Pride Pride is a constant presence in the characters’ attitudes and treatment of each other, coloring their Judgments and leading them to make rash mistakes. Pride blinds Elizabeth and Dairy to their true feelings about each other. His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man In the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again. Location: Chapter 3 Mentioned or related: Fatalism Dairy Dairy’s pride about his social rank makes him look down on anyone not in his immediate circle.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, takes so much pride in her ability to edge others that she refuses to revise her opinion even in the face of clearly contradictory evidence. This is why she despises the good-hearted Dairy for so long, but initially admires the lying Hickman. Yet while Pride and Prejudice implies that no one is ever completely free of pride, it makes it clear that with the proper moral upbringing one may overcome it to lead a life of decency and kindness.
In the end, the two lovers are able to overcome their pride by helping each other see their respective blind spots. Dairy sheds his snobbery, while Elizabeth learns not to place too much weight on her own Judgments. I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act In that manner, which will, in my own pollen, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me. Location: Chapter 56 Speaker: Elizabeth (Elise, Lezzy) Bennett Mentioned or related: Lady Catherine De Burgh There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. Good pride’ represents our dignity and self-respect. ‘Bad pride’ is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance. John C. Maxwell Generosity Is Glenn more than you can, and pride Is taking less than you need. Kali Gibbon Home Pride and Prejudice: Theme Analysis Introduction Summary Characters Metaphor Theme Top Ten Quotes Biography Pride and Prejudice: Theme Analysis Pride and Prejudice was first titled First Impressions, and these titles embody the themes of the novel.
The narrative describes how the prejudices and first throughout the novel, focusing on those of Elizabeth Bennett. Elizabethan Judgments about other characters’ dispositions are accurate about half of the time. While she is correct about Mr.. Collins and how absurdly self-serving he is and about Lady Catherine De Burgh and how proud and snobbish she is, her first impressions of Nickname and Dairy steer her incorrectly. Hickman is first thought to be a gentleman by all.
His good looks and his easy manner fool almost everyone, and Elizabeth believes without question all that he tells her of Dairy. Elizabethan first impressions of him are contradicted when she realizes that he has lied about Dairy. Elizabeth and many of the other characters see Dairy as proud, and it can be seen from this quote just how quickly this Judgment of him is formed. “The gentlemen pronounced him to e a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr.. Ingle, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which tuned the tide of his popularity; for he as discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend” (58). It is not only what she believes to be pride in Dairy’s character that makes her Judge IM harshly, but also her prejudice against him because of the lies Hickman has told her.
Dairy sees this fault of prejudice in Elizabeth, stating that her defect is “willfully to misunderstand everybody. ” In the end Elizabeth realizes her folly in trusting her first impressions and prejudices about the men, and states, “how despicably have I acted. L, who have prided myself on my discernment! – l, who have valued myself on my abilities. ” The above are only a few of the major examples of first impressions, prejudice and pride in the novel, as these themes show up throughout the story.
Characters besides Dairy are also accused of having too much pride, such as insigne’s sisters, Miss Dairy, Lady Catherine and others. There are also discussions about pride between Elizabeth and Dairy, and Mary discusses pride vs.. Vanity. Characters are also described as being proud on certain occasions. Oh! You are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill off human being in your life.
