In chapter 8 of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Mr. Darcy says,
"[T]here is a meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation. Whatever bears affinity to cunning is despicable."
What does Mr. Darcy mean by this?
In context, Mr. Darcy is replying to Miss Bingley, who has just accused Elizabeth Bennet of employing a “very mean art”:
“Elizabeth Bennet,” said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own; and with many men, I dare say, it succeeds. But, in my opinion, it is a paltry device, a very mean art.”
Jane Austen (1813). Pride and Prejudice, chapter 8. Project Gutenberg.
By this “very mean art”, Miss Bingley means Elizabeth’s humorous self-deprecation, which she interprets as a device for attracting the attention of men. So when Mr Darcy replies to her saying
“there is a meanness in all the arts which ladies sometimes condescend to employ for captivation”
he intends this as a rebuke to Miss Bingley: that is, he can tell that she also has been employing arts to captivate men, and one of those arts is the deprecation of rivals like Elizabeth Bennet, but this will not work on him. After this rebuke is delivered, the narrator says:
Miss Bingley was not so entirely satisfied with this reply as to continue the subject.
This is humorous understatement (litotes): Miss Bingley is in fact quite upset, as she has been hoping to win Mr. Darcy for herself.
Mr Darcy means that women sometimes use tactics to attract men. He says that such tactics show a certain cunning on the part of the women using them. He thinks that anything that uses cunning is worthy of contempt; cunning is thought of as sly and underhand. Meanness doesn't mean spite, as it does today. It means something small and unworthy. So Mr Darcy is saying that the tactics women use to attract or entice men should be criticized, because they rely on cunning and are therefore contemptible.
