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Pride and Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright

mieliz

Elizabeth Bennet fanart in an art nouveau style - watercolour and ink

Inspired by the ‘95 miniseries design (the only true adaptation yes I will die on this hill)

sirwilliamlucasstanaccount

Jane is 22, hot as hell, super nice, and has been out in society for like six years. And you’re trying to tell me only one guy ever tried to offer his hand?? I’m not buying it. Every assembly for the bennet sisters must be just a torturous parade of awkward dances with the boring townies they’ve rejected

femjunosteel

i feel very stongly that elizabeth 100% would have sworn darcy to eternal secrecy about the fact that he had already proposed once unsuccessfully when she accepted, solely bc you just KNOW mr collins' smug ass would be like, "oh ho ho! huh! so apparently it IS the usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept when he applies for their favor! hm! interesting!" and then she would be honor-bound to leap over lady catherine's dining table and strangle him

thisismyvieenrose

"Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement."

Jane Austen, Persuasion

bennetsbonnet

I think it's really important to keep in mind, in order to grasp the magnitude of Mr Darcy's rudeness when he came to Hertfordshire, that he was not some country bumpkin with absolutely no idea of how to behave. This man would have been educated at some of the most exclusive schools and (presumably) attended university, even if he did not earn a degree. He would have regularly attended parties and balls in London. He was a twenty eight year old man who had moved in society for years, not some naïve child.

Why is it important? Well, all of this adds an extra layer of callousness to his behaviour, especially towards Elizabeth at the Meryton assembly. This was not a man coming into a society on an equal footing with those that he chose to insult. Darcy had seen so much more of the world and had many more experiences than the people of Meryton, who would naturally be curious and excited about his presence. And yes that would have been a little irritating, especially if you were introverted (not that there is a great deal of evidence for that in Mr Darcy's case). But a man of his station would still be expected to be polite and smile, to maybe make some small talk and be introduced to a few ladies to dance with... even if he never wanted to see any of them again. To oblige that would have been real bare minimum stuff.

Instead, Mr Darcy did not behave in the way that somebody with all those advantages of his birth should have behaved. He was rude to everyone and especially to Elizabeth. If she had been insulted by someone of a similar background to herself, i.e. a country man from a similarly small, close-knit town who was perhaps a big fish in a small pond (like the Bennets) and who felt frustrated by his nose being pushed out rather in new surroundings, so he lashed out to make himself feel better... it still would have been awful and inexcusable! But when you consider the access Darcy had to the world, thanks to his education and having spent extensive time in London... those factors make his already abysmal behaviour so much worse.

The most privileged person in the Meryton assembly rooms was also by far the rudest.

femjunosteel

i feel very stongly that elizabeth 100% would have sworn darcy to eternal secrecy about the fact that he had already proposed once unsuccessfully when she accepted, solely bc you just KNOW mr collins' smug ass would be like, "oh ho ho! huh! so apparently it IS the usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept when he applies for their favor! hm! interesting!" and then she would be honor-bound to leap over lady catherine's dining table and strangle him

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flewor-deactivated20151202

i would so go on a walk with you

taciturn-nerd

dearausten

nah cause the fact that jane austen wrote a character like emma woodhouse is still insane to me. she threw all the standards out the window and was like hey, here’s this incredibly complex and nuanced character, she’s selfish, privileged, manipulative and arrogant, but she’s also really fucking kind, she would do anything for those she loves (including sacrificing a lot of her liberties), she is able to admit that she’s made a mistake and grow from it, because those things are not mutually exclusive. and i think the reason why everyone is trying to girlbossify their heroines to make them like lizzie bennet (which is an insult to her character but that’s another story) is because they’re scared to write characters like emma. which is understandable, because she’s unlikeable-ish, and they don’t want to take that risk.

honestly the way jane wrote emma is IMPECCABLE and not everyone can pull it off, but i wish female characters with actual flaws were more popular.

ub-sessed

I am going to take a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like. [on starting Emma]

--J. E. Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen (1926 ed.)

bennetsbonnet

Pride and Prejudice (1995) + Text Posts (6/?)

prideandprejudice

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (2005) + Joe Wright’s DVD Commentary

disparatemind

I too wish Fitzwilliam Darcy would approach me on a misty morning and tell me that his affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from me will silence him forever.

bennetsbonnet

I've seen it posited that Mr Darcy didn't actually mean to be cruel to Elizabeth with the comment he made about her at the Meryton assembly. That Darcy just didn't like dancing that much and a lady would have to really be something for him to overcome his discomfort in social situations and dance with her. And you know, Elizabeth wasn't as good-looking as Jane and improved upon acquaintance, so that explains why she couldn't 'tempt him.'

People really tie themselves into knots trying to defend him or go on quests to find hidden meanings in his words that simply aren't there. They convince themselves that he didn't mean for her to hear, or that he just misspoke... but really it was all a big misunderstanding! He's just a sweet shy boy with social anxiety who made a little social oopsie...

That's very nice and all, but that's demonstrably not the character that Jane Austen wrote. In the novel, Darcy's intention is unequivocal. I think that a lot of the misinterpretation stems from adaptations... because each one I've watched has never quite got it spot on.

I am b e g g i n g for just one book-accurate depiction of the insult Mr Darcy very deliberately aims towards Elizabeth at the Meryton assembly because I think the consistent misrepresentation of this single moment has caused so much misunderstanding of Mr Darcy's character. The interaction is so important for grasping his motivation and character at the beginning of the novel.

It's absolutely vital to the story to grasp that Elizabeth doesn't inadvertently overhear his insult. She isn't looking for gossip or drama and then overhears this poor, socially awkward 🥺smol bean🥺 who chooses his words poorly and accidentally affronts her.

No, Elizabeth is sitting there, minding her business... when this rude, conceited and thoroughly unpleasant man insults her in a manner which leaves her under no illusion that he intended for her to hear him:

Elizabeth Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity of gentlemen, to sit down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mr. Darcy had been standing near enough for her to hear a conversation between him and Mr Bingley... ... 'You are dancing with the only handsome girl in the room,' said Mr Darcy, looking at the eldest Miss Bennet. 'Oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her sisters sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you.' 'Which do you mean?' and turning round he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till catching her eye, he withdrew his own and coldly said: 'She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.'

It could not be more unambiguous that Darcy both knows that Elizabeth can hear him and intends for her to know he wouldn't degrade himself by dancing with the likes of her...

AND YET... it is so frequently represented as Elizabeth somehow simultaneously being miles away from Mr Darcy, yet still close enough to hear... but not close enough for him to see her and know she's listening... because he never catches her eye before he says it and that allows the doubt to seep in! It's so frustrating.

Still, even though no adaptation has quite captured Darcy's unambiguous intent and featured him looking at her, his words are more than bad enough to make you dislike him! I don't think you could reasonably ever defend them, unless you secretly hate Elizabeth Bennet... but more than what he says, it's the manner in which he delivers him, the way Darcy deliberately makes sure she has heard him that is so callous. If that aspect is missing it makes Elizabeth's prejudice against him less comprehensible and leads to a man who absolutely does not deserve to be defended being excused for his awful behaviour...

ellynneversweet

Darcy’s introduction in Pride and Prejudice is really ‘what if you had just had the worst month of your life because your ex-bestie tried to lover boy scam your baby sister out of her share of your dad’s life insurance and your friend dragged you to a shitty party in a dive bar in the neighbourhood where he’d just signed a short term lease, and you decided to let your bad mood show because you were never going to see any of the assholes in this stupid shitty bar EVER again. And your friend ended up making out with a girl he’d just met there while you were stuck talking to her sister who was less cute and then her mother appeared and started trying to matchmake and started saying how if she was twenty years younger she’d clime you like a redwood and ooooh is that a black Amex, guess the next round is on you hahhahahahaha, while her other sister (how many fucking sisters does she have?!) flashed an obviously fake ID at the bar and ordered six vodka-diet red bulls and no one in her family except the less-cute sister even tried to stop her. And you went home and consoled yourself that you would never see any of these people again but then you met them over and over again because they live next door and your friend and the cute sister keep meeting up to make out but not actually date and then. You fall in love with the less-cute sister because it turns out she’s really witty and charismatic but she already knows and remembers and resents the fact that on a day when you were in a shitty mood you called her mid out loud in a dive bar.’

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