Pride & Prejudice #8

Even after her epiphany regarding Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth continues to display prejudice based on impressions, namely of the troop of militia. She judges the entire group based on Wickham, and therefore she wanted them to leave; she says that "the comfort to her of the regiment's approaching removal was indeed beyond expression" (188). She feels that she will be happier once the troop is gone, particularly because of Wickham, but also simultaneously experiencing less attraction to the group as a whole on account of Wickham. When they leave, Elizabeth recognizes her mistake, finding that "when [she] had rejoiced over Wickham's departure, she found little other cause for satisfaction in the loss of the regiment" (200). Thus, she finds that she was disappointed by the lack of happiness she obtained from the lack of other soldiers, illustrating that her impression from Wickham failed to demonstrate her feelings about the group as a whole. In this way, while she entirely inverts her feelings regarding Mr. Darcy and Wickham, her character itself is preserved - she is still human and susceptible to making mistakes; thereby Austen conserves the reader's emotional attachment, as everything that the reader had come to understand about of Elizabeth still applies, while altering the nature of Elizabeth's budding relationship with Mr. Darcy.