Austen's first version of the novel we know as Pride and Prejudice was entitled First Impressions. She reworked it after a period of some years. Are there reminants of the older novel which she didn't update?
Here are several things that occur in the first 4 chapters. In those chapters we are introduced to the characters in the novel.
1. Mr. Bennett goes beyond teasing his wife. When the ladies return from the Assembly, we are told that he hoped her hopes for the night - successfully introducing her daughters to the very eligible new comer, Mr. Bingely - had not worked out. Never again in the novel does he wish for her plans to be thwarted. He teases her, he makes critical remarks about her, but does not go beyond that.
2. The daughters respond to Mr. Bennetts teasing somewhat girlishly in the first couple of chapters. Thereafter Jane and Elizabeth are adults, dividing them from Lydia and Kitty.
3. Mr. Darcy's manners fail when he does not get introduced to Lizzy and dance with her at the Assembly. You recall the scene. She is sitting out a pair of dances, as she has not been invited to dance by any gentleman. Mr. Darcy is standing nearby, and Mr. Bingley comes to urge him to dance, and suggests Lizzy as a partner. Mr. Darcy looks at her and says she is not pretty enough to tempt him, and, and her comes the failure of manners, he is not in the mood to give consequence to any young lady who has been neglected by the other gentlemen. That is, he sees her situation is not pleasant, but isn't going to do anything about it. Compare this with Mr. Knightly dancing with Harriet after Mr Elton snubs her, in Emma. Possibly Mr. Darcy is not responsible for assisting people he does not know. Lizzy will later upbraid him for what he said, which she overheard accidently, or through his negligence. She certainly felt his manners were bad on this occasion.
Thereafter he does display good manners - for example when he suggests the party walk in a larger walkway in the gardens of Netherfield because there is not enough room for them to walk 4-abreast and Lizzy has been excluded by the Bingley sisters each taking one of his arms so that the trio "charmingly grouped" as Lizzy exclaims, take up the pathway and she has to walk behind, as a solitary. Liz
4.
Here are several things that occur in the first 4 chapters. In those chapters we are introduced to the characters in the novel.
1. Mr. Bennett goes beyond teasing his wife. When the ladies return from the Assembly, we are told that he hoped her hopes for the night - successfully introducing her daughters to the very eligible new comer, Mr. Bingely - had not worked out. Never again in the novel does he wish for her plans to be thwarted. He teases her, he makes critical remarks about her, but does not go beyond that.
2. The daughters respond to Mr. Bennetts teasing somewhat girlishly in the first couple of chapters. Thereafter Jane and Elizabeth are adults, dividing them from Lydia and Kitty.
3. Mr. Darcy's manners fail when he does not get introduced to Lizzy and dance with her at the Assembly. You recall the scene. She is sitting out a pair of dances, as she has not been invited to dance by any gentleman. Mr. Darcy is standing nearby, and Mr. Bingley comes to urge him to dance, and suggests Lizzy as a partner. Mr. Darcy looks at her and says she is not pretty enough to tempt him, and, and her comes the failure of manners, he is not in the mood to give consequence to any young lady who has been neglected by the other gentlemen. That is, he sees her situation is not pleasant, but isn't going to do anything about it. Compare this with Mr. Knightly dancing with Harriet after Mr Elton snubs her, in Emma. Possibly Mr. Darcy is not responsible for assisting people he does not know. Lizzy will later upbraid him for what he said, which she overheard accidently, or through his negligence. She certainly felt his manners were bad on this occasion.
Thereafter he does display good manners - for example when he suggests the party walk in a larger walkway in the gardens of Netherfield because there is not enough room for them to walk 4-abreast and Lizzy has been excluded by the Bingley sisters each taking one of his arms so that the trio "charmingly grouped" as Lizzy exclaims, take up the pathway and she has to walk behind, as a solitary. Liz
4.
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