Student Question
Besides Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, who does Elizabeth misjudge in Pride and Prejudice?
Quick answer:
Besides Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, Elizabeth misjudges her sister Jane in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth sees Jane as naive and overly trusting, believing Jane fails to recognize people's flaws. However, Jane's assessments of Darcy and Wickham are ultimately correct, while Elizabeth's are not. Elizabeth's realization of this mistake leads to her feeling ashamed for misjudging Jane's character and overestimating her own judgment abilities.
In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, one
characterElizabeth is guilty of misjudging is
her own sister, Jane. Elizabeth sees Jane as being far too
naive, far too gullible, and far too willing to like all people while ignoring
their faults. In contrast, Elizabeth takes pride in her own ability to judge
others correctly. Ironically, though Jane does make some wrongful judgements
that hurt her, Jane's judgements of Darcy and Wickham prove to be the correct
ones, and Elizabeth feels ashamed of herself when she realizes this.
We see Elizabeth assert her belief that Jane is
gullible and naive in a private conversation the two sisters have in
Chapter 4, just after the Meryton assembly. It is at the Meryton assembly that
the sisters first meet Mr. Bingley, his sisters, and his friend Mr. Darcy . Elizabeth had noted that Mr. Bingley was a "very...
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agreeable person" but that his sisters weren't at all like him; they were instead arrogant, snobbish, and rude. During the conversation, Elizabeth points out that Jane likes people much too easily and is unable to see their flaws. After pointing this out, she asks Jane what she had thought of Bingley's sisters, saying, "Their manners are not equal to his" (Ch. 4). Jane agrees that they, at first, didn't seem as likable as Bingley; yet, she found them to be "very pleasing women" when she conversed with them and predicts that they'll find Miss Bingley to be a "very charming neighbour" (Ch.4).
Jane proves to be mistaken in her judgements of
Bingley's sisters, who actually begin to slight Jane and hurt
her. Miss Bingley is especially guilty of slighting Jane when Jane calls on her
in London. Yet, despite Jane's mistaken judgement of Bingley's sisters, Jane
actually turns out to be correct in her assessments of Darcy and
Wickham regardless of Elizabeth seeing Jane's eagerness to like
everyone as being gullible and naive.
With respect to Jane's judgement of Darcy, since Jane is so
willing to see the good in everyone, Jane is quick to offer explanations for
Darcy's behavior when other characters criticize him. Also, since she is very
fond of Bingley, whose intimate friend is Darcy, she is unwilling to believe
that Darcy could be the horrible person Elizabeth and other characters think he
is: If Bingley admires Darcy, then, surely, he must be an admirable
person.
With respect to Jane's judgements of Wickham, when Wickham's
story of Darcy's mistreatment of him surfaces, Jane is at first willing to see
that both Darcy and Wickham are equally good people and that both have
misunderstood each other in some way. However, when she has an opportunity to
learn from Bingley what she can about Darcy's relationship with Wickham at the
Netherfield ball, Bingley again influences Jane's opinion.
Jane sides with Bingley's opinion that, according to Darcy, Wickham is not to
be trusted, as we see when Jane informs Elizabeth that "by [Bingley's] account
as well as his sister's, Mr. Wickham is by no means a respectable young man"
(Ch. 18).
While Jane's judgements of Darcy and Wickham seem naive and poorly founded,
Jane actually proves to be correct. After Elizabeth reads
Darcy's letter, Elizabeth learns just how correct Jane's seemingly naive
assessments had been and feels "ashamed of herself" for having misjudged both
Wickham and Darcy so severely and having placed so much value on her own
abilities to judge others (Ch. 36). Hence, we see that while Elizabeth was
right to warn Jane against being so willing to see the good in everyone, such
as Bingley's sisters, Elizabeth was also wrong to have judged
Jane as being completely incapable of correctly
judging others' characters.