Analysis of George Wickham

George Wickham George Wickham is an important character from Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice. His role in the story is very important because he first leads Elizabeth away from Darcy but ends up pushing her towards him. Without Wickham Elizabeth might not have fallen in love with Darcy. Wickham has a unique appearance and personality, a hidden background, bad relationships with others, and an important role in the story. The reader’s and Elizabeth’s first impressions of Wickham are far from the truth. The narrator describes Wickham as, “of most gentlemanlike appearance,” and adds, “he had the best part of beauty.” This causes one, such as Elizabeth, to think of Wickham as a charming, well-mannered, and extremely attractive man. “Mr. Wickham was the happy man towards whom almost every female eye was turned.” This quote shows that his outwards appearance is charming, confident, good looking, and so on. He is used to being the center of attention. The fact that he is a militiaman makes him seem even more respectable. He can easily win the favor of other people soon after meeting them. In reality, Wickham is deceiving and very persuasive. His ability to engage in conversation and his appearance make it easy for him to hide his dark side. Wickham is the definition of the phrase, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” Wickham comes from a low-class family in which his father was a steward for the Darcy’s. Wickham himself has no income or fortune but he was educated as a gentleman. Wickham spends most of his time trying to lay his hands on easy money which has led him to a lot of gambling debt and loans. He has gentleman like attributes, due to living with the Darcy’s throughout his life, but does not have the gentleman like wealth to match. Wickham’s role in the story begins in chapter 15 when Elizabeth meets him. At first, she begins to get attracted to Wickham due to his charm and physical appearance. He draws her even farther away from