There are a couple of reasons
why Elizabeth has such a narrow scope of
judgement. One reason is that, while she was born with an
observant nature, she was also born with a
critical nature. Another reason is simply that she's
young and naive.
We first learn about
Elizabeth's observant, critical side after the Meryton
ball. During a conversation with Jane about the Bingley's, Elizabeth criticizes Jane's
inability to see anyone's character flaws. As Elizabeth phrases it to Jane, "You never
see fault in any body. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes" (Ch. 4). In
contrast, Elizabeth very readily sees negative traits and ridiculousness in people's
characters. In fact, she believes she is being far wiser than Jane in being able to
discern negative traits.
A second reason why Elizabeth has such a
narrow perspective is simply youthful naivete. As she soon
learns, though she "prided [herself] on [her] discernment," she finds out that her
abilities to discern, or to judge, are actually not what she thought they were. Instead,
she soon sees that she "gratified [her] vanity, in useless or blameable distrust" (Ch.
36). For example, Elizabeth judged Wickham to be the most amiable man she had ever met,
simply because he was a very polite, friendly, conversational man. In contrast, she
judged Darcy to be an extremely detestable, prideful, conceited man simply because he is
quite, has a strong reserve, acts like he is better than his company, and also, most
importantly, because of what Wickham told her about Darcy. In short, had she been older
and wiser she might have easily known that friendliness does not equate to goodness and
reserve does not equate to meanness.
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