First Impressions and their role in Pride & Prejudice

First impressions take up a major role in the plot of Pride and Prejudice as they form the main basis of how the characters interact with each other within most of the story, as is conveyed below:

Pride and Prejudice is a novel about overcoming obstacles and achieving romantic success. For the protagonists, Elizabeth and Darcy, one of the main obstacles they need to overcome is what the novel was originally named; First Impressions. These first impressions begin at the ball in which Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley are initially introduced to the rest of the characters. Without the two main leads even interacting with each other, each has their mind made up about the other.

Darcy, the proud noblewoman’s nephew must break free from his original dismissal of Elizabeth as ‘not handsome enough to tempt me,’ and from his class – based prejudice against her lack of wealth and family connections. However, Elizabeth’s first impressions register Darcy as arrogant and self-satisfied; as a result, she later accepts malicious accusations against him as true.

Both Elizabeth and Darcy are forced to come to grips with their own initial mistakes. The first half of the novel outlines Darcy's progression to the point at which he is able to admit his love in spite of his prejudice. In the second half, Elizabeth's mistaken impressions are displaced by realizations about Darcy's true character.

Darcy's two proposals to Elizabeth chart the mature development of their relationship. He delivers the first at the mid-point of the novel, when he has realized his love for Elizabeth but has not yet escaped his prejudices against her family, and when she is still in the grip of her first, negative impression of him.

The second proposal—in which Darcy humbly restates his love for her and Elizabeth, now with full knowledge of Mr. Darcy's good character, happily accepts—marks the arrival of the two characters, each finally achieving the ability to view the other through unprejudiced eyes.

The marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth reveals the characteristics that constitute a successful marriage. One of these characteristics is that the feeling cannot be brought on by appearances, and must gradually develop between the two people as they get to know one another.

In the beginning, Elizabeth and Darcy were distant from each other because of their prejudice. The series of events which they both experienced gave them the opportunity to understand one another and the time to reconcile their feelings for each other. Thus, their mutual understanding is the foundation of their relationship and will lead them to a peaceful and lasting marriage. This relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy reveals the importance of getting to know one’s partner before marrying and not judging them from first impressions.