Respecting Shyness

In an analysis of Pride and Prejudice entitled "Pride, Prejudice, and Shyness," R. E. Ewin analyzes both the manner of Georgina and Darcy in their respective social scenes. Ewin first recognizes that Jane Austen plays with the idea of self respect through many different personal traits such as laziness, responsibility, address, and judgement of what is important to an individual. Shyness is among these characteristics and while reading the novel, we see two very different forms of shyness. Ewin explains these forms of shyness by drawing parallels between Darcy and his younger sister Georgina. The first similarity is in the initial introduction of each character. When we first encounter Darcy, he is very shy at the ball at Pemberley. He does not speak to those he does not know and cuts himself off from Longbourn's society almost entirely. He says little and is very standoffish. However, Darcy is perceived as arrogant and haughty and because of this, the other characters emphasize this one fault and fail to look for any positive qualities that might counter his vice. Georgina, is very similar in her manner. She is very quiet, does not say much and does not show much emotion. However, Elizabeth and Mrs. Gardiner choose to give her the benefit of the doubt and interpret her manner not as arrogance, but as shyness instead. This is possibly because she is a young girl and Mrs. Gardiner and her niece are willing to reason with her. Shyness is agent that used by both of these character for very similar reasons.

Ewin suggests that both Darcy and Georgina are shy in order to protect their family name and honour. However, the characters attempt to protect their honour by very different means. Ewin points out that Dary misinterprets honour and because of this, he attempts to protect it in the wrong way. For example, Darcy sorts people not by their personalities, but by their role in society. And although Darcy does have a reason to be proud of his name, he sees all other families in Longbourn as inferior and therefore undeserving of his attention and time. Darcy cuts himself off from society because he is afraid of dishonouring his family name and as a result he displays almost excessive pride. Goergina also fears offending her family's honour but in order to protect it, she is shy in order to ensure that she does not say or do the wrong thing. In other words, Darcy is shy because he feels he is superior to those around him and needs to maintain that reputation where as Georgina is shy because she is afraid of ruining her reputation.

After explaining the role of shyness in these characters, Ewin suggests that it s possibly a moral failure that needs to be overcome by the characters. Indeed, we do see Darcy overcome his shyness when he converses openly and genuinely with the Gardiners; this is what Ewin sees as an admirable quality in Darcy. Sadly, we do not get to see a dramatic character shift in Georgina; but it would be interesting to see if she could overcome her shyness and find a different way to protect her honour.

Pride, Prejudice and Shyness

R. E. Ewin

Philosophy , Vol. 65, No. 252 (Apr., 1990), pp. 137-154

Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal Institute of Philosophy

Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3751384