In this extract Austin uses several techniques to portray Mr Darcy’s personality.
In chapter three when Mr Bingley was invited to attend ball he brings a few associates with him namely; his two sisters, a brother in law, and a friend named Mr Darcy.

They all catch some attention when they enter the hall, however, Mr Darcy attracts the most attention for several reasons, firstly a report has circulated the room outlining his salary, which, is a large ten thousand a year (around £796,000)
People start to see him differently, as was, and still is the way most people see others. This makes Mr Darcy “much handsomer than Mr Bingley” to the women in the room and “a fine figure of a man” to all the men in the room. However as the night moves on opinions start to change about Mr Darcy. Everyone unanimously agreed that he had “a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance” and being proud and above his company.

In Austin’s writing she portrays many fairly unsociable aspects of Mr Darcy, such as him having “danced only once with Mrs Hurst and once with Miss Bingley” as he “declined being introduced to any other lady” suggesting that Mr Darcy is exceedingly distant and cold towards anyone he had not prior met.

Austin describes Mr Darcy as having a “forbidding, disagreeable countenance” and states that he is “unworthy of being compared with his friend” this tells us the Austin not only disliked the man but tells us that she not only thought that he was an unlikable elitist person, but that she thought he was unworthy of being compared to an overall better man.

In this extract all of the characters are very quick to decide on Mr Darcy’s character, describing him as “the proudest” and “most disagreeable man in the world” this use of hyperbole suggests that Austin at this point in the story is frustrated and shows some resentment towards him or more particularly the qualities portrayed in an English aristocrat; Snobbish, arrogant, honest and completely sure of himself. This analysis suggests that Austin was making a point about the aristocrats of the day, and how elitist they were.

Austin makes a point of displaying how much Mr Darcy hates dancing by saying “I certainly shall not you know how I detest it” this tells us how much Mr Darcy abhors dancing with “lower class” people and this also ties in to how antisocial Mr Darcy is.
Mr Bingley describes Mr Darcy as “fastidious” when it came to dancing with the “lower class” which tells us that he would only dance with people of his own class, and Mr Darcy insisting that Mr Bingley is wasting his time with him displaying that not only does Mr Darcy dislike people of a “lower class” but also detests finding happiness in everyday life. This one quote is enough to determine his role in society and more importantly his class which, when he entered the room, everyone judged him by, claiming that he was a “fine figure of a man” without having met him and saying he was “much handsomer than Mr Bingley” which albeit could be true, that statement has been biased by his wages, his role in society and his place in the “upper class” world. Austin is trying to portray the overall elitism and arrogance of the time by portraying one single character as the entirety of upper class England in 19th century Britain.

In conclusion I believe that Austin was trying to portray a man who represented the awful elitism and prejudice of the time and how even though this behaviour was commonplace at the time society evolved, and in the story men like Mr Darcy did too.