On D.W. Harding’s “Regulated Hatred”

In his critical essay, “Regulated Hatred,” D.W. Harding discusses Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in terms of popular opinion. He states that the novel’s reputation often precludes what would be its most avid fans from reading it. As Austen herself was a part of the society she satirizes, Harding contends that many—including himself initially—unfairly consider her work a weak in its criticism in that she would be afraid of angering her peers. Contrarily, her work, though enjoyed by her peers, is strong enough in its condemnation to undermine the society it portrays. In this way, Harding’s idea of regulated hatred in Pride and Prejudice refers to her manner of balancing her criticism in order to make it accessible to a wider reading audience. She so artfully hides her criticism so that a “comfortable” reader would enjoy the novel for nothing more than its face value—or as an escapist novel—by deliberately misreading at several points.

Similarly, Austen masterfully criticizes society while making her own reader feel disconnected. This technique allows a reader who may be steeped in the society to recognize the problems within the novel without becoming offended or defensive. To accomplish this end, Austen creates characters that are caricatures of different behaviors in her own society. For example, Mrs. Bennett is easy to detest. A reader will almost never care about her, let alone identify with her. With this distance, Austen’s condemnation of women who behave in a similar manner to Mrs. Bennett is easy to understand. If many identified with Mrs. Bennett, a strong backlash would occur in this situation, and the message would have been thoroughly lost. Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh are likewise made to be caricatures. Harding believes that Elizabeth alone is only a portrait. Darcy, however, is close to being a real portrayal of a person, and in this way he becomes her equal in the novel. The foil between characters like Mr. Collins and characters like Elizabeth serve to further the readers’ identification with Elizabeth and ability to accept criticism of other characters.