Not Handsome Enough to Tempt
📖 Not Handsome Enough to Tempt
He arrives at the Meryton ball with ten thousand a year and dismisses Elizabeth Bennet in twelve words: "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me." Austen gives Darcy his entrance as a man so encased in class pride that beauty must clear a social threshold before it becomes perceptible. He is not cruel — he simply has not yet learned that he is wrong. Everything that follows is Austen's systematic dismantling of that conviction.
Austen introduces Darcy through Elizabeth's perception — and this is deliberate. He is initially rendered as a collection of behaviours: refusing to dance, speaking little, appearing to look down on every person in the room. Bingley tells him that the room is "full of pretty women"; Darcy replies that he can see "only
Earn the mark scheme marks
🧠 Memory Aid: Darcy's Three-Stage Arc
PROUD → EXPOSED → HUMBLED
- P — PROUD: dismisses Elizabeth; class-conditioned reserve; "not handsome enough to tempt me"
- E — EXPOSED: first proposal refused; letter forces self-examination; rides to Pemberley
- H — HUMBLED: secretly saves the Bennets; second proposal without conditions; accepts Elizabeth's family
Mnemonic: "People Eventually Humbled" — or just remember the Pemberley housekeeper: Darcy's private character is the answer the whole novel is building toward.
Now try it yourself
Quiz · Question 1 of 10
What does Austen establish through Darcy's first significant speech at the Meryton ball — 'She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me'?
Tap an answer to check it