Pride and Prejudice 8: Ch. 11-13

"Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind.  But vanity, not love, has been my folly.  Pleased with preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away where either were concerned.  Till this moment, I never knew myself" (205).

The title of this novel, Pride and Prejudice, along with its original title, First Impressions, both pertain to Elizabeth's situation.  Elizabeth claims herself to be realistic in comparison to her sister, Jane who sees the good in everyone.  However, Elizabeth relies on only her first impression of people and relates all of their later actions to fit in accordance with the first.  As Elizabeth rejects Mr. Darcy's proposal she states that the main reason for her hatred of him stemmed "From the very beginning, from the first moment [...] of my acquaintance with you"(190).  Just as Elizabeth judged Darcy on her first impression of him, she did the same with Mr. Wickham.  Mr. Wickham is intelligent, charming, well mannered, and "His appearance was greatly in his favour: he had all the best parts of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure and very pleasing address" (73).  First impressions are not always what they seem, as we see that Elizabeth's first impressions of Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy led her to some very wrong assumptions.  She was proud and thought she knew everything about the two, when in fact, she made the ore humiliating discovery that her judgements were wrong.

What was Mr. Wickham's reasons for wanting to marry Miss Darcy?

a.) to gain Miss Darcy's wealth and to seek revenge on Mr. Darcy

b.) to make up with Mr. Darcy

c.) Mr. Wickham did not want to marry Miss Darcy, she actually wanted to marry him

d.) the late Mr. Darcy arranged the marriage