Pride & Prejudice essay on first impressions

In the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, first impressions and thoughts of main characters from Elizabeth change throughout the story to reveal that they can often be contradicting to a person’s true character. Even though it is normally thought of as negative to judge others without getting to know them, it is quite often done before we even have time to think about it. Even worse is that after judging others, the feelings towards them are often hard to change, even if they are proven wrong which is hard to do. The relationships that show the nature of wrong first impressions are with Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy along with Wickham. The first impressions of Darcy and Wickham are proven wrong throughout with the idea of having the ability to change one’s self. They type of factors that contribute to a first impression include actions done by characters along with manners and appearance. When Darcy is first introduced, it says, “His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.” and describes him as arrogant and undesirable. One of Darcy’s actions that hurts his impression on people, especially Elizabeth, is when his friend Mr. Bingley tells him to dance with a woman and in response, Mr. Darcy says about Elizabeth, “She is tolerable, 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,” meaning that he will not waste his time with a woman who has been ignored all night. The effect, caused Elizabeth to feel a sense of disgust and hatred towards Darcy. Another thing that caused Darcy’s bad first impression is through his manners as explained on page 11. “He was looked at with great admiration for about half of the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased,” shows how