pride & prejudice mr darcy quotes & analysis

IGCSE CIE English Literature

“not handsome enough to tempt me” (p10)

darcy’s snub of elizabeth - shows how far they both come/how much they develop by the end - comparing elizabeth to other ‘prettier’ women, showing that the main thing noticed by men in regency era was appearance, used as a measure of eligibility - shows his prideful/arrogant/egotistical nature - saying she’s pretty but not pretty enough for him, implying he is too good for her, she is pretty but only to lower class men, emphasises his belief in social class/hierarchy/how it has influenced him being high class

”You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” (p200)

expressing deep, profound, relentless feelings for elizabeth - showing how his feelings have grown since beginning of novel - “must” - superlative, can’t keep his feelings in any longer, needs her to hear this - reverse of gender and class roles (“allow”) he is so desperate to tell her how he feels that he is asking her for permission (female, lower class) - “ardently” - adverb, passionately, strongly, unwaveringly - his feelings for her cannot be repressed - “admire” - in awe of her, looks up to her (again reversal of class) - “love” admission of romance, syntax = build up - this layered, desperate and dramatic admission of love is a massive contrast to darcy’s usual disposition which is reserved, quiet, composed - showing his layers of character and the change in character elizabeth evokes from him

“I certainly have not the talent which some people possess.” (p186)

shows darcy is becoming more humble/less prideful - painfully aware of and willing to admit his flaws - also shows he feels comfortable around elizabeth and colonel fitzwilliam - more vulnerable side - referencing ease of conversation/social skills - “certainly” - adverb - sure of this, convinced he is poor in social situations - possibly implies arrogance is façade to hide his insecurities - darcy is a less shallow character than he was previously presented as - here his openness shows he is not afraid to talk about his flaws, understands he has them and does not want to act like they don’t exist - shows his preference to honesty and his disdain for being fake and acting as if he is someone he’s not

“I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow.” (p27)

“pleasure” - he is finding enjoyment in watching elizabeth, is something he would gladly continue doing, shows his fixation on her, how preoccupied he is by her - “pretty” - views elizabeth as pretty, pleasing to look at, beautiful, contrast to previously saying she wasn’t handsome enough to entice him - repeatedly compliments her eyes, shows he has been watching her long enough to find a specific fixation of her face - currently only fixated on her appearance - shallowness and superficiality reflect gender norms in regency era - women there to look at - however eyes also said to be window to soul, hinting at him liking her eyes due to feeling he understands her through them, also shows development as he later begins to love and compliment her personality and intelligence

“It was unpardonable. I cannot think of it without abhorrence.” (p392)

referring to his previous behaviour towards elizabeth - shows his character development - self-aware, acknowledging his flaws and wrongdoings and how terrible they were without being prompted to - he has reflected on his previous character/disposition - “unpardonable“ - cannot be excused - believes his previous actions were deserving of punishment, even he cannot excuse them with knowledge of how he has grown/changed - “abhorrence” - loathing - disgusted by his previous self and actions - will never let this happen again - willing to change, wants to be better - shows how open he has become to criticism and how much elizabeth has affected him - contrast to initial character who believed he knew best - said in direct speech from Darcy as this shows how it goes to his core and how truly he means it

“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil…” (p61)

shows his understanding of his own flaws, but also pushes this on everyone else - possibly using as a defence of his own flaws, saying he is not at fault and it is just human nature to have some faults/evil - pessimistic view, on some level rationalising behaviour which is immoral/rude/disagreeable - “every” - inclusive of all people, no barriers of class, gender, age etc - in this statement he appears to ignore class and gender roles/stereotypes, is putting himself in a group with these people and saying everyone has these excusable faults - hinting at a deeper level of him which knows class does not mean anything in terms of disposition or intelligence

“One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.” (p240)

elizabeth comparing mr darcy and mr wickham to jane after receiving darcy’s post-proposal letter through which she learnt the truth about darcy and wickham - saying darcy has got all the true, honest kindness, goodness, morality and loveliness, while mr wickham got all the charm which he uses to deceive people into believing he is good and kind - shows that darcy is truly a good person but simply doesn’t know how to properly show it - he is complicated and layered but to the core is a respectable and honest person

“she could hardly restrain her astonishment from being visible.” (p277)

elizabeth - when mr darcy meets and is talking to Mr and Mrs Gardiner at Lambton, he is excessively kind, welcoming and pleasing - he is not just polite to them, but acts as if he genuinely wants them to like him and wants to see them again - later expresses a wish to have them for dinner at Pemberley - these are people Elizabeth previously believed he would’ve been disgusted to be around, people who are inferior to him (this is after the first proposal where he talks about how inferior her parents and family are) so this a shocking change - shows character growth, development and a genuine wish to be better - “hardly” - adverb - emphasises how strong and great of a change there is in Mr Darcy - so noticeable that Elizabeth finds it difficult to keep herself composed and not let her shock show

“it was neither gaudy nor uselessly fine…more real elegance” p259

Elizabeth regarding Pemberely - “gaudy” - adjective, extravagantly showy to the point of being tasteless, “uselessly” - adverb - not providing anything, unnecessary - saying Pemberely is not extra done up to impress visitors with impractical elements, just decorated how Mr Darcy likes it, which is without excessive decoration and not fake/falsified to impress and appeal to others - reflects on Mr Darcy being a genuine person who dislikes façades and being fake - “more” comparative, saying Pemberely has more genuine elegance rather than the fake, overdone, artificial elegance of Rosings - Mr Darcy makes it appear elegant without trying

“not one of his tenants or servants but what will give him a good name.” p262

Mr Darcy’s housekeeper talking about him - she has been complimenting him and saying how kind and good-tempered he is, now saying it’s not just her but all these people will say the same - evidence of Mr Darcy’s goodness - the fact it’s his tenants/servants means a lot, as most of these people would be considered lower class than him - connotes that he shows just as much kindness and respect, if not more, to these people compared to people of the same or higher class than him - discredits the idea that he is prideful and only believes in respecting those of his class or higher

Mrs Gardiner’s letter to Elizabeth about Mr Darcy’s involvement in Lydia and Wickham’s situation p340-345

this letter reveals that Mr Darcy was majorly involved in fixing the Wickham Lydia situation - he chose to help find Wickham and Lydia, had many meetings with Wickham (a man he despises) and paid off his debts, plus extra money to get him to marry Lydia, then said Mr Gardiner should get all the credit - the fact this is relayed in a letter from Mrs Gardiner emphasises the reliability of it, cementing Darcy’s good nature to Elizabeth and the reader - it also proves that he didn’t do this for attention or gratitude, but simply to help - he did all this despite his past with Wickham and any connection with Wickham and Lydia causing damage to his reputation - emphasises his love for Elizabeth and his earnestness to help out

“Much as I respect them, I believe I only thought of you.” p391

“respect” - noun, admiration for someone/something - saying he respects her family and admires them, despite previously being very affected and put off by their inferiority - shows growth in his innate beliefs and his view of other people and the class system - “only” adverb, shows he thought singularly of Elizabeth - usually very measured and would think a lot about such a big decision before making it - here only Elizabeth was on his mind - shows her importance and value to him

“He declared himself to have been totally unsuspicious of her sister’s attachment” p221 to 222

“totally” - adverb, wholly, fully - was entirely unaware of Jane’s feelings for Bingley, had no idea she was attracted to him - does hint at pride as he made this assumption based on his observations and assumed he was correct, didn’t even think about the fact he didn’t know Jane or her character very well - however also demonstrates that he is not immoral - he wouldn’t have separated them if he knew it would be damaging to Jane and could’ve worked out, did this as he thought Jane would be ok and didn’t want Bingley to get hurt - shows he has care for his friends

“never…seen anything that betrayed to him to be unprincipled or unjust” p220-221

stating that despite Darcy appearing prideful and not having the best social skills/manners, he has never done anything with malicious intent, done something solely to be unfair or prejudiced or appeared to not have values which he upholds - he is not a bad person - use of free indirect speech - this idea is still forming in Elizabeth’s head, but shows that it rings true and proves Darcy’s innocence as a person