#the gardiners

[thatperiodblog]

nobody can convince me that these two weren’t a total love match 🥹 it was not a marriage of convenience

[fitzawkwarddarcy]

iconic casting, honestly. i see my future & it is bright.

[bethanydelleman]

The Gardiners observing Darcy and Elizabeth together in Pride & Prejudice and moving from curiosity to "I would love an invite to Pemberley once you're married" is so delightful:

Her uncle and aunt were all amazement; and the embarrassment of her manner as she spoke, joined to the circumstance itself, and many of the circumstances of the preceding day, opened to them a new idea on the business. Nothing had ever suggested it before, but they now felt that there was no other way of accounting for such attentions from such a quarter than by supposing a partiality for their niece. While these newly-born notions were passing in their heads

The suspicions which had just arisen of Mr. Darcy and their niece, directed their observation towards each with an earnest, though guarded, inquiry; and they soon drew from those inquiries the full conviction that one of them at least knew what it was to love. Of the lady’s sensations they remained a little in doubt; but that the gentleman was overflowing with admiration was evident enough.

They talked of his sister, his friends, his house, his fruit, of everything but himself; yet Elizabeth was longing to know what Mrs. Gardiner thought of him, and Mrs. Gardiner would have been highly gratified by her niece’s beginning the subject.

Will you be very angry with me, my dear Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold enough to say before) how much I like him? His behaviour to us has, in every respect, been as pleasing as when we were in Derbyshire. His understanding and opinions all please me; he wants nothing but a little more liveliness, and that, if he marry prudently, his wife may teach him. I thought him very sly; he hardly ever mentioned your name. But slyness seems the fashion. Pray forgive me, if I have been very presuming, or at least do not punish me so far as to exclude me from P. I shall never be quite happy till I have been all round the park. (Mrs. Gardiner's letter to Elizabeth about Darcy's involvement in Lydia's marriage)

Other than Jane, they are the only family members who have any idea what is going on and they are all for it! The way that they can tell how much Darcy is in love is beautiful.

[daughterofthesunlands]

My reaction when the freak jumped out of Mrs. Gardiner at her husband's mention of the inn being empty and quiet if they accompanied the Bingleys back down:

[diamondsunbursts-and-marblehalls]

Recently rereading Pride and Prejudice I came across this quote which, in my opinion, is one of the most relatable things about the book. The feeling that whatever bold choice you have made is the single most horrible, embarrassing choice that you could have made, that resulted in the worst possible outcome in the whole world.

"But Elizabeth heard not a word, and wholly engrossed by her own feelings, followed them in silence. She was overpowered by shame and vexation. Her coming there was the most unfortunate, the most ill-judged thing in the world!"

These are her thoughts when she lets her aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, take her to Pemberly, Mr Darcy's home in Derbyshire, under the assumption that he wouldn't be there, only to have him arrive just as she's leaving. Mind you, this is after she savagely rejected him with the "you are the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry" line. Brutal. Despite that, he's polite and kind, but she's stuck in her head, so embarrassed about the fact that she was even there in the first place, and what he must think. Her train of thought wouldn't be anything other than painfully relatable except for the very last line of the book. Which is:

"With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them."

I just think the idea that you can go through something that you consider the worst thing to ever happen to you, the most embarrassing thing you have ever done, and later have the perspective to realize that had to happen in order for you to get something better. Okay yeah, if she had never let her aunt and uncle take her to Derbyshire, she would have avoided "the most unfortunate and ill-judged thing in the world". I'm sure she would have seriously appreciated short-term, but I think looking back on it, she'd willingly do it over again if it meant getting to marry the man she loves.

I just think it's lovely that life has a funny way of flipping things around, so what was once horribly embarrassing and painful later becomes something you're incredibly grateful for and wouldn't change for the world.

[itspileofgoodthings]

one of my favorite things about pride and prejudice is the fact that mr and mrs gardiner are completely aware of the fact that darcy is in love with lizzy from the first time they meet him and just quietly ship it for the rest of the book.

[thatperiodblog]

yeah so i hc that tom’s parents just aren’t in the picture and she decided to adopt him when he lodged with them because she can’t help herself but be a mum to literally everyone…that’s my girl 🫶

[thatperiodblog]

forever obsessed with the way he lies there with his head in her lap because he doesn’t care and he’s just a comfy boi 🥹 you know they do this all the time at home and she just runs her fingers through his hair while they sit by the fire reading and stuff once the kids are in bed and they get some alone time 😌