Pride & Prejudice: Chapters 58-61

Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen

Since the novel has come to a close, it would be an opportune time to reflect on the more general and consistent themes and concepts of the work.  Specifically, two motifs that appear in the title (pride and prejudice) obviously relate quite directly to some main themes.  Although the development of the relevance of pride and prejudice occurs throughout the novel, the final chapters see their end and what can be gained through disavowing them.

Since the title creates two distinct ideas, I originally believed the duality to translate to the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy with Darcy representing pride and Elizabeth representing prejudice.  However, the two characters exhibit both qualities from time to time largely because one leads to the other.  In Elizabeth's case, her pride caused her to side with Wickham without knowing the circumstances and her prejudice caused her to reject Darcy's proposal because she had believed him to be incapable of love-just to enumerate a few examples.  Likewise, Darcy's pride caused him to alienate Elizabeth by his attitude and his prejudice against her family caused him to dash Jane's marriage temporarily and make securing his own difficult.

Gradually, both characters gradually overcome their vices.  Elizabeth accepts her false and confident accusations while Darcy strives to act more civilly to Elizabeth and her family.  Eventually, they abate their pride and prejudice to the point that they can see their love for each other: "Elizabeth...gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances," (Austen, 289).  In these last scenes, the result rather than the action of forsaking pride and prejudice is revealed.  Elizabeth reveals that change, the bane of pride and prejudice, brought her to realize all Darcy could offer her.  Therefore, Austen's theme is realized: releasing pride and prejudice will bring happiness previously hidden by themselves.