MHS SP, part cinq

Indoors and Out: Their Use in Pride and Prejudice

In Jane Austen’s classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, protagonist Elizabeth Bennet meets and converses with Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy a rather small amount of times before he suddenly springs his proposal of marriage unto her. In those meetings with Elizabeth, the two found themselves either outside or inside; in each case, when two found themselves inside, Darcy found himself overpowered by his company, be it the Bingley sisters or the Bennet family; when they were outside however, Darcy regained his footing. By having crucial events that show Darcy in a negative light take place inside, Austen connects the idea of being inside a building with being suffocated and confined by the rules of society, alluding to this idea each time Darcy and Elizabeth confront each other either in, or outside a house.

Prevalent early on, especially in chapters three, eight and nine, whenever Darcy is in the room with Elizabeth, they’re also in the company of the Bingley sisters. Early on in chapter three, Darcy is seen as a remarkably cold, aloof man, once commenting that he wasn’t dancing because it would have been “a punishment to [him] to stand up with” (8) anyone, seeing as they were all below him. As the tale continues, when the reader reaches chapter eight, Darcy and Mr. Bingley find themselves defending the Bennett family from the onslaught of insults from the Bingley sisters, but seeing as they are still inside, Darcy in turn suffocates from the pressure from being in the upper class, compared to the Bennets. He eventually caves ink, and agrees that their status does indeed “lessen their chance of marrying men of any consideration in the world.” (30)

In the latter half of the book however, as Darcy continues to fall deeper and deeper in love with Elizabeth, he begins to free himself from the prison that is society’s expectations, which is reflected in the change of scenery from the closed houses and rooms, to the wide open countryside of Netherfield. Outside is where both Darcy and Elizabeth gain strength from; although at first, Darcy was hesitant to break through the walls that society confined him in, simply handing Elizabeth a letter, as the tale moves on Elizabeth begins to fall more and more in love with him, especially reconsidering her dislike of him after his housekeeper commented on him being the “sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the world.” (210) While Darcy suffered a momentary set back when he was once again confined in society’s thoughts of him, once the Bennet family discovered that it was indeed Darcy that had saved their familial reputation, as well as their young daughter Lydia from living a rather shameful, miserable life, Darcy broke out into the open once more, in turn breaking through society’s expectations of him.

Austen carefully places Darcy and Elizabeth’s meetings in Pride and Prejudice to coordinate with the idea that when they met inside an area, they were meeting and acting as society expected them to; when they were given free reign, then their true personalities stood out, especially in terms with Darcy. This was especially highlighted by the fact that often times when the two were meeting inside, then the Bingley sisters, who not only personify society’s expected roles but try and enforce them as well, would comment and either cause Darcy to agree with them, or snidely make comments on Elizabeth and her family. By doing so, Austen manages to create a setting that allows the reader to imagine what might happen next, if they realize the pattern early on.