Pride and Prejudice has entranced readers throughout the centuries with its touching love story: two people overcome their pride and vast differences in wealth to be with each other. The novel is a commentary on the absurdity of the class system with respect to marriage and relationships, and Austen’s driving point throughout the book seems to be the fact that social standing should not dictate love. She shows this through her protagonists, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, who are both initially filled with pride and prejudice towards each other primarily because they are so divided in social standing, but eventually realize that this is irrelevant to love.
One of the most famous scenes of the novel is the first proposal; it is the climax of the book and serves as a release of the tension that Austen built up between Elizabeth and Darcy until this point in the novel. It also marks the beginning of the lengthy denouement in which Elizabeth discovers and comes to terms with the fact that her preconceptions of Darcy were almost wholly incorrect, and slowly but surely, her dislike for him turns into love.
Austen builds up tension to the scene in the chapter preceding it. The state of their relationship at this point in the novel seems to be a mutual state of dislike, even though readers of the novel know that the dislike is one-sided. Their meeting after several months at the Hastings is barely cordial, especially on Elizabeth’s side; Darcy “met her with every appearance of composure”, and Elizabeth “merely curtseyed to him without saying a word”. Readers must note that the story is told from Elizabeth’s point of view, and the clues of Darcy’s interest seem innocuous at best. For example, when Elizabeth strikes up a lively conversation with Darcy’s companion Colonel Fitzwilliam in the presence of Darcy and Lady Catherine, “his eyes had been soon and repeatedly turned towards them with a look of curiosity”. Darcy also “seemed shocked” to walk in on Elizabeth alone at the Collinses, even though the conversation that follows, as well as the fact that he leaves immediately after other people arrive, indicates to readers that this visit may have been a premeditated effort on Darcy’s part. Even Charlotte briefly considers some of Darcy’s actions to be indicative of his romantic interest in her friend; as stated from her point of view, “[Darcy] certainly looked at [Elizabeth] a great deal… [with] an earnest, steadfast gaze, but she often doubted whether there was much admiration in it, and sometimes it seemed nothing but absence of mind”.
One of the better examples of Elizabeth’s obliviousness to Darcy’s intentions is the passage in which she wonders why she keeps running into him on her walks through the park. She is so convinced that Darcy dislikes her as strongly as she dislikes him that to avoid encountering him again, “she took care to inform him at first that it was a favourite haunt of hers”, and is shocked when, like “willful ill-nature”, she runs into him multiple times. To readers, it is fairly obvious that Darcy is doing this on purpose, but Elizabeth’s cluelessness adds to the tension that she feels and to the tension building as a whole. For Elizabeth in particular, the final straw comes during her conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam, where she learns that “[Darcy] congratulated himself on having lately saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage” and correctly assumes that he is referring to Jane and Bingley, but incorrectly construes the nature of Darcy’s involvement in this matter. Here is where first time readers may or may not change their impression of Darcy; at this point in the novel, readers are not given any information as to whether Elizabeth’s assumptions are correct or not. This serves as the perfect buildup to the proposal scene itself, because now readers may not be sure what to expect from Darcy. His actions say one thing, but Colonel Fitzwilliam’s account says another.
The proposal scene begins with Elizabeth completely yielding to her prejudices towards Darcy; in fact, “as if intending to exasperate herself as much as possible against Mr. Darcy, [she] chose for her employment the examination of all the letters which Jane had written to her since her being in Kent”. Indeed, she is “utterly amazed” when Mr. Darcy walks into the room under the pretense of inquiring after her health, and is “astonished beyond expression” at the famous line, “In vain I have 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.” The reactions that follow serve to illustrate the pride and prejudices that both characters possess. The sheer magnitude of Elizabeth’s shock at Darcy’s proposal illustrates how much her prejudice has clouded her impression of Darcy; though Austen gave readers plenty of hints regarding Darcy’s affections, Elizabeth herself has no idea. Furthermore, her definitive rejection of his proposal reveals her own pride, something she believes Darcy to be too full of. Darcy is not exempt from his pride and prejudice either; indeed, “he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride”, which not only blinds him to Elizabeth’s absolute dislike of him, but also leads him to fail to realize the fact that Elizabeth is not the type of person to marry simply for a boost in social standing. His prejudice is revealed in his insensitive and lengthy monologue about the inferiority of her connections, and seems to want Elizabeth to believe that he would be doing her a favor by marrying her.
Darcy does nothing in particular to defend himself against Elizabeth’s accusations regarding Jane and Wickham – in fact, he simply loses his temper and acts prideful, which does nothing to help his case – but he seems to react when Elizabeth angrily states that she would not have rejected him in such a manner “had [he] acted in a more gentlemanlike manner”. As Austen states, “his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at her with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification”. Readers realize later in the novel that this is the point at which Darcy recognizes the error of his ways, and it is likely that it is because of this statement that he found it in him to put away his pride long enough to write Elizabeth a letter afterwards with his responses to her accusations.
One of the shortcomings of the novel’s version of the proposal scene, however, is the dominance of the dialogue over the description of the characters themselves. The full extent of the cumulative emotional range of the scene is better realized through the film versions of Pride and Prejudice. In particular, the 1995 and 2005 versions provide depictions on two sides of the spectrum; the 2005 is somewhat dramatized and changes the dialogue slightly to match, while the 1995 version is as accurate to the original scene as can be.
The 2005 version of the proposal scene begins with Elizabeth running across a bridge in the pouring rain after she misconstrues Darcy’s intentions regarding separating Jane and Bingley. Already we can see that this scene is dramatized; while not completely out of character, running through the rain is perhaps a touch dramatic for Elizabeth’s original characterization. The scene is also accompanied by an orchestra playing a heavy, angst-filled tune in a minor key, which serves to set the mood for Darcy’s appearance. In the next frame, viewers see the camera slowly panning towards Elizabeth leaning against the facade of a building, panting as she pulls off her scarf with evident anger. The camera stops panning and the musical sequence finishes as viewers see Mr. Darcy step into the screen, and Elizabeth jumps back with obvious surprise. The 2005 film’s Mr. Darcy is far more disheveled and evidently in distress than his book counterpart; his hair and clothes are soaked, and he wears a disturbed expression. Viewers can also see Elizabeth’s expression turn from irritation to shock as the camera pans back and forth between them. Darcy’s character is somewhat dramatized in this scene, as revealed by his abbreviation of his counterpart’s famous confession: “I love you, most ardently.” In the film, viewers can hear his voice crack as he states this, lending more emotion to his proposal than perhaps any other of his actions could have. His feelings are also quite clearly written on his face, and he is looking at Elizabeth with unquestionable love and admiration. The camera then pans to Elizabeth, and viewers can see her expression turning from shock to anger as she states her rejection of his proposal, and the next frame shows Darcy’s expression going through the same transformation. The anger and indignation present in the proposal scene is perhaps best represented in the 2005 film; neither of the actors hold back, and tirade each other with raised voices as the camera pans back and forth between them. The pouring rain in the background makes the pauses in the dialogue just as loud as the dialogue itself. As the fight escalates, Darcy physically moves closer to Elizabeth, and the camera zooms in on both of their faces as well. Particular emphasis seems to be placed on the characters’ eyes; viewers can see the anger and hurt present in both. The scene ends with Darcy exiting and Elizabeth stumbling back as if she had been pushed, and her short exhale seems to represent a release of all the built up tension. In comparison to the original scene from the book, the 2005 film certainly condenses the dialogue, but also condenses the emotion into short, angry outbursts that make the characters’ emotions quite clear to the viewer.
The 1995 BBC television film series is far more accurate to the book in general, and the proposal scene in particular is performed nearly word for word. This is perhaps the closest that viewers can get to how Austen envisioned the scene when she wrote it. The scene begins with Darcy storming in, his voice and body language clear signals of his agitation. The camera pans to Elizabeth, who reacts cordially but with a neutral expression, true to the descriptions given in the novel. For quite a few frames, the camera goes back and forth from Darcy pacing around and trying to compose himself to Elizabeth’s politely confused expression, and even though the scene itself is barely a few seconds, it builds up a great deal of tension that makes the film almost hard to watch. Furthermore, the awkward silence is only punctuated by Darcy’s aggravates sighs and the sound of birds chirping. The discomfort that viewers feel while watching this scene is something that readers cannot really get from its counterpart in the novel. Darcy’s confession itself is delivered with a sort of cold passion, and the camera is positioned such that viewers see his face from the same angle that Elizabeth does. As the camera pans between Darcy’s insensitive confession and Elizabeth’s face, viewers can clearly see her expression growing colder every time the camera comes back to her. Her rebuttal is delivered in the same cold yet calm tone, and the scene gives particular focus to Darcy’s reaction to her words. This is especially true during the ‘gentlemanly manner’ segment, in which the camera focuses on Darcy and his obvious discomfort at her words. There are also some pauses in dialogue that serve to heighten the tension between the two characters, something that the novel’s text cannot convey as effectively as a film.
The novel, the 1995 film, and the 2005 film each give the same scene a different type of character, and yet all three manage to correctly convey the anger and frustration that Darcy and Elizabeth feel towards each other to their respective audiences. The tension of the proposal scene is resolved slowly throughout the novel and the films alike, and when the resolution of the second proposal finally occurs, readers and viewers cannot help but rejoice.