Pride & Prejudice: A Mirror for My Soul

The subject of today’s post is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This is perhaps a stereotypical choice for a woman in her 20s to discuss, especially because I am examining the vice of pride, but I do not care because I love it. I encourage all of you to read this book, and for a fun twist, there is no Amazon link because I think it is more fun to collect thrifted copies of the classics.

A quick note: Pride is a very large vice that rears its ugly head in many ways, so I do not endeavor to explain all aspects of pride and how to overcome it with one blog post. I will be focusing on the pride that Jane Austen focused on – the kind of pride in ourselves and our own abilities that distorts our view of others.

Let me set the scene for my first encounter with Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. As the introvert that I am, I have many fond memories of the pandemic in 2020. I took it upon myself to continue in pursuit of knowledge because my school was failing to continue my education. I set aside time each day to read the classics, and I chose to start with Jane Austen.

On a warm spring day, I had what would become my inaugural “Picnic with Jane”. All summer, I would take a blanket and a PB & J out on the lawn in the backyard and spend at least an hour soaking up vitamin D while reading Jane Austen. I chose to start with the novel I had heard the most about: Pride and Prejudice.

I was immediately enamored by the characters and the story. To my complete shock, I understood what was happening, and I was enjoying it. I had a prejudiced view of the classics from being forced to read them in English class all those years.

Further still, I became keenly aware that these classics are still talked about today for a reason. They are a mirror, often pointing out our own flaws whilst we are reading. Jane Austen uses these moments to show us how to grow from vice to virtue.

I realized this after Elizabeth read her letter from Mr. Darcy. The letter acts as a mirror for Lizzy, showing how her pride and vanity, the same vices she sees in Darcy, have clouded her vision and blinded her to reality. In her epiphany moment, she says:

“She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think without feeling she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd. ‘How despicably I have acted!’ she cried; ‘I, who have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust!’”

It was as if Darcy had held up a mirror that looked directly into Lizzy’s soul and pointed out her flaws, and the worst part is, they were the very flaws that Elizabeth could see so clearly in Darcy. While pondering this phenomenon in the characters, it dawned on me that Jane Austen was doing the very same thing to her readers. By showing the folly that befalls her characters because of their vices, she points out the reader’s vices.

In examining how Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet both struggled with and were blinded by pride, I realized that I was guilty of the very same thing. Even my initial choice to read the classics was somewhat influenced by pride. I wanted to read these deeply intellectual books to pursue knowledge, not because knowledge is a noble pursuit or because I wanted to become the best version of myself to better love those around me, but because I wanted to be able to say that I read Jane Austen and used my free time better than my peers.

Ironically, pride was the reason I picked up Pride and Prejudice in the first place. If it had not been for my pride, I may have never ventured into Classic Literature. More ironic still, while reading Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen showed me my pride, and, thankfully, she also showed me how to overcome it.

Lizzy realizes her pride and overcomes it by reexamining everything she thought she knew about Darcy with this new frame of mind. She no longer held herself above Darcy but considered him an equal in character and intellect. Further on in the chapter, Elizabeth works to dispel her pride, and Jane Austen writes:

“After wandering along the lane for two hours, giving way to every variety of thought – re-considering events, determining probabilities, and reconciling herself, as well as she could, to a change so sudden and so important…”

By viewing situations, both past and present, with a clear, uncolored vision, we can overcome pride that makes us prejudiced.

The best concrete example of this in my own life involves road rage and driving. Several people in my life have some serious road rage, and when I first got my driver’s license, I was beginning to act like them.

However, when I read Pride and Prejudice, road rage took on a whole new meaning. I realized that the source of my road rage was pride. I believed that I was the best driver on the road; therefore, every other driver was awful. When I realized this, I took a step back to reconsider.

I concluded that I cannot possibly know what every other individual is going through, and I cannot let my pride lead me to believe that, because I am a good driver, automatically, everyone else is bad. I began to think up little stories as to why other drivers drove the way they did. Perhaps a new father was driving his pregnant wife to the hospital, or perhaps, a poor girl was crying her eyes out to a sad song, struggling to see the road through streams of tears (I know from experience this makes someone a questionable driver). Perhaps, even, someone really had to poop and was desperate to make it home (iykyk).

By dispelling my pride in my own driving, I was able to consider other individuals as equals to myself rather than placing myself above them. Much like Darcy’s letter acted as a mirror to help Lizzy combat the vice of pride, Austen’s novel acted as a mirror to help me combat the vice of pride.

Books have the power to change us and shape our morality, and the classics have proven this to be true for hundreds of years. We must cherish this art of Literature and never let these books be lost in the sea of time, so we must continue to read – not to stoke our own pride, but to find humility and truth in the worn pages of a book.

Thank you for reading! As always, leave a comment, suggestion, or question below!

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