Elizabeth's Engagement

Elizabeth Bennet's engagement to Fitzwilliam Darcy is the romantic climax of Pride and Prejudice, resolving the novel's central conflicts of pride and prejudice through a mutual transformation of character. The event unfolds in two stages: a private walk during which Elizabeth, prompted by gratitude for Darcy's intervention in Lydia's elopement, initiates a conversation that leads to his second proposal and her acceptance, followed by a formal request to Mr. Bennet for his consent. This engagement represents the culmination of Elizabeth's journey from prejudice to self-knowledge and Darcy's from pride to humility.

Circumstances and Initiation

Days after Lady Catherine de Bourgh's confrontational visit to Longbourn, Darcy arrived at Netherfield with Bingley and accompanied him to Longbourn. During a group walk, Kitty left to call on Maria Lucas, and Elizabeth found herself alone with Darcy. Seizing the moment with her courage high, she immediately addressed him: "Mr. Darcy, I am a very selfish creature; and, for the sake of giving relief to my own feelings, care not how much I may be wounding yours. I can no longer help thanking you for your unexampled kindness to my poor sister." Darcy, surprised and moved, replied that he had not intended Mrs. Gardiner to reveal his role, but Elizabeth explained that Lydia's thoughtlessness had first betrayed his involvement. He then confessed that "the wish of giving happiness to you might add force to the other inducements which led me on." After a short pause, he asked directly: "If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever." Elizabeth, forcing herself to speak despite her awkwardness, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change that she received his present assurances with gratitude and pleasure.

The Proposal and Mutual Confession

Darcy expressed his happiness with a warmth that Elizabeth, though unable to meet his eye, could hear in his voice. He told her that his aunt's visit had taught him to hope as he had scarcely allowed himself before, reasoning that had Elizabeth been irrevocably decided against him, she would have acknowledged it frankly to Lady Catherine. Elizabeth laughed and replied, "Yes, you know enough of my frankness to believe me capable of that. After abusing you so abominably to your face, I could have no scruple in abusing you to all your relations." Darcy insisted that her accusations, though ill-founded, had been merited by his behaviour, which he called unpardonable. Elizabeth, however, refused to quarrel over the greater share of blame, saying that since then they had both improved in civility. Darcy recalled her words—"had you behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner"—and confessed they had tortured him for months. Elizabeth, ashamed, assured him she had long been heartily sorry for her own conduct. He asked about his letter, and she explained how gradually all her former prejudices had been removed. He then made a remarkable confession of his own character: "I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit." He credited Elizabeth with his reformation: "By you, I was properly humbled. I came to you without a doubt of my reception. You showed me how insufficient were all my pretensions to please a woman worthy of being pleased." Elizabeth, in turn, admitted that her own vanity, not love, had been her folly, echoing her earlier self-reproach: "Till this moment I never knew myself."

Mr. Bennet's Consent

That evening, Darcy followed Mr. Bennet into the library. Elizabeth, sitting in misery, was relieved when Darcy returned and whispered, "Go to your father, he wants you in the library." Her father, walking about the room with a grave and anxious look, asked: "Lizzy, what are you doing? Are you out of your senses, to be accepting this man? Have not you always hated him?" Elizabeth, with tears in her eyes, assured him that she loved Darcy, that he had no improper pride, and that he was perfectly amiable. She explained the gradual change in her estimation of him, related her absolute certainty that his affection had stood the test of many months' suspense, and enumerated all his good qualities. She then told him what Darcy had voluntarily done for Lydia—making up the match, giving the money, paying Wickham's debts, and getting him his commission. Mr. Bennet, astonished, declared: "This is an evening of wonders, indeed!" He gave his consent, saying, "If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy." Elizabeth's mind was now relieved from a very heavy weight.

Mrs. Bennet's Reaction and Aftermath

When Elizabeth told her mother that night, Mrs. Bennet sat quite still, unable to utter a syllable for many minutes. Then she recovered, fidgeted, and exclaimed: "Good gracious! Lord bless me! only think! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have thought it! ... Oh! my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! Jane's is nothing to it—nothing at all." She declared Darcy a charming man, so handsome and so tall, and asked what dish he was particularly fond of so she might have it the next day. Elizabeth, rejoicing that this effusion was heard only by herself, soon went away. The next day passed much better than she expected, for Mrs. Bennet stood in such awe of her intended son-in-law that she ventured not to speak to him unless she could offer him some attention. Elizabeth had the satisfaction of seeing her father taking pains to get acquainted with Darcy, and Mr. Bennet soon assured her that Darcy was rising every hour in his esteem.

Thematic Significance

Elizabeth's engagement to Darcy is the novel's definitive resolution of its two title themes. Elizabeth's earlier self-condemnation—"How despicably I have acted! I, who have prided myself on my discernment! ... Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away"—finds its corrective in her final choice, which is based on genuine esteem and gratitude rather than vanity or resentment. Darcy's parallel transformation from a man who declared "my good opinion once lost, is lost forever" to one who humbly acknowledges his own selfishness and credits Elizabeth with his reformation completes the moral arc. Their union, unlike the marriages of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins or Lydia and Wickham, is founded on mutual respect, self-knowledge, and the capacity for change. Elizabeth's reflection at Pemberley—that to be mistress of Pemberley "might be something!"—is fulfilled not as a triumph of ambition but as the reward of a journey from prejudice to clear-sighted love.