From snap judgments to deeper flaws
“First Impressions” points to the quick conclusions that shape Jane Austen’s story: Elizabeth Bennet’s initial view of Mr. Darcy, and Darcy’s assumptions about Elizabeth’s family and social standing. The phrase makes those early judgments sound like the novel’s main subject.
The published title, Pride and Prejudice, shifts attention from the first spark of attraction or dislike to the habits that distort how people see one another. Pride can make a person overvalue rank or self-importance; prejudice, in the older sense of a judgment formed before the facts are clear, can turn an impression into a fixed belief.
A title that fits both sides
The two words do not map neatly onto one character each. Darcy’s pride is conspicuous, but Elizabeth’s confidence in her own judgment also leads her astray. Their relationship develops as both reconsider what they thought they knew—not simply as one person corrects the other.
That change in emphasis makes the final title more than a label for a courtship. “First Impressions” names the mistake at the beginning; Pride and Prejudice names the forces that keep the mistake alive. The story’s romantic resolution depends on those forces being recognized and overcome.
