Thursday, August 25, 2016

What are some revealing portions of Pride and Prejudice from a psychoanalytical perspective?

Darcy's first proposal to Elizabeth (in chapter 34) reveals his subconscious motives and feelings. While he speaks of his ardent love for Elizabeth, he does so in a manner that presupposes her agreement to marry him and her acceptance of her lower social position. In short, he proposes to Elizabeth with the idea in mind that she is inferior in many ways and that she will be thankful to him for the proposal. While he is clearly aware of his feelings of superiority to some degree, he is clearly not aware of how arrogant he appears and how much he believes in his own superiority.
Elizabeth, however, is acutely aware of the way in which Darcy (subconsciously to some degree) feels repulsed and disgusted by his admiration and love for her. She says to him, "You chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?" In other words, Darcy himself has not grasped how much his mind and soul have tried not to like Elizabeth, as she is not the right choice for him socially. However, his sense of superiority and his disdain for her family and position are revealed in the way he makes the proposal. From a psychoanalytic perspective, his proposal reveals a great deal of his class snobbery and his somewhat subconscious sense of revulsion at Elizabeth's class status.
Later, in chapter 43, Elizabeth's reactions to visiting Pemberley are revelatory of her inner motivations and desires. When she is touring the grounds of Darcy's magnificent estate, Elizabeth and the estate are described as follows:

It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!

Looking at the grounds makes her think, somewhat subconsciously, of Darcy. While she admires the tasteful hills and landscape, she is actually thinking of how understated and tasteful Darcy is. She contrasts the natural quality of the surroundings with the false adornments of other great houses, and she unconsciously shows that she is warming to Darcy because of his superior taste. The last line of this passage is particularly revelatory because she admits that she would like to marry him, though she only thinks about being the mistress of his estate rather than about being his wife. Therefore, in this passage, Elizabeth reveals some of her unconscious desires—desires that she is not even totally aware of until later.

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