Elizabeth is the central character in Pride and Prejudice. She is perceived to be intelligent and lively, witty and teasing. She presents us with firm independent views, often feministic, which examples her strong but stubborn nature to fix upon one view and be blind to all others. Laughing at others is something she seems to enjoy, making fun of their follies. The way she handles Darcy's snub on their first ball is indicative of this characteristic as she refuses to be put out by his judgement and tells the story with "great spirit" among her friends. Like the narrator she has a capacity for irony. Though her teasing has a gentle undercurrent to it that makes it hard to dislike her despite her harsh words.
When Lizzie arrives at the Bingleys', her petticoat dirty and face warm after a long walk, it is made obvious that she is active and does not care that others may deem her behaviour unladylike. Her sister, Jane, is very close to her and Elizabeth cares for her very much since she chastises Darcy for ruining Jane's chances of happiness. She does not question Wickham's allegations as she is already prejudiced against Darcy from their very first meeting.
The confession of Darcy's feelings surprises Elizabeth, but the proud way in which he proposes offends her a great deal, leading her to rebuff him in a manner quite brutal. Darcy, while expressing his ardent love he reminds her of the large gap in their social status, remarking that Elizabeth could hardly expect him to "rejoice" in her "inferior connections". She outlines her two main reasons for rejection, his interference in her sister's love life and his bad treatment of Wickham, and mentions that he could not have made his proposal in "any possible way that would have tempted" her to accept him. She clearly states her early prejudice against him, saying "I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry".
However, when Darcy defends his actions in a letter she is horrified and determined not believe him at first, but she finally relents that it is true. She finds her behaviour "despicable" and "humiliating", even admiting she was "blind, prejudiced, partial, absurd". She even sees a little reason in his judgement of her sister and the rest of her family. So we can see that she is not so stubborn that she will delude herself.
When Elizabeth visits Pemberly, she is heartened by Darcy's pleasant treatment of her aunt and uncle who he would have previously considered his social inferiors. As she mentions near the end, here is where her opinion of him truly began to reverse. But when her youngest sister brings scandal to the family, she fears that Darcy may never feel the same way about her again and laments at it, showing the extent of her feelings for him. She also feels guilty that she made no one aware of Wickham's immoral character before Lydia ran away with him. Finding out that Darcy was the one who aided Lydia's situation only strengthened her affection for him and she refuses to promise that she will never become engaged to Darcy despite the insistence of Lady Catherine.
At the end when Darcy's second proposal has been accepted, we see that Elizabeth has acknowledged the err of her ways and has changed. She is very much in love with Darcy and believes herself to be happier than Jane.
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