impressions. She clearly sees that she was wrong about Mr. Darcy being ill hearted and Mr. Wickham being a genuine person. Once she learns this lesson, she is quick to change herself and starts making judgments of people after getting to know them more personally. Through all the characters, the reader can see where harsh judgments based off of first impressions can lead. Austin varies from light humor to serious accusations to bring her point that this kind of lifestyle is wrong. The judgments of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham proved to be wrong and were only based off of their manner. In return, Darcy’s prejudice over the Bennett’s fortune delayed his ultimate love for Elizabeth. Had none of these characters been so quick to judge each other, many of their conflicts could have been avoided or resolved much earlier. Austin does a great job in portraying life in the 19th century while still relaying the message that this lifestyle needs to change. Work Cited Austen, Jane, and Pat Rogers. Pride and Prejudice. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006. Print. "Women in the 19th Century." A World History Encyclopedia. Web. 02 May 2011. .