This side-blog will follow my journey through the works of Jane Austen in print and film.
I'm not a scholar. I'm not a historian. I'm not even a discriminating reader. I know a little about Austen, and more than a little about the period in English history as a result of being 50+ years old and having studied art history, rather than as a result of intentional Austen research. That's not what this is about.
This is about enjoying the stories, the characters. It's about sharing time with Austen's wit, intelligence, and subversive style.
If you'd like to come along, please do. If you'd like to interact, offer suggestions or relate Austen stories, I'd love that. I'm not particularly interested in debating her role in feminist literature, but if you want to point me to articles or share your ideas, you are welcome to.
Chapter 43: Lizzie and the Gardeners visit Pemberley. She is delighted with the grounds, the woods, the house, the elegant and tasteful furnishings. The housekeeper is clearly very attached to the family and praises Darcy and his sister. Hearing him described by someone in his service as kind hearted, generous, amiable, and good tempered shakes her prejudices. The good report of the housekeeper means a lot to Lizzie.
As they leave the house to explore the grounds, they suddenly come upon Darcy. Both are exceedingly embarrassed by the meeting and can’t gather their thoughts. She is struck by the gentleness of his address to her. He goes into the house and Lizzie’s eyes linger on it, wondering where he is in the house, what he’s thinking of her, if he still cares for her.
Darcy returns to look for them, asks to be introduced to her aunt and uncle. Darcy engages Mr Gardiner in conversation and Lizzie is glad she has some relations she needed blush to introduce. She continues astonished at the change in his manners. Darcy says that Bingley and his sisters will be arriving tomorrow, and asks if he can introduce Lizzie to his sister, Georgiana.
The Gardiners, having heard how awful Darcy was, are confused. Elizabeth finds it necessary to explain a bit about the situation with Wickham so they don’t misunderstand him.
Chapter 44: Darcy brings Georgiana to visit the next day. The Gardiners start to put together that Lizzie and Darcy are not so little acquainted as they had thought. Lizzie finds Georgiana to be shy but pleasant. Bingley comes too, and asks about her family. He inquires if all her sisters are still at Longbourne.
Before they leave, Darcy and his sister ask them all to dine at Pemberley. Elizabeth finds that her feelings toward Darcy and her opinion of him have changed substantially.
Chapter 40: reunited with Jane, Lizzie acquaints her with Darcy’s proposal and letter, leaving out the part about Bingley. Jane, being a person who doesn’t wish to think ill of anyone, has a hard time imagining Wickham to be as bad as expressed. Lizzie says, “there certainly must be some great mismanagement in the education of those two young men. one has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it.”
(It bothers me that all my life I’ve spelled Lizzie with the ie and in the novel is with a y. I can’t correct the habit. I also spell Bennett incorrectly- it should be one T. My excuse is that it's my mother's maiden name with two T)
Lizzie appeals to Jane's opinion about whether they should tell others about Wickham. They decide not, as Darcy hasn't given permission for this information to be shared, particularly regarding his sister.
Lizzy now can observe that Jane is still very much unhappy with the loss of Bingley, who she was attached to so completely.
I am reminded how faithful the 1995 BBC version is, in that on every page is dialogue I can hear with the actor's voices. Mrs Bennet in particular is direct from the page.
Chapter 41: the regiment are leaving Meryton, much to Kitty and Lydia's grief. Lydia is invited by Colonel Foster's wife to go with them to Brighton, and she is delirious with joy. Lizzie tries to warn her father, so that he might prevent Lydia going and making a spectacle of herself, but he refuses. "if you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will be soon beyond the reach of amendment. Her character will be fixed and she will be, at 16, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous."
Lizzie meets with Wickham often during this time, being in same company, and she is disgusted with him. During their last meeting, she gives him an idea that she now sees through his amiable manners to his true character.
Chapter 42: chapter begins with a clear assessment of Mr and Mrs Bennet's failures as husband and wife.
Lizzie looks forward to her trip with her aunt and uncle to the Lakes, but is disappointed when told it must be cut short and they were only to go so far as Darbyshire. That is where Mr Darcy's Pemberley is, and she has some flutterings about being in the vicinity to the house she might have been in charge of. When they finally set off, the Gardiners are inclined to go see Pemberley. Lizzie doesn't want to go, for fear of seeing Mr Darcy there, but is reluctant to tell her aunt everything. She inquires whether the family are at home, and hearing that they are not decides it would be interesting to see.
Chapter 28: The party leaves London and heads to Hunsford to visit Mr Collins and Charlotte. Lizzie is happy to meet her friend again and she notices how Charlotte contrives to spend as little time with Mr Collins as possible. She may start to soften a bit towards Charlotte. Mr Collins continues to be obsequious.
Chapter 29: the whole party is asked to dine at Rosings Park with Lady Catherine. Lizzie finds her self-important and haughty. Miss de Bourgh is sickly and barely speaks, Sir William and Maria Lucas are so overwhelmed that they say nothing. "There was little to be done except to hear Lady Catherine talk"
Lady Catherine is astonished that Elizabeth and her sisters had no governess, hadn't been to London for their education, hadn't been educated at all really, except to their own inclination. It’s our clue that Lizzie and her sisters have been deprived by their parents of an upbringing appropriate to their station.
Chapter 30: Sir William leaves for home and Lizzie settles in for a longer visit. She observes how Charlotte has adjusted to her situation. We learn that Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, are visiting Lady Catherine and plan to visit them at the parsonage. Lizzie finds Fitzwilliam very amiable and Darcy continues to sit in silence.
Chapter 31: the Collinses and Lizzie are invited to Rosings for an evening. Lizzie enjoys the company of Colonel Fitzwilliam and teases Darcy about his behavior. When he admits that he says, “I certainly have not that talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I have never seen before,” Elizabeth points out that this is due to lack of practice, not due to an inability.
Chapter 32: Darcy calls at the parsonage and makes some conversation about various topics that Lizzie can’t make sense of why he’s there. Charlotte says Darcy must be in love with her, but can’t fathom why he makes himself uncomfortable and silent if that is so.
Chapter 33: in her walks around the countryside, Lizzie keeps meeting with Darcy, which she finds unaccountable. One day she encounters Colonel Fitzwilliam and in conversation with him she learns that Darcy congratulates himself on separating a friend from an imprudent match. Lizzie can’t think who that could be other than Bingley and Jane. This distresses her.
Chapter 34: we come to the crux. When Lizzie stays back from a visit to Rosings because she feels unwell, Darcy comes. He stands about for a bit before admitting that he loves her and asks her to marry him. The part of the conversation where he mentions his objections and scruples is not spelled out in dialog. Lizzie refuses him. When he asks why he is rejected in this way, she brings up his actions with Bingley that lead to her sister’s heartbreak, and his actions with Wickham that ruined him. Darcy is astonished. Then Lizzie gives her opinion of him as a gentleman and really tears him down regarding his pride, arrogance, conceit and selfish disregard for others. This gets to Darcy and he leaves.
Chapter 35: next day, Lizzie happens upon Darcy, who was looking for her to hand her a letter. In the letter, he explains his responsibility for removing Bingley from Jane by saying he didn’t see that she was particularly attached to him and that he felt Bingley was being taken in. He also explains the full story of his relationship with Wickham, exposing him as a profligate degenerate with no principles.
Chapter 36: Lizzie is too angry about the first part of the letter to view it rationally. The part about Wickham makes her pause and review her whole dealing with him in a new light. She berates herself for being blind, prejudiced, and absurd. She is horrified, having previously felt that her behavior and discernment were irreproachable. In this light, she rereads the first part of the letter and remembers the way her mother, younger sisters, and even her father have acted improperly, foolishly, and she is ashamed.
I'm sorry but you absolutely cannot strip Jane Austen's work of Regency politics and social etiquette without the entire narrative collapsing into nonsense.
Modern writers need to stop treating Austen’s world like a generic, pretty fairy tale, and start remembering that her books were actually razor-sharp critiques of a brutal socioeconomic landscape with examinations of class, gender, power and money that are still culturally relevant today.
Chapter 25. Christmas approaches and the Gardiners arrive. This is Mrs Bennett's brother and his wife. He is well bred and agreeable, she is amiable, intelligent and elegant. Mrs Gardiner wants to take Jane back to London with them after the holidays, and Lizzie assures her that Mr Bingley never does anything without Darcy and Darcy wouldn't be caught dead in their part of London, so it's unlikely they would meet.
Mrs Gardiner also talks a lot with Wickham, who she perceives to be a favorite of Lizzie's. She lives in the same area as where Wickham grew up at Pemberley.
Chapter 26. Mrs Gardiner warns Lizzie against encouraging Wickham's attentions, given the lack of any money on either side. Lizzie says she will try not to fall in love with him or make him fall in love with her.
Charlotte Lucas gets married to Mr Collins and asks Lizzie to come see her in March. The relationship between the friends is lessened by Lizzie's feeling that Charlotte has essentially degraded herself, but she promises to write and visit. (It occurs to me now reading this that Charlotte is the counterpoint to Lizzie. Lydia and Charlotte all point to what "might have been", since their marriages are to the two that might have been for her.)
Jane writes from London. At first she visits Caroline Bingley, but after a subsequent return visit she is clear that Caroline cares nothing for her. Jane assumes that Bingley knows she's in town and doesn't wish to see her. Lizzie is convinced that the news of Jane being in town has been hidden from Bingley.
Lizzie is able to reassure her aunt that Wickham has turned his attention to another young lady with a fortune. The novel points out that Lizzie is "less clear-sighted" about this than she was with Charlotte. Both Wickham and Charlotte are seeking a match that will bring monetary comfort, but while Lizzie censures Charlotte for this, she excuses Wickham.
Chapter 27: on the way to visit Charlotte, Lizzie goes to London to see Jane for a day. She has a talk with aunt Gardiner about the difference between imprudence and mercenary intentions that illustrates not only that Lizzie has sense, but may be as prejudiced as others regarding the seeking of a good marriage.
Chapter 23: Sir William Lucas informs the Bennetts about Charlotte's engagement, and Mrs Bennett refuses to believe it. Mr Collins, now engaged to their neighbor, will alas be a visitor to Longbourn more often. Mr Bingley continues his absence, much to the distress of Jane and Lizzie.
Chapter 24: Jane hears from Caroline Bingley at last, that the Bingleys are in London for the rest of winter. She goes on and on about Georgiana Darcy and makes it clear she hopes that her brother will marry his friend's sister.
Jane insists that she will be fine, that she'll forget Bingley. Lizzie is indignant that Bingley should be so fickle or easily dissuaded. The sisters disagree about the goodness of humanity and of Bingley specifically.
I think that many people who find Mary Bennet relatable, imagine her to be like Fanny Price. Mary is a pretentious, not very bright show-off. It is Fanny who is a neglected, abused, intelligent introvert.
If we take the Pride and Prejudice to be the point of view of the primary character (Lizzie Bennet), it makes slightly more sense that Mary may have virtues and interests outside what her sister sees. That's not how the novels are written, though. They are written from the perspective of a objective outsider, and the clear interpretation of Mary is that she is shallow, conceited about her accomplishments, and not very smart. She has skills but not judgement.
I still enjoy seeing her in a different way through The Other Bennet Sister, however much license they are taking.
People who long for some imaginary idyllic past that never existed aren't reading enough female-written classic literature or they aren't paying attention when they do, because the imagined social contract of men holding power and wealth and using it to provide for and protect women has never worked.
Jane Austen emphasizes marrying prudently, but without sufficient independent wealth (rare), a woman's life becomes tied to a good man's survival. Mr. Dashwood inheriting late and dying early put his wife and daughter's fates in the hands of his selfish son. When women cannot work, they must hope that their fathers live until they marry, hope that their brothers will take care of them, and hope to be provided for as widows. Even love matches can end in ruin if the man holding the money is incompetent, as Mrs. Smith in Persuasion emphasizes. But men are supposed to provide for the dependant women in their lives, Jane Austen points to this social contract again and again, so why does it fail? Because there are almost no consequences when men refuse to do their duty. No one shuns John Dashwood for the way he treats his female relations. The only ones with the power to hold men accountable are men themselves, and why would they do that?
Not to mention that a man can uproot his entire family's life without any need to consult them (North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell), the jobs available to women were degrading and poorly paid (Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë), escaping abuse was dangerous and legally difficult (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë & Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë), being born as an intelligent woman was seen as a curse because it was useless and wouldn't get you married (The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot), etc. etc. etc.
Elizabeth Bennet might have gotten her fairy tale ending, but Charlotte Lucas would have given her left kidney to be able to get a job and pay for "comfortable home" all on her own.
I am IN LOVE with the fact that they chose Lucy Briers as Hill, the wise and kindly housekeeper for the Bennets.
I was watching and loving her when I said to myself... "Where have I seen her?" So I looked it up. She played Mary Bennet in the 1995 version that I love so much. I didn't recognize her.
I find this fantastic. She's part of giving Mary Bennet an expanded universe that she didn't previously have. I love that.
Finally getting to watch The Other Bennet Sister. I am incredibly excited.
Mary is not really existing in the novel, she's really there to throw Lizzie's wit and sense into relief by being plain, dull, accomplished, and stuck-up about it. I'm glad to give her a personality.
I don't like Mrs Bennet much in this. She's mean-spirited rather than foolish.
Chapter 19: Mr Collins applies for Lizzie’s hand in marriage, in a way that proves him to be as conceited and stupid as we have known. She refuses him, but he clings to the idea that she will come around.
Chapter 20: Mrs Bennett attempts to persuade Lizzie to accept Mr Collins, without support or success. Charlotte Lucas comes to visit just as Mr Collins takes umbrage and is insulted.
Chapter 21: the younger Bennetts walk into Meryton to meet the officers. Wickham returns with them, with much attention to Lizzie, and meets her parents.
Jane receives a letter from Caroline Bingley, letting her know that the Netherfield party have left for London and aren’t returning anytime soon. Jane believes that this means Bingley cares little for her, Elizabeth is convinced that Caroline is trying to keep her brother away from Jane.
Chapter 22: Charlotte Lucas determines to try to divert Mr Collins’s attention from Elizabeth to herself.
"Mr. Collins to be sure was neither sensible nor agreeable: his society was irksome and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband." When she tells Eliza that she has accepted Mr Collins, Lizzie is astonished. Her friend is somewhat sunk in her esteem, despite what Charlotte says about not being a romantic.
