Communication is an integral part of life–it is the means with which mothers teach their children how to be proper and with which lovers come together and fall apart in a flirting game of tag. Jane Austen provides an entertaining mix of communication techniques in her novel, Pride and Prejudice. Though the degrading, but witty remarks of Mr. Bennet towards his wife, Mr. Collins’, and the other suitors of his daughters along with Mr. Collins’ long-winded proclamations of Lady Catherine De Bourgh can be extremely successful attention-grabbers, it is the communication accomplished, miscommunication, and lack of communication between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth which constitute the backbone of the novel. Through Mr. Darcy’s proposals to Elizabeth, the importance of that communication is both underscored and undercut.

Mr. Darcy’s proposals to Elizabeth are by no means normal. In both proposals, the actual act of “popping the question,” a significant piece of conversation is communicated through some means other than the man offering the proposal. In the first proposal, the narrator “tells” that Mr. Darcy expresses to Elizabeth, “his hope that [his inability to conquer his feelings for her] would now be rewarded by her acceptance of his hand” (185), while in the second proposal, the engagement is learned through Jane’s exclamation that Elizabeth’s engagement to Mr. Darcy is “impossible” (352). It seems rather odd that the only direct proposal Elizabeth gets is from Mr. Collins, and despite its manner, it is the only one which she refuses most civilly. This appears to be an awkward move on Austen’s part, until the circumstances of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are taken into consideration.

Mr. Darcy’s first proposal to Elizabeth began, “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” (185). Such a statement would be shocking for anyone to hear without having had the preceding history of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. However with their relationship being as it was, the part in this quote about the repression of feelings suits this couple just fine in that throughout the novel, Mr. Darcy tries to repress his growing admiration, in the attempt to follow family tradition, while Elizabeth, in the attempt to follow civility tries to repress her disdain.

Their actions towards each other not only miscommunicate their intentions, but also end up leading the other to act upon that communication. Hence Mr. Darcy’s proposal to a woman whom he tended to enrage, Elizabeth’s harsh refusal of that proposal, and the surprised reactions to both the proposal and the refusal. The two are clearly living in two separate realities and are not ready to be married, perhaps because neither Mr. Darcy nor Elizabeth have matured enough at this point in the story to make the other happy. The significance of this miscommunication throughout the novel has but one purpose–to expose Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth to the true feelings which the other harbors. Had this miscommunication not led to a premature proposal, the two would never have been able to change their ways and become the adult each needs to be in order to sustain a healthy marriage.

From the beginning of the novel Elizabeth, like the rest of the community, found Mr. Darcy, “to be proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased,” (12) which is not exactly the best first impression to leave with someone; however, throughout the novel his character is changed little by little with the narrator’s comments such as the one about Darcy’s eyes being fixed on Elizabeth while at Netherfield tending to her sister (50) and the fact that Elizabeth’s flat refusal to dance with him at Sir William’s did not lower his opinion of her at all (27). These subtle comments leading up to his proposal prepares the reader to bond with Mr. Darcy without even realizing what is happening just as Mr. Darcy is falling for Elizabeth without his knowledge of the fact.

It is important that these small tidbits of communication take place and that the reader is more susceptible to believing Mr. Darcy’s intentions in the proposal and the following letter, otherwise we, as readers, would not have been sympathetic to Mr. Darcy and would have been as yielding as Elizabeth, and she was not all that yielding. Pemberley would not have affected the reader as much as Elizabeth, because Mr. Darcy’s attempts to be gentlemanly enough for Elizabeth would have appeared false and, like Jane and Mr. Bennet, the reader would have had to have been convinced by Elizabeth to trust in Mr. Darcy. Pemberley does play an important role in the communication process, because for the first time, they are communicating without ignorance and without pride and this enables them to make the first step towards the happiness with which they will find in each other.

Knowing that the two are finally ready to be together would make one think that the second proposal would be communicated better than the first; however, Austen not only communicates it through some other means, but that communication takes place well after the proposal would have taken place. To further remove the proposal from direct communication, it is revealed not by a party witnessed to the proposal, such as the narrator, but by Jane upon hearing it from Elizabeth (352).

This separation of the second proposal from the act of proposing undercuts the importance of the communication of the proposal itself. This lack of communication between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth continues in relating the news to Mr. Bennet. Both must talk to him separately and Elizabeth must convince him she is marrying Mr. Darcy because she loves him rather than for his money, just as she had had to argue with Jane (355-358). Elizabeth’s convincing arguments with Mr. Bennet and with Jane allow for the importance of communication to be brought back into the picture and the Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s playful scene following the announcement of Mr. Bennet’s approval of the engagement further reiterates the importance of communication.

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth can now fully realize the importance of all the communications and miscommunications which had taken place. They both come to understand that had Mr. Darcy’s attempted ways of communicating his growing admiration been misinterpreted by Elizabeth, causing her further dislike and confusion about him, she would not have acted as impertinent as she did and Mr. Darcy would not have found her intellectually interesting (359). Furthermore, in Elizabeth, herself, acknowledges the importance of communication with her statement to Darcy, “I wonder how long you would have gone on, if you had been left to yourself. I wonder when you would have spoken, if I had not asked you!” (360).
Though Austen seemed to turn Pride and Prejudice into a back and forth game, similar to the ebb and flow of a budding relationship, of constant states of changing communication, in the end, she acknowledges the importance of communication, in both its correct and seemingly detrimental forms in building and maintaining a relationship.

Work Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Penguin Books Ltd. London, England.
1996.