Week 7 P&P Volume 3

"The faults that Darcy will outgrow as he overcomes his pride are embodied, satirized, and dismissed through the subordinate characters"  Chapter 1, Page 49 of Woloch


"You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever." Pride and Prejudice Volume 3, Chapter 16, pg. 252

I thought that the take that the theory readings had regarding Darcy's satirical placement were spot on.  Here we have Jane who is in love with Bingley, and he leaves her high and dry simply because she's not the "right kind of girl". Their relationship was brisk but meaningful as I believe they cared for one another.

Darcy on the other hand (at least to me) seemed to love Elizabeth very early on in the story and it was either his pride, prejudice, or both, that lead him to show her his affections later on. He strikes me as the boy on the playground who would pull a girl's pigtails simply because he want to interact with her and his pride stifles any real affection that he might be inclined to show.

I personally love Darcy and Elizabeth.  I saw Darcy falling in love with her coming from a mile away.  I think that it's right of him to be cautious with his feelings and in Chapter 5 Elizabeth and Charlotte even comment on that saying that he's certainly earned the right (in his wealth and good looks) to be proud, but that doesn't mean that they like it. 

There are so many satirical characters in the book (Bingley, Lady Charlotte, and Elizabeth and Jane's younger sisters and mother to name a few) that Darcy and Elizabeth seem like caricatures simply because they are normal, reasonable, flawed characters.