Elizabeth's transformation
Pride and Prejudice is all about Elizabeth's transformation. The "transformation" is Elizabeth realizing that people are far more complex than the witty caricatures she creates in her head.
"I, who have prided myself on my discernment!... How humiliating is this discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation!"
Darcy's transformation is mostly of cosmetic mannerism i.e. learning not to start giving out offenses even before the introductions. But Elizabeth's transformation is more structural. We see a reconstruction of her morality, she is still witty and playful but she shifts her moral compass from manners to actions.
Her realization regarding Wickham is quite plain,
>``How despicably have I acted!'' she cried. -- ``I, who have prided myself on my discernment! -- I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity, in useless or blameable distrust. -- How humiliating is this discovery! -- Yet, how just a humiliation! -- Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly. -- Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment, I never knew myself.''
The passage after Hunsford proposal before she leaves for London, she acknowledges how her family is actually the one responsible for Jane's -
>When she came to that part of the letter in which her family were mentioned, in terms of such mortifying yet merited reproach, her sense of shame was severe. The justice of the charge struck her too forcibly for denial, and the circumstances to which he particularly alluded, as having passed at the Netherfield ball, and as confirming all his first disapprobation, could not have made a stronger impression on his mind than on hers. The compliment to herself and her sister was not unfelt. It soothed, but it could not console her for the contempt which had been thus self-attracted by the rest of her family; -- and as she considered that Jane's disappointment had in fact been the work of her nearest relations, and reflected how materially the credit of both must be hurt by such impropriety of conduct, she felt depressed beyond any thing she had ever known before.
Her remonstrations on how poorly her family recommends themselves
>Anxiety on Jane's behalf was another prevailing concern, and Mr. Darcy's explanation, by restoring Bingley to all her former good opinion, heightened the sense of what Jane had lost. His affection was proved to have been sincere, and his conduct cleared of all blame, unless any could attach to the implicitness of his confidence in his friend. How grievous then was the thought that, of a situation so desirable in every respect, so replete with advantage, so promising for happiness, Jane had been deprived, by the folly and indecorum of her own family!
However there are subtle hints that shifts her view on Bingley. In her own lightly ironic reaction to Bingley and Jane finally getting engaged, she shows her transformation from her viewing Bingley as a victim of malice to someone who lacks conviction and relies on others judgement -
>"On the evening before my going to London," said he, "I made a confession to him, which I believe I ought to have made long ago. I told him of all that had occurred to make my former interference in his affairs absurd and impertinent. His surprise was great. He had never had the slightest suspicion. I told him, moreover, that I believed myself mistaken in supposing, as I had done, that your sister was indifferent to him; and as I could easily perceive that his attachment to her was unabated, I felt no doubt of their happiness together."
>Elizabeth could not help smiling at his easy manner of directing his friend.
>"Did you speak from your own observation," said she, "when you told him that my sister loved him, or merely from my information last spring?"
>"From the former. I had narrowly observed her during the two visits which I had lately made here; and I was convinced of her affection."
>"And your assurance of it, I suppose, carried immediate conviction to him."
And that is kudos to Jane Austen for creating a heroine that is so flawed and thats why so loved.
Why I say it is not a Darcy transition story - Elizabeth herself acknowledges
>"Oh, no!" said Elizabeth. "In essentials, I believe, he is very much what he ever was."
>While she spoke, Wickham looked as if scarcely knowing whether to rejoice over her words, or to distrust their meaning. There was a something in her countenance which made him listen with an apprehensive and anxious attention, while she added:
>"When I said that he improved on acquaintance, I did not mean that his mind or his manners were in a state of improvement, but that, from knowing him better, his disposition was better understood."
Pemberly visit is her realization of the source of his "Pride" which is of consequence rather than mercenary or social trivialities.
>Elizabeth's mind was too full for conversation, but she saw and admired every remarkable spot and point of view. They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road, with some abruptness, wound. It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; -- and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!
So, yes it is The Elizabeth's transformation story, all her beliefs at the beginning of the book are upended, and she has better understanding of herself.