"His pride," said Miss Lucas, "does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, every thing in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud."
"That is very true," replied Elizabeth, "and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."
Darcy's pride is not so unforgiveable; the great offense of his pride is the damage that his pride has done to the pride of others. Mary touches on this when she makes the important distinction between pride and vanity: "A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us."
It would seem that Darcy's problem is not simply his pride but where his pride has led him. So proud that he does not care what others think of him, Darcy is rather careless in his remarks and in his actions.
Humorous little Lucas suggests that if he were as rich as Darcy, he would be just the same - behaving without care for what anyone might think of him.
2 comments:
It's also interesting to look at Mr. Darcy in comparison to Sir William Lucas. Sir William Lucas, since his elevation to knighthood, has made it his goal to give attention to everyone. Perhaps having to work for his money gave him a different perspective on life, money, and people!
You make an interesting point. I would first compare Lucas with Bingley: both are affluent, both are social and polite with most everyone; both are also "new money".
Affluent Darcy is a picture in contrast. From what we have seen of him thus far, he is (reportedly) polite and social only with his peers. I suspect that his demeanor owes something to being "old money", having inherited not only his family wealth but also the upbringing (and high expectations) that comes along with an established, well-to-do family.
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