#george wickham

[wisteria-lodge]

my gimmick blog idea would be run an INTENSE Mr. Darcy hate blog. and then, over the course of like a year, it slowly becomes clear that it's actually an in-character George Wickham rp blog.

[besotted-with-austen]

Modern Readers: hey, what if Mrs Bennet was the smart one all this time and we were too blinded by MiSogYnY to see it?

Jane Austen: Mrs Bennet’s brain conveniently removed the part where Wickham was a gambler and a scumbag just because he was the one that married her daughter.

Modern Readers: no, really-at least she was the one that was taking her daughters’ future seriously!

Jane Austen: she willingly ignored what this marriage would have meant for Lydia in the long run simply because she had a marriage to brag about.

Modern Readers: she was stil better than Mr Bennet! He didn’t think about it at all!

Jane Austen: Mr Bennet was just as bad as his wife, just in different ways.

Modern Readers: stop putting Mr Bennet on a pedestal just because he is funny!

[bennetsbonnet]

I re-read Pride and Prejudice (likely thing for me to do) over the weekend and this time I was really struck by how Wickham is such a brilliant villain and a master manipulator... I think it would have been very difficult for anyone to not be taken in by him and fully believe his version of events.

The thing about Wickham is he sprinkles just enough of the truth in the narrative he tells Elizabeth in order to make himself believable. In particular, it's such a genius move in the way he uses Elizabeth's family to make her feel closer to him and help her believe the worst about Darcy:

'My father began life in the profession which your uncle, Mr Phillips, appears to do so much credit to—but he gave up everything to be of use to the late Mr Darcy and devoted all his time to the care of the Pemberley property.'

Not only is it impressive the way his mind works—as he is so new to Meryton and thus would only have recently become acquainted with the Phillipses and their connection with Elizabeth's family, yet he still has the presence of mind enough to remember this fact and bring it up at an opportune moment—but I also find it incredible the way that he positions himself alongside Elizabeth's family, as though they are equal in some way and looked down on/used by people like Darcy. When, in actual fact, the Bennets have far more in common with Mr Darcy who, like Mr Bennet, is a gentleman with an annual income in the thousands, which places them far higher up the social pecking order than an attorney/steward.

It's... an incredibly audacious move, and perhaps a little surprising that Wickham pulls it off with such ease. Though, when you remember he's supposed to be the most handsome man in the room with bucketloads of charisma to boot... yeah, I can absolutely understand why Elizabeth overlooks that aspect of his behaviour and wants to think of herself as having things in common with him.

[princesssarisa]

I just went back to the two chapters of Pride and Prejudice directly after Wickham tells his lies to Elizabeth – Chapter 17, where she talks with Jane about it, and Chapter 18, the Netherfield Ball – because I was reminded of the fact that within those chapters, Elizabeth gets advice about Wickham and Darcy by three other young women. First Jane, who is reluctant to believe the worst of Darcy; then Charlotte, who encourages Elizabeth to dance with Darcy and urges her not to be led away from him by her preference for Wickham; and finally Caroline Bingley, who plainly tells her that Wickham is a scoundrel who did Darcy wrong, not vice-versa.

All three of their viewpoints turn out to be right, but all three are "right for the wrong reasons." Jane wants to think well of Darcy because she wants to think well of everyone, and she doesn't suspect that Wickham is lying, but thinks he must be mistaken about Darcy's actions, because she wants to think well of Wickham too. Charlotte is only being pragmatic and thinking of Darcy's status and wealth, not his character. And Caroline ends her speech about Wickham's villainy with blatant classism, by adding that of course it's to be expected from a man of such low birth.

In the post I recently reblogged defending Elizabeth from Austen fans who accuse her of so many wrongdoings, one of the arguments was against the idea that she should have listened to Jane and Caroline, because between Jane's naïve idealism and Caroline's snobbery, their opinions at that point really do ring hollow.

Except now, having reread those chapters, I'm not sure if I fully agree. Amid Jane's simple idealism, she does make one sound argument: that Bingley, a man whom they know is genuinely kind and decent, is Darcy's close friend. Maybe Elizabeth should have more strongly considered that fact instead of deciding so easily that Bingley must be deceived by Darcy. Indeed, after Darcy's letter, she does realize that his friendship with Bingley would make no sense if he were really the monster Wickham painted him as. And everything Caroline says about Wickham and Darcy's history turns out to be true: she just puts her own classist spin on the story at the very end.

I suppose this shows the cleverness of Austen's writing. If Jane, Charlotte, and Caroline were to give Elizabeth unquestionably good advice, but Elizabeth still ignored them, Elizabeth would seem less smart and be harder to sympathize with. But because their advice has obvious flaws, both Elizabeth and first-time readers have good reason to disregard it. Yet they still turn out to have been right about Darcy while Elizabeth was deceived.

[aquitainequeen]

I've always liked the establishing character moments in the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice; e.g. Bingley is jolly and friendly but tends to be a little too reliant on Darcy's advice and approval; Darcy's rich and snobbish while also a good friend to Bingley; Elizabeth is cheerful and independent; Mr. Bennet is scholarly and clearly isn't that fond of his wife and younger daughters, but obviously loves Elizabeth, etc.

But I've only just now realised that Georgiana Darcy has three such moments.

The first is when Caroline is telling Jane via letter that the Bingleys are going to stay in London for a while, and that she's hoping that her brother will marry Georgiana. We've heard her mentioned before by Darcy, Caroline and Wickham; now we see her in person for the first time, standing arm in arm with her brother before confidently going to meet Bingley:

This is a really interesting moment, because it could be what happened in reality - but that's highly doubtful; Georgiana is far too confident here compared with what we see later in the story and it's very unlikely she'd be interested in a new suitor after what happened so recently with Wickham. Thus it's either Caroline playing up their meeting in her own mind, anticipating their courtship and marriage, or it's Elizabeth picturing what happened, fuelled by her own resentment of how Wickham was supposedly treated by the proud, selfish, unfeeling Darcys. So the first time we see Georgiana is deeply influenced by what two other very biased characters think they see.

The next moment is here:

This time around Georgiana doesn't say a word or take the initiative; it's Wickham who takes her hand to kiss it, flirts excessively with her without saying a word, and strides off while she looks after him longingly, the beginnings of her smile fading as Darcy's handwriting takes over the screen. This is a rather biased moment as well; it's Darcy's flashback and he wasn't here for this bit, so he'd inevitably picture Georgiana as a sweet innocent completely swept off her feet by the charming man he so despises - but Darcy also knows his sister far better than Caroline and Elizabeth do, and she confesses everything to him once he discovers them at Ramsgate, so this is very likely how it went down in real life. And thus we get that much closer to the real Georgiana.

Finally, at the beginning of the fifth episode, we meet Georgiana in the flesh,

waiting nervously to be introduced,

smiling as soon as Darcy steps aside,

so nervous but so very pleased to meet Elizabeth,

hesistant and selfconcious but very interested in learning more about Elizabeth, coming further out of her protective shell, full of love and praise for her brother, earnestly saying that she should have liked to have had a sister. And Elizabeth, like the audience, is charmed by the real Georgiana.

[yaboitroi]

I wonder if people wrote Pride and Prejeduce fanfiction when it was first published

[dragoneyes613]

The interesting thing about Pride and Prejudice is that it's basically marriage advice for Jane Austen's society. What were the three options of marriage? Marrying for money, marrying for love, and marrying for a combination of the two.

Charlotte and Mr Collins marry solely for financial reasons, and while their marriage seems to be content on both sides, it's far from ideal.

Lydia and Wickham marry solely for love (or rather, attraction), and we see that it doesn't last.

Both Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy marry for love and money, and their marriages are the best of all.

I mean, it's very nice if you marry only for love, but if neither of you have a penny to your name then good luck to you.

Moral is basically "marry for love and mutual respect and money if you can."

[lynburnlegagy123]

How different Jane Austen couples would react to the Emma/Knightley situation

I.e. getting to marry but only if the husband moves into his wife's house and lives with her family.

Elinor/Edward and Marianne/Brandon: I think space would be an issue, especially if it's both couples in the cottage at the same time, but personality wise this would probably be fine. 

Elizabeth/Darcy: definitely worse. Space is an issue again but now the personalities are the far greater one. You can definitely be settled too near your family. If the Wickhams also live there I'm not sure Longbourn will remain standing.

Fanny/Edmund: Lady Bertram's ideal scenario. They both lived here with everyone (plus Maria and minus Susan) for years before they married. They'll be fine. Now, Edmund having to move to the Prices' house, or the Rushworths living at Mansfield Park… I don't know how that would go.

Emma/George: yeah they're good.

Catherine/Henry: I can kinda see them doing this. Like, Henry lives half the year at his parsonage and half the year at Northanger Abbey, if the relationship with General Tilney remained strained I could see them spending equivalent time with the Morlands. In the situation everyone's getting of full time habitation, I think it would be kinda lovely honestly. Not an issue at all. Impractical with the living though.

Anne/Frederick: Hell. No one would enjoy this. The main perk of the eight year separation is that they weren't dealing with this instead.