In relation to
this post on early Darcy's most early Darcy moment, early Elizabeth!
Mr Darcy smiled; but Elizabeth thought she could perceive that he was rather offended, and therefore checked her laugh.All that unambiguously happens is that Darcy smiles and Elizabeth opts not to laugh. But Elizabeth’s interpretation is laced with so many qualifications that I think we’re pretty much invited to question it. It’s possible that she’s right! But it is also entirely possible from this description that she’s misinterpreting his smile (one of many, as she’ll recall much later) and projecting her expectations onto him. I’m inclined to go with the latter, in part because IMO the construction of the passage throws her conclusion into doubt, and in part because it fits her character arc.
However, what her judgment actually leads her to do is not to further attack Darcy, but to courteously refrain from doing so even though she dislikes him. I think that people don’t always appreciate the extent of Elizabeth’s everyday courtesy, and how intensely she prizes courtesy in others. And while she gets it mixed up with flattery in others’ behaviour towards her, she herself is no flatterer (as she points out at the end!), just a very polite and considerate person.
That’s why lack of consideration is the core of her problem with Darcy, and why a) Mrs Reynolds’s account of his usual behaviour and b) his altered behaviour wrt Elizabeth/the Gardiners specifically weigh so much with her.
But also, thinking about it, this is—quite different from the Early Darcy Moment, but also fundamentally similar? They both reach mistaken conclusions out of pride, and then try and do the considerate thing in response. Of course, Elizabeth is more considerate in practice than Darcy is, generally, but I think their instincts are similar.
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