further observations on P&P

Okay, I've got some more thoughts, now that I've finished the book.

It seems to me that Jane Austen's characters are not generally very complex. Most of them are "character" parts, as it were, designed to represent a certain type of person. Whatever part that person is given to fill--the shameless flirt, the charming scoundrel, the vulgar match-making mother, or the pompous nobody--they play it to the end. The only character who really changes at all is Darcy, and his change is so dramatic as to be difficult to comprehend (although we're supposed to believe that he was always really this way, which is harder still to comprehend in a way). Even Elizabeth, although she changes her mind, and is humbled, doesn't really change her personality. Jane looses a little of her all-encompassing faith people's goodness, but not much. Mr. Bennett does repent of his disinterest in his family, and so grows wiser, but pretty well every one else just stays the same, and acts one role and one role only. This is not a criticism of the book, since we all enjoy the skill with which Austen portrays these personality types, just an observation.

I think I could have gone further in that conversation about Darcy which I quoted from in my first post. Mary makes a comment about the difference between pride and vanity which I think is significant--she notes that pride has to do with what you think of yourself, and vanity with what others think of you. There are many vain characters in the book, but Darcy isn't really one of them. He manifestly doesn't care much for what people think about him, or he would make more of an effort to endear himself to them. He does care what he thinks of himself, though, and holds himself strictly to his own standards. With Elizabeth he learns to exert himself for someone else, and to care how his words and actions may appear to her.

Wickham is just the opposite. He is very vain, doing everything in his power to win love and praise and to appear honorable and long suffering. He doesn't have enough "pride" (in the terms described above) to actually trouble to be any of these things, just the vanity to want others to think he is.