- From the first moment I met you, you're arrogance and conceit,
you're selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were
the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry. (thunder roars) - Forgive me, madam, for
taking so much of your time. - Come on, you were supposed to kiss her. The only thing Darcy ever did wrong. (air whooshing) What's up my friend, Abbie here, and welcome to Science of Story, where we come together to
uncover the secret ingredients behind your favorite stories and learn how to use these ingredients to make our own writing unforgettable. If you know me at all, you
know that I am kind of obsessed with Pride and Prejudice. I've used this story as an
example in multiple videos and I've had a ton of requests to do a case study just
on Pride and Prejudice. What makes this story so good? Was Jane Austen just
like an incredible writer and nobody will ever be
able to match her genius? Yes and no. I firmly believe that if you look closely at your favorite stories and you study the science behind them, you will find patterns. Proven, repeatable storytelling tactics that you can use for your own writing. So in this video, we are
breaking down Pride and Prejudice and challenging Jane Austen's famous story with the biggest questions. What makes Elizabeth Bennet
a strong female character? What makes this whole story so
satisfying and unforgettable? Why does everyone love Mr. Darcy? There's a scientific
explanation behind that. (chuckling) I kid you not, and that's
we're breaking down in today's video. (upbeat music) (air whooshing) (classic piano music) - [Abbie] So pretty much
from the very beginning of the story, you can see
that Lizzie's character is different from other girls. Actually, her sisters
are kind of the model of the average girl in this time period, in Regency era, when Pride
and Prejudice is taking place. Actually, Jane is a perfect example of the model average girl in Regency era. I talked about this in a
separate video actually about side characters, I used
Jane Bennett as an example, and she's a great example
of a character whose goal is very quite average for the time period. Jane is on a mission to
find true love, obviously. But, Lizzie is looking for something more, she will not lower her standards. She has definitely a strong character, but the thing I find the most interesting about her character is
that it's very likable. She's a very likable character
from the very beginning because you see that she has weaknesses and she has internal conflict. It's not just, I'm this tough girl who doesn't need anybody or anything. She does have the desire
to find true love, that is also her desire,
but she is very convicted about what true love means to her. So, she will definitely
not be settling for less and you know that from the very beginning - One of these days Lizzie,
someone will catch your eye and then you'll have to watch your tongue. (clapping and whooping) (classical music) - And here he comes. - Mr. Darcy (Elizabeth gasping) - [Elizabeth] He looks
miserable, poor soul. - [Charlotte] Miserably he may be, but poor he most certainly is not. - [Elizabeth] Tell me.
- [Charlotte] 10,000 a year and he owns half of Derbyshire. - The miserable half? (chuckles) (man speaking faintly) - I think that I have the feeling. Oh my God, get it off, get it off. (laughing) (classical music) - Mr. Bennett, you must
introduce him to the girls, immediately. - And Mrs. Bennett just
like one track mind, "We have to introduce our
daughters to this guy". Which also reveals her goal,
so everybody has a goal, right from the beginning, you can see that everybody has a goal, even the side characters, even Mrs. Bennet and all her annoyingness, her goal is to see her
daughter's happily married, Darcy's goal is to just
get out of this party. - [Bingley] I've never seen so
many pretty girls in my life. - [Darcy] You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room. - [Bingley] She is the
most beautiful creature-- - Here comes the inciting incident. (laughing) - Her sister Elizabeth is very agreeable. - Perfectly tolerable, I dare say, but not handsome enough to tempt me. - [Charlotte] Ouch. - [Darcy] You'd better
return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, your
wasting your time with me. - Count your blessings, Lizzie, if he liked you, you'd
have to talk to him. - Precisely. (chuckles) As it is, I would not dance
with him for all of Derbyshire, let alone the miserable half. (laughing) - But she would. And that's actually the inciting incident. Like, believe it or not, your inciting incident can
literally be that small. It doesn't have to be this big, incredible call to adventure. It can be as simple as
an overheard insult. (finger snaps) Which sparks the conflict that's going to set up the entire story. Okay, the entire story
is basically going to be the relationship between
Darcy and Elizabeth. And so we're starting from
a place of both characters are actually prideful. (chuckles) And prejudice, they have
prejudices towards each other and judgements already
made about the other that is just going to
set up all the obstacles for the rest of the story. - So what do you recommend,
to encourage affection? - Dancing. Even if ones partners is barely tolerable. (tapping) (classical music) - Take that. So Darcy thinks that Elizabeth's family, and pretty much this entire party, is very lacking in propriety. (chuckling) And he's just, he's pompous. He's proud, and pompous, and standoff-ish and Elizabeth does not like
that from the very beginning. - And of course she must improve her mind by extensive reading. - I'm no longer surprised at your knowing only
six accomplished women, I rather wonder now at your knowing any. - So again, we have
reminders that Elizabeth is not your average girl,
she is way ahead of her time and Darcy kind of makes
fun of her because of it, which is not a good move. (chuckling) - Are too proud Mr. Darcy? And would you consider
pride a fault or a virtue? - That I couldn't say. - Because we're doing our
best to find fault in you. - Maybe, it's that I
find it hard to forgive the follies and vices of others, or their offenses against me. My good opinion once lost is lost forever. - So now we have a little bit more of a look into Darcy's actual character which is not necessarily
as pompous and proud as Elizabeth first assumed that he was. You have characters who
are making mistakes, you have characters who have flaws, okay? Remember that a flaw is a misbelief so both characters, all
the characters actually, have their own misbeliefs, their own flaws that they're dealing
with and working through. - Oh, for heaven's sake are we to receive every
Bennet in the country? (ladies sighing) - [Abbie] Side note, I absolutely love how this scene is shot. How all the Bennet
sisters and their mother are sitting on one couch and then Elizabeth is
sitting on the other couch. Like she's so set apart from them, she's like so different from them all. There's an interesting dichotomy there because she obviously loves her family, loves her sisters, cares more
about her sisters than anyone but they also kind of drive her crazy. - [Elizabeth] Mr. Collins
is the sort of man who makes you despair at the entire sex. - Yours, I believe? (sighing) - Oh, Mr. Wickham, how perfect you are. - [Abbie] Enter Mr. Wickham
who is actually a jerk, but Lizzie is so ready to believe everything that Wickham says just because he is so opposite Darcy. He is this smooth, suave, charismatic guy that Elizabeth immediately
likes because how could you not? - We grew up together, Darcy and I. His father treated me like a second son, loved me like a son. He knew I had my heart
set on joining the church. But Darcy ignored his wishes and gave the living to another man. - But why? - Jealousy. - She thinks she has such great judgment, but this dude is just lying to her face and she's believing every word because of her prejudice towards Darcy. That's literally it. (classical music) - Mr. Wickham was blessed
with such happy manners that he is sure of making friends. Whether he is capable of
retaining them is less certain. - He's been so unfortunate
as to lose your friendship. And I dare say that is
an irreversible event? - It is. Why do you ask such a question? - To make out your character, Mr. Darcy. - And what have you discovered? - Very little. I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly. - [Abbie] One of the things
that Pride and Prejudice does so incredibly well is build up the romantic development between the two characters. Like this is how you do slow burn, okay? Especially if you're doing
hate-to-love, romance, we're not quite at the mid point, we're like one third into it. And we have some a little bit of accidental romantic tension going on, which is a must have by the way. So is it like an interesting
combination of things going on at this, in this
particular scene at this ball where we have Elizabeth's family, basically embarrassing her left and right, and this is super relevant
because of Jane's story. So alongside this main
plot, we have Jane's subplot and Darcy is going to play a major role in ruining his chances with Elizabeth... (chuckling) Because of what happens next. So kind off-screen,
Darcy convinces Bingley to leave Netherfield, go
to London, get out of town, go to the city and get away from Jane because their whole family is a joke and you should not marry that girl, it's just, it's going to be bad. That's Darcy's advice, Bingley follows it. Elizabeth doesn't know
about any of this yet but she's going to be pretty
mad when she learns about it. Even though it follows Elizabeth, you're watching Darcy's
story at the same time, running parallel with Elizabeth's, even though you don't follow him as much you can still see his internal conflict. And it's-- (chuckling) It's really great, actually kind of funny internal conflict because he advises his best friend, okay, don't Mary Jane, because
her family's unsuitable. You shouldn't marry her. But at the same time, I'm
falling in love with her sister who coincidentally hates me,
kind of a catch-22 situation. - This is a charming house. I believe my aunt did a great deal to it when Mr. Collins first arrived. - I believe so. - Honestly, I love the
writing and the acting and the characterization in this film, I think it's so excellent. I do love the '95 version
of Pride and Prejudice, and I love Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, but I also love Matthew
Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy because they're both like slightly different
characterizations of Darcy, where in the '95 Pride and Prejudice, Darcy is more of a pompous ass
who's just actually a jerk. (laughing) And in this version, he's more
of an anti-social introvert who just literally cannot words. Both are so great, I love both. However, I will say that the 2005 version is just so cinematic and beautiful that I could just watch it forever, literally for the cinematography alone. Okay, here's the big moment that everything's about to go down. - He recently came to the
rescue of one of his friends just in time. - What happened? - He saved the man from
an imprudent marriage. - Who was the man? - His closest friend, Charles Bingley. - What? - Ms. Elizabeth, I have struggled with vain
and I can bear it no longer. I've fought against my better judgment, my family's expectation, the
inferiority of your birth, my rank and circumstance, all those things and I'm willing to put them aside and ask you to end my agony. - I don't understand. - I love you. - Plot twist. - Most ardently. Please do me the honor
of accepting my hand. - I appreciate the struggle
you have been through, and I am very sorry to
have caused you pain. - Except I'm not. - Believe me, it was unconsciously done. - Is this your reply? - Yes, sir. - Are you, are you laughing at me? - No.
- Are you rejecting me? - I'm sure that the feelings
which, as you've told me, have hindered your regard will
help you in overcoming it. - It's just from historical context, this is like unheard of. First of all, it was kind of unheard of for Elizabeth to refuse Mr. Collins, because he was going
to inherit their house and he is the heir, and it's like, why not? What other thing is involved? Well, love is involved,
true love is involved and I want to be in love
with the man that I marry. That alone is like, you don't necessarily have
that choice back then, in this time period, if
you were a young woman who didn't have fortune
and didn't have rank, then you are looking to marry a man who can take care of you basically. So you're looking for a man
who has fortune and rank, Darcy has both, and for her to be like, (scoffing) "You are a jerk and I will not marry you. You did my sister wrong,
I'm going to roast you." - Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your circumstances? - And those are the words of a gentlemen? From the first moment I met
you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for
the feelings of others, made me realize that you were
the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry. (thunder roars) - Forgive me, madam, for
taking up so much of your time. - Come one, you were supposed to kiss her. The only thing Darcy ever did wrong. So really only after the
proposal scene do we see that Elizabeth is in
turmoil and inner conflict, dealing with her inner conflict because she knows there is
truth to what Darcy said. - Could you look at Lydia? - I've just as much right as Lydia. - [Mrs.Bennet] Oh, if I
could but go to Brighton. - [Kitty] And more so because
I'm three years older. - Let all go. - Lydia has been invited to go to Brighton with the Foresters. - A little sea bathing
would set me up very nicely. - I shall dine with the
officers every night. - Please Papa, don't let her go. - Even here, Elizabeth is trying to like save her sisters from disgrace because she knows what Lydia is like and she knows what her family is like. And she's like, come on, come on, dad,
we can't let this happen, this is ridiculous. This is going to make things even worse, and it's kind of prove Mr. Darcy right that my family is not suitable. (chuckling) So then Elizabeth goes
with her aunt and uncle to the countryside in Kent, which happens to be
nearby Mr. Darcy's house. She's like, "Oh no, we can't go there." - I'd rather not he's so, he's so, - [Mrs.Gardiner] So what? - He's so rich. - Oh, heavens Lizzie, what a snob you are. (bird calling) - And then she sees it and she's like, why did I say no? (chuckling) How stupid am I? I wouldn't even have to like see him. This house is so big, he could have just been like
some other place in the house and I wouldn't even have to see him. I could have had this house
and half of Derbyshire, the miserable half, but whatever. She's like, "I wouldn't be
too miserable in this house." - [Darcy] Ms. Elizabeth - I'm so sorry to intrude. They said that the house
was open for visitors, I had, I had no idea. - So it is really like
a little bit awkward that she was caught in his house and then she's also like, you know, I'm starting to think
maybe I made a mistake saying no to you and I
understand now about Mr. Wickham, maybe you weren't such a jerk. It's just more of that
beautiful, accidental, romantic chemistry. That's one of the mistakes
I see a lot of writers do, with hate-to-love romance especially, is that suddenly we have the
characters hating each other to they love each other. And they have no real reason for the hate or any real reason for
the love, it's just like, well they need to do this so
let's just have them, you know, hate each other and then love each other, and it feels so unrealistic. You have to have the slow burn, you have to have the different stages. But then, just when she thinks she might have another chance
at happiness, disaster strikes and she learns that her
youngest sister, Lydia, ran away with the dastardly Mr. Wickham. Okay, so if Darcy had problems
with her family before, those problems that he had
before are like nothing compared to the problems he would have now because technically in that time period, you would be ruined, if your
sister ran off and did that, your whole family would be ruined, no guy's going to touch
you with a 10 foot pole. So this disaster is kind of twofold, on the surface it looks
like just Elizabeth is upset that her sister
ran off and did this. She's worried for her sister obviously, and worried for all of her family, because everyone is impacted by this. But there's also that deeper layer of it's like just confirmed, what Darcy said in the rain
during the proposal is confirmed that her family is unsuitable. And when Darcy walks away, she's like that's it, that's, it's over, it's never going to happen again, never going to have that chance again, maybe we could have been
something but not anymore. That's what really brings
her to the dark moment. Okay, we always talk
about the dark moment, this is like the ultimate dark
moment for Elizabeth's story but it is not the end, it's not over yet. - Papa, there letter. - Let me catch my breath. - It's in Uncle's writing. - Because that's when a letter
shows up telling the Bennet's that Wickham is actually
going to marry Lydia for a certain amount of
money that their uncle was able to give Wickham to
make this deal go through. - They will be, if father will settle a
hundred pounds a year on her, that is Wickham's condition. - A hundred pounds? - You will agree to this, father? - Of course I'll agree. God knows how much your uncle must have laid on that wretched man. - What do you mean father? - No man in his senses would marry Lydia under so slight a
temptation a hundred a year. - And then this is when
the truth comes out. This is like the beginning
of Elizabeth's aha moment. - Mr. Darcy would like-- - Mr. Darcy? (gasping) - Oh, I forgot. But I shouldn't have said a word. - Mr. Darcy was at your wedding? - He was the one that discovered us. He paid for the wedding, Wickham's
commissioner, everything. But don't tell anyone,
he told me not to tell. - Mr. Darcy? - Stop is Lizzie. Mr. Darcy's not half as high
and might as you sometimes. - And so this is the
beginning of her aha moment when she starts to realize that, oh wait, maybe Darcy's actually not as bad as I thought he was. Like, I thought this was
over, I thought he's like, Oh my God, your family is
even worse than I thought, I'm out of here. But he actually secretly went,
found Lydia, found Wickham, and was like, "Hey, I will pay you to marry her and to save the Bennett's from disgrace." And Elizabeth is like, whoa, when did he become like
such a cool person? Because that is not what I thought (snaps fingers) Character transformation, am I right? And I think that's another
thing that makes Elizabeth a strong female character that's likable is that she doesn't hold
on to her prejudices. At this point in the story we start to see that she
is realizing the truth. - I'm sorry, though, that
he came with Mr. Darcy. - Don't say that. - Why ever not? - Jane... - I've been so blind. - She's starting to see
what Darcy is really like, his true character is being revealed because he does love Elizabeth and he's trying to prove his love for her. And one of the ways that he
proves his love for Elizabeth is by helping Jane and
Bingley get back together and undoing the mess that he made. I made a video a long time ago about strong female characters and one of the things
that really bothers me about the typical strong female character is that she's, yeah, she's stubborn, but she's like too stubborn. You know, the annoying stereotyped strong female character who
will not change her mind and will not relent and
she is like always right. She's not willing to
admit that she's wrong. She doesn't have weaknesses,
she doesn't have flaws. That's this stereotype that I hate that the strong female
character has become because good strong female
characters have flaws, they have weaknesses,
they have misbeliefs, they have internal conflict and fears and they're willing to
change their minds, okay? So Elizabeth is willing
to change her mind, she starts to see the truth,
she starts to realize, wow, okay, I was actually
wrong about Darcy. He's willing to prove his love for me because he actually does love me and maybe he is actually
a man of integrity. Maybe he's courageous in kind and good (dramatic music) - After what you have done for Lydia, and I suspect for Jane also, it is I who should be making amends. - You must know, surely you
must know it was all for you. (snaps fingers) - That's it right there. (laughing) Character transformation, and that is what makes
Darcy a lovable character - You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted
from you from this day on. - And the reason that matters so much, the reason that means so much is because of everything
that happened before. - Well, then. Your hands are cold. (soft music) - Like I always, always
talk about on this channel, a satisfying story is a story where the characters transform
as a result of their journey. And that truth that they
learn always goes back to the misbelief that they had at the beginning of the story. What did they mistakenly
believe about the world about themselves, about each other, and how have they transformed
as a result of their journey? You could look at the
protagonist at the beginning versus the protagonist at the end and see that transformation so clearly, but it is everything in between
that makes us remember it, that holds our attention and
makes us fall in love with it. So that is the secret science behind why everyone loves
Pride and Prejudice. (air whooshing) Smash that like button
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awesome extra content I have over there for you. Until next week my friend, rock on. (upbeat music) (beep) - It's ridiculous, I can like pause this movie at any point and it looks like a painting. (beep) It's like, you're actually kind of cute and your house is really great. Can I, does that proposal still stand? (laughing) He's like, you bet it does, honey, please.
