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Fragment and focus: Jane Austen and the art of the blazon.(AGM 2005: Milwaukee)(Critical essay)

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From: Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal
Date: 20050101
Author:Jones, Susan E.

PERHAPS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS LINES in Jane Austen's canon is the compliment paid to Elizabeth Bennet when Fitzwilliam Darcy responds to the prying questions of Miss Bingley: "'I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow'" (P&P 27). In this line, Darcy and Austen who speaks through him invoke the shades of Petrarchan convention, which frequently describes a woman in fragments, rather than as a whole. This is especially clearly demonstrated in this example, since prior to this moment in Pride and Prejudice, ...