P&P - CH. 11-16

"He [Mr. Darcy] began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention" (44).

As the story progresses, we see a change in Darcy's haughty character towards Elizabeth. He begins to take notice of Elizabeth more and enjoys conversing with her. Absolutely ignoring Caroline, Darcy acknowledges Elizabeth's intelligence and attempts to gain the affection of her. However, because of Darcy's innate ability to notice things, he realizes the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention. In the previous pages, we see how Darcy can view things that others who don't necessarily think like him can. He shares this ability with Elizabeth and as more of their characters are revealed, we see how much they actually think alike.

"After many pauses and many trials of other subjects, Elizabeth could not help reverting once more to the first" (62).

In terms of "the first", it is referring to the topic of Darcy. It seems unusual that Elizabeth would be interested in discussing with Mr. Wickham about Darcy, the man she despises. The only explanation is that there is something about Darcy that intrigues Elizabeth. Though he is not the most pleasing, he appeals to Elizabeth's interest. I think the reason for this is the fact that Elizabeth and Darcy are ironically similar. They are both analytical and ultimately think the same way, thus being the sole reasons for their disagreements. Because of their strong personalities, they are unable to see the similarities between them.