THE DISTRIBUTION AND FREQUENCY OF THE TERMS “ PRIDE ” AND “ PREJUDICE ” IN JANE AUSTEN ’ S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

In this article we examine the title terms of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) with particular attention to their distribution and frequency in the text. Our method is to connect the statistical material gathered on frequency and distribution to a narratological analysis of the terms, with special emphasis on whether they occur within the focalization of the external narrator, or that of character-focalizers. In order to approach this task, we have availed ourselves of the narratological theories of Mieke Bal. We conclude that there is a differentiation among types of focalization in the novel that enhances the thematic structure of match-making. Although Jane Austen wrote and published her major works two centuries ago, they continue to fascinate literary scholars and general readers alike. In this article we will examine the title terms of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) with particular attention to their distribution and frequency in the text. The purpose of this analysis is to uncover to what extent the title terms illustrate the central conflicts of the novel; by doing this we hope to contribute something new to the reading of the novel. Former critics, such as Robert C. Fox, warn the reader against being “misled by investing the title with more significance than is warranted” (1962, 185). Everett Zimmerman, on the other hand, argues that “the qualities of pride and prejudice have been interpreted so narrowly that the full significance of the title has been obscured” (1986, 64), and continues by asking “should it not, in the context of the novel, acquire richer and more pertinent meanings than the merely literal ones that critics ordinarily suggest?” (65). Jane Austen did not choose her title arbitrarily, but more importantly we argue that she employed her narrative technique as a powerful tool for realizing a formal intent in which the title terms become embedded into a hierarchy of character The Distribution and Frequency of the Terms "Pride" and "Prejudice" in Jane Austen's

focalization that mixes the narrator's, the characters' and the community's different perspectives on the meaning of the terms in relation to the theme of match-making.
The method of our study is to connect the statistical material gathered on frequency and distribution to a narratological analysis of the terms, with special emphasis on whether they occur within the focalization of the external narrator, or that of character-focalizers. Due to the complexity of the focalization techniques in the novel, it will be necessary to sort out, where possible, whether there is ambiguity with reference to the focalization, for example when the "voice" uttering the terms in question is that of the unindividualized community, or when the external focalizer and a character overlap in their focalization.In order to approach this task, we have availed ourselves of one of the leading theories treating precisely the subtle distinctions between levels of focalization, that of Mieke Bal in Narratology (1997).
Following Bal's terminology, we will distinguish between external (extradiegetic) and internal (intradiegetic) focalization by employing "EF" to refer to the narrator as focalizer and "CF" to designate when a character in the story is focalizer.Since the external narrator is always present in Pride and Prejudice, whether implicitly or explicitly, the CF type of focalization is always double.In other words, the characters are always focalized by the narrator, even when they appear to be presenting their own thoughts or opinions.We will also consider, where appropriate, Bal's reflection that "it is important to ascertain which character focalizes which object [....] the image we receive of the object is determined by the focalizor [and] the image a focalizor presents of an object says something about the focalizor itself" (120). 1 This basic trait of the narrative method of Austen's novel, following Bal's line of reasoning, can also be applied to describing the EF.Austen's narrator (EF) at turns offers and withholds bits of information-sometimes crucial bits-from the characters and from the reader.Such a high degree of "manipulation" from the narrator, as Bal would term this access to the flow of information, leads to a 1 We have chosen to employ the more standard spelling "focalizer" throughout.
parallel process in the main CFs and in the reader of retrospection and adjustment of interpretations of the terms "pride" and "prejudice".
An initial overview of the terms reveals two main tendencies.The first is that the term "pride" appears much more frequently than the term "prejudice."The distribution is as follows: 70 examples of "pride" (including the adjective "proud" and adverb "proudly") and 8 examples of "prejudice."In keeping with the central thematic issues connected with these terms, our hypothesis is that there is a significant difference between what focalizers say and what they do (how they act) that is not merely underlined by the ideological and cultural contexts of the novel and its period, but bolstered as well by the utterance of the terms in the text.The CFs talk and think about pride, but they practice prejudice.The external focalizer emphasizes this effect, as we will see, by gliding, sometimes almost imperceptibly, from an external to an internal (character-based) type of focalization.
The second overall tendency that is worth pointing out about the frequency of the terms is that they are not evenly distributed in the text.Volume I contains 35 examples of the term "pride", Volume II 13, and Volume III 22.The term "prejudice" appears only once in Volume I, four times in Volume II, and three times in Volume III.The middle section of the novel thus contains an increase in the less frequently uttered term, "prejudice," and a decrease in the more frequent one, "pride."At the same time, in the middle Volume, some of the key character-focalizers are entering a process of reconsidering their earlier judgments and actions in a similar way as the reader is compelled to reconsider the plot.
By considering the distribution and frequency of these title terms in relation to the focalizers, our main argument is that there is a connection between the formal features of the novel and the thematic features of the novel that in sum can be referred to as the thematic structure of match-making.Each of the Bennet sisters who end up married at the end of the novel apparently find their equals in terms of their moral values and personality.Thus it can be argued that the match between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth is predictable, seeing as both are considered as proud in Volume I of the novel.What makes the match possible is the fact that they manage to overcome their vices, their "pride" and "prejudice".Simultaneously, the title term "pride" decreases in frequency from Volume I to Volume III, whereas "prejudice" increases as the characters begin to realize their own errors, enabling us to see a direct link between the distribution and frequency of the terms, and the theme of the novel.The introspection of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth alerts us to our own limited vision as readers.Austen's focalization technique feigns to give us the whole truth, but as the story unfolds, we come to realize that we can in fact not trust everything that we read.

Volume I
Volume I contains the most frequent usage of the terms "pride" (24 occurrences) and "proud" (11 occurrences), whereas the title word "prejudice" is only to be found once.There is thus a striking imbalance in the distribution of the terms in question.This first section will concentrate on the accumulation of meanings associated with the more frequent term, "pride", and where the semantic content stems from, i.e. from external or internal focalizers.
Throughout Volume I, pride is presented as by and large a negative concept.Mostly, it is connected to Mr Darcy and his behaviour.At an early point in the novel, the judgement of Mr Darcy is firstly presented as stemming from the community in general: "He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and every body hoped that he would never come there again" (11, emphasis added).The EF employs quite consistently in this Volume the term "every body" to refer to a generalized communal opinion.The focalization of such passages can be described as EF + CF (community); in other words as mixed focalization in which the EF presents the general opinions of the village.However, this mixed focalization is sometimes subject to a process of narrowing down which targets the thoughts and opinions of specific characters, especially when Darcy is focalized by Mrs Bennet: "Amongst the most violent against him was Mrs Bennet, whose dislike of his general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of her daughters" (11).This shifting from a communal towards a personal focalization is a feature that is characteristic for the whole of Volume I and thus resonates with the narratological type of double focalization where the external focalizer looks over the shoulder of or "watches along with" an internal focalizer (Bal 159).It is worth noting this particularity of the narrative, because when the EF watches along with or listens to the CF Mrs Bennet, the reader risks being manipulated into taking for granted that we are still listening to the voice of the community, when in actual fact we have left its other members behind.One of the consequences of this narrative device is that the reader, like the main protagonists in the Bennet family, may come to internalize subjective conjecture as universal fact and become prejudiced against Mr Darcy at the outset.This is of course a formal intention of the novel's structure that will provoke the reader into an epiphany or reevaluation of the terms "pride" and "prejudice" as limited, provincial traits.The article "Pride and Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice" by Everett Zimmermann seems to support such a notion: "The meanings that pride and prejudice acquire are related to the central theme of all of Jane Austen's novels -the limitation of human vision" (65).
It must be argued that Pride and Prejudice conveys a thematic structure of match-making of personalities and moral values that is mirrored by its narrative structure.The thematic pattern seems quite obvious, as it appears as if the Bennet sisters one after one marry husbands who, to a great extent, match the sisters' own personal traits.Thus, it is interesting to observe that Mr Darcy is not the only one connected to a negative conception of "pride" in the narration of Volume I.When focalized through characters of higher class and not the community, Elizabeth and her behaviour are also judged negatively.This is especially the view of the Bingley sisters (Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst) when Elizabeth visits Netherfield to tend to her sister Jane who is ill.Given the marital pattern of the other Bennet sisters, attributing "pride" to both Mr Darcy and Elizabeth might already here foreshadow the relationship between them: Her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence; she had no conversation, no style, no beauty.Mrs Hurst thought the same, and added, 'She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker.I shall never forget her appearance this morning.She really looked almost wild.' 'She did, indeed, Louisa.I could hardly keep my countenance.Very nonsensical to come at all!Why must she be scampering about the country, because her sister had a cold?Her hair, so untidy, so blowsy!' (33)(34) Here the focalization glides from an EF that describes a group impression of Elizabeth in reported speech (marked by the use of "pronounced"), to an internal, "embedded" focalization (Bal 158), that presents in direct dialogue not only the perceivable words uttered but also the personal thoughts of both Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst.This gliding between the subjective and objective presentation of focalization can also be seen as an intentional device to give the illusion that objectivity belongs to the EF and subjectivity to the various manifestations of the CF, when in fact there is no such distinction.The narrator of the novel is omniscient, though the EF appears to have limited access to information in such examples where reported speech and dialogue are presented side by side.
In Volume I, the pride of Mr Collins is also something that is focalized as a disadvantage.In Chapter 15 he is presented as a mixture of proud and selfish.His pride is of course also hurt when Elizabeth turns down his offer of marriage, and it is additionally described as angry: "The morrow produced no abatement of Mrs Bennet's illhumour or ill health.Mr Collins was also in the same state of angry pride.Elizabeth had hoped that his resentment might shorten his visit, but his plan did not appear in the least affected by it" (112).In this section, as we see, three objects are focalized by the EF.The glide from Mrs Bennet to Mr Collins equates them both with the same injured sense of pride, though there are different reasons for it.The coupling sign (Bal 158) joining the focalization of the EF and the CF(Elizabeth), is the verb "had hoped".In this short passage, we can see the complexity of the narrative technique as it moves quickly between focalizers and focalized objects.
It is through her contact with Mr Wickham that Elizabeth further develops a notion of Mr Darcy as proud in the sense that he is both arrogant and selfish: 'Upon my word, I say no more here than I might say in any house in the neighbourhood, except Netherfield.He is not at all liked in Hertfordshire.Every body is disgusted with his pride.You will not find him more favourably spoken of by any one.'(75)(76) Prior to this discussion between Wickham and Elizabeth, the focalization has moved from the EF to a mixture of EF and CF, thus closing in on Elizabeth as focalizer and also narrowing down to the subject of Mr Darcy as the focalized object: "…what she chiefly wished to hear she could not hope to be told, the history of his acquaintance with Mr Darcy" (75).There is thus a persistent pattern of focalization in the first volume in which Elizabeth is focalized by the EF and Darcy is in turn focalized by Elizabeth, drawing the reader into the limited perspective of the main protagonist in which all the information she receives confirms her first, negative, impression of him.
In spite of the negative focus on pride, there are parts of Volume I where this concept is ambivalent.In the continuation of Wickham and Elizabeth's conversation, various perceptions of pride are in fact brought up: 'Yes.It has often led him to be liberal and generous, -to give his money freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor.Family pride, and filial pride, for he is very proud of what his father was, have done this.Not to appear to disgrace his family, to degenerate from the popular qualities, or lose the influence of the Pemberley House, is a powerful motive.He has also brotherly pride, which, with some brotherly affection, makes him a very kind and careful guardian of his sister, and you will hear him generally cried up as the most attentive and best of brothers.'(79, emphasis added) Here Wickham introduces two types of pride that are virtuousfamily and filial pride-and yet in focalizing Darcy he manipulates the conversation to suggest that family and filial pride are mere surface qualities of Darcy which serve to feed his general arrogance.Elizabeth is thus manipulated to expect that any expression of virtuous pride she might observe in Darcy is merely a cover for darker motives.
The preoccupation with the term "pride" among the Bennet characters had been underlined already in chapter 5, where "pride" appears seven times during an explicit family discussion about the meaning of the word; they connect it to what they consider the arrogant behaviour of Mr Darcy at an earlier party.Though the discussion is focalized through an EF, we have access to the direct discourse of the character Mary, who delivers a small speech on the term: 'Pride,' observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, 'is a very common failing, I believe.By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed, that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary.Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously.A person may be proud without being vain.Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.' (19) The amount of space offered Mary's utterances gives a strong impression of a motion towards internal character focalization.The coupling sign which moves us from the EF to the CF(Mary) is in this case the verb "observed," but as it is followed by an ironic narrative statement ridiculing Mary's character, the reader at this point is not invited to consider her remarks seriously.By the end of the novel, however, her distinction between "pride" and "vanity" becomes in fact applicable to Darcy when the tables are turned after the events of Volume II.
The only time "prejudice" occurs in Volume I, is during a conversation between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy: 'I remember hearing you once say, Mr Darcy, that you hardly ever forgave, that your resentment once created was unappeasable.You are very cautious, I suppose, as to its being created.' 'I am,' said he, with a firm voice.'And never allow yourself to be blinded by prejudice?' 'I hope not.' 'It is particularly incumbent on those who never change their opinion, to be secure of judging properly at first.' 'May I ask to what these questions tend?' 'Merely to the illustration of your character,' said she, endeavouring to shake off her gravity.'I am trying to make it out.' (91) The appearance of the title word is preceded, as is the general pattern in the novel, by a section focalized through the EF.This conversation between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy is then followed by a section where the EF focalizes an exchange between Miss Bingley and Elizabeth where Miss Bingley suggests that Elizabeth's reliance on Mr Wickham's stories has made her judgemental toward Mr Darcy.The focalization then again turns into a mixture of EF and Elizabeth's internal thoughts: 'Insolent girl!' said Elizabeth to herself.-'You are much mistaken if you expect to influence me by such a paltry attack as this.I see nothing in it but your own wilful ignorance and the malice of Mr Darcy.' (93) The effect obtained by this use of focalization is of course the manipulation of information that is offered to the reader.Elizabeth is being fed with premonitions that build up her one-sided impression of Mr Darcy as unattractively proud and arrogant.As the focalization changes into a double type every time the title words are mentioned, the reader develops a bond to that one character's perception of the situation.In the case of Elizabeth, when the veils that hide the truth about Mr Wickham and Mr Darcy are removed, the effect will have a great impact, as both the character Elizabeth and the reader see clearly how prejudice has emerged due to limitation or manipulation of information.

Volume II
Volume II provides a transitional middle section to the novel in which the meanings of the title terms that were discussed and established in Volume I are subject to destabilization in the focalization of the CFs, especially Elizabeth.Thus it is important to note the attitude with which the CF refers to the focalized object.As we have seen in Volume I, the EF often employs a technique of mixed focalization which narrows down to the thoughts or dialogue of a CF, but there are no instances when talking about "pride" or "prejudice" that the EF is the sole focalizer.In other words, the focalization remains double (EF + CF) whenever the terms appear.As Felicia Bonaparte argues in "Conjecturing Possibilities: Reading and Misreading Texts in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice", there is merit "in not insisting on one final point of view" (2005,153).
As we have already established, Volume II is the one with the least occurrences of "pride" (13) and the most of "prejudice" (4).The term "pride" is distributed evenly throughout the volume.In the first instance, the CF is Elizabeth and she reflects on what kind of girl Bingley's friends and sisters might want him to marry: "a girl who has all the importance of money, great connextions and pride" (134).Elizabeth's attitude to this is not wholly negative.A girl with these attributes is considered a good choice, so the "pride" referred to here is not the same as the type of arrogance she so far connects to Mr Darcy.Since Elizabeth is whole-heartedly engaged in the topic of her sister Jane's fate with reference to a possible marriage to Mr Bingley, her more cautious attitude is colored by her sisterly love.
The next instance concerns Mrs Gardiner as focalizer, and how she incorporates the voice of the community in her focalizing of Mr Darcy: On being made acquainted with the present Mr Darcy's treatment of [Mr Wickham], she tried to remember something of that gentleman's reputed disposition, when quite a lad, which might agree with it, and was confident at last that she recollected having heard Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy spoken of as a very proud, ill-natured boy.(141, emphasis added).
From this example we can see that when Mrs Gardiner hears a negative report about Darcy in the present time of the story, it triggers and reinforces a memory of what she believes others have said of him in the past.Mieke Bal's notion that what is focalized says something about the focalizer is relevant in this example, as Mrs Gardiner seems to be assimilating the views of others into her opinion, visible in the emphasis in the example above.The attitude is indisputably negative in this instance, though we suspect that the class differences of the characters in question are also a factor in determining their opinions.Bonaparte points out that "narrative is always tied to a narrator…every tale…is only an interpretation reflecting the narrator's view or purpose" (159).The purpose in this case is to feign knowledge and to lend support to the general prejudice against Mr Darcy.
Following these first instances, there is a gap of about 40 pages where we find no occurrences of the word "pride".In this gap, Elizabeth goes to visit her friend Charlotte at Hunsford.At the beginning of this section, Darcy is absent from the text.He reappears, however, on page 167, and on the following pages, Elizabeth sees a new and less pretentious side of his character.It is not until Darcy's cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, mentions Darcy's rescuing a friend from an unfortunate connection, that Elizabeth again becomes convinced of his pride: That he had been concerned in the measures taken to separate Mr Bingley and Jane she had never doubted; but she had always attributed to Miss Bingley the principal design and arrangement of them.If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him, he was the cause, his pride and caprice were the cause, of all that Jane had suffered, and still continued to suffer.( 183) This is the first of a number of instances in this volume where she focalizes Mr Darcy and his pride.The attitude here is still negative, and the pride is presented as an upper-class phenomenon.
The following page has two instances of the word with the same focalizer/focalized relationship, and here we also find what we interpret as a distinction between two kinds of pride.Elizabeth refers to Mr Darcy as being "governed by this worst kind of pride" (184), i.e. the kind that is wounded by "the want of importance in his friend's connextions" (ibid.).Pride becomes ambivalent in that Elizabeth acknowledges the existence of a "worst" kind which implies the parallel existence of a "best" kind.It is thus both a vice and a virtue, but one which, in the mind of the focalizer, seems to be reserved for the wealthy.Virtuous pride is implicity a type in which the person does not look down upon connections or people of lesser importance in the class system.From this line of argument it becomes apparent that Elizabeth's view of Mr Darcy is still that he possesses great vice, although she allows for the possibility that others of his class may possess virtuous pride.
The next instance presents a significant shift, as Mr Darcy is the focalizer, and Elizabeth is in turn focalized.Darcy, in this example, seems to confirm Elizabeth's suspicions, as he, in his declaration of love for her, "was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride" (186).Darcy is incapable of seeing this as a negative factor within himself, underlining that pride is indeed considered a virtue by the upper class.However, in the next example, Darcy argues that Elizabeth's pride has been hurt: 'And this,' cried Darcy, as he walked with quick steps across the room, 'is your opinion of me! […] But perhaps,' added he, stopping in his walk, and turning towards her, 'these offences, might have been overlooked, had not your pride been hurt by my honest confession of the scruples that had long prevented my forming any serious design.[…] Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connexions?' (189).
He expresses a negative view, then, of her pride, while at the same time elevating his own to a virtue.Darcy takes it for granted that if he has condescended to asking her to marry him, she cannot have any objection.
Following this confrontation, we find several instances where Elizabeth focalizes Darcy negatively when talking about him.She uses phrases like "abominable pride" (190), "pride and insolence" (200) and "proud and repulsive" ( 203), which all presumably underline her dislike for him.It seems that her harsh words are uttered to persuade herself more than anyone else, since they come after she receives the letter from him explaining his motivations and actions on page 192.Her preoccupation with him and his pride shows that his words have in fact influenced her, and she is at this point entering a process of selfreflection, as his letter confuses her and destabilizes her received perception of him 2 .
The letter that causes introspection within Elizabeth also spurs a narrative section where she is simultaneously focalizer and focalized (the object of her own as well as the EFs focalization).We will elaborate on this later when looking at the term "prejudice".Upon reflecting on what she knows of Darcy's character, Elizabeth turns to examining herself and how wrong she has been: "'I, who have prided myself on my discernment!'"(204).This case of pride presents more ambivalence.Elizabeth as CF is negative towards herself, but the pride she describes is essentially a positive one, as long as one does not allow one's pride and convictions to blind judgment.According to the 2 Some critics, Bonaparte included, emphasize the dialectics in the novel between writing, which is what Mr Darcy is doing, and reading which is what Elizabeth is doing.A main problem, but also solution in the novel, is how to read a person, and naturally also how one writes oneself.
focalizers' perceptions, pride should be checked and monitored for it to be a virtue of some kind.
The last focalizer of pride in Volume II is Mr Wickham, who focalizes Mr Darcy while in conversation with Elizabeth.Wickham argues, as he did in Volume I, that Mr Darcy's pride may keep him from performing ill deeds similar to the one Wickham claims was done to him.It is important to note that the reception of this focalization has changed, as Elizabeth is no longer open for accepting such criticism of Mr Darcy.One should also note that more than 20 pages have passed since the previous instance, and the focus of the text has shifted somewhat due to Elizabeth's process of introspection.
"Prejudice" is found only 4 places in the volume; on pages 200, 204 and two instances on 221, but this is nevertheless the volume in which it most frequently occurs.The first example we find more than 50 pages into the volume, and the examples are concentrated over 20 pages in all.When we looked at the distribution of the word "pride", we found one instance where Elizabeth is the object of her own focalization, whereas when talking about "prejudice" in this volume, such concurrence between focalizer/focalized is the main tendency.The first instance we find when Elizabeth is about to start reading Darcy's letter: "with a strong prejudice against every thing he might say" (200).Not only does this hint that no matter what Darcy's message might be, she is not inclined to change her perception of him, but also that she is in fact determined not to sympathize with him.Elizabeth is biased against the letter, but on the other hand, her eagerness to read it exposes that she is in fact not wholly negative to what he might have to say.In focalizing her own prejudice here, the CF does not present it as a vice.Later, this changes.
As we saw above, Darcy's letter to Elizabeth spurs self-reflection on the addressee's part, which leads to a fundamentally different view of prejudice: "Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd" (204).The prejudice presented here by the CF is not accepted, it is indeed an indisputable vice.She can no longer justify her own behaviour, and this in turn leads to further introspection on her part.She has reached an awareness of the motifs of her own behaviour when she later discusses the truth of Mr Wickham's character with her sister Jane: "...the misfortune of speaking with bitterness is a most natural consequence of the prejudice I had been encouraging" (221).
The last example of prejudice we find in this volume is a blend between community focalization and the CF Elizabeth.Darcy is again the focalized object, or more specifically, the community's view of him as internalized by Elizabeth: "The general prejudice against Mr Darcy is so violent, that it would be the death of half the good people in Meryton to attempt to place him in an amiable light" (ibid.).Elizabeth is reflecting on behalf of the community as a whole, and she judges it on the basis of her new-found knowledge.In the first volume, the CF Elizabeth had uncritically assimilated the community's and Mr Wickham's dislike of Mr Darcy's pride into her own internal perception of him.In the second volume, Elizabeth, through her introspective focalization, comes to realize that this process of assimilation was in fact built on bias and she now sees her own and the community's prejudice as a vice.Pride in Volume II, however, becomes a more ambivalent term, as the CFs recognize that it can have both positive and negative manifestations.

Volume III
In the third volume of Pride and Prejudice, we also find that the distribution follows the established pattern.The term "pride", including "proud" and "proudly", appears much more frequently than the term "prejudice" ("pride" appears 22 times whereas "prejudice" is found only 3 times).The complex nature of the focalization technique follows the general pattern established in Volumes I and II.In all the instances of the occurrences of the title terms, there are at least two levels of focalization: the EF and a character focalizer who watches along with the external narrator, or the EF and the voice of the unindividualized community.This double focalization in Volume III thus confirms the hypothesis that in the novel as a whole the title terms do not occur when the focalization is exclusively carried out by the EF, nor are there examples where the EF leaves the focalization entirely to a CF.This creates an ambiguity in which it is at times difficult to spot the degree to which the "voice" uttering the terms in question is that of the unindividualized community or that of the external narrator or character focalizer.Bal points out that it "is also possible to distinguish between double focalization [...] and ambiguous focalization, in which it is hard to decide who focalizes" (127-128).
Austen scholar Karl Kroeber once claimed that "there is no necessary relation between the frequency with which a specific word is used and its aesthetic significance" (10).His line of argument purports that there is not necessarily a connection between the frequency and distribution of the title terms and their significance.However, Kroeber also acknowledged that point of view is a difficult topic, and many critics have since shed light on the complex nature of point of view or focalization (e.g.Zimmerman, Bal).Our study illuminates how the narrator of Pride and Prejudice has clearly taken advantage of the ambiguous nature of mixed focalization as a technique to enhance the instability and thus changing perception of the terms "pride" and "prejudice" throughout the novel.
The term "pride" appears evenly throughout Volume III.For the main part, Elizabeth is the CF and Mr Darcy is person focalized.Of the 22 occurrences of "pride", Elizabeth is the CF in 9 of the instances.In addition to Darcy, she also focalizes Mrs Reynolds (254), Miss Darcy (302), and herself.Mr Darcy is focalized directly in 12 of the 22 examples found.In addition, he is indirectly focalized 3 times, either by Elizabeth (218) or Mrs Reynolds (243).He is also the object of his own focalization in the cases where he is the focalizer.Between chapters 45 and 50, there is a gap where we find no occurrences of the term.In this gap, the focus is turned to the marriage between Lydia and Wickham and away from our main characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy.
Volume III continues to develop the distinction between kinds of pride that has been established earlier.Where "pride" expresses a vice, its use has negative connotations, and where it is expressed as a virtue it has positive connotations.In chapter 43, the first chapter of this volume, Mr Darcy's pride is focalized by Elizabeth as a virtue that instinctively shuns vice: "Brother-in-law of Wickham!Every kind of pride must revolt from the connexion" (317).Later Elizabeth uses such a distinction to justify her own change of heart: "I love him.Indeed he has no improper pride" (365).This differentiation of different kids of pride is a manifestation of the interconnectedness between the formal and thematic features in Pride and Prejudice.As a new awareness of affection for Darcy has to emerged in Elizabeth and her altered understanding of herself causes her to widen her interpretation of the qualities of the terms 'pride' and 'prejudice'.The complex narrative techniques of Jane Austen have caused a similar reaction in the reader who also, during the course of the novel, has acquired a richer and clearer understanding of the qualities of the title terms.
Towards the end of the novel, the EF exclaims: "With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs Bingley and talked of Mrs Darcy, may be guessed" (373).In this example the focalization is closest to the external focalizer, yet the expression of delight belongs to the CF Mrs Bennet, and the added clause addresses the reader's expectations.Since the characterization of Mrs Bennet is ironic throughout the novel-she is presented as a flat and "silly" (373) woman-it follows that Mrs Bennet's "delighted pride" is ironically meant, and that she possesses the 'wrong' kind of pride in relation to how the distinctions between virtue and vice have developed.
There are several examples where the term pride represents a virtue in Volume III; in both cases below, there is mixed focalization, but in the first the EF dominates and in the second the CFs focalization becomes internal: Mr Gardiner, whose manners were easy and pleasant, encouraged [Mrs Reynold's] communicativeness by his questions and remarks; Mrs Reynolds, either from pride or attachment, had evidently great pleasure in talking of her master and his sister.(242) For herself, she was humbled; but she was proud of him.Proud that in a cause of compassion and honour he had been able to get the better of himself.(318) By internalizing pride as a virtue, Elizabeth is taking a step closer to acceptance of Darcy.In this example, she sees both her own and his pride as good qualities.
In Volume III, pride is also referred to as a vice in the focalization of three different characters.In all examples, however, the Darcy siblings are exonerated in the mind of the CF: Since her being at Lambton, she had heard that Miss Darcy was exceedingly proud; but the observation of a very few minutes convinced her that she was only exceedingly shy.(254, Some people call him proud, but I am sure I never saw any thing of it.(243, Mrs Reynolds) I can now say with the housekeeper, that though some people may call him proud; I have seen nothing of it.(250, Mr Gardiner) It is clear that there are grounds for this differentiation of "prides".It is when the focalizers talk and think about pride as a vice that they practice prejudice.The complex focalization contributes to this duplicity, as the reader often is unaware of whose point of view is presented; in many cases, the reader does not have access to any more information than the character focalizer."The reader watches with the character's eyes and will, in principle, be inclined to accept the vision presented by that character" (Bal 146).
The reader thus enters a process of reconsidering the plot in a similar way that the some of the key character focalizers are reconsidering their earlier judgments and actions.When Mr Darcy's housekeeper talks about him she: "…either from pride or attachment, had evidently great pleasure in talking of her master and his sister" (242), and the CF Elizabeth enters a state of internal focalization:"Her keenest attention was awakened" (242).This leads to a shift in Elizabeth; through learning about Mr Darcy from someone who knows him well, she realizes that her earlier judgments are wrong.At this moment, she feels "a more gentle sensation towards the original [Mr Darcy] than she had ever felt in the height of their acquaintance" (244).In Volume III Mr Darcy's pride is focalized through Elizabeth as either positive, a virtue, or as an ambiguous quality, but not negative.
Elizabeth herself elaborates on what caused her earlier opinion of his pride as a vice: "She explained what [the letter's] effect on her had been, and how gradually all her former prejudices had been removed" (357).This confirms our hypothesis that used in a negative manner, the term "pride," when uttered by the character Elizabeth, has heretofore signaled her prejudice.The term "prejudice" also appears on pages 243 and 340 of Volume III.Although it occurs much less frequently than "pride," in many of the cases where the term "pride" is applied, one could read "prejudice" on behalf of the character focalizers: What a triumph for him, as she often thought, could he know that the proposals which she had proudly spurned only four months ago, would now have been gladly and gratefully received!(302, Elizabeth, emphasis added) He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride, and confessed that he had before thought it beneath him to lay his private actions open to the world.(313, Darcy, emphasis added) Both main CFs are thus self-critical in focalizing their own vices.In the first encounter with the term "prejudice" in this chapter, however, it is more ambiguous: "Mr Gardiner, highly amused by the kind of family prejudice to which he attributed [Mrs Reynolds] excessive commendation of her master …" (243).Here, the term is used to express Mrs Reynolds' positive feelings for Mr Darcy and cannot be labeled entirely negative, although it shows Mrs Reynolds' bias in favour of Mr Darcy and his family.The same applies to the last example found in the novel: "Elizabeth was pleased to find that [Mr Bingley] had not betrayed the interference of [Mr Darcy]; for, though Jane had the most generous and forgiving heart in the world, [Elizabeth] knew it was a circumstance which must prejudice her against him" (340).Here the CF Elizabeth contends that the prejudice is understandable and therefore just.
As discussed in the introduction, the appearance of the term "prejudice" signals a self-reflection on the part of our key character focalizer, Elizabeth.Furthermore, it is interesting to notice with reference to the focalization of "prejudice" that in all three cases in Volume III, Elizabeth is the CF.Referring again to Mieke Bal (149-150), noting the attitude with which the character focalizer refers to the focalized object tells us something about the focalizer herself.When the CF Elizabeth describes her feelings about Mr Darcy (318), "proud" is used in a positive manner.When she reflects on herself, on the other hand, "proudly" (302) is used in a negative manner.Noting the attitude with which she as the focalizer focalizes herself as an object, it expresses, in fact, her practicing prejudice.The concurrence between focalizer and focalized that spurs introspection on her part shows how the narrative technique of the novel allows for Elizabeth to give herself away as a prejudiced woman, and save her integrity at the same time.

Conclusion
It is clear from this discussion that there is a discrepancy in the novel between what characters say and what they do, but the focalizers who are allowed the most introspection, Elizabeth and Darcy, come to realize the links between what they think and how they act.The introspective characters also develop and change in the course of the novel, whereas other characters remain more or less constant.The narrative method for revealing this self-examination with particular reference to the title terms "pride" and "prejudice" consists of an EF who allows the CF to be focalizer and the object of his or her own focalization simultaneously when considering the meaning of the terms in question.There is thus more than mere double focalization in such cases; i.e. the EF has as object the CF, and the CF in turn focalizes him-or herself.The EF, however, is not self-critical or introspective.
We conclude from this that the EF is indeed manipulative, yet not arbitrarily so.The EF steers both readers and characters through the moral universe connected to the terms "pride" and "prejudice" through a careful distribution of introspective and non-introspective focalization, treating some characters with respect and others with irony.Mrs Bennet, for example, seems to have no self-awareness, though Elizabeth is sometimes painfully aware of her mother's embarrassing public behaviour.In addition, the imbalance in the distribution of the terms themselves, with a total of 70 occurrences of "pride" and only 8 occurrences of "prejudice," also indicates an intention on the part of the narrator, and author, to build up the