But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying.
My all-time favourite moment in any of Austen’s books, this is the exact point where every new reader first sits up, their romance radar on high alert. The words “no sooner” are sheer genius, setting up that most proud of heroes, Mr. Darcy, for the most epic of fails. And the way that Austen juxtaposes the two clauses in the first sentence - one so negative (“hardly had a good”), the next so positive (“uncommonly,” “beautiful”) shows the very conflict and duality within Darcy that he will greatly suffer from for not understanding his own mind - and body. He sits so high and lofty on his perch, and this is also the moment at which Austen, with a knowing wink at her audience, starts to throw increasingly painful sticks at him - a critical factor in the intensity of the Darcy and Elizabeth romance.
Tone and 582 other people liked this
I totally agree with you; how could he like a girl from a countr…