Full of twists and turns, the comic and dramatic love story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice provides numerous instances where pride interferes with the characters' lives and ambitions. Pride prevents characters from expressing their true feelings for each other. As the characters' pride grows, it begins to affect their attitudes and judgment, causing them to make risky decisions. While most characters are guilty of hubris, some characters display it more openly. The two protagonists of the story, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, develop interests in each other that they do not want to admit at first. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy continually clash throughout the novel, as their pride is often an obstacle in their relationship. Pride interferes with the lives of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy by hindering their feelings for each other and causing Elizabeth's quick judgment and Darcy's snobbish actions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay As she is often quick to judge, Elizabeth uses her pride as a defense mechanism to protect herself from letting herself fall in love with M .Darcy. When Darcy refuses her request to dance at the Meryton ball, Elizabeth's pride tells her to put up her walls and immediately ignore Darcy as a possible love interest. Despite her immense pride in her ability to judge people, she still has underlying feelings for him that she doesn't want to admit. For this reason, her pride does not allow her to dance with Mr. Darcy at Bingley's ball, which is a rash decision. Elizabeth is too proud to realize that Darcy isn't asking her to dance out of pity or obligation, but because he is genuinely interested in Elizabeth, even though she thought he had made up his mind about her. Additionally, Elizabeth's pride continues to be a problem for her when Darcy first proposes to her. Elizabeth cannot put aside her past encounters with Darcy, his alleged mistreatment of Mr. Wickham, or the fact that he tried to separate Jane and Mr. Bingley. With great pride she said to Darcy: "If my own feelings had not been against you, if they had been indifferent or favorable, do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man who was the means of spoiling, perhaps forever, the happiness of a beloved sister? (Austen 130) » Blinded by her pride and her previous judgment of Darcy, she does not realize that his feelings and attitude towards "lower class people" have changed since he first met her, thus creating another setback in their relationship. Mr. Darcy's first thoughts of Elizabeth were negative, as his pride clouded his view of people of lower status than him. At the Meryton ball, Mr. Bingley suggests that he ask Elizabeth to dance. Instead of doing so, Darcy said to Bingley: “She is tolerable; but not beautiful enough to tempt me; and I'm not in the mood to give consequences to young ladies who are looked down upon by other men. You better go back to your partner and enjoy their smiles, because you are wasting your time with me. (Austen 7) » Darcy is so proud that, at first, he cannot approach Elizabeth because she is "unworthy" of her time. However, his feelings for Elizabeth change, as he asks her to dance at Bingley's ball, but is refused due to his pride. Despite the fact that his attitude changes, he crosses the line when he is exposed for deliberately breaking up Mr. Bingley and Jane's relationship,.