Intensity, Honesty, and Relationality

"Elizabeth tried to unite civility and truth in a few short sentences" (Ch 38).

"I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to... any person so wholly unconnected with me" (Elizabeth, Ch 56).

"Elizabeth was forced to give into a little falsehood here" (Ch56).

"[My upbringing] almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing, to care for none beyond my own family circle" (Darcy, Ch 58).

Last class we talked of a possible "great" contribution of Ms. Austen to the conversation across centuries was the notion of a delightful quickness in conversation and a demand to be interesting, both of which were contained in a deadly serious game; all this I call intensity. Elizabeth seemed the model of it, with her "spunk."

After Peter's quote however, Elizabeth's character takes a marked change. She realizes she has been confined to a limited world of prejudices, thanks to Mr.Darcy's prideful honesty. While she does become more absent-minded for a time, she is nevertheless very reluctant to leave the world of social connections ("civility") that she knows so well. However false this world of relations and the false appearances it requires, it seems to be necessary and also good, at least in part (from the point of view both of Elizabeth and, I think, Austen). Perhaps Elizabeth retains her ideas of the general goodness of people from Jane.

Sensing the importance of civil relations, but being now awakened to what lies beyond appearances, Elizabeth tries to unite truth and civility. But the factors of the game (many of which now come from herself) have increased so much that it becomes nearly impossible to play by all the rules, so to speak. Elizabeth finds herself struggling to conceal the secrets of others and her own natural feelings. She is often torn about how to act.

I see these two issues of appearances/reality (prejudice) and self/others (pride) as being intimately related. (These themes relate to several books we have read.) Once the true self enters into the picture, one cannot stay confined in the realm of societies prejudices, and one becomes marked, as Elizabeth does. But one cannot and should not escape society either, because of its importance and goodness. Is a happy medium ever reached? Elizabeth's and Darcy's quotations above seem to propose a medium and then strike it down. But perhaps, in uniting such different, seemingly contradictorry characters in their marriage, they will change each other to allow for a self-aware honesty and an all important civil relationality to be joined in the delightful, but credible intensity which may be the contribution of this book. Do all of the paradoxes and complexities get resolved with the marriages, as the book seems to suggest?