Revised Prepared Notebook Entry: Pride & Prejudice Entry

Passage:

“My dear Miss Eliza, why are not you dancing?- Mr. Darcy, you must allow me to present this young lady to you as a very desirable partner. You cannot refuse to dance, I am sure, when so much beauty is before you.” And taking her hand, he would have given it to Mr. Darcy, who, though extremely surprised, was not unwilling to receive it, when she instantly drew back, and said with some discomposure to Sir William,
“Indeed, sir, I have not the least intention of dancing. I entreat you not to suppose that I moved this way in order to beg for a partner.”
Mr. Darcy with grave propriety requested to be allowed the honour of her hand; but in vain. Elizabeth was determined; nor did Sir William at all shake her purpose by his attempt at persuasion. (21)

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Revised Analysis:


In this passage from Pride and prejudice, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are introduced to each other for the first time and both are encouraged to dance with one another by a mutual friend. In the scene, there is much tension between the characters as they are each reluctant to dance with the other. When offered Elizabeth's hand, Mr. Darcy is said to be "extremely surprised." The fact that Mr. Darcy is “extremely surprised” by Elizabeth’s hand shows his conceited and proud nature as a character. Being surprised by the offer shows that Mr. Darcy had not previously entertained the idea of dancing with Elizabeth, for one reason or another.

Also, the narration states not that he is willing to accept her hand, but that he is ‘not unwilling’ further suggesting a bit of resentment and hesitation. Being 'nut unwilling' rather than willing reveals that Mr. Darcy does not necessarily wish to dance with Elizabeth, but is only doing it to be polite. Using 'not unwilling' helps to establish Mr. Darcy's views and opinions of Elizabeth.

However, to Mr. Darcy’s surprise, Elizabeth draws her hand back from him and does not offer to dance with him. In this way, Elizabeth establishes herself as a sort of non-conformist to her society’s expectations- she refuses to dance with a wealthy single man that may show some interest in marrying her. This refusal makes Elizabeth unlike her sister and goes directly against her mother’s wishes.

In an attempt to redeem himself, Mr. Darcy tries to convince her to dance with him, but again, Elizabeth refuses. Ironically, it is Elizabeth’s pride that gets in the way of her dancing with Mr. Darcy as it was Mr. Darcy's pride that made him initially hesitant. Simply, the two are too proud to dance with each other.

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Revision Reflection:

I chose this dialectical journal entry as the one that I would be revising because I feel as though I missed so much in my initial reflection on the passage. In revising my entry, I came across the deeper connotations of the words Austen chose, and realized that they added more to the characterization of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth than I had previously realized. I also chose this entry in particular, because I feel that it is an important part in the novel, and I am glad that I noticed this point at first seeing this passage.

The first part I added to the revised entry was a bit of a summary at the beginning of the entry. Though I normally do this on my DJs, I had not, for some reason, done the same on this one. Without the summary I had to reread the passage several times before fully remembering what part of the novel it came from, and so I felt that adding the summary would avoid such needs in the future. The summary simply indicates that this is the first time Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth meet.

The major amendments to the entry came in the revision that took place around the quotations I used. In original, the specific references to words like 'not unwilling' and 'extremely surprised' were not introduced beforehand and, I feel, not sufficiently analyzed. In revising the entry, I added context to the quotations and then went on to analyze why Austen used the words she did and what effect the use of specific words has.

Through these revisions, I believe I have made this journal entry a more in depth and valuable one were I ever to revisit Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

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