How Austen presents Mr Darcy, and how the character develops across the text: from the proud, cold guest at the Meryton assembly to the humbled, generous man Elizabeth marries.
The key quotations for this character and how to analyse them, with the context that shapes them.
How to use the lesson's key quotations in an essay, with a short worked paragraph.
Key quotations: 'he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased', 'I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men', 'uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes', 'were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger', 'My temper would perhaps be called resentful', 'His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation', 'you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character', 'I have never had a cross word from him in my life', 'how many people's happiness were in his guardianship!', 'I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle', 'By you, I was properly humbled'.
Form: Darcy seen from outside, through gossip and Elizabeth's eyes, until his letter lets him speak for himself.
Context: a great landowner's wealth and duties, and the pride in rank that his upbringing encouraged.
Edexcel's novel question has two parts, and neither marks context: part (a) on the printed extract marks language, form and structure (AO2); part (b) on the novel elsewhere, from memory, marks the argument and its references (AO1), not language analysis. Use context only where it explains a reading, and say which part each worked paragraph and exam tip is for.
