No Very Cordial Feelings

Pride and Prejudice, chapter three

This is the chapter of Pride and Prejudice when everything happens – our main characters convene to dance at the Meryton assembly and the plot kicks into gear. Everyone finally meets Mr. Bingley, and Mr. Darcy shows up to piss everybody off for the first time:

Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report, which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half 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; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.

It is interesting that it took until the third chapter for one of the two main characters to show up; the other (the true protagonist) only comes into focus in this chapter. Darcy’s first conversation in the novel is about Elizabeth: he refuses Bingley’s offer to be introduced to her, that they might share a dance. Elizabeth’s character does not reach real clarity until she overhears and responds to Darcy’s brush-off. He does not merit any mention by the narrator until Elizabeth is available for him to interact with. This tells us right away, more than anything that has yet happened, what the plot of the novel will be: these two people, learning to understand each other. The reader learns to understand them at the same time.

Elizabeth has been a shadowy figure up until this point: mentioned enough to pique a reader’s interest, but never making much of an impression on her own. These lines neatly explain her character:

Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him. She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.

There is quite a lot contained in these few lines. First, the understatement of Elizabeth’s reaction: she “remained with no very cordial feelings towards him.” We will find that Elizabeth will hold a grudge against Darcy for this, and it colors every interaction they have for at least the first half of the novel. The “however” in the second sentence is key; we’re meant to contrast her joke-making with her very real hurt feelings. That is not to say that Elizabeth’s “lively, playful disposition” is an act, or that she does not actually find the snub funny; she does. But her pride was wounded, and she won’t forget it.

She is still the young woman who “delighted in anything ridiculous,” and it is with this description that her father’s favoritism becomes clear. We have seen the enjoyment he gets in all ridiculous things and people, though Mr. Bennet’s enjoyment has a tinge of malice which Elizabeth’s does not. She neither seeks out fools nor does she purposefully provoke them, as her father does.

We find another comic interlude between the Bennet couple at the end of the chapter. Mr. Bennet has not gone to the ball with his family, but he is interested:

They found Mr. Bennet still up. With a book he was regardless of time; and on the present occasion he had a good deal of curiosity as to the event of an evening which had raised such splendid expectations. He had rather hoped that all his wife's views on the stranger would be disappointed; but he soon found that he had a very different story to hear.

He too, would delight in anything ridiculous his wife said; he cannot wait to hear that she is disappointed with Mr. Bingley. He quickly sours, however: the ball went exactly as Mrs. Bennet wished it to. His happiness in teasing his wife is not affectionate. He wants to wind her up for his own amusement, and takes pleasure in her unhappiness. Elizabeth, we will find, takes no pleasure in the behavior of her mother. She is most serious when she is trying to pacify Mrs. Bennet or redirect her to some less embarrassing conversation.

And what do we learn about Mr. Darcy? We mostly learn what he looks like to other people; he is very handsome, very rich, and doesn’t talk to strangers. Everyone immediately decides he is proud and unpleasant. It is important to note Bingley’s behavior towards him, and his behavior towards Bingley. Bingley, obviously a friendly and unassuming sort, is not at all intimidated by his friend. There’s an intimacy in their conversation that becomes apparent on close reading; it’s full of blunt declarations and references to already known feelings. One gets the impression this is an argument they’ve had a dozen times.

More than this, we can see hints of Darcy’s true character in how he responds to Bingley’s attempts at joviality. He rejects them, and keeps behaving exactly as he likes, but we are being told something here: this is the kind of person that Darcy chooses to befriend. He did not have to be there; he is rich and important enough to choose his society and his amusements. He chose Bingley: a good-natured, friendly, lively person. That is the sort of person Bingley is, and the sort of person Darcy likes. We learn this shortly before we learn that this is the sort of person Elizabeth is too.