Mr. Darcy Character Analysis

Mr. Darcy, Charles Bingley and Elizabeth Bennet

Fitzwilliam Darcy, more commonly known as Mr. Darcy, is the wealthy master of the Pemberley country estate and nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He is one of the two central characters in the novel, the other being Elizabeth.

Darcy is the brooding and aloof romantic hero, who comes with a dash of arrogance and haughtiness. He is intelligent, honest and socially awkward.

As the story develops we also learn about his compassionate nature and generous side. When the Bennets are caught up in a scandal involving young Lydia and George Wickham, the noble hero Darcy intervenes to save the day.

Darcy’s excessive pride and sense of his own superiority lead him to look down on his social inferiors. He is disliked by some people for this and sparks fly between him and Elizabeth early in the novel.

But like Elizabeth, Darcy acquires the self-knowledge to admit his faults and change. He manages to overcome his pride and class-consciousness and grows to admire and love Elizabeth and her strong character.

Here are six key Mr. Darcy quotes with analysis that define Jane Austen’s most famous heartthrob:

“She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”

Chapter 3. Mr. Darcy says this to Mr. Bingley about Elizabeth Bennet, when Bingley tries to persuade him to dance with her at the Meryton ball. Darcy’s claim that Elizabeth is not handsome enough to tempt him turns out to be very ironic, since he ends up falling in love with her and marrying her. But when he first meets her here, Darcy looks down his nose at Elizabeth without knowing her. His pride getting the better of him, he considers Elizabeth and the people of Meryton to be his social inferiors.

“My good opinion once lost, is lost forever.”

Chapter 11. Mr. Darcy displays his prideful nature here when he says this to Elizabeth. The unforgiving Darcy is very proud of and over-confident in his own opinions, when someone does him wrong.

“Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.”
“And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is willfully to misunderstand them.”

Chapter 11. Elizabeth and Darcy continue to verbally spar, some might say flirt as there is a palpable sexual tension between the usually solemn Darcy and the playful Elizabeth. Darcy has been trying to seriously explain that everyone has a natural defect despite the best education. In this exchange Elizabeth makes a joke of this and teases by telling him that his defect is to hate everybody. But he is ready for her with his quick comeback that her defect is to wilfully misunderstand everybody – Darcy reads Elizabeth’s nature well here.

In vain have I struggled

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” Elizabeth’s astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement, and the avowal of all that he felt and had long felt for her, immediately followed. He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority – of its being a degradation – of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.

Chapter 34. Mr. Darcy arrives at the Bennet home to make his first proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. While he is frank and honest and open, he goes about it in a clumsy and unromantic way. He speaks of how he has struggled to repress his feelings for Elizabeth, her inferior social rank and the family obstacles to such a union. But despite Elizabeth’s inferiority, he manages to declare his strong admiration and love for her. Elizabeth is absolutely shocked by the proposal, especially as she finds Darcy less “eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride.” Darcy’s proposal seems to be more about himself than about the woman he says he loves and admires. One might say that his presentation leaves a lot to be desired. This is an example of situational irony, because Darcy proposes at the precise moment when Elizabeth hates him the most.

“You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever.”

Chapter 58. If at first your don’t succeed…the climax of Austen’s classic story of love and misunderstanding arrives with Mr. Darcy’s famous second proposal and Elizabeth’s acceptance of it. Moments before Elizabeth learned that Darcy intervened to save Lydia because of his affection for Elizabeth. She is speechless with embarrassment, and Darcy uses the opportunity to propose again. Elizabeth clearly wasn’t ready to receive Darcy’s first proposal and his declaration of “how ardently I admire and love you.” That proposal was also clumsily presented by Darcy, who spoke of how he struggled to repress his feelings and referred to Elizabeth’s inferior social position and family obstacles. But what an insulted Elizabeth didn’t understand then was that Darcy was trying to explain how he loved her in spite of her position and family connections. The second time round when Darcy proposes and Elizabeth accepts, it is more a conversation of equals instead of one or the other thinking that they are superior. Also Darcy’s less prideful second proposal suggests no expectation on his part that Elizabeth will automatically accept him, as clearly was the expectation first time round. Elizabeth sees Darcy in a different light now as well, her stubbornness and prejudice against him having given way to a deeper understanding of his true character: honest and noble and a person of integrity. She has matured and grown to this point where she is ready to accept him.

“They walked on, without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”

Chapter 58. After a relationship dogged by pridefulness, prejudice and misunderstandings, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy finally have their perfect story-tale happy ending. The barriers that they put up against each other have been taken down, and Elizabeth has accepted his marriage proposal. They walk on, their attention on nothing but each other, alone to express their true feelings to each other and plan a life together. It is the moment that they and every reader of the novel has been waiting for. Sadly Jane Austen’s own story with her real-life Mr. Darcy didn’t have the same happy ending. Darcy is believed to be partly based on Irish judge and politician Thomas Lefroy. The Limerick born Lefroy and Austen were said to have a flirtation and spent some time together. In a letter to her sister Cassandra Austen in 1796 she wrote: “At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea.” Both Jane and Cassandra never married but Lefroy married Mary Paul from Wexford, Ireland, in 1799. Just three years before this Jane told Cassandra in a letter: “At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy, and when you receive this it will be over. My tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea.”