Since the first time I was exposed to the
P&P story was not in the novel, but in the '95 TV adaptation, I'm always a bit surprised, when I read the novel, at how much less of the actual proposal is presented in the latter (and, of course, original) version.
In the TV film we actually hear Darcy say, "'In declaring myself thus I am fully aware that I will being going against the expressed wishes of my family, my friends, and, I need hardly add, my own better judgment. The relative situations of our families are such that any alliance between us must be regarded as a highly reprehensible connection. Indeed, when I rationally consider the circumstance of my having fallen so deeply in love with you, to the degree that I am able to consider such a thing rationally, I cannot but regard it as such myself. But it cannot be helped. My feelings will not be repressed. Almost from the earliest moments of our acquaintance, I have come to feel for you a passionate regard and affection which, despite all my struggles, has overcome every rational objection, and I beg you most fervently to relieve my suffering and consent to be my wife.'"
Miss Austen indirectly describes and, as a consequence, softens this sequence by a few lines of narration:
"Elizabeth's astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement; and the avowal of all that he felt, and had long felt for her, immediately followed. He spoke well; but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority -- of its being a degradation -- of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit."
It strikes me that Austen's method makes it easier for Darcy to walk back his earlier comments when he proposes the second time, because the depiction of the earlier debacle was less specific, consisting of narration that distanced us from the event, rather than dialog that put is in the middle of the event.
JIM