Involution & Evolution in Pride & Prejudice

by Mother’s Service Society

In Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo describes how by a process of involution the One, infinite, indivisible, formless omnipresent and omniscient reality or Self-Conscious Being creates of itself a world of multiple, divided, ignorant, impotent forms and how by a process of evolution these forms struggle to survive, grow and rise in consciousness to manifest in form the infinite potentials concealed in the formless.

We can understand the evolution fully only when we understand the essential role and process of the involution. The involution provides the essential foundation and conducive circumstances for the evolution. All that we perceive as unconsciousness, obstacle, resistance, hostility and perversity are products of the involution which play essential roles in the emergence of positive characteristics and accomplished capacities in the evolution.

This process, which can be seen in any life situation, is dramatically illustrated in the lives of Elizabeth Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. Elizabeth is one of five daughters of an intelligent, mild-mannered English gentleman with limited income and an estate that will pass by entail to her cousin Collins upon Mr. Bennett’s death. Her mother is a silly, stupid, boorish, vulgar woman of middle class background whose one ambition in life is to see her daughters successfully married. Mr. Bennett is confronted with the daunting task of marrying all five daughters respectably without the material means to attract qualified suitors. Of the five, three are ordinary social personalities of unexceptional quality whose behavior, aspirations, beliefs and values are those of the society in which they live. The youngest, Lydia, is a live physical character bursting with unrestrained energy that seeks excitement and enjoyment without regard for social norms or public opinion.

Elizabeth has the most developed character of the five. She is intelligent, attractive, cheerful, frank, outspoken personality whose strength and courage rise in proportion to the challenge. She is fully aware of the limited prospects of her family, deferential to the accepted customs and behaviors of the day, and respectful of the social hierarchy, but not limited by these constraints in her thoughts, feelings, values or behavior. Socially her highest prospect is to marry a reasonably handsome, financially comfortable gentleman’s son for whom she can feel some measure of respect, attraction and affection. She feels sufficiently secure in her prospects to unhesitatingly reject the advances of her cousin Collins, in spite of his respectably position and future inheritance, whose effeminate obsequious, buffoonish behavior made him fit for mocking, but never for marriage. Personally her highest, unvoiced aspiration might be to marry for love a man of noble character, faultless appearance and sufficient means to comfortably support the life of an aristocratic family.

Darcy is from one of the wealthiest aristocratic families in England. He is the sole son and heir to a huge fortune and a magnificent estate at Pemberley. Residing already in the highest rung of the society, there is little opportunity for upward social movement. His responsibility is to marry respectably in order to preserve the lofty position of family and provide heirs for its continuity. His personal aspiration is not only to maintain that social position but also to so excel in acts of character that he will be regarded by his dependents as kind, fair and generous. He is quite, reserved and careful in choosing friends. He looks down with pride and arrogance on the vulgarity of modern behavior and inroads made by the rising commercial class on the status previously reserved for aristocracy.

When Elizabeth and Darcy meet for the first time at a ball, she overhears Darcy’s insulting remark to his friend Bingley classifying her among the unexceptional and uninteresting women present at the dance. Her first response is to laugh and cheerfully share the insult with her sisters, rather than feel oppressed or resentful at the slight offered by a man of high status. His remark becomes the spark for the prejudice she nurtures against Darcy. His subsequent behavior only magnifies her perception of him as cool, aloof and haughty, when in fact much of his behavior arises from his effort to repress and conceal the intense emotions of his increasing attraction to her. That prejudice is fed by the lies told to her by Wickham, who falsely accuses Darcy of gross mistreatment of Wickham when he was a dependent at Pemberley. The high opinion that the local society wrongly has of Wickham adds intensity to his accusations. Her personal attraction to Wickham converts the spark into a fire.

In retrospect we can see that Elizabeth’s dislike and anger at Darcy made her uniquely interesting and attractive to him and were instrumental in eventually bringing about their marriage. Had Elizabeth been as eager to flatter and please him as Bingley’s sister Caroline, Darcy would never have considered her of interest. The very fact that she of all those in the immediate circle failed to respect or defer to him for his lofty position made him recognize her individuality and strength of character and respect her more. Individuality and character were the only things that Darcy could respect more than his own position and importance. He strove to develop them in himself and therefore admired them when he observed them in another. Had Elizabeth understood that Wickham was a liar and a scoundrel, she would never have been motivated to express the strength of her values and character. Wickham’s falsehood, the involution of his character, was directly instrumental in the evolution of Eliza’s.

Darcy’s ‘chance’ (unconscious) visit to Rosings during the time of her visit and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam’s accidental disclosure of Darcy’s active interference in Bingley’s courting of Eliza’s sister Jane to prevent the ‘unfavorable’ marriage of her elder sister Jane to Bingley convert the fire of prejudice into a rage. Fitzwilliam’s naive ignorance of what he is disclosing, like Wickham’s intentional falsehoods, arising from a state of unconsciousness or involution, add the necessary intensity to fully bring out the strength of Eliza’s prejudice and fully challenge Darcy to rise above the arrogance of his pride.

Darcy was inwardly torn by the conflict between his sense of social propriety and his personal attraction for Eliza. Mrs. Bennett’s middle class origins were sufficient disqualification to make the match highly undesirable, but her appallingly uncouth behavior and Lydia’s unrestrained vulgarity made it almost unthinkable. Yet the power of Darcy’s emotions and his increasing respect for Elizabeth as an individual finally compelled him to throw aside custom, common sense and his own sense of propriety by proposing to her. Never did he imagine for a moment that he would be rebuffed. Never could he conceive that the rebuff would justifiably accuse him of rudeness, arrogance and offensive meddling in other people’s affairs—the very characteristics he found so objectionable in others. Eliza’s response revealed that she was an individual who valued goodness, fairness and sisterly affection above the great wealth and high status Darcy offered. Since character was the only thing he could respect more than his own heritage, that response placed Eliza in his regard above superficial social standards as his equal. The obvious truth in her accusation and, perhaps even more, the obvious falsehood of Wickham’s accusations which brought out Eliza’s admiration for fairness, honesty and generosity elevated her further in his estimation.

Until Darcy’s sudden first proposal at Rosings, it could never occur to her that Darcy would even consider her a fit partner for marriage. After her insulting rebuff of that proposal, she was sure that all possible sentiment for her must be dead. When she learns the truth about Wickham, she is already sure it is too late for her to ever recover his affection.

Pressing circumstances, involved forces of life, prevented Mr. Gardiner from taking Eliza to the lake country as promised. So instead they visit the village of Mrs. Gardiner’s former residence in Derbyshire, which is very near Pemberley. Again, it is Darcy’s ‘chance’ return to Pemberley a day early which brings about his first meeting with Eliza since their abrupt parting at Rosings. Darcy’s feelings have not changed at all, but hers have begun to change markedly. The unsought visit to magnificent Pemberley and the unsolicited good opinion the housekeeper offered of Darcy are both unconscious acts that soften her feelings for him. But neither is able to breech the distance between them.

What they are unable to accomplish for themselves, Lydia does for them. News of her scandalous elopement with Wickham reaches Eliza just a moment before Darcy calls on her. The intensity of her emotions and, perhaps, her subtle perception of the situation prompt her to reveal the tragic news to Darcy, the one person she later most regrets learning about it, for she is sure that that news must put a final seal on the tomb of any feelings he may have still harbored for her. In fact, Lydia’s outrageous, unconscious act in total disregard for social propriety and personal welfare presents Darcy with the opportunity to prove himself above both pride and meanness. Nothing could be more personally objectionable to him then to involve himself in such a scandalous situation, to seek out Wickham in the wrong side of London, to negotiate a settlement and spend his own money to seal the marriage contract. He does all that for Elizabeth, yet has the self-restraint or modesty to insist on it being kept a secret. Here again Lydia comes to his rescue when she unintentionally reveals to Eliza that Darcy was present at her wedding.

Having saved Lydia and the whole family’s reputation, Darcy encourages Bingley to renew his courtship of Jane. The fact that he waits so long to do so shows the intensity of the sentiment he has to overcome that it is an unfortunate alliance for his friend.

Still life the pride of both Darcy and Elizabeth prevent them from coming together. Finally it requires the active intervention of Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine whose intention is to prevent the very marriage she ends up encouraging. Her report of the rumors and her aggressive interrogation of Eliza about her intentions with her nephew makes Eliza realize for the first time that Darcy must still be harboring some hope of marrying her. Having failed to obtain a pledge from Eliza, who responds with strength to Lady Catherine’s aggression, the old matriarch rushes off to exert her influence on Darcy. When Darcy learns from her that Elizabeth has not openly rejected the rumors, his hope is rekindled and he hastily seeks the opportunity to visit her. Lady Catherine’s perverse opposition to their marriage enables the two to finally come together.

Circumstances propel a woman of developed individual character to shed the inhibiting limitations surrounding her family origins to the highest level of society. Circumstances propel a man of high social status to shed the limitations of arrogant pride to grow in the status of character. This evolution is made possible by a host of forces and circumstances that seem to oppose the very result they help to bring about. Wickham’s arrival in Merryton at the time of Darcy’s visit, Eliza’s attraction to Wickham, Wickham’s slander against Darcy, Eliza’s resulting prejudice against Darcy, the vulgar displays of Mrs. Bennett and Lydia, Darcy’s rude comment about Eliza, Darcy’s interference with Bingley’s courtship of Jane and Fitzwilliam’s revelation of his role to Eliza, Lydia’s elopement and Eliza’s admission of it to Darcy, Lady Catherine’s determined effort to prevent the alliance—all these circumstances ‘conspire’ to bring them together despite the natural antipathy which they both initially feel for each other.

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