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Elizabeth and Darcy - Essay

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Elizabeth and Darcy - Essay
Molly O’Neil
March 2, 2010
Elizabeth and Darcy: With in the first few chapters, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are introduced. These two foil characters have very opposing personalities and opinions. Elizabeth, a very kind, “down-to-earth”, loving woman and Mr. Darcy a very pompous, conceited man. Elizabeth Bennet is the second daughter in the Bennet family the most intelligent and wittiest. She has many positive characteristics, she is lovely, clever and her honesty and open mind allow her to rise above the prejudice and class-bound society. However her tendencies to make quick judgements often lead her to self confusion. The novel Pride and Prejudice is the story of two loves overcoming self inflicted obstacles, such as their similar struggle to find true love, connection and passion. Through out the novel we observe as Elizabeth teaches herself how to cope with her personal struggles such as her mother and father, misbehaved siblings and several snobby females, but the biggest struggles of all is overcoming her predetermined opinion on Mr. Darcy. However this personal struggle leads Elizabeth to turn down Mr. Darcy’s initial marriage proposal. Fortunately, her personality is enough to keep him interested, buying her time to find a solution to her personal obstacle. On the contrary, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is the son of a wealthy family, and owner of a great estate, Pemberley. Darcy acts as a foil to Elizabeth, due to the polar opposite, conflicting personalities. As a reader one may sympathize for Elizabeth more opposed to Darcy because the author focuses more on Elizabeth’s opinions. However, it is eventually revealed that Darcy and Elizabeth are surprising not only alike in many ways but the perfect match. He is a very intelligent and upfront young man, however similarly he too is quick to judge and harshly at that. His high social status and great wealth add a pompous attitude to his character. For an example when he proposes to Elizabeth he

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