Fitzwilliam Darcy
Fitzwilliam Darcy is the male protagonist of Pride and Prejudice — master of Pemberley, worth £10,000 a year, and initially dismissed by Elizabeth Bennet as the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world. His journey from arrogance to humility made him fiction's definitive romantic hero.
“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.” Austen ruins Darcy’s reputation in a single sentence at the Meryton assembly — and spends the rest of the novel rebuilding it.
The arc: two proposals
Darcy’s story is structured around his two proposals to Elizabeth. The first, at Hunsford, is a masterpiece of self-sabotage: he spends more words on the inferiority of her family than on his love. Her refusal — “you are the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry” — forces the self-examination that drives everything after.
Book vs. screen
Each era casts the Darcy it wants: Laurence Olivier’s drawing-room wit (1940), Colin Firth’s smouldering restraint (1995), Matthew Macfadyen’s awkward vulnerability (2005). The lake scene, for the record, is nowhere in the novel.
On Screen
| Actor | Adaptation |
|---|---|
| Matthew Macfadyen | Pride & Prejudice (2005) |
Frequently Asked Questions
How old is Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice?
Darcy is 28 years old. He tells Elizabeth at Rosings that he is "eight and twenty" during the period of the novel's main events.
How rich is Mr. Darcy?
Darcy has £10,000 a year — roughly the top 0.1% of Regency incomes. Estimates of the modern equivalent range from £800,000 to over £10 million a year depending on the conversion method.
Who was Mr. Darcy supposed to marry?
His aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, intended him for her daughter Anne de Bourgh — a match Darcy never took seriously.