Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Lizzy uncovers a momentous and significant fact that both overturns her beliefs and reinforces her prejudices. It turns out that Darcy, not Caroline Bingley, who convinced Mr. Bingley to drop dreams of marrying Jane. While this knowledge serves as an entertaining twist, it also provides an insight into the use of prejudice as a motif in the novel.
On one hand, Elizabeth realized the error in her assertions of Caroline's blame in Mr. Bingley's decision not to marry Jane. Since her prejudices against a seemingly hostile Caroline were to blame for these assertions, the reader can start to pick up on one of the themes of the novel: renounce prejudice. If she had simply kept her assertions to herself, negative consequences might have been avoided. However, since she so stubbornly argued her case to Jane, she likely jeopardized Jane's friendship with Caroline.
Although she is not aware, her prejudice has also jeopardized her own prospects for the future. "The agitation and tears which the subject occasioned brought on a headache; and it grew so much worse towards the evening that added to her unwillingness to see Mr. Darcy, it determined her not to attend her cousins to Rosings, where they were engaged to drink tea," (Austen, 148). Dramatic irony lies Elizabeth's predicament because the narrator has noted Darcy's clandestine love for her, but she has learned nothing of the sort. Instead of inquiring into his motives, Lizzy has simply decided to despise and avoid him both because of his first impressions and his latest scheme. Unfortunately, she could be throwing away her chances at a happy and wealthy marriage.
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