Pride and Prejudice Essay
When getting to know someone, a person should never make assumptions prematurely without understanding the person to the full extent. First impressions are very powerful and can influence all future behavior and interaction. In Jane Austen’s fictional novel “Pride and Prejudice,” first impressions play a vital role in the town affairs as they influence the Bennet family’s relationships with their new neighbors. People should never rush towards harsh conclusions about someone without getting to know them. From the moment Elizabeth Bennet overhears Mr. Darcy say that: “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me…” (Austen 13), Elizabeth’s first impressions of Mr. Darcy are very important as they affect how she and the rest of the Bennet family treats Mr. Darcy and his family. Even after the Meryton ball, Mrs. Bennet says: “[Mr. Darcy]…for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! … I quite detest the man” (Austen 15). Austen’s fastidious writing about the characterization of Mr. Darcy leaves the reader to believe that Mr. Darcy is a very rude and selfish man. However after Mr. Darcy confesses his love to Elizabeth and tells her the truth about Wickham, a greedy man who had conflict with Mr. Darcy, she begins to realize that her first impressions of Mr. Darcy were inaccurate. “She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. – Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd” (Austen 201). Elizabeth was madly in love with Wickham and she was completely blinded by the fact that he was a bad, deceiving man. She desperately wanted him to be the perfect man for her and ignored her common sense, causing her to make foolish judgments towards Mr. Darcy. First impressions...