Jane Austen’s famous novel Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813, and it has been popular with readers ever since.
In Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, she created two of the best loved characters in romantic fiction. Millions of people over the years have been intrigued by Mr. Darcy, the handsome, proud but enigmatic hero of the novel, and the story of how he meets, misunderstands and finally is united with Elizabeth Bennet.
However, Pride and Prejudice reveals surprisingly little about Darcy and how he is changed from a “haughty, reserved and fastidious” young man to the ardent and humble suitor for the hand of the woman he loves.
Darcy’s Story explores Darcy’s thoughts and actions, and the reasons behind them, and demonstrates that the hero is just as interesting a person as Elizabeth Bennet herself.
Many readers of the novel have agreed with the author when she described Elizabeth Bennet in a letter to her sister Cassandra as being “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.” Her independence of mind, and lack of respect for people who take their social position too seriously, have been described as very modern for the time, now nearly two centuries ago, when the book was completed.
Darcy is a more sombre and reserved personality than Elizabeth, very conscious of his social position, and often appearing aloof and distant. In the story, he observes himself that “my temper would perhaps be called resentful.” Described by the author of Pride and Prejudice early in the book as “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world,” Darcy changes so much that Elizabeth can assure her father that “Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable. You do not know what he really is . . .”
This book explains much more about Darcy’s relationships with his formidable aunt, the forthright Lady Catherine de Bourgh, with his sister, Georgiana, and with his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. We see Elizabeth Bennet, her parents and sisters, and Mr. Bennet’s cousin, the odious but comical curate Mr. Collins, through Darcy’s eyes.
Darcy’s Story reveals how he overcomes the problems and misunderstandings that threaten to separate him from Elizabeth, so that he is able to say to her towards the end of the story “By you I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You shewed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”