A PPROACHING JANE AUSTEN'S WORK chronologically, one is struck by her analogous methods of entitling Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, her preceding novel. The title Sense and Sensibility defines what is clearly the central moral conflict of that novel, but the simple and repeated oppositioni of the titular qualities is one of the marks of Jane Austen's artistic immaturity. The relationship between the title Pride and Prejudice and the conflicts in that novel is not so immediately apparent as in Sense and Sensibility, but the skill shown in using the titular qualities to keep the moral framework of the novel clear while presenting a novelistic world of great complexity is one of the triumphs of Jane Austen's developing technique. Although the meaning of the title has attracted considerable comment, the qualities of pride and prejudice have been interpreted so narrowly that the full significance of the title has been obscured. Indeed, R. C. Fox, who regards the title as, primarily, Jane Austen's concession to the popularity of alliterative and antithetical titles, has warned us not to be "misled by investing the title with more significance than is warranted." I The usual interpretation is that the title is a reference to Darcy's pride, which causes him to reject Elizabeth and her family, and Elizabeth's resulting prejudice, which is reinforced by Wickham's false story about Darcy.2 But Fox suggests that the morally significant conflict is between pride and vanity, not between pride and prejudice. This distinction between pride and vanity is, however, based on