Fallacy of first impressions

1. In what other characters do you see a false first impression?

2. In what other novels can you see a false first impression?

3. What makes a first impression so misleading? Can first impressions be reliable?

4. How do first impressions further the plot in Pride and Prejudice?

5. What message does Jane Austen convey through the way the characters in the novel deal with first impressions?

Works cited:

• "Why First Impressions are Hard to Change." Ocean Palmer. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://oceanpalmer.com/2011/10/why-first-impressions-are-hard-to-change/>.
• "Jennifer Preston Wilson." Jennifer Preston Wilson. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol25no1/wilson.html>.
• "Pride and Prejudice." Read Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.publicbookshelf.com/romance/pride-prejudice/>.
• "Universal Themes and Jane Austen: First Impressions | ReginaJeffers's Blog." ReginaJefferss Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://reginajeffers.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/universal-themes-and-jane-austen-first-impressions/>.

Take away

Discussion questions

• Darcy refuses to condescend to dancing with someone “not handsome enough” for him in front of Elizabeth creating a reputation for bad manners and pride. (First impression)
• His sense of social superiority later proves his chief difficulty in admitting his love for Elizabeth. (Change)
• The rudeness with which Darcy treats Elizabeth creates a negative impression of him in her mind,lasting half of the novel, until the underlying nobility of his character is gradually revealed to her. (Trouble developing relationship)
• Irony in first sentence sets tone for the rest of the novel
• Constantly proven first impressions are often times misleading.

Lit crit

The Development of Darcy in Pride and Prejudice

JENNIFER PRESTON WILSON

Although Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice follows the education of both its hero and heroine through to a happy ending, it traces the progression of development in Elizabeth Bennet with incremental care. Perhaps part of the reason for this partiality resides in Austen's better insight into the female mind or her choice of an ideal and distant Grandisonian male figure for her hero. Darcy, albeit a humanized and fallible version of Richardson's paragon of masculinity, remains rather inaccessible to the reader who is tempted to rely on Elizabeth's own reading of him for information. If this happens, the experience of reading Pride and Prejudice can become one of verisimilitude, a movement toward recognition of Darcy as a good man and abandonment of prejudice against him on the part of the reader that mirrors Elizabeth's own awakening. However, Austen does offer subtle signals of Darcy's development throughout her novel; by comparing him so closely to his childhood companion, Wickham, Austen creates opposing models of manhood that her readers would equate with other well-known narratives of fraternal and familial conflict, including the Biblical account of Esau and Jacob and the contemporary blockbuster, Lord Chesterfield's Letters.

Quotes

“It is a truth universally acknowledge, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

Quote

"They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good-humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of being agreeable where they chose it, but proud and conceited. They were rather handsome, had been educated in one of the first private seminaries in town, had a fortune of twenty thousand pounds, were in the habit of spending more than they ought, and of associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others. "

“To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above her ancles in dirt, and alone, quite alone! what could she mean by it? It seems to me to shew an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country-town indifference to decorum.” Caroline Bingley

Quotes

"Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast."

-Darcy

• Judgement of what is said
• Mrs Bennet takes the crown
• Mr. Darcy is very judgemental
• impossible to please people no matter what is said

Student engagement activity

Quotes

Recount a story of a first impression you made, or a first impression you got ( from another IB student, teacher, fictional character, etc.)

"Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies declared he was much handsomer than Mr. Bingley, and he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity; for he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend."

Quotes

“Which do you mean?” and turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said, “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”

Definitions

Quotable Quotes

Quotes

“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” Elizabeth’s astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement, and the avowal of all that he felt and had long felt for her, immediately followed. He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit.

• "He was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till his manners gave a disgust "

First impression: First meeting that leaves one with a lasting effect, opinion, or mental image of somebody or something.

Fallacy: A mistaken belief, esp. one based on unsound argument.

So we can assume fallacy of first impressions is a false or fake first opinion of someone.

• “She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me"

• "A single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

"Unsound argument"

• "Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility."

• Nonverbal clues in first impressions are four times more powerful than verbal clues
• The first 3-7 seconds are most crucial in evaluation
• Everyone forms a first impression in about 30 seconds
• We notice people from about 100 feet away
• The reason we like people or dislike them is because we predict future behavioral projections
• It may take up to 12 meetings after the first to change a first impression
• Defines the relationship between people

Fallacy of first impressions

By: Olivia Suniura & Emilie Hotz