Darcy: growing into his own man

"I was spoiled by my parents, who though good themselves..allowed, encouraged, almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing, to care for none beyond my own family circle, to think meanly of all the rest of the world...such I might still have been but for you!" (Chapter 58).

Here Darcy admits to all of his faults, attributing them primarily to the parenting he received as a child. However, rather than repeating the cycle, Darcy is able to overcome those negative personality traits and grow into a respectable man. It is interesting how both he and Elizabeth acknowledge the bad parenting in their childhoods, and work to create lives for themselves that do not mirror what they are taught by their parents.