Michael Fielder
March 10, 2015
Mr. White
English 3
Period 3
Pride and Prejudice Essay: Option 1
In
Pride and Prejudice
, a “novel of manners” that follows the adventures of the main character th Elizabeth Bennet in 18 century England, the author Jane Austin uses the literary device of foil

characters to accentuate the qualities of many of the characters in the book. To elaborate, a foil character is a character who contrasts with another in order to highlight particular qualities of the other. One example of this would be Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza. In While there are a plethora of foil character combinations, three very prominent and intriguing example s are One of the best examples of foil characters in the novel is Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham, whose juxtaposition is created through Elizabeth’s perception of both, which changes throughout the course of the novel. Elizabeth initially views Darcy as being condescending and pompous, which causes her to ride him off as being just another man born into high status and wealth who places everybody below him. Even Elizabeth’s mother, whose sole purpose in life seems to be trying to get her daughters married to anyone that has a pulse, says to her husband ” that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing (
Ch. 3
).” Elizabeth’s opinion of Darcy eventually changes however, after his failed proposal to her. With her rejection of his advances, Elizabeth is able to instill some humility in
Darcy, which causes his true personality to come into fruition. She realizes, after reading his