Pride and Prejudice: Towards a Common Language

Abstract

The secret of Pride and Prejudice’s popularity lies in the dynamics between its hero and heroine. The spark of their relationship depends on their equality of intelligence and perception, for Elizabeth and Darcy are more fully equal in this sense than any other of Austen’s protagonists. Each is both protagonist and antagonist; that is, their struggle is as much against each other as it is against the pressures of society or family. The novel presents a balance of power not only between two characters but between two conflicting modes of judgment, and, by extensioh, between two conflicting systems of language which both reflect and shape these judgments.¹ Pride and Prejudice resolves these conflicts in a compromise; Darcy and Elizabeth both change, though in different directions. Furthermore, in Pride and Prejudice, the resolution of the romance does not hinge on the capitulation of either lover to the other, as it does in some other Austen novels. For instance, in Northanger Abbey,. Catherine Morland resolves to think and judge as Henry Tilney does. Edmund comes round to Fanny at the end of Mansfield Park, acknowledging his past errors and Fanny’s wisdom; the heroine of Emma renounces her role as imaginist and binds herself to Mr. Knightley. And in Persuasion, Wentworth finds at the novel’s conclusion that he owes his happiness less to his own efforts than to Anne’s. However, at the end of Pride and Prejudice, though both lovers gallantly assume a more than equal share of the blame, the true portion of responsibility for their initial misery and later happiness is in equilibrium. Equality of errors lead to equality of education.