Seeming and being: Reading

others and being read by

them in Jane Austen’s Pride

and Prejudice and Emma

By Sabrine Mouelhi

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“Jane Austen’s characters are continually watching, judging and gossiping about others

and, in turn, are watched, judged and gossiped about.” (Jane Austen and Social

Judgement) Characters in Jane Austen are always under scrupulous judgmental gazes,

and since they have an image to uphold, they must hide their flaws and act in a proper

way. Everybody is aware of this stratagem and thus, has to look more cautiously

beneath the surface. It is a never-ending cycle where a few characters try to deceive

others to achieve their goals while some inspect closely the people around them in order

to not be taken advantage of.

Jane Austen illustrates this theme well in Pride and Prejudice and Emma. The reader

follows the narrative through the perspective of characters, mainly Elizabeth Bennet and

Emma Woodhouse. Since the characters are the point of view from which s/he sees the

story, the reader is invited to embrace their vision, using their opinion as his/her unique

point of reference for the truth. However, as characters are limited in their knowledge,

they quickly become unreliable in their opinion of others and the reader too falls in the

trap of deception. The reader has very few instances in which s/he gets information

about a certain character from a neutral point of view. The characterization is mostly

done through the assessment of unknowing eye: On one hand, Elizabeth knows nearly

nothing about Fitzwilliam Darcy and George Wickham, and she has to piece

information together from her own interactions with them and from what she hears

about them from others. On the other hand, Emma uses her own imagination to fill in

the blanks about Frank Churchill and others, thus, she shapes the truth into what she

wants it to be instead of analyzing her surroundings with impartiality, establishing who

characters actually are and the motives behind the way they act. Nonetheless, both

approaches to uncover the truth, which equates to understanding a character true face

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and true goals, are lacking. Both protagonists base their opinions on external

appearance, external appearance being how one behaves in public instead of when s/he

is on his own and with intimate relatives. Thus, both heroines have to learn to reevaluate

their judgment throughout the narrative. This is why in this paper, I am going to argue

that in Pride and Prejudice and Emma, through the use of narrative perspective and

ignorant characters, the narrative hides some individuals’ true motives by presenting the

external demeanor as a point of reference for inner persona in order to make the reader

fall in the trap of appearance.

Pride and Prejudice narrates the psychological growth of Elizabeth Bennet who has to

learn that a judgment blinded by feelings is unreliable. Throughout the story, Elizabeth

Bennet dislikes Darcy with passion as the haughty gentleman had offended her greatly

during a ball. It is this same aversion that urges her to like Wickham, an officer in the

militia with pleasant look. While she thinks badly of Darcy and likes Wickham very

much, the first comes to her rescue when the latter runs away with her sister, nearly

destroying her family’s honor in the process. Darcy and Wickham illustrate the idea that

appearances can be misleading. This is why in this part of my argument, I will argue

that the parallel between Darcy and Wickham due to Elizabeth’s narrative perspective

misguides the reader as it paints Darcy in a bad light and presents Wickham as a

trustworthy person.

When he is first introduced, the main focus of Darcy’s description is on his high social

status:

“Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person,
handsome features, noble mien; the report which was in general circulation
within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The

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 gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man.” (Pride and Prejudice
6)
Darcy is described as a “handsome” man but even his beauty seems to be one of his

features as a gentleman who belongs to the high society. Indeed, the use of “noble

mien” and the repetition of “fine” while used to detail Darcy’s attractiveness, is also

directly related to his social status. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, noble

means “illustrious or distinguished by virtue of rank, title, or birth; belonging to a high

social rank” and “mien” is “the look, bearing, manner, or conduct of a person, as

showing character, mood.” Hence, “noble mien” demonstrates both of Darcy’s

seductiveness and his high social rank. As for the adjective “fine”, the OED defines it as

“attractively noble or dignified.” In this way, just like “noble mien”, fine also alludes to

Darcy’s beauty and high social standing.

In addition, the use of fine in “a fine figure of a man” indicates a judgment of a

character based only on how he appears to others. A figure is “[an] appearance, aspect;

also, attitude, posture.” (OED) Accordingly, “the gentlemen pronounced [Darcy] to be a

[…] fine man” based on his figure, his external appearance. Furthermore, “figure” and

“pronounced” are markers of subjectivity, betraying a narrative perspective which

belongs to the characters. The characters being the ball attendee who have never met

Darcy before, one can only doubt about the reliability of their judgment, especially

when their judgment only focuses on attractiveness, high society status, and money

since the mention of his great fortune is quickly made known among the attendee. In

this way, Darcy is first characterized through the ball attendees’ narrative perspective as

attractive based on his fortune, his high rank, and his beauty which is also a product of

his upbringing. However, this judgment being based only on external attribute is hinted

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to be untrustworthy as out of all the good attributes that he may have, the focus is only

made on his external appearance which can be misguiding.

This idea is furthermore explored in the rest of the passage which also implies the

feebleness of a judgment based only on the exterior:

“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 save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable
countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend”
The use of “till”, “for he was discovered” and “tide of popularity” denotes how quickly

opinions can change from the best to the worst. “Till” expresses a sudden shift in

attitude toward Darcy, as if everybody was pleased by him until one small detail

changed their opinion. The verb “[to be] discovered” follows the same idea by implying

that the attendee’s first impression was found to be wrong and had to be corrected. Yet,

not only does the expression “[turning] the tide of his popularity" harbor the idea of

sudden change in opinion, it also hints how unchanging and by extension, how

unreliable opinions can be. Indeed, “[turning] the tide of his popularity” is a figurative

expression that is linked to one of the sea’s attribute. That attribute being how changing

and unpredictable the flow of the sea is, “the tide of his popularity” which represents the

attendee’s opinion of Darcy becomes by association changing and unpredictable too.

Thus, the figurative expression “[turning] the tide of his popularity” hints that the

attendee’s opinion about Darcy is untrustworthy and should be taken with caution.

Moreover, the free indirect discourse used in this passage highlights how subjective the

attendee’s judgement is, and by extent, undependable it is; “What a contrast between

him and his friend! His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable

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man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.” (8) The

use of hyperbole such as “above being pleased” or “most forbidding” or “proudest,” and

the excessive number of negative words marks a subjective point of view. This can only

be attributed to the guests, characters who tried to interact with Darcy but failed. Then,

they decided that his coldness toward them was due to the difference of rank between

him and them. Thus, the attendees base their opinion on only one encounter which is

going to determine how he will be perceived in the future. The sentence “his character

was decided” as well draws attention to the fact that the guests, which include Elizabeth,

have already made their opinion about Darcy on this sole interaction. They are going to

see him in a bad light throughout the narrative.

Furthermore, the comparison of Darcy with Bingley being in favor with the latter,

prepares the reader for the comparison of Darcy with Wickham. Both characters are

linked to each other through their past and are described initially as particularly

attractive. Yet, when Darcy’s attractiveness is a reflection of his high status, Wickham’s

attractiveness is superficial and a mean to lure others into trusting him.

Wickham is one of the rare characters characterized solely as being particularly

attractive. Wickham is introduced as the following:

“ But the attention of every lady was soon caught by a young man, whom they
had never seen before, of most gentlemanlike appearance,[…] his appearance
[was] greatly in his favor; he had all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance,
a good figure, and very pleasing address.” (54)
Not only is Wickham’s beauty shallow, it is also implied that it serves him greatly in

seducing others. Indeed, the sentence “his appearance [was] greatly in his favor” hints

that people tend to trust him easily due to how physically pleasant he appears to them.

This appearance is then detailed but the only focus is on its attractiveness, betraying a

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pleasantness based more on appearance than on personality. The sentence “he had all

the best part of beauty” by its use of the superlative “all the best” lacks precision. This

uncertainty creates a mystery around the character and also defines him by his good

looks only. The words “a fine countenance, a good, and very pleasing address” harbor

the same idea. The definition of “countenance” is “appearance, aspect, look,” (OED)

and “address” means “a manner or style of speaking or writing; the manner a person

employs in conversation or writing.” (OED) In this way, the adjectives “fine,” “good,”

“very pleasing,” despite describing Wickham’s beauty, emphasize his good looks

instead of detailing them. This lack of details leaves a vacuum that makes people easily

deceived by Wickham as Elizabeth believes his lies about Darcy because “it [is] not in

her nature to question the veracity of a young man of such amiable appearance as

Wickham, ” and she found that “there was truth in his looks.” (65) Thus, since the

reader follows Elizabeth’s narrative perspective, s/he is invited to find Wickham rightful

in his words, misjudging both of Wickham’s and Dary’s character.

In addition, it is possible to notice some similarities between Darcy’s and Wickham’s

introduction. Both men seem to attract the attention of people around them in their first

appearance in the narrative. Darcy is said to “[have] soon [drawn] the attention of the

room” (6) and Wickham is said to “[have caught soon] the attention of every lady” (54)

This is invitation to compare them and to link this comparison with Darcy’s and

Bingley’s comparison. Bingley being a genuinely likeable person and Darcy being seen

in bad light, by introducing Wickham as also a pleasant person, the reader draws

parallel between the pair Darcy and Bingley and the pair Darcy and Wickham. By

association, the reader sees Wickham in a better light than Darcy and falls for the trap of

judging people on their exterior rather than interior. Indeed, Elizabeth’s opinion about

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Darcy and Wickham strays the reader away from the truth as appearances just like

words hide a deeper meaning. Kathryn Sutherland in Jane Austen and social judgement

states the following:

“A moral slipperiness attaches to Austen’s favourite words, which can mislead

reader and characters alike. Take the use of ‘opinion’ in Pride and Prejudice. The
novel is awash with ‘opinions’ whose robustness will be probed and dismantled
in the course of the narrative. In particular, Austen exposes the tendency of
‘opinion’ to masquerade as informed judgement when it may be no more than
ignorance or prejudice”
In this way, words and appearances in Pride and Prejudice are misleading. It is only by

taking a step back and examining everything cautiously with a critical eye that the

reader and characters may avoid falling in the trap of appearance. Indeed, even though

on the surface, through Elizabeth’s opinion which form the main narrative perspective,

Darcy is seen as despicable and Wickham as likeable, some clues are scattered

throughout the narrative that prepare the inversion of Darcy’s and Wickham’s role. One

of these clues reside in the paradox itself of trying to assess a person’s interiority

through its external appearance. When one tries to understand the motivation behind

someone’s action, s/he will pass a judgment. When passing a judgment, it is easy to

make mistakes as one will try to apply their views on other and thus, they may

unconsciously color the truth and misinterpret the cues s/he will see.

The idea that someone may misinterpret people or situation because s/he sees those in

the manner they want to see them instead of how they really are is well illustrated in

Emma. Emma follows the eponym character as she learns that her matchmaking skills

is far from being as good as she may think. Throughout the narrative, Emma

Woodhouse misreads other characters and the situation she finds herself in. Due to her

lack of judgment and immense imagination, she does more harm than good despite her

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good will. Although she is warned and advised by George Knightley, an intimate family

friend with a sharp eye, Emma commits many mistakes because she is eager to see

others in the way she wants them to be instead of how they are. One of those instances

concern the character Frank Churchill. Frank Churchill is the step-son of Emma’s

ancient governess, Miss Weston. Emma is first charmed by Frank Churchill to

Knightley’s dismay who does not see the young man as a good match for her. By being

unreliable as it is overtly influenced by ideas rather than facts, Franck Churchill’s

characterization through Emma’s narrative perspective incites the attentive reader to

consider the young man with more caution than the heroine herself may see.

Emma’s good opinion about Frank Churchill prepares the attentive reader to assess him

with a lot of caution. Before even meeting him, Emma regards Frank Churchill as the

following:

Now, it so happened that in spite of Emma's resolution of never marrying, there

was something in the name, in the idea of Mr. Frank Churchill, which always
interested her. She had frequently thought—especially since his father's marriage
with Miss Taylor—that if she were to marry, he was the very person to suit her
in age, character and condition. He seemed by this connection between the
families, quite to belong to her. She could not but suppose it to be a match that
everybody who knew them must think of. That Mr. and Mrs. Weston did think
of it, she was very strongly persuaded; and though not meaning to be induced by
him, or by anybody else, to give up a situation which she believed more replete
with good than any she could change it for, she had a great curiosity to see
him, a decided intention of finding him pleasant, of being liked by him to a
certain degree, and a sort of pleasure in the idea of their being coupled in their
friends' imaginations. (Emma 94)

There is a great number of subjectivity’s markers in this passage such as “she thought”,

“she could not but suppose”, “she was very strongly persuaded,” and “she believed”

signaling that this paragraph is written in free indirect discourse. This abundance of

stative verbs signals that Emma’s perception of Frank Churchill is more influenced by

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her desires than by her rational mind. Due to this blatant subjectivity, the attentive

reader may take this characterization of Frank Churchill with caution, preparing him/her

to the idea that this character is not as pleasant as he seems to be. Moreover, while

forging her opinion on Frank, Emma is also making assumptions about other’s opinions

as the sentence “that Mr. and Mrs. Weston did think of it, she was very strongly

persuaded” proves. Indeed, the verb “persuaded” means “to bring oneself to believe that

something is the case; to convince oneself; to become or be sure.”(OED) Thus, Emma is

bringing herself to believe that Mr and Mrs. Weston did think of matching her up with

Frank. She convinces herself in the process that he is indeed a good match for her and

by extension, a good man. Yet, she has never heard of Mr and Mrs. Weston opinion and

is making their opinion’s up. Those opinions, by being more based on her own whims

than facts, betray that Emma is busy creating her own image of Frank Churchill in her

own mind instead of getting to know him in real life. In this way, even though Emma’s

narrative perspective is shrouded with her passion and can be misleading, this passage

prepares the reader for Frank Churchill future appearance in the narrative by

foreshadowing that he is far from being as perfect as Emma projects him to be.

Emma’s first meeting with Frank Churchill is heavily influenced by the idea she has of

him which prevents her from interpreting his behavior correctly:

“The Frank Churchill so long talked of, so high in interest, was actually before
her—he was presented to her, and she did not think too much had been said in
his praise; he was a very good looking young man; height, air, address, all were
unexceptionable, and his countenance had a great deal of the spirit and
liveliness of his father's; he looked quick and sensible. She felt
immediately that she should like him; and there was a well-bred ease of
manner, and a readiness to talk, which convinced her that he came intending to
be acquainted with her, and that acquainted they soon must be.” (149)

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As before, the passage is heavily marked by subjectivity with words such “The Frank

Churchill”, “so high in interest,” and “actually”, signaling the characterization of Frank

Churchill is done in the narrative through Emma’s perspective. However, since Emma’s

opinion about Frank Churchill has already been established as unreliable due to the fact

that she has decided from the start to like him, the attentive reader may see him in a

light different from what the heroine describes him. This illustrated in Frank Churchill’s

desire to “to be acquainted with [Emma].” Frank’s desire to become closer with Emma

is reiterated throughout this paragraph several times with the repetition of the verb

“acquainted” and the mention of “his readiness to talk.” Since Emma has already

established in her mind that Frank Churchill is to be matched with her and that Mr. and

Mrs. Weston may had made plan for this match to happen, she sees Frank’s eagerness to

know her as him trying to get closer to his future wife. Contrary to the attentive reader,

she does not expect him to have other motives in mind.

The idea that Emma misinterprets Frank Churchill’s true intentions because she is

blinded by her own judgment is further explored in the next passage:

“The word home made his father look on him with fresh complacency. Emma
was directly sure that he knew how to make himself agreeable; the conviction
was strengthened by what followed. He was very much pleased with Randalls,
thought it a most admirably arranged house, would hardly allow it even to be
very small, admired the situation, the walk to Highbury, Highbury itself,
Hartfield still more, and professed himself to have always felt the sort of interest
in the country which none but one’s own country gives, and the greatest
curiosity to visit it. That he should never have been able to indulge so amiable a
feeling before, passed suspiciously through Emma’s brain; but still if it were a
falsehood, it was a pleasant one, and pleasantly handled. His manner had no air
of study or exaggeration. He did really look and speak as if in a state of no
common enjoyment.” (150)
There is an emphasis on how Frank Churchill uses words precisely to gain his father

approval. Indeed, the compliment he makes are calculated to please as his opinion about

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the places he visited are measured yet mostly positive. The italicization of the words

“home” and “own” makes them stand out from the rest of the sentences they are used in,

attracting the reader’s attention to them. All these elements present Frank Churchill as

someone who knows how to appeal to others, hinting by the same extent that he can

easily manipulate them too. This trait of character “passed through Emma’s brain” but

she quickly dismisses it. Emma instead is charmed by his ability to behave so naturally

even on the hypothesis that he was indeed masquerading his true feelings. In this way,

despite some elements that should urge her to be suspicious of Frank Churchill, Emma

still chooses to believe what she has already came up with.

Moreover, although Emma’s opinion about Frank Churchill highly influences the way

he is characterized in the narrative, in this paragraph, there are fewer markers of

subjectivity than before. This signals that Emma is observing Frank Churchill and is

basing her opinion on those observations, even though she misinterprets them because

she still cannot cast aside the premade ideas she has about the young man. While she

chooses to discard suspicion, the fact that Emma has doubts about Frank Churchill in

the first place is a mark of character growth and intelligence. She may not act upon

those suspicions, yet, to be able to perceive the contradiction in his character shows she

has the ability to judge others correctly. This ability just needs to be nurtured which is

something that Knightley does throughout the narrative by correcting her assumptions

and chastising for her for her misjudgment.

In conclusion, both protagonist’s narrative perspective mislead the reader in his/her

judgment about certain characters: Darcy is disliked by Elizabeth in the favor of

Wickham yet their roles are reversed in the end of the story, and Frank Churchill’s

readiness to get close to Emma is motivated by his desire to hide his interest toward

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Jane Fairfax contrary to the heroine’s belief. Words and situations that characterize

mysterious characters (Darcy, Wickham, and Frank Churchill) have a double meaning

that only an attentive reader can catch: Darcy’s beauty is a feature of his noble

character, both as a genuinely good person and as someone who belongs to the high

society while Wickham’s beauty is shallow, betraying his true shallowness as a

character who has only his good looks to offer and who deceives others. As for Franck

Churchill, his ability to read others is praised by Emma’s yet hides a more manipulative

nature as he misguides others in his own intentions contrary to Knightley who uses his

wisdom to advice and correct them, especially Emma. The protagonists too realize their

misunderstanding of certain situations or characters after the ending unfolds itself. By

reinterpreting past events with their newly obtained knowledge, Elizabeth and Emma

can grow as women and characters. Indeed, “there’s subtle shifts in [the narrative] usage

[of certain words] suggesting how in learning to discriminate between true and false

worth the heroines gain social and self-understanding” (Jane Austen and Social

Judgment) In the end, both protagonist just like the reader are well-equipped with their

insight on others. However, this ability has to be shaped and readjusted throughout the

narrative. For the two protagonists, this process is achieved by the help of other good

willing characters. For the reader, it is the narrator, which has to be dissociated from the

characters themselves, who guides him/her toward the truth.

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Works cited:

Austen, Jane, et al. Emma. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Austen, Jane, et al. Pride and Prejudice. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Oxford English Dictionary, www.oed.com/.

Sutherland, Kathryn. “Jane Austen and Social Judgement.” The British Library, The

British Library, 12 Feb. 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/jane-

austen-and-social-judgement.

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