| 1 | [[quoteright:338:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/austen2_2636.jpg]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | ->''"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."'' |
| 4 | -->-- [[SignatureLine Opening line]] |
| 5 | |
| 6 | The second novel by Creator/JaneAusten -- a TakeThat at LoveAtFirstSight. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Possessing one of the best-known opening lines of all time, the story is a sharp, witty, insightful and tremendously funny romance, both mindful and mocking of sexual politics as they relate to social mores. Elizabeth Bennet is the second of the five daughters of Mr and Mrs Bennet, landed gentry who live in Longbourn, a small estate in rural England at the time of UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars. Her father is a cynical, snarky recluse, her mother is a fatuous, rather ill-bred airhead obsessed with her daughters' marriage prospects, and her elder sister Jane is a sweet-natured beauty. Her younger sisters, by contrast, are uniformly "silly": pretentious, grumpy Mary; giggly, easily-led Kitty; and uncontrollable, foolish Lydia. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | The story follows the Bennets and their attempts to marry for love, despite being in a position that makes such a goal severely impractical. While Jane quickly falls for the well-off, good-natured newcomer Mr Bingley, Elizabeth is entirely too cynical to attract as sweet a man. Her nature does, however, attract a variety of other suitors: the well-connected but [[SmugSnake unctuous]] [[TheVicar vicar]] Mr Collins, a man without any sense of humour lost in the novel's WorldOfSnark; the dashing, penniless and self-deprecating foot soldier Mr Wickham; and Bingley's friend, Mr Darcy, who to all appearances is a cold-blooded and arrogant bore. Meanwhile, Lydia causes trouble for everyone, and Elizabeth and Darcy learn a lesson or two about first impressions and making assumptions. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | It has been adapted into several theatre plays, movies and TV series; the 1940 adaptation stars Creator/GreerGarson and Creator/LaurenceOlivier, [[Series/PrideAndPrejudice1995 the 1995 BBC serial]] will forever see generations of women swoon over Creator/ColinFirth as the most romantic man alive whether he particularly wants them to or not, and [[Film/PrideAndPrejudice2005 the 2005 movie]] saw Creator/KeiraKnightley star as Elizabeth and Matthew Macfadyen as Darcy. In 2009, Marvel Illustrated produced a ComicBookAdaptation, script by Nancy Butler, pencils by Hugo Petrus and covers by Sonny Liew. TheMusical ''First Impressions'' is a 1959 Broadway flop starring Farley Granger as Darcy. |
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| 14 | As a famous public domain novel, it was subjected to [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot nerd-ification]] in 2009 with the publishing of ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudiceAndZombies''. Many modern writers have picked up where Austen left off, trying their hand at publishing {{continuation}} stories about Darcy and Elizabeth as well as some of the minor characters; one notable example is the 2011 unofficial sequel ''Literature/DeathComesToPemberley'' by P.D. James. In 2013, Jo Baker wrote a version of the story from the perspective of the servants, ''Literature/{{Longbourn}}''. |
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| 16 | In terms of modern adaptations, there's always the ''Literature/BridgetJones'' franchise, which takes on this, and then Austen's ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'' for its sequel. ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'' is a modernised adaptation (headed in part by Hank Green of the WebVideo/VlogBrothers fame. It began airing on Website/YouTube in early 2012 in the form of a [[CharacterBlog video blog]]. In this version there are three Bennet sisters (Jane, Lizzie and Lydia) and Charlotte's role is greatly expanded. In 2018, Ibi Zoboi wrote ''Pride: A Pride & Prejudice Remix'' which focuses on two teenagers in Bushwick, Brooklyn and tackles issues like gentrification and racial prejudice. Oh, and there's ''VideoGame/MatchesAndMatrimony'', a DatingSim. |
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| 18 | By the way, the title refers to the two qualities that keep Darcy and Elizabeth from getting together. "Pride" is usually associated with Darcy (his initial snobbery toward those considered beneath him in social rank) and "prejudice" with Elizabeth (her judgements of Darcy and Wickham based solely on first impressions and hearsay, without really knowing either of them); however, they each display both qualities. |
| 19 | ---- |
| 20 | !!It is a trope universally acknowledged: |
| 21 | * AdultsAreUseless: There's a curious balance when it comes to the Bennet parents: |
| 22 | ** On one hand, Mrs Bennet doesn't have a subtle bone in her body and suffers from a dire lack of common sense, unintentionally damages Jane's marital prospects ''at least twice'' thanks to her lack of propriety, takes to her bed when things go wrong, constantly re-imagines past events to paint herself in a better light, spoils Lydia intensely and then continues to fawn over her and Wickham ''after'' the two of them nearly plunge the family into ruin. Mr Bennet is far more calm and sensible, puncturing holes in his wife's ego, preventing Elizabeth from being made to marry Mr Collins, and pointing out the flaws in Wickham's story, getting the measure of him much sooner than anyone else in Meryton. |
| 23 | ** However, if you look closer, Mr Bennet is really just as bad as his wife. While her motives are admittedly partly out of self-interest, at least she's ''trying'' to make sure their daughters are provided for and that Mr Collins, the man who'll be inheriting Longbourn, is charitably disposed towards them, however much she dislikes him. Mr Bennet, by contrast, doesn't seem to be all that concerned about the future of his children, or inclined to take any steps to improve their prospects, such as making nice with Mr Collins' father or attempting to be sociable to his neighbours. Back in the early days of his marriage Mr Bennet arrogantly assumed he'd ''naturally'' father a son to take over the estate and break the entail, and didn't bother saving in case the desired male heir didn't come along...meaning his five daughters are left with pretty pathetic dowries. Finally, while Mrs Bennet either indulges or ignores her younger daughters, their father doesn't ever seem to pay much attention to/discipline them either -- even by the standards of the time -- with disastrous consequences. When Lydia elopes with Wickham, Mr Bennet even admits how foolishly he behaved to Elizabeth, saying he wishes he could have taken better care of them all. |
| 24 | ** Funnily enough, the Bennet relatives - Mr and Mrs Gardiner - are probably the [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Adults]] in the entire novel. |
| 25 | * AffablyEvil: Wickham is terribly charming, even after everyone knows what a scumbag he is. |
| 26 | * AffectionateNickname: Elizabeth is "Lizzy" to her family, and "Eliza" to her closest friend Charlotte Lucas. The other Lucases, including Charlotte's parents, call her "Miss Eliza", which reflects the fact that they have known her since she was a small child. [[note]]Though this may pass modern readers by, given Regency etiquette Caroline Bingley's address of her as "Miss Eliza" -- instead of the correct "Miss Elizabeth" -- would have come off as outrageously presumptuous, affectionate nicknames being reserved for family and intimate friends at that time.[[/note]] |
| 27 | * AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: Mrs Bennet, so very much. Her unsubtle attempts to set her daughters up with prospective husbands - ''especially'' in the case of Jane and Mr Bingley, acting as if they are already engaged after they've ''just met'' - is mortifying to her two older daughters. The younger ones are just as embarrassing as her, ''and'' Mr Bennet will make things even worse by openly mocking and ridiculing his wife and daughters in front of everyone. The consequences of this behaviour are more serious than usual because the family's antics are the biggest reason why Darcy persuades Mr Bingley not to marry Jane. |
| 28 | * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Darcy's might be the most famous of all. The fact that he is anguished because Elizabeth is in a worldly sense not good enough for him puts a damper on the romance, though. |
| 29 | * ArchEnemy: Wickham for Darcy |
| 30 | * AttentionWhore: Mary and Lydia, each in her own way. |
| 31 | * AwfulWeddedLife: |
| 32 | ** Mr and Mrs Bennet show what can happen when you marry someone purely on the basis of physical attractiveness and sexual appeal. It's not the ''worst'' set up ever, but it's telling that Mr Bennet keeps himself closeted away from his wife and younger daughters as much as possible. |
| 33 | ** Being forced to marry the foolish, irresponsible Lydia is essentially Wickham's punishment. It is also implied that, although she loves him now, marriage to Wickham will one day be this to Lydia as well. |
| 34 | * BabiesEverAfter: In the letter where Mr Collins warns Mr Bennet that Lady Catherine disapproves of Elizabeth marrying Darcy, he mentions that Charlotte is "expecting an olive branch," a reference to Psalm 128 v.4 (Book of Common Prayer version) 'Thy children like the olive-branches round about thy table'. |
| 35 | ** Or rather than a common euphemism, it's probably one jokingly invented by Mr Bennet in reference to Mr Collins' first letter, wherein he begs them not to reject his proffered olive branch. |
| 36 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Inverted. Darcy can't stand Caroline Bingley and her obnoxiously obvious attempts to flirt with him, and it's heavily implied that it's not the first time he's had to deal with this. He's so sick of it that he actually views Elizabeth's barely-concealed disdain as a welcome relief. He confirms towards the end that he initially fell for her because she ''didn't'' go out of her way to be nice to him. |
| 37 | * BelatedLoveEpiphany: Elizabeth didn't start to fall in love with Darcy until after she had already rejected his marriage proposal, soon after which they had parted on bad terms. |
| 38 | * BestFriendsInLaw: |
| 39 | ** Elizabeth speculates (and the narration eventually confirms) that Darcy was originally hoping that Bingley would marry his sister, Georgiana. Of course, Bingley and Darcy instead both marry Jane and Elizabeth Bennet. In this case, the sisters are just as happy to marry best friends as the best friends are to marry sisters, as it means Bingley eventually buys an estate near Darcy's, and Jane and Elizabeth get to spend plenty of time together even after they've both left their parents' home. Jane also says that, as her husband's best friend and her sister's husband, said sister and husband are the only people who could be more dear to her than Darcy. |
| 40 | *** This trope also applies to Elizabeth and Georgiana, each of whom is delighted to have the other as a sister-in-law. |
| 41 | ** Mrs. Bennet also brings up the hope that Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst must also want Jane to marry Bingley, since they are so fond of Jane. This isn't the case, but at the end of the book, Miss Bingley is eager to pretend it is, lest she lose the privilege of living with her financially independent brother and the access to high society that association with the Darcys provides her. |
| 42 | * BetaCouple: Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley, to the readers. To the characters within the story, it's Lizzy and Darcy. Played with, in fact, in a way strongly reminiscent of ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing'', with Jane/Bingley resembling Claudio/Hero (fall in love quickly, sweet and modest, driven apart and together again by forces beyond their control or understanding) and Elizabeth/Darcy resembling Beatrice/Benedick (mentors to nominal alpha couple, initially dislike each other but grow to love each other, more control over their fates). |
| 43 | * BettyAndVeronicaSwitch: Elizabeth with George Wickham and Fitzwilliam Darcy. To appearances, the gentlemen are the [[TheCharmer charming]] impoverished gentleman versus the IdleRich JerkAss with NoSocialSkills. In reality, they are the ManipulativeBastard GoldDigger versus the JerkWithAHeartOfGold ReasonableAuthorityFigure. |
| 44 | * BigBrotherInstinct: Darcy is very protective of his little sister Georgiana. |
| 45 | * BigBrotherWorship: The substantial gap in their ages and the fact that he's raised her since she was around eleven years old mean that Darcy is almost as much a father to Georgiana as he is a sibling. This plus the fact that he ''is'' a generally good guy who dotes on her combine to put Georgiana rather in awe of him, and she places him on something of a pedestal as a result. |
| 46 | * BigFancyHouse: |
| 47 | ** Rosings, of the admirable chimneys. When Elizabeth visits she actually finds the place to be rather tacky--Lady Catherine chooses her interior decorating based on how much it shows off her wealth regardless to aesthetic. |
| 48 | ** Pemberley, Darcy's home, is suitably impressive. Unlike his aunt's house, it's decorated quite elegantly but without overtly flaunting the money that went into it. |
| 49 | ** Netherfield Park. It's big and fancy enough to be suitable for young gentlemen of five thousand a year. |
| 50 | ** Loungbourne, while not as large and fancy as the the others, is still able to comfortably house a family of 7 and their staff. |
| 51 | * BigLittleSister: Lydia boasts that "though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest," and the narrator describes her as "a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen." |
| 52 | * BirdsOfAFeather: |
| 53 | ** The marriages of all three of the Bennet sisters work like this; a running Creator/JaneAusten theme is that love is a combination of esteem, friendship, and like-mindedness. (Although in the case of Lydia, they have the like-mindedness but not necessarily the mutual esteem or friendship, as it's clear that she is much more into Wickham than he is into her, and the ending implies that what affection they do have for each other turns into indifference before long.) |
| 54 | ** Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam are a platonic version, since in stark contrast to his cousin they hit it off immediately; they're both friendly, sociable and light-hearted. That it never becomes romantic is due to their other similarity; Fitzwilliam ''also'' needs to marry someone wealthy, since as the younger son of an earl he doesn't have much money of his own. |
| 55 | ** Discussed Trope for Charlotte and Mr Collins. Mr Collins comments to Elizabeth that he and Charlotte "are of but one mind and one way of thinking. We seem to have been designed for each other". Charlotte lets Mr Collins keep thinking that. |
| 56 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: Wickham is a male version. |
| 57 | * BlackComedy: After Charlotte's marriage to Mr. Collins, Mrs. Lucas begins to calculate how many years Mr. Bennet might have left--a subject that she'd previously had little interest in. |
| 58 | * BlueBlood: The de Bourghs. Though all of the important characters are from land-owning families and thus considered "gentry" (albeit the Bingleys are only very recently elevated to that class) only one is titled. Sir William Lucas's title is not of the hereditary sort, so of the cast only Lady Catherine is an actual aristocrat.[[note]]Her father was an earl, and her brother - Colonel Fitzwilliam's father - now holds the title. The Colonel has an older brother, so he's unlikely to inherit the title, and Darcy is the son of Lady Catherine's sister, meaning his mother was an aristocrat but his father was not (so he is technically not either, as LineageComesFromTheFather).[[/note]] |
| 59 | * BothSidesHaveAPoint: When Elizabeth and Charlotte Lucas are discussing Jane's potential relationship with Bingley, Charlotte believes she should aim to secure him as soon as possible while she still has a strong position in his affections, stating that she can build upon their affection ''after'' they get married, while Elizabeth protests that Jane still hardly knows Bingley and has only had the chance to meet him on a few occasions thus far, and needs time to get to know him better. Note that while Elizabeth's reasoning may be more suited to modern readers, Charlotte's thinking is quite expected for Regency period romance, particularly the position someone like Jane (or Elizabeth) might find themselves in. |
| 60 | * {{Bookworm}}: Mr Bennet regards reading as one of his principal enjoyments, and enjoys sharing it with his daughter Elizabeth. Mary also reads voraciously. |
| 61 | * BrattyTeenageDaughter: All three of the younger daughters, in different ways... |
| 62 | ** Lydia. She's selfish, completely self-involved, materialistic and cares absolutely nothing about the people who are hurt because of her, the trouble she causes for her family or the consequences of her stupid actions. What's worse is that she won't even acknowledge that her actions ''were'' stupid or had damaging effects, and she's helped along in this by Mrs Bennet who has a similar personality type. |
| 63 | ** Mary. She is one because of her pompous moralising and general self-involved attitude; she works too hard for accomplishments and praise because she's the least attractive of the five girls, and receives less attention than her prettier sisters. The ending shows her improvement, though; she becomes her mother's companion once her sisters are married off, so she's forced to socialise. Moreover, without her sisters as comparisons, she's no longer reduced to "the plain daughter", which makes her feel better about herself. |
| 64 | ** Kitty tends to follow in Lydia's footsteps and as such is a milder version of her. She is also implied, through various comments by other characters, to be of a weak physical constitution (Jane calls her "slight and delicate" and Mrs. Bennett is famous for telling her to stop sniffling and coughing) which may account for her subjugation by the much stronger-spirited Lydia. Like Mary, she improves at the end of the book, and in fact improves ''dramatically''. She spends most of her time with either Jane or Elizabeth, and without Lydia there to reinforce her old habits, she becomes better educated and more refined. It's also noted that although Lydia keeps trying to invite her to come and visit, their father refuses to allow it. |
| 65 | * BreakTheHaughty: Darcy, obviously. In one spectacular confrontation scene, Elizabeth does this to Lady Catherine as well. Although not overly haughty, Elizabeth's not immune; her own pride (specifically, in her ability to instantly judge someone based on first impressions - the ''prejudice'' of the novel's title) takes a denting over the course of the novel. |
| 66 | * BrilliantButLazy: Mr Bennet. Elizabeth's inner monologue praises his abilities (presumably his intelligence) several times, but he's too lazy to put them to any use. He's repeatedly described as indolent, especially with letter writing, and Elizabeth laments that a man of his talents might have been able to keep his younger daughters from turning out as silly as they did if he'd actually put forth some kind of effort, instead of just laughing at them. |
| 67 | * TheCasanova: Wickham makes himself immensely agreeable to all women -- especially those whom he can charm into getting something out of. |
| 68 | * CassandraTruth: |
| 69 | ** Elizabeth tries to warn her father that if Lydia is allowed to go to Brighton, she will bring scandal on the family by becoming "the most determined flirt that ever made herself or her family ridiculous." Mr Bennet's response is, essentially, "Don't worry, sweetie, nothing bad will happen – and besides, if we don't let her go, she'll throw a tantrum." while counting on her army host to keep her out of trouble. Elizabeth is not only correct, but underestimates just ''how'' bad going to Brighton will be for Lydia. |
| 70 | ** Caroline Bingley warns Elizabeth about Wickham and tells her that "George Wickham has treated Mr. Darcy in a most infamous manner. I do not know the particulars, but I know very well that Mr. Darcy is not in the least to blame..." Elizabeth doesn't pay these words much heed, because they are delivered in the spirit of Caroline's customary passive-aggressive jabs at Elizabeth's expense. They also turn out to be 100% true. |
| 71 | * CharacterDevelopment: Elizabeth becomes a more reliable observer, as mentioned below. Mary becomes less gloomy and more confident near the end. Kitty steadily grows less like Lydia and more respectable and caring like her role models Jane and Lizzy. Mr Bennet, who had always been "contented with laughing" at the antics of his younger daughters, smartens up and takes his responsibilities as parent much more seriously. Mr Darcy learns to express his HiddenHeartOfGold more outside of those closest to him while acknowledging that he can still be a bit of a pompous, arrogant tool and learning to be a bit more pleasant and polite to people. Even the ever-loving Jane becomes a little less naïve and less willing to make excuses for other people. |
| 72 | * ChekhovsGun: When Bingley and Jane begins to show an interest in each other, Charlotte Lucas remarks to Elizabeth that Jane should make more effort to show her regard and secure Bingley's affections. Elizabeth protests that her sister shouldn't have to change her shy and reserved behaviour and that it would be clear to anyone that she's falling in love with Bingley, but Charlotte points out that it's only clear to people who know Jane well. Later on, Darcy reveals to Elizabeth that he took steps to separate Bingley and Jane in part because he didn't believe Jane truly had any strong feelings for his friend, and didn't want him to fall prey to a fortune hunter or have his heart broken. |
| 73 | * ChildMarriageVeto: Elizabeth flat-out refuses to marry Mr. Collins, against the wishes of her mother, who is not a little displeased and attempts to get her father to make her marry him, threatening never to see her again if she does not. [[spoiler: Mr Bennet, perhaps wanting to help Elizabeth, declares that ''he'' will never see her again if she ''does''. Her mother persists in her pressure, but this effectively settles the matter.]] |
| 74 | %% * ClingyJealousGirl: Caroline Bingley. |
| 75 | * ConspicuousConsumption: Lady Catherine has furnished her house in a manner that seems calculated to display her wealth over any aesthetic considerations. Mr. Darcy's house is also expensively furnished, but that is it still tasteful and restrained lets Elizabeth know that Mr. Darcy has much more consideration and tact than his aunt. |
| 76 | * ContrivedCoincidence: |
| 77 | ** The Bennets' cousin inheriting Longbourn was given his church living by Darcy's aunt. |
| 78 | ** Elizabeth and the Gardiners happen to visit Pemberley ''on the same day Darcy returns''. He was meant to arrive the following day, which is the only reason Elizabeth even agreed to the visit, but a business matter required him to come a day early. |
| 79 | ** Jane's first letter to Elizabeth about Lydia's elopement is delayed in reaching Lizzy because Jane, in her distress, wrote the address badly and the letter was misdirected. If Jane had written a little more clearly, her letter may well have reached Elizabeth before she and the Gardiners could even visit Pemberley; as it is, the delay of the first letter is the only reason Darcy just happens to walk in on her right after she's received the double shock from both letters combined, which is in turn the only reason he finds out anything about it in time to be of any help. |
| 80 | * ControlFreak: There is only one way to do absolutely anything, and that is Lady Catherine de Bourgh's way...in her mind, at least. This leads to tension when she eventually meets Elizabeth Bennet, who isn't particularly inclined to let Lady Catherine or anyone bully her about. |
| 81 | * CoolBigSis: |
| 82 | ** Jane, to Elizabeth in particular, since the younger three tend to tune them out a lot. |
| 83 | ** The ending indicates that Kitty eventually regards both Jane and Elizabeth in this light. |
| 84 | ** Elizabeth also becomes this to Georgiana Darcy. |
| 85 | * DaddysGirl: Inverted. It is clear that Mr Bennet is deeply attached to his second eldest, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is also much closer to her father than she is to her mother, and turns a blind eye to many of his failings as a husband and father, but she's forced to acknowledge his flaws when directly confronted with them. |
| 86 | * DancesAndBalls: It is set during the 19th century in England after all. |
| 87 | * DeadpanSnarker: Elizabeth, who takes after her father in that regard ("For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"). |
| 88 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Darcy is a male version. Elizabeth has some aspects of it as well. |
| 89 | * DelusionsOfEloquence : Mr Collins. |
| 90 | * DidntThinkThisThrough: Lady Catherine drives all the way from Rosings to Longbourn to... put to rest the rumors that her nephew is engaged to Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth points out that Mr. Darcy's aunt coming to see her family is only going to make such rumors seem true! |
| 91 | * TheDitz: Lydia Bennet. Mrs Bennet is no great intellect either, for that matter, and neither is Mr Collins. |
| 92 | * DoubleStandard: In Elizabeth's mind, Charlotte's agreeing to marry Mr Collins in exchange for a comfortable home and a modicum of respectability represents "a betrayal of every better feeling". Wickham's decision to court the heiress Mary King despite the fact that he'd been uninterested in her before she inherited money, on the other hand, is simply a matter of pragmatism, although this could be seen as a way for Elizabeth to deal with the news -- she was interested in him initially, and might now want to be seen to be calm and not allow herself to be upset. The narrator does call Elizabeth out on this. There is also the fact that, unlike Wickham, Elizabeth was friends with Charlotte, [[AngerBornOfWorry cared about her happiness]], and likely expected more from her/held her to a higher standard than a man she didn't really know all that well. |
| 93 | * DumbassHasAPoint: In the midst of all her other moralizing, Mary tells Lizzie that one should withhold judgement of a person until one has enough firsthand information to draw a conclusion and not rely on gossip and other sources. If Lizzie had listened, the whole debacle with Wickham could have been avoided. |
| 94 | ** Elizabeth's views are justified in that she objects mainly because she knows Mr. Collins is a rather odious character. [[spoiler: Though if she knew Wickham's true character at that point, she would have probably argued against the potential match on Mary King's behalf.]] |
| 95 | * DreadfulMusician: Keep Mary away from your piano unless she's playing for people to dance. ''Please''. (In the book, Mary is a [[TechnicianVersusPerformer technically accomplished but unemotional]] pianist. In movie versions, however, she is more often portrayed as just a bad musician. Her singing voice is best avoided in both.) By the way, this advice is easier said than done; Mary is one of the '[[GiftedlyBad self-deluding]]' types. |
| 96 | * {{Elopement}}: Wickham convinces Georgiana Darcy into one, his main motive being her fortune of thirty thousand pounds. The plan falls apart when a guilt-ridden Georgiana confesses it to her brother, who then [[StronglyWordedLetter writes]] to Wickham to tell him that [[MySisterIsOffLimits his sister is off limits]]. Later, Wickham actually does elope with Lydia Bennet, who is saved from being DefiledForever by marrying him. |
| 97 | * EnglishRose: Elizabeth's sister Jane is kind, polite, well-mannered and beautiful English country gentry. Jane is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others. |
| 98 | * EsotericHappyEnding: [[invoked]] Elizabeth views Lydia and Wickham's marriage as such. Everyone else in the Bennet family is celebrating, or at least deeply relieved, because it means Lydia's reputation (and, by extension, the family's) is saved, but Elizabeth's internal monologue points out that Wickham is no prize either as a husband or a brother-in-law, and that it's terrible circumstances indeed that make this seem like a "happy" ending. Indeed, the WhereAreTheyNow sum up at the end notes that Wickham quickly loses whatever regard he had for his wife and vice versa, leaving them stuck in a loveless marriage they can't get out of; and they end up constantly living beyond their means, sponging off the Darcys and Bingleys and becoming TheThingThatWouldNotLeave for the latter, straining Lydia's relationship with her sisters. |
| 99 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: |
| 100 | ** Completely subverted with Darcy. The problems of making snap judgments based on first impressions is a major theme of the novel, and Darcy's turning out to be nothing like the icy, indifferent man he seems at first is an illustration of it. |
| 101 | ** The 1995 miniseries uses its first few minutes to display the general characteristics of the main characters -- Bingley's cheerful personality, Darcy's disdain, Lizzy's lively nature, Mr. Bennet's long-suffering, Jane's even temper, and Mrs. Bennet, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia's unbearable histrionics. |
| 102 | * EveryoneCanSeeIt: |
| 103 | ** Bingley and Jane, despite how discreet they both are. The fact that everyone is talking about it is what prompts Darcy to intervene. |
| 104 | ** Averted with Darcy and Elizabeth. The Gardiners' understandable conclusions aside, not even Jane believes Lizzy when she first tells her they are engaged, and takes some convincing that Lizzy ''does'' love Darcy in truth. This is partly because everyone except the Gardiners was around when Darcy and Elizabeth first met and did nothing but bicker, whereas when the Gardiners finally meet Darcy, Elizabeth's feelings have considerably warmed to him and Darcy is making a conscious effort to present himself in a more humble and agreeable fashion, thus enabling them to see what everyone else couldn't. |
| 105 | * EvilFormerFriend: Darcy and Wickham were childhood friends. |
| 106 | * FemaleGaze: Darcy's introduction. |
| 107 | * FeminineWomenCanCook: Mr Collins makes the mistake of thinking this applies to the Bennet daughters, but they're not that poor. |
| 108 | * FictionFiveHundred: Mr Darcy is a most eligible bachelor, having been blessed with good looks and a yearly income of at least £10,000 which, adjusted for inflation etc, etc, makes it about £796,000 [[note]](or about $1,055,000) [[/note]] in 2018. Mrs Bennet even says that he's "as good as a Lord". |
| 109 | * FirstNameBasis: |
| 110 | ** Elizabeth and Charlotte, which signifies that the two are the best of friends and have been for many years. By contrast, Caroline Bingley calling Elizabeth "Miss Eliza" is low-key rude, since she doesn't know her ''nearly'' well enough for such relative informality. |
| 111 | ** Once Elizabeth and Darcy are engaged, Darcy is finally able to address her by her first name (and presumably she does the same off-page) in a moment of pure gratitude for all he's learned from her initial rejection of him. |
| 112 | * {{Foil}}: Mr. Darcy, a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who initially comes across as very unpleasant but ends up proving the nobility of his character, has a foil in Mr. Wickham, a superficially charming but utterly worthless BitchInSheepsClothing. Elizabeth even comments that "One has all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it." |
| 113 | * FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The younger sisters, headed by Lydia, are the Foolish sisters, while Jane and Elizabeth are the Responsible sisters. |
| 114 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 115 | ** When Jane and Elizabeth return from London and Kent (respectively), Lydia asks them about their trips, then gives them no chance to reply before launching into a WallOfText about her own recent activities. But her non-stop talk includes this prophetic gem: |
| 116 | --->'''Lydia:''' I should like to be married before any of you. |
| 117 | ** Wickham, after explaining (with a heavy tilt in his favor, of course) his backstory to Lizzy, swears that he will not be driven from Meryton's society by Darcy, and is determined Darcy shall have all the discomfort because it's his fault (according to Wickham). Then Bingley finally throws his ball and Wickham ''immediately'' has an excuse not to come. Weird, it's almost like Wickham's not as great as he makes himself out to be. Lizzy later notes that she should have noticed this, but her determination to dislike Darcy clouded her judgment. |
| 118 | *** Why is Wickham never referred to by title? See TheyCallMeMisterTibbs below for more, but it's [[spoiler: because he's a [[BitchInSheepsClothing dick]]]]. |
| 119 | * FreudianExcuse: Averted in the case of Wickham. He had a rather nice childhood, and his father was a good man. Darcy notes the elder Mr Wickham was "always poor from the extravagance of his wife", so Wickham could have been a spoilt [[MommasBoy mummy's boy]] who never grew up. |
| 120 | * GardenOfLove: Elizabeth recognizes Darcy as a worthy man while touring the grounds of Pemberley, discerning that the care he gives his garden is an indicator of his true character. When asked, she even cites her experience as the point she began to fall in love with him: |
| 121 | --> It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.[[note]]The text does imply that she was just teasing her sister, though.[[/note]] |
| 122 | * GenericCuteness: Austen doesn't go into detail as to what the Bennet daughters look like. She tells us only that Jane is considered to be the most beautiful, Elizabeth's eyes are widely admired, Lydia is the tallest, and Mary is the plainest one. But none of them are bad-looking, and their social "attractiveness" depends just as much on their manners and personality. |
| 123 | * TheGhost: Justified, since the whole story is from Elizabeth's perspective and she never talks ''with'' some people, only ''about'' them. |
| 124 | ** Mrs. Long is frequently mentioned by Mrs. Bennet, but does not show up with the other characters and plays no role other than the most common source of Mrs. Bennet's gossip. |
| 125 | ** Miss King is one of Wickham's affections when her fortune turns him away from Elizabeth, but otherwise is only mentioned twice: once at the beginning of their relationship, and once at the end, both times without ever actually appearing. |
| 126 | ** Mrs. Younge was Georgiana Darcy's companion and chaperone, and an accomplice to Wickham's attempt to seduce Georgiana into an elopement. Her association with Wickham means Darcy uses her as a source of information when he needs to track Wickham down in London, but she's only mentioned in these two instances and never appears in person. |
| 127 | * GiftedlyBad: Mary's singing. Her piano playing is described as being technically proficient but lacking in any emotion. She also fancies herself as extremely clever and profound, when her "insights" are usually cases of stating the obvious, and/or obnoxious, unnecessary moralising that no one wants to hear. |
| 128 | * TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Averted with Jane and Elizabeth; while Jane is the "pretty" one (although not unintelligent) and Elizabeth is the "clever" one (although not unattractive), they're incredibly close, the best of friends and barely have a cross word in the entire novel. Played straighter with Lydia (filling the "pretty" role as she's shallow and boy-crazy) and Mary ("smart", although not nearly as smart as she thinks she is); although they're never shown actually arguing in the book, it is noted that Lydia routinely ignores anything Mary says. The novel doesn't take sides, and points out that they're [[NotSoDifferentRemark both as bad as each other]]. |
| 129 | * GoldDigger: |
| 130 | ** Wickham hopes to secure his fortune by marrying a woman with money. |
| 131 | ** A more positively presented example is Colonel Fitzwilliam, who warns Elizabeth that, as the younger son of an Earl, he's expected to marry money. |
| 132 | ** To a certain extent, this applies to almost every character in the book: they all (with the possible exception of Lydia) consider the wealth/social position of any potential partner. Elizabeth discusses this with her aunt at one point: what's the difference between gold-digging and simply being practical? |
| 133 | ** All this is TruthInTelevision, since in the early 19th century (as had been the case for centuries), marriages in the middle and upper classes had been contracted more for economic (and, among royalty and the upper nobility, political) reasons than for romantic ones. The ability of a prospective husband to provide for his wife and potential children, and the amount of the dowry that a bride could bring into her marriage, were crucial concerns. |
| 134 | * GoodIsNotNice: Mr Darcy ''is'' a kind man, but cool and distant to those he considers beneath him. [[ForegoneConclusion This changes, obviously]]. |
| 135 | * GoodLookingPrivates: A good portion of the plot is driven by the fact that girls go crazy over a man in a red coat. After the arrival of the militia, Kitty and Lydia lose interest in anything other than military men. |
| 136 | * GossipEvolution: |
| 137 | ** Shortly before the first ball Bingley attends in his new neighbourhood, he makes a brief visit to London. Someone guesses that he went there to collect friends to bring to the ball, and this rapidly turns into a rumour that he's going to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen. (He does bring some friends, but not nearly that many.) |
| 138 | ** Towards the end of the novel, the news of Jane and Bingley's engagement, by the time it reaches Lady Catherine via the Lucases and the Collinses, has gained the (untrue) additional detail that Lizzy is to marry Mr Darcy... |
| 139 | * GossipyHens: All the ladies of a certain age and class in Meryton love to gossip. There's a definite black humour when, after Lydia elopes with Wickham (and months after he left the town!) everyone immediately starts clamouring about his gambling debts and how apparently there's hardly a tradesman in Meryton whose daughters were not meddled with. However, it becomes distinctly meanspirited and callous when, having learned of Lydia's marriage, some people are ''disappointed'' that Lydia hasn't "come upon the town" (had to become a sex-worker) or been secluded in some distant farmhouse to hide the Bennets' shame. |
| 140 | * GrandeDame: Lady Catherine de Bourgh. |
| 141 | * GreenEyedMonster: Caroline Bingley's venomous spite towards Elizabeth is based mainly on the fact that Elizabeth -- unlike Caroline -- managed to catch Darcy's eye. |
| 142 | * GroundedForever: After Lydia disgraces the family, Kitty protests that if she were to be allowed to go to Brighton, she would behave better. Her father is not convinced: |
| 143 | -->"''You'' go to Brighton!—I would not trust you so near it as East-Bourne, not for fifty pounds! No, Kitty, I have at last learnt to be cautious, and you will feel the effects of it. No officer is ever to enter my house again, nor even to pass through the village. Balls will be absolutely prohibited, unless you stand up with one of your sisters. And you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner."\ |
| 144 | Kitty, who took all these threats in a serious light, began to cry.\ |
| 145 | "Well, well," said he, "do not make yourself unhappy. If you are a good girl for the next ten years, I will take you to a review at the end of them." |
| 146 | * HaveAGayOldTime: Some of the language and dialogue used makes for amusing reading when looked at through modern eyes. For instance, Kitty and Lydia Bennet are often described as being 'out', which in the modern would be slang for 'coming out of the closet' but in the Regency meant 'coming out into society'. |
| 147 | ** Possibly the funniest is Mr Bennet's remarks about Wickham, when he and Lydia have left to join his northern regiment. |
| 148 | --->'''Mr Bennet:''' He's as fine a fellow as ever I saw. He simpers and smirks and makes love to us all. |
| 149 | ** The preferred card game of the novel is called "loo" (short for "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanterloo lanterloo]]"). The Bingleys at one point invite Elizabeth to join them at said loo. |
| 150 | ** Lady Catherine commends Elizabeth on her having "a very good notion of fingering." She's talking about her piano-playing. |
| 151 | ** One of the more frequent complaints regarding Mrs Bennet and her younger daughters is about their tendency to "expose themselves" at social gatherings -- in context meaning that they're exposing their flaws and bad manners to the public eye, but the modern reader is likely to find themselves imagining something even ''more'' embarrassing. |
| 152 | ** In every instance where Mr. Collins brings up his patroness, he always remarks on her 'condescension', and mentions his intention to 'demean' himself in service to her. His meaning -- indeed, the original meanings of the words -- is that she is gracious to those of lower class than her and that he will serve her humbly, but the modern meaning is really the more accurate one. |
| 153 | * HeirClubForMen: One of the major plot motivators is the Bennets' lack of a male heir. Their family estate is entailed, which means that it is bound legally to be inherited by the next male relative in the family line. The girls really must marry well, because once their father dies their house goes to Mr Collins and, at best, they could stay for some time as his guests. |
| 154 | * HeterosexualLifePartners: Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley. |
| 155 | * HiddenDepths: There's a reason the original title was ''First Impressions''. |
| 156 | * HiddenHeartOfGold: Darcy is introduced as a rich haughty man who doesn't like socializing and sneers at everybody except his own family and very few rich friends. Darcy is eventually revealed to be much kinder, pleasant and well-liked to people who he knows well or who live near him -- his family and friends, servants and the people of Lambton, near his estate of Pemberley, by and large won't hear a word spoken against him and often express surprise when Elizabeth suggests that he's not a particularly nice man. He attaches a lot of importance to appearances and proper conduct, however, and adopts a more formal, reserved manner with strangers, leading those strangers to often view him as being a pompous, humourless bore. |
| 157 | * HiredHelpAsFamily: Late Mr Darcy (Mr Darcy's father) liked and respected his steward Wickham a great deal, and he loved Wickham's son George almost like his own. He was his godfather, supported him in school to give him a gentleman's education and meant to promote him in life as best as he could. [[spoiler:Too bad George Wickham turns out to be a scoundrel.]] |
| 158 | * HomeEarlySurprise: Elizabeth agrees to tour Darcy's estate with her aunt and uncle only after confirming that he's away this week. Naturally, Darcy has to return a day early, much to her mortification. However, he's quite happy to find her because it gives him a chance to show her that he's taken her criticisms to heart and doesn't hold them or her rejection against her. |
| 159 | * HonorThyParent: After Elizabeth's refusal to marry Mr Collins, despite Mr Bennet's supporting Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet does not immediately give up but continues cajoling Elizabeth to change her mind. Finally, when it is clear that Elizabeth is resolute in her refusal, Mrs Bennet rebukes Elizabeth for her choice and maintains that she will indeed never see her again, adding: "I have no pleasure in talking to undutiful children" (while immediately adding that she doesn't have much pleasure in talking to anybody). She does come around after a while, though. |
| 160 | * HugeGuyTinyGirl: Implied. Darcy is described several times as tall and once as a "great, tall fellow" by Bingley, while Elizabeth is supposedly lithe from her walking and the younger Lydia and Georgiana are both taller than she is. |
| 161 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Caroline Bingley and Mrs Hurst look down on the Bennets for having relations in trade and Sir William Lucas for being a merchant before he gained his knighthood, even though they're actually ''Nouveau Riche'' since their own father made most of his own money in trade. |
| 162 | * HypocriticalHumor: The novel is packed with it: |
| 163 | ** Mrs Bennet is quite fond of rewriting history to retroactively change her opinions and make it look like she's always right, particularly when it comes to prospective[=/=]not-so-prospective sons-in-law. |
| 164 | ** Similarly Mr Collins, when he declares his love for her, says that as soon as he saw Elizabeth he knew she was the only one for him -- despite her being his ''second'' choice, after hearing that Jane was "soon to be engaged". |
| 165 | ** Note also how Wickham insists that he takes no pleasure in "revealing" Darcy's true character and is reluctant to do so, but takes every opportunity he can to spread his sad [[spoiler:(and untrue)]] story. |
| 166 | ** Lady Catherine is a self-proclaimed expert on music, fond of lecturing people as to their playing, despite [[KnowNothingKnowItAll having never learned an instrument herself]]. |
| 167 | ** Miss Bingley, who wants Darcy for herself, tears down Elizabeth every chance she gets; most notably, she claims that Elizabeth is one of those women who try to get men's approval by putting down other women. |
| 168 | ** In chapter 57 Mr Collins writes to Mr Bennet on how to treat Lydia and Wickham after their elopement and living together before they married: "You ought certainly to forgive them, as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing". Mr Bennet even lampshades it: "That is his notion of Christian forgiveness!" |
| 169 | * IDoNotSpeakNonverbal: Kitty asks loudly why her mother keeps [[LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone winking at her]]. |
| 170 | * IHaveThisFriend: |
| 171 | ** Colonel Fitzwilliam starts a conversation with Elizabeth about how younger sons can't responsibly propose to whomever they like because they [[UnableToSupportAWife don't have much to offer]]. Elizabeth takes it as this trope, since Fitzwilliam is a younger son who's been acting quite partial to her. The whole conversation is incredibly awkward and embarrassing for both parties -- Elizabeth starts wondering if she's been too forward -- but it has to be said, and once the impossibility of anything ''but'' friendship is firmly established, they can both relax and be as friendly as they please. |
| 172 | ** Mr. Darcy asks Elizabeth a lot of innocent and seemingly irrelevant questions when the two of them aren't engaged in SnarkToSnarkCombat, such as whether she considers poetry an acceptable way for a man to express his feelings for a woman, or whether she would ever consider living in a place such as Kent, which is located more than 50 miles away from her family (and incidentally, about the same distance as Pemberley, just in a different direction). Needless to say, Elizabeth doesn't realize what he's on about. |
| 173 | * ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou: A big part of Darcy's attraction to Elizabeth is the fact that, unlike Caroline Bingley and others of her ilk, Elizabeth sees no need to try and impress him just because he's single and wealthy. He also sees in her an intellectual equal in both knowledge and wit. |
| 174 | * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Aside from his own feelings of responsibility for [[spoiler:not speaking out against Mr Wickham]], the main reason Mr Darcy goes to the trouble of [[spoiler:making Wickham marry Lydia Bennet -- which requires him to pay off Wickham's debts and buy a military commission for him even though he justifiably can't stand the man and previously refused to support him any further -- ]] is to make Elizabeth happy. |
| 175 | * IWasQuiteALooker: Mrs Bennet; apparently, in her youth; it was one of the main things going for her. And unfortunately for Mr Bennet, he married her for shallow reasons such as that. |
| 176 | * InfoDrop: Mr Darcy's first name (Fitzwilliam) appears in the book all of twice. The first time is when Mrs Gardiner struggles to remember if she ever heard anything about him when she lived in Derbyshire; the second, when he signs his letter to Elizabeth. |
| 177 | * InnocentInaccurate: |
| 178 | ** Elizabeth, being the protagonist, is the reader's primary window into the world of the story, and we have limited opportunities to form opinions of characters other than through her. Thus the reader has no choice but to share her good opinion of Wickham and her poor opinion of Darcy [[spoiler:until Darcy's letter reveals the truth to both her and the reader]]. |
| 179 | ** A major source of trouble for Elizabeth is that, for the most part, she's generally correct, whether it's about Miss Bingley or Mr Collins or Mr Bingley. She's forced to come to terms with her being inaccurate on the subject of Darcy and Wickham, despite being used to being correct on matters of first impressions. |
| 180 | * InnocentlyInsensitive: When Colonel Fitzwilliam bemoans that, as the second son of an earl, he 'must be inured to self-denial and dependance', Elizabeth wryly points out that he's likely never had to worry about being denied anything or going anywhere, and when he makes a rejoinder about having to marry someone with money, Elizabeth retorts that he must have a fairly high but not exorbitant asking price for his wife's dowry. |
| 181 | * InterClassRomance: Lady Catherine throws a hissy fit over someone Mr. Darcy supposedly marrying beneath him by choosing Elizabeth. However, as Elizabeth points out, "He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter. Thus far, we are equal". This is absolutely true: Mr Bennet is a landowner, an esquire, just like Darcy (he just owns less, or less profitable land); they are of exactly the same social class. The difference as Lady Catherine sees it is that while Elizabeth's father married beneath him (Mrs Bennet's family were ''not'' gentlemen), Darcy's father married above him (Lady Anne was part of the aristocracy). Thus, while they may be of the same class in this generation, their relations are in vastly different classes. |
| 182 | * InTheBlood: While explaining what a good man Wickham Senior was in contrast to his son, Darcy briefly mentions that Wickham's mother was an irresponsible spender and of less than sterling moral character. |
| 183 | * {{Irony}}: |
| 184 | ** Darcy breaks up Jane and Bingley because he (mistakenly) thought Jane didn't have any genuine feelings for his friend. He then goes to propose to Elizabeth because he (again mistakenly) thought she understood that he was courting her and was receptive to his attentions. |
| 185 | ** Caroline Bingley is a ClingyJealousGirl who fawns over Darcy and gets mad that Elizabeth got his attention over her. The thing is, even if Elizabeth wasn't in the picture, Darcy would likely enter into marriage-for-status with Anne DeBourgh, Lady Catherine's niece, meaning Caroline had no chance in hell either way the situation with Elizabeth went. |
| 186 | * JerkassHasAPoint: |
| 187 | ** Mrs Bennet is right to be concerned about the girls marrying well, as their estate is going to Mr Collins once Mr Bennet dies, and if they don't marry, they really ''will'' be on the street. [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents It's the way she goes about it that's the problem]]. |
| 188 | ** While Darcy was rude and condescending in his initial proposal towards Elizabeth, and while it was cruel of him to convince Bingley to give up on Jane, he has a valid point - with which Elizabeth begrudgingly agrees - that the Bennet mother and younger sisters often behave ''completely'' inappropriately in public, while Mr Bennet does little or nothing to rein them in. What respectable Regency bachelor, who's only one generation away from trade himself in Bingley's case, and comes from an important and well established family in Darcy's, would want such embarrassing in-laws? |
| 189 | *** She is also forced to concede that Jane's shyness and reserve can be easily mistaken for aloofness, and that those who don't know her well (such as Darcy) might find it easy to convince themselves that she doesn't have genuine feelings for Bingley. It's also a turning point in hindsight, because it makes Elizabeth realize that [[{{Hypocrite}} her opinion towards Jane and problem with Darcy is the same problem that Darcy has with his feelings regarding Bingley and the Bennets]]. |
| 190 | *** While the novel (and Elizabeth) concede he has a point, however, both also make it clear that making this point during what was supposedly ''a passionate declaration of love and a marriage proposal'' was, at the very least, rather tactless. |
| 191 | ** Bingley's sisters have some justification, other than pure snobbery, in not wanting him to settle for a poorer gentleman's daughter with 'low connections' - the Bingley family are nouveau riche, and the sisters feel the urgency to marry well and secure their status just as much as the Bennet sisters do. |
| 192 | ** While it's rather lost in the midst of Lady Catherine being an utter snob, she does have a point that the younger Bennet sisters are rather ''too'' young to be 'out' in society, and that they've suffered from not having a governess or being taught any accomplishments. Mr Bennet could easily have afforded a governess, but he and Mrs Bennet have somewhat neglected the education of their daughters; the freedom they've been given at such a young age has left them running wild and thus failing to learn restraint or decorum, and with little money and few skills they only have their good looks and exuberance to recommend them to any suitors. |
| 193 | * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: |
| 194 | ** Darcy, initially. {{Lampshaded}} by Elizabeth, who complains, in comparing Darcy and Wickham, that one has all the goodness while the other has all the ''appearance'' of it. May be the UrExample in the romance genre. |
| 195 | ** Mary and Kitty, to some extent, with Mary as more "heart of gold" and Kitty as more "jerk" (until Lydia runs off with Wickham, leaving Kitty to better influences). |
| 196 | ** Mr Collins, kind of; while defending her decision to marry him to Elizabeth, Charlotte points out that while he might be odious and insufferable, he's not malicious and will treat her well. When we see the two in married life, while Charlotte clearly considers having as little contact with her husband as possible to be an essential part of a happy marriage, he is at least attentive and decent towards her, and his affection for her seems to be genuine. |
| 197 | * KarmaHoudini: |
| 198 | ** Wickham -- Austen's HappilyEverAfter endings always seem to be tempered by at least one of these, if you consider being married to [[TheDitz Lydia]] instead of the heiress he was hoping for and being all but exiled to northern England as getting away scot-free. Wickham also has to put up with the fact that Darcy is now his ''brother-in-law'', so he can count on some very awkward family get-togethers... |
| 199 | ** Lydia also, at first, appears to count as one of these. She gets away with a lot of bad behaviour, including her elopement with Wickham, scot-free, and doesn't even realise that she's done anything wrong at all. There is, however, a slight subversion at the end, as actually ''being'' Lydia, and living with Wickham, with nothing in her head but a list of fashion items, is probably a punishment in itself. The fact that she is exiled far away enough that Jane and Elizabeth don't have to see much of her is such a victory for them that the fact that she doesn't get her comeuppance matters surprisingly little. It could be that Lydia is a lot like Peg Bundy and [[Series/MarriedWithChildren the Bundy Curse]]; she's actually ''part'' of Wickham's punishment, therefore it's not all that important if she herself gets punished. Additionally, Lydia and Wickham pretty much lose all affection for each other fairly quickly, so they're ''both'' stuck in a loveless marriage where neither of them can like or respect each other, and with a family on her side who barely tolerate them. |
| 200 | * KissingCousins: |
| 201 | ** Lady Catherine's plans for Mr Darcy and her daughter. |
| 202 | ** Mr Collins' plan to make a charitable gesture to the Bennets involves his marrying one of the Bennet sisters, though the exact relationship between them is unclear; the term "cousin", in the 18th century and earlier, was liberally applied to all manner of relatives, so the only thing certain is that he is a male-line relative of Mr Bennet. (Considering the nature of the entail, which means that after Mr Bennet's death he will inherit their home and pretty nearly everything they own, this actually ''is'' a fairly generous gesture. Unfortunately, he makes it an intolerable one by being, as described elsewhere on this page, an insufferable plank.) |
| 203 | * KnowNothingKnowItAll: Mary. |
| 204 | ** Lady Catherine as well. Among other things she loudly proclaims her excellent taste in music and lectures the others on the proper way to play well...despite never having learned to play herself. |
| 205 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Caroline Bingley, upon hearing of Darcy and Elizabeth's engagement, is mortified, but keeps her mouth shut and is "fonder than ever of Georgiana," in the hopes of not losing the privilege of visiting Pemberley. |
| 206 | * LastGirlWins: Not in order of naming, but in order of prior history. Mr Darcy has at least some history with Caroline Bingley and Anne de Bourgh prior to his coming to Netherfield, but it's Elizabeth - the last of the three he meets - he eventually marries. |
| 207 | * LastNameBasis: |
| 208 | ** Darcy's Christian name is mentioned twice in the book, and it's ''Fitzwilliam''. (Fitzwilliam is his mother's maiden name. At the time, it was very common for eldest sons to be given their mother's maiden name as a first name, especially if their mother was a woman of some prominence - which Lady Anne was.) Even his ''aunt'' calls him "Darcy", though in her case this may be a matter of practicality; since her other nephews (the Colonel and his older brother) have Fitzwilliam for a last name, it could easily be confusing if she used Darcy's first name when speaking of or to him. |
| 209 | ** We also never learn the first names of Mr and Mrs Bennet, Lady Lucas, Mr Hurst, or Mrs Gardiner (though from her letter to Elizabeth we know her first initial is M). They are all referred by their last name (although Mr. Gardiner refers to Mrs. Gardiner as "Fanny" once in the 1995 miniseries). |
| 210 | * LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone: |
| 211 | ** Mrs Bennet very unsubtly arranges for Jane and Mr Bingley to have plenty of time alone together. |
| 212 | ** Earlier in the book, she does the same thing to allow Mr Collins to propose to Elizabeth, to Lizzy's dismay. |
| 213 | ** Mr Bingley does the same for Elizabeth and Darcy, only a little more subtly, near the end of the novel. |
| 214 | * LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: Downplayed, but once everything's been cleared up neither Elizabeth nor Darcy is eager to be reminded of the things they said during and immediately after his failed proposal. Darcy actually asks Elizabeth to burn his letter if she still has it, because he's ashamed of the frame of mind he was in when he wrote it and fears that re-reading it might be enough to put a pall over her feelings for him. |
| 215 | * LicensedGame: It's the primary one of the three Austen novels that gets mashed up in the PC game ''VideoGame/MatchesAndMatrimony''. |
| 216 | ** There's also a card game: ''TabletopGame/MarryingMrDarcy''. |
| 217 | * LiteraryAllusionTitle: From the novel ''Cecilia'' by Frances Burney. |
| 218 | * LonersAreFreaks: Mary Bennet. Note that the ending implies that her preference for books is her way of coping with the lack of other social options; when she has to be her mother's companion and socialise more, her father suspects she's not that unhappy about it. |
| 219 | * LookingBusy: |
| 220 | ** Lizzy doesn't want to play cards with the Netherfield party, so she declines their offer to join them. She says she'll amuse herself for the short time she can stay in the parlour with a book. However, their conversation turns out to be too interesting, so Elizabeth soon ditches the book and starts observing their game. |
| 221 | ** When Mrs Hurst is bored during one evening as others except her husband don't want to play cards, she plays with her bracelets and rings. |
| 222 | ** Miss Bingley takes a book to read during one evening to ape Mr Darcy (who really wants to read) in order to impress him with her "accomplished" and cultured mind. |
| 223 | ---> Miss Bingley's attention was quite as much engaged in watching Mr Darcy's progress through his book, as in reading her own; and she was perpetually either making some inquiry, or looking at his page. |
| 224 | ** Mr Collins joins Mr Bennet in the library and pretends to be reading, but he's just bored and he keeps distracting Mr Bennet who genuinely wants to read and wishes to be left alone. |
| 225 | ---> Mr Collins was to attend them [to Meryton], at the request of Mr Bennet, who was most anxious to get rid of him, and have his library to himself; for thither Mr Collins had followed him after breakfast, and there he would continue, nominally engaged with one of the largest folios in the collection, but really talking to Mr Bennet, with little cessation, of his house and garden at Hunsford. Such doings discomposed Mr Bennet exceedingly. In his library he had been always sure of leisure and tranquillity. |
| 226 | ** After Mr Darcy has asked Mr Bennet for his permission to marry Elizabeth, he approaches a table where Lizzy sits and pretends to admire her needlework. He whispers to her she's wanted by her father in the library. |
| 227 | * LoveDodecahedron: Charlotte marries Mr Collins, who proposed to Elizabeth, who is also being pursued by Darcy and Wickham, who also goes after Mary King and then Lydia, and Caroline is after Darcy, whom Lady Catherine ships with her daughter. At the same time, Mr Collins briefly pursues Jane until he learns she's going to marry Mr Bingley, so he then proposes to Elizabeth but finally ends up with Charlotte Lucas, whom Lady Lucas wanted to marry Mr Bingley... |
| 228 | * LoveEpiphany: After struggling with her feelings for several months, Elizabeth has a ''very uncomfortable'' epiphany after Lydia running off with Mr Wickham leaves her convinced that Mr Darcy could not possibly ever want to marry her now: |
| 229 | -->"It was [...] exactly calculated to make her understand her own wishes; and never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved him, as now, when all love must be vain." |
| 230 | * LovingDetails: Elizabeth takes some encouragement from how easily Mr Bingley names the exact date and how long it's been since he last saw her (and by extension Jane), since it suggests that Jane remains on his mind. |
| 231 | * MaliciousSlander: Wickham accuses Darcy of denying him a valuable living out of petty spite; this is SeriousBusiness for the times. |
| 232 | * MarriageBeforeRomance: Charlotte recommends this for Jane, stressing to Elizabeth that she should encourage Bingley's attentions and get a proposal from him as soon as possible when he's most interested, even if she isn't yet sure that she loves him; they're both so amiable that love will surely flourish after their marriage. |
| 233 | * MarryForLove: Zig-zagged in the novel. Jane and Elizabeth both express a longing to marry for mutual affection but they also have to think about financial security and social status. Charlotte knows she's getting older and is not pretty to attract a man, so she marries purely to be secured. Lydia elopes because she's heard her mother going on about how nobody is marrying her daughters, and thinks it's hilarious for the sixteen-year-old youngest child to be married before all her older sisters. |
| 234 | * TheMatchmaker: Mrs Bennet tries to be this. |
| 235 | * MeaningfulLook: Mr Darcy frequently stares at Elizabeth. What could that mean? Elizabeth thinks he finds something improper about her. Charlotte thinks he might like her, or that he's absent-minded. [[spoiler: Nah, these are {{Longing Look}}s of true love]]. |
| 236 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 237 | ** Darcy ('dark'). |
| 238 | ** Wickham the wicked one. |
| 239 | * MiddleChildSyndrome: Poor Mary and Kitty. Especially Mary, the true middle child, who is overshadowed by her much prettier sisters. Must be hard to be the only one plain. She copes by trying to show off her intellect and accomplishments at every chance. |
| 240 | * MoneyDumb: Drives much of the story, even beyond the ending of the novel: |
| 241 | ** Mr. Bennet is actually very good at living within his means and lacks for debts while still living a comfortable lifestyle. Unfortunately, he has never put serious effort into saving money for his daughters' dowries, which undermines their efforts to find husbands as most men want wives with at least ''some'' money. |
| 242 | ** Mrs. Bennet is very good at imagining the numbers for the incomes of wealthy men. But when it comes to an average one, such as Wickham, she seems to have no grasp of how one lives when one does not have a fortune. No sooner has Lydia been married then Mrs. Bennet is thinking about which of the houses in the neighbourhood will be suitably impressive for her beloved daughter. Even though she has no idea what Wickham can afford. |
| 243 | ** Wickham is forever mired in gambling debts and has consistently rejected various lucrative livings offered to him. He blames Mr. Darcy for this, rather than himself. |
| 244 | ** Lydia did not even consider money when pursuing her goal of marriage. This proves to be unfortunate as she is accustomed to the lifestyle of a gentleman's daughter, and even then she often exceeded her spending money. Once married, she and Wickham are forever in search of a cheaper living situation and tend to stay with the Bingley's (together) or the Darcy's (Lydia alone) because they cannot afford respectable lodgings or servants. Lydia is quite open about asking Elizabeth to persuade Mr. Darcy to pay her and Wickham an allowance. |
| 245 | * MrsHypothetical: Lydia Bennet sends a letter to her friend when she elopes with Wickham, rejoicing over how the next time she writes, she will sign her name "Lydia Wickham". |
| 246 | * MutuallyUnequalRelation: Darcy thinks that Elizabeth likes and is interested in him; he interprets their arguments as friendly debates. He is also extremely attracted to her. Elizabeth, for her part, thinks that Darcy a) is a jerk, who b) only looks at her to find fault, and c) loves to correct and contradict her to prove he's better than she is. Imagine her surprise when he proposes! Imagine ''his'' when she not only forcefully rejects him, but also serves up a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech! |
| 247 | * MutualPining: |
| 248 | ** Even after the incident with Lydia is resolved, Elizabeth still isn't ''quite'' sure if Darcy has forgiven her for rejecting him and continues to assume that he's not that interested in her, leaving Darcy likewise unsure if she still hates him or not. It's not until Lady Catherine accidentally gives Darcy a sign that Elizabeth wouldn't ''not'' marry him that he finally suspects he has a chance again and gives Elizabeth the second LoveConfession. |
| 249 | ** When Bingley seemingly spurns Jane, Jane copes by claiming she's absolutely ''not'' bothered by this and that she's already moved on, something Elizabeth easily sees right through, all while Bingley later just so ''happens'' to ask Elizabeth about how her sister is doing when he sees her. |
| 250 | * MyFriendsAndZoidberg: After Elizabeth's firm (and repeated) rejection of his proposals, Mr Collins wishes all of his cousins well, "not excepting my cousin Elizabeth". It's the first of many insults he aims in her direction thereafter. Of course, because he's such an insufferable plank (and not least because of the whole ''repeated'' rejection thing), Lizzy has little difficulty shrugging them off. |
| 251 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: |
| 252 | ** Lizzie collapses into a tearful breakdown when she realizes that, had she simply told everyone what kind of person Mr. Wickham was, the whole dilemma with Lydia could have been avoided. |
| 253 | ** Mr. Darcy has the same thoughts, realizing that his pride had prevented him revealing the full truth and, by his silence, he allowed the chain of events that ended in Lydia's elopement. |
| 254 | * NiceGuy: |
| 255 | ** Mr Bingley. |
| 256 | ** Jane Bennet is a female example. |
| 257 | ** Colonel Fitzwilliam is nothing but friendly and cool. |
| 258 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: Lady Catherine hears an incorrect rumor that Darcy and Elizabeth are engaged, and immediately goes rushing to Longbourn to warn off Elizabeth, who coldly brushes her aside and says, in effect, she'll marry whoever she damn well pleases and Lady Catherine doesn't get a vote in the matter. Lady Catherine then fills Darcy's ear with the whole matter, complaining of her poor treatment by a (supposed) inferior. Meanwhile, Elizabeth has just learned that Lady Catherine finds a rumor of her being engaged to Darcy to be plausible, meaning that Darcy still has feelings for her, and Darcy has just learned that Elizabeth refused to rule out marrying him despite the fact that "I will never marry Darcy" would have been easier and sent Lady Catherine away happy, thus, Elizabeth has feelings for ''him''. If it weren't for Lady Catherine's concerted effort to prevent Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth from marrying, each of them might have gone on indefinitely convinced that there was no chance of the other returning their feelings. |
| 259 | -->"Lady Catherine has been of infinite use, which ought to make her happy, for she loves to be of use." |
| 260 | * NiceMeanAndInBetween: This trope applies to the three more plot-relevant Bennett sisters, who also happen to be the only three to get married during the story. Jane (nice) is incredibly sweet-natured and always wants to see the best in others, Lydia (mean) is a careless brat who almost ruins her family without a qualm, and the heroine Elizabeth (in-between) is well-intentioned but not so idealistic as Jane and prone to jump to conclusions (setting the scene for her CharacterDevelopment). Their corresponding husbands likewise fit the trope: NiceGuy Mr Bingley (nice), BitchInSheepsClothing Mr Wickham (mean), and JerkWithAHeartOfGold Mr Darcy (in-between). |
| 261 | * NiceToTheWaiter: One of the solid clues we get that Darcy is actually a decent man is that, when asked about him, his servants sing his praises. It seems while he has no qualms about being rude to those he considers a cut beneath him, ''noblesse oblige'' requires him to be courteous and considerate to those who are very much his social inferiors and dependent on him. He also appears to be well-liked by his tenants and the nearby working folk of Lambton, the village near Pemberley, further suggesting that Darcy's more snobbish tendencies are exacerbated when he's in unfamiliar company. |
| 262 | ** One of the earliest clues to this comes in Wickham's speech [[HeroWithBadPublicity trying to ruin Darcy's reputation]]: Wickham admits to Elizabeth that Darcy's pride has led him "to be liberal and generous, to give his money freely, to display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor." Apparently Darcy's generosity is so well known that even Wickham doesn't think he can get away with denying it. |
| 263 | * NoAccountingForTaste: |
| 264 | ** Mr and Mrs Bennet. The author and the characters acknowledge how unfit these two are for one another, so they serve as a warning to marry wisely. The narrator notes that a young Mr Bennet mistook youth and beauty for a winning personality. Also Mrs Bennet married for security and Mr Bennet not only can't provide it (as his estate is entailed and must be passed in the male line, and the marriage produced five daughters), he also actively sabotages her attempts to warn her daughters that they face a choice between financial security and marriage or being poor but independent. The best thing the novel has to say about their marriage is that when Mr Bennet realized exactly what was in store for him, he took a 'philosophical' approach to the whole thing; rather than indulge in unpleasant vices or treat his wife cruelly, he consoled himself with books and quiet country living. |
| 265 | ** Elizabeth is horrified when her best friend Charlotte Lucas decides to marry the insufferable Mr. Collins in cold blood for the sake of a home and a secure future. Charlotte's choice is clearly shown as "[[OldMaid I'm 27]], I don't have any money, [[PlainJane and I'm not beautiful]], so I have to take who I can get". When we see her again after her marriage, however, she is coping very nicely with her spouse, having carefully arranged their lives so they spend as little time together as possible. Unlike the Bennets, the Collinses are quite happily content in their loveless marriage, mostly thanks to the fact that Charlotte knew exactly what she was getting into and managed to plan accordingly, and Collins is too much of an idiot to know better. |
| 266 | * NoHuggingNoKissing: Though they sure are "making love" a lot, [[HaveAGayOldTime the meaning was slightly different back then...]]. |
| 267 | * NotSoAboveItAll: In one scene, Lydia makes a rather nasty remark about Mary King and how no one could possible care about such a plain, ugly girl. Elizabeth realizes that while she would never ''say'' such a thing, she had had pretty much the same thought. It's an uncomfortable moment for Elizabeth when she realizes that she and Lydia aren't as different as Elizabeth likes to think they are. |
| 268 | * TheNounAndTheNoun |
| 269 | * NouveauRiche: The Bingley's are in fact this, despite (or as the cause of) the Bingley sisters' excessive snobbery. While their brother has a large fortune and both daughters received ample dowries, the money for this came from ''trade'' and they are ''not'' a part of the landed gentry. Under the rules of Society at the time, this in fact makes them slightly ''lower'' in rank than the Bennets, who come from generations of the gentry. But the Bingley women cover for it by acting of much higher rank than they are, aided by Mr. Bingley's close friendship with Mr. Darcy, who was born into the upper class and is the grandson of an earl. Thus Caroline Bingley dearly wants to marry him, and the sisters would like Mr. Bingley to marry Georgiana Darcy in turn; that, and finally purchasing (rather than renting) an estate would move them firmly into the upper class that they aspire to. |
| 270 | * NoWomansLand: The Bennet girls cannot inherent their father's property, as it is entailed to the male line, and it is made very clear that if the Bennet girls do not marry well then their futures will be fairly dim. We tend to romanticise the era, but make no mistake, it sucked being a woman during the Regency period. As noted above, part of Mr Collins' "generous" plan regarding the Bennets is that, as the father's closest remaining male relative, he will be the one to inherit their family property eventually, and marrying one of the Bennet daughters would allow the money to keep supporting the family. So as noted elsewhere, it really ''is'' a fairly generous plan; unfortunately, he's so obnoxious that the prospect is unbearable for his chosen object. |
| 271 | ** It is generous, but he probably thought any of the five sisters would be grateful for his offer and say yes, so at the same time he had selfish motives. The narrative does note that he only intended to make an offer of marriage if the daughters turned out to be as pretty and amiable as their reputations suggested. Of course, he might also have genuinely felt badly about doing the Bennet women out of their home; the two motivations are not mutually exclusive. |
| 272 | * ObliviousToLove: Elizabeth initially has no idea that Darcy is interested in her (although to be fair, he's not exactly [[CannotSpitItOut that good at expressing it]]) and she continually mistakes his interest in her as disapproval. |
| 273 | * OddFriendship: Darcy and Bingley. The former is unforgiving of those who leave a bad first impression but is secretly reserved yet loyal and kind to those close to him, even servants; the later is jovial and makes fast friends with just about everyone, but also has a tendency to speak a little faster than he thinks. Their friendship is so close that one will often travel with the other just so their company won't be parted for too long. |
| 274 | * OldMaid: |
| 275 | ** The looming threat of Jane's and Elizabeth's future. At the start Jane is almost twenty-two and Elizabeth is twenty, so they still have time to find a husband, but their mother is constantly worried and keeps reminding them that they should be working on it. Lydia, who is fifteen and the youngest, says she would be ashamed not to be married at their age. |
| 276 | ** Charlotte Lucas is twenty-seven and considered an Old Maid. Everyone in her family is beyond happy when she gets engaged out of the blue with Mr Collins, especially her sisters, who are thrilled because now ''they'' can make their debuts in society and start finding husbands for themselves. Charlotte knows he's stupid and obnoxious, but he will give her a respectable, comfortable position in society. And it's not like she hasn't had a lot of experience living with stupid and obnoxious at home. |
| 277 | * OneSteveLimit: Averted like nobody's business. |
| 278 | ** William Collins, Sir William Lucas |
| 279 | ** Charles Bingley, Charlotte Lucas |
| 280 | ** George Wickham, Georgiana Darcy |
| 281 | ** Catherine De Bourgh, Catherine Bennet |
| 282 | ** Fitzwilliam Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam |
| 283 | ** Mary Bennet, Maria Lucas, Mary King |
| 284 | * OnlySaneMan: |
| 285 | ** Compared to their sisters, mother, father (to a lesser extent) and many of the other characters in the novel, both Elizabeth and Jane came across as calm, sensible and thoroughly down-to-earth young women with their heads firmly screwed on their shoulders. This does not, mean, however, that they're without their own respective issues; Elizabeth is inclined to be a bit blinded by her own cynical certainty that expecting the worst of people is the best way to approach things, while Jane is shy, good-natured, and inclined to think the best of others almost to a fault. |
| 286 | ** The Gardiners. Despite their lower-class background relative to the rest of the cast (Mr. Gardiner is - gasp! - a tradesman who actually ''works for his money!'') they're easily the most well-mannered and sensible characters in the book. Elizabeth is quite relieved to introduce them to Darcy as proof that at least ''some'' of her family can behave themselves. It's implied that, after they're married, Elizabeth and Darcy end up spending more time with them than Elizabeth's parents even after Mr Bennet has changed for the better, as Elizabeth is ''still'' irritated by her mother's histrionics and prefers their company anyway. The novel's closing paragraph observes that Darcy loves the Gardiners even as much as Elizabeth herself does. |
| 287 | ** How much better are the Gardiners compared to the Bennet adults? Darcy first finds Mr Bennet repulsive for being too snarky to his own family, while Mr Gardiner talks to Darcy for ''ten minutes'' and gets free reign to go fishing on his estate grounds. Mr Bennet is so bad Darcy can't stand the thought of being near his home, but Mr Gardiner is sensible enough that he willingly opens his own door to him. |
| 288 | * OppositesAttract: Darcy and Bingley again. |
| 289 | * OutOfCharacterIsSeriousBusiness: In the BBC adaptation, Bingley's love for Jane is emphasized by his actually ''getting angry'' with Darcy when he learns he tried to break them up. |
| 290 | ** Mr. Bennet's anger at [[spoiler: Lydia's elopement]] is emphasized by his personally storming off to London to search for her himself, when he usually doesn't do anything more energetic than making wry comments. His anger is enough that, while typically snarky with Elizabeth, he immediately launches himself into a ''rant'' when Kitty expresses her own desire to go to Brighton [[spoiler:(where Lydia ran into and decided to elope with Wickham)]]. |
| 291 | ** Played with in terms of Lady Catherine's visit to Longbourn. She's the only character to make Mrs. Bennet quit prattling on for any length of time. But the fact that Lizzy ''doesn't'' break character and gives lip to Lady Catherine is what convinces Darcy he may still have a chance with her yet. |
| 292 | * ParentalFavoritism: Witty, observant Lizzy is her father's favourite; vapid, outgoing Lydia is her mother's. This provides quite an insight into their respective characters. Both parents like Jane second-best, Mrs. Bennet because she's the family beauty and Mr. Bennet because she's the only other one with any sense or understanding at all, while they both tend to ignore Mary for being unhelpfully pretentious and Kitty for being a less-interesting version of Lydia. Likewise, Lizzy is the [[TheUnfavorite "least dear to [Mrs Bennet] of all her children"]], and while Mr Bennet is derogatory of his younger daughters in general, he's most so with Lydia. |
| 293 | * ParentsAsPeople |
| 294 | ** Mrs Bennet is unambiguously a shallow airhead who loads her daughters down with bad advice, but when Lizzy tries to call her out on her single-minded matchmaking, she delivers a ''riposte'' that reveals her very real fear that she and her daughters will be utterly destitute if they do not marry well. |
| 295 | ** Mr Bennet copes with his ill-matched marriage by finding refuge in his books and [[DeadpanSnarker sarcasm]]. He is indifferent to the fact that this exposes his wife to the ridicule of their children, and their family to the ridicule of the world. By the end of the novel, though, [[CharacterDevelopment he accepts responsibility for his daughter's mistakes]] and furthermore, takes measures to instill some sense in his two unmarried daughters. |
| 296 | * PassiveAggressiveKombat: Expected in polite society. Parodied [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTchxR4suto here]] |
| 297 | * PlainJane: Mary is the plain sister in the Bennet family. Elizabeth's friend Charlotte also describes herself as such. It's PlayedForDrama in her case as Elizabeth is disgusted at her accepting Collins's marriage proposal just to secure her own comfort. The trope isn't played literally as the one character called Jane is actually the prettiest sister. |
| 298 | * PlatonicCoParenting: Miss Darcy's father died five years before the start of the story, leaving her an orphan. Mr. Darcy (her older brother) and Colonel Fitzwilliam (her cousin) are her legal guardians. |
| 299 | * PlatonicLifePartners: Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam develop this relationship. They have great ''friendly'' chemistry during their time in Kent (which most likely continues after Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy), and possibly some mutual attraction as well; but Colonel Fitzwilliam makes it clear (in a subtle fashion) that, as a younger son of a nobleman, he cannot marry whom he chooses, and so they remain friends. |
| 300 | * PlayingHardToGet: How Mr Collins interprets Elizabeth's rejection of his proposal. |
| 301 | * PlayingSick: Mrs Bennet and her "poor nerves". Kitty is also not of robust health, and one has to wonder whether any of it is an affectation in order to gain attention that she otherwise wouldn't receive. |
| 302 | * PoorCommunicationKills: |
| 303 | ** While Elizabeth and Jane are made aware of Wickham's true personality, they choose not to tell anyone else partly because Mr. Darcy trusted Elizabeth to keep it secret. If they'd told the rest of their family, Lydia's elopement with Wickham could have been avoided. In their defence, they do note that it is not really their place to start broadcasting the dirty laundry of the Darcy family around town without permission, and also taking into consideration their mother is one of the largest town gossips after Mrs Lucas. This, however, leads to... |
| 304 | ** [[spoiler:Darcy starts getting irritated at himself after having heard of Lydia's elopement with Wickham. He starts thinking that, instead of keeping the whole affair to himself, he should have at least informed the people of Meryton - near which the Bennets live - so that they wouldn't be deceived by Wickham's charming nature. At the same time, it's hard to blame him for not wanting his sister's reputation to be tarnished by her near-elopement.]] |
| 305 | * PreApprovedSermon: Lady Catherine to Mr Collins. |
| 306 | * ProfessionalButtKisser: Mr Collins is so devoted to sucking up to Lady Catherine that he shamelessly grovels over her when she's not even present. Lady Catherine, for her part, ''expects'' it from anyone she meets. |
| 307 | * ThePromise: Elizabeth refuses one to Lady Catherine. |
| 308 | * PromotionToParent: Mr Darcy and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam for Darcy's little sister Georgiana. |
| 309 | * ProperLady : Jane Bennet |
| 310 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Lizzy's reaction to Darcy's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove. |
| 311 | * RefugeInAudacity: Lydia sees absolutely no reason why anyone should be upset after she ran away from Brighton with Wickham, and was living with him, unmarried, in London for weeks (which was something almost unthinkable in Jane Austen's time). Yet she not only sees no problem with it, she ''boasts'' about it, thinks she's done something praiseworthy, demands such praise from her sisters, and can't understand why her elder sisters and father are a ''little'' cold to her. It gets so bad that Elizabeth actually has to leave the room when Lydia's talking at one point because she's physically sickened by her. |
| 312 | * RejectedMarriageProposal: Elizabeth rejects two proposals from two different men. |
| 313 | ** One of the most famous scenes in the novel involves this. Mr Darcy's proposal to Lizzy is soundly rejected and comes with a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to boot; she tells him she despises him for being so arrogant and callous, treating Mr Wickham so poorly, and ruining her sister Jane's chances of marrying his friend, Mr Bingley, making him "the last man in the world whom [she] could ever be prevailed upon to marry." It doesn't help that Darcy's proposal came off as rather insulting, insinuating he was willing to put up with Lizzy's lack of prospects and 'trashy' family out of love for her. Subsequently, Lizzy discovers that Darcy isn't actually as bad as she first believed and she eventually falls in love with him, but thinks there's no way she'll be getting a second proposal after her scathing rejection. [[spoiler: Luckily, she's wrong]]. |
| 314 | ** Lizzy rejects the proposal of Mr Collins, who's a pompous twerp and only asks her because Jane is ostensibly [[SettleForSibling unavailable]]. He thinks she's just being modest and so proposes again (which is admittedly normal for the time period). She rejects him until he finally gets the message that she's genuinely uninterested. Her mother is displeased because marrying Mr Collins would've secured her financially, while her father just wants her to be happy. [[spoiler: Mr Collins doesn't take it too badly, as he marries Lizzy's friend Charlotte not long after]]. |
| 315 | * RejectionAffection: Played straight but then quickly averted. While Mr Collins initially takes Elizabeth's first rejection as encouragement to continue courting her, he soon finds out that she is serious. But his initial interpretation of her rejection as a positive step in their relationship reflects on his views of women in their culture. |
| 316 | * RevengeByProxy: Discussed by Mr. Darcy in his letter to Elizabeth about Wickham trying to seduce his sister. |
| 317 | -->"Mr. Wickham's chief object was unquestionably my sister's fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds; but I cannot help supposing that the hope of revenging himself on me, was a strong inducement. His revenge would have been complete indeed." |
| 318 | * ReverseRelationshipReveal: The reader spends most of the book thinking Mr Wickham is a decent young man screwed out of marriage and a fortune by a petty Mr Darcy. In fact, Wickham is a spendthrift who tried to run off with Darcy's sister. Darcy is blameless and only tried to protect her. |
| 319 | * RichBitch: Bingley's sisters are constantly snide, condescending and haughty, Caroline especially. It's implied that they're a bit ''NouveauRiche'' and are making up for their recent good fortune with excessive snobbery. |
| 320 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After several increasingly emphatic attempts to convince Mr Collins that she is ''not'' going to marry him, Elizabeth resorts to just getting up and walking out of the room. It still takes him a while to get it. |
| 321 | ** Mr. Collins himself does this at the very end of the book, deciding that he and his wife would be better off in a different county until Lady Catherine gets over her fury regarding [[spoiler: Darcy's marriage to Elizabeth.]] |
| 322 | * SecretMessageWink: Mrs. Bennet wants Kitty and Lizzy to leave the room with her so Mr. Bingley can propose to Jane, so she winks at them. Lizzy, who knows what she's up to, just looks the other way, but Kitty innocently asks her mother why she is winking at them. |
| 323 | * SelfMadeMan: Mr Gardiner. |
| 324 | * SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: |
| 325 | ** Mr Collins sounds always pompous. |
| 326 | ** Bingley accuses Darcy of it, saying "he studies far too much for words of four syllables" when writing his letters. It seems likely from the context that he's just teasing Darcy, though. |
| 327 | * SettleForSibling: Attempted by Mr Collins, but Elizabeth firmly refuses to have any of it. |
| 328 | * ShotgunWedding: Lydia and Wickham. |
| 329 | * ShipperOnDeck: |
| 330 | ** Caroline Bingley tries to ship her brother with Georgiana Darcy, mostly [[ShipperWithAnAgenda in order to help her own pursuit of Mr Darcy]]. |
| 331 | ** Charlotte ships Elizabeth/Darcy almost from the beginning. She encourages Lizzy to dance with Darcy when he asked her, warning her against snubbing him in favor of Wickham, and thinks he might really like her when they all meet again at Hunsford and Rosings. Charlotte is notably the only person in the whole novel who correctly guesses at Darcy's interest in Elizabeth prior to the visit to Pemberley, while everyone else is put off by the bad first impression he made on the Hertfordshire community at large and Lizzy in particular. |
| 332 | ** Lady Catherine makes a comically unsuccessful attempt to ship her daughter with Darcy. She claims that Darcy's mother also wanted the two to marry when they grew up, but since Mrs Darcy is long deceased by the time of the novel, we have only Lady Catherine's word on this. |
| 333 | ** Once they meet Mr Darcy in Derbyshire, it takes the Gardiners very little time to conclude that he's deeply in love with Elizabeth. Mrs Gardiner in particular drops a number of good-humored hints; in her letter explaining Darcy's involvement in Lydia's marriage to Wickham, she implies that she'd assumed he got involved at Elizabeth's request, and expresses the cheerful hope that Elizabeth will let her visit Pemberley in the future. |
| 334 | ** Pretty much everyone in Meryton wants Bingley to marry Jane Bennet. |
| 335 | ** Near the end, Jane reveals that she and Bingley had discussed the hope that Darcy might marry Elizabeth so that the four of them could all be family, though they didn't consider it all that likely a possibility. |
| 336 | ** It's eventually admitted, in an aside which is quickly glossed over, that Darcy originally had some hopes that Bingley would marry Georgiana. It doesn't seem to have factored very much into his reasons for trying to separate Bingley from Jane, but it's explained to be the reason he never told Bingley about what Wickham did to make Darcy hate him so much. |
| 337 | ** After learning that Jane was unavailable and being rejected by Elizabeth, everyone assumes that Mr. Collins will propose to Mary (the next oldest of the sisters), who seems amenable to the marriage. However, he instead goes and marries Charlotte Lucas. |
| 338 | * ShippingTorpedo: |
| 339 | ** Despite everyone thinking that Mr. Collins will court Mary (the only Bennet sister who is interested in him) Mr. Collins himself torpedos the ship by proposing to Charlotte Lucas instead. |
| 340 | ** Miss Bingley and Mr Darcy actively break up Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley. She's a snob who ships him with Miss Darcy, while Darcy himself thinks Jane doesn't actually love his friend. |
| 341 | ** Mr Darcy doesn't like that George Wickham flirts with Elizabeth. He's jealous, but he also knows that Wickham is not an honest man. |
| 342 | ** Mrs Gardiner, Elizabeth's aunt, advises against Elizabeth's possible relationship with Wickham because neither of them has independent fortune. |
| 343 | ** Darcy reveals that he found out that his sister nearly eloped with a man but luckily he stopped them. |
| 344 | ** Lady Catherine is furious when she hears rumours that her nephew Mr Darcy is love with Elizabeth Bennet and does her best to break them up. [[spoiler:Ironically, her efforts are what bring them together]]. |
| 345 | * ShrinkingViolet: |
| 346 | ** Georgiana Darcy is even more socially awkward than her brother. She can barely get a couple of words out before she knows you, which can be taken by the uninformed (or twisted by the malicious) to mean that she's stuck-up. It's actually taken as a sign for Elizabeth of Mr Darcy's true nature when she sees Georgiana opening up to her and actually being a rather sweet girl, just shy and soft-spoken, when they dine at Pemberley. |
| 347 | ** Mary Bennet too, preferring books to balls. In her case, however, it's heavily implied that a big part of the reason she'd rather be in a library than a ballroom is because she's continuously reminded that she's not as pretty as her sisters, and gets much less attention from men. The end notes that once the others are married, she improves socially and is less withdrawn. |
| 348 | * SiblingYinYang: The all-loving Jane and cynical Elizabeth Bennet; proud Mr Darcy and timid Georgiana; bookish Mary and irreverent Lydia. |
| 349 | * SignificantNameShift: Darcy doesn't address his lady-love as "Elizabeth" until after she's agreed to marry him. |
| 350 | * SingleSexOffspring: The Bennet family only has daughters, but this is PlayedForDrama since inheritance laws mean Mr. Bennet's estate will pass to his male cousin Mr. Collins, so Mrs. Bennet is eager to set up her daughters into good marriages to secure their futures. |
| 351 | * SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: The moving force of the story. |
| 352 | ** [[GenderInvertedTrope Single Man Seeks Good Woman:]] "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." |
| 353 | * SkewedPriorities: While all the other Bennets lament that Lydia's ShotgunWedding is a bad solution to a worse problem and makes somebody they all hate part of the family, Mrs. Bennet's chief concern is that Lydia should have nice enough wedding-clothes. |
| 354 | * SlapSlapKiss: Mocked via Lizzy in response to Mr Collins. So Miss Austen, at least, thought this trope was already being overused more than 200 years ago. |
| 355 | * SlutShaming: Lydia's fling almost ruins her entire family. Justified both in the sense of the social conventions of the time, and her being simply a terrible person all around and absolutely deserving of the scorn she attracts. |
| 356 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: |
| 357 | ** Colonel Fitzwilliam only shows up for a few chapters in the Kent section of the book, but he's the one who reveals to Elizabeth that Darcy broke up Jane and Bingley; this knowledge, on top of her already existing dislike of Darcy, causes her to completely blow her top when Darcy proposes the following day. |
| 358 | ** Colonel and Harriet Forster, who invite Lydia to Brighton after Harriet strikes up a friendship with Lydia; it results in Lydia eloping with Wickham. |
| 359 | * SmugSnake: Whilst not exactly a villain, Mr Collins is this in almost every other respect. Lady Catherine de Bourgh (especially in the film adaptations) would probably be a more direct match. |
| 360 | * TheSnarkKnight: Lizzy; also the narrator, on occasion. Mr. Bennet as well and it's pretty clear where Lizzy gets it from. |
| 361 | * SpellMyNameWithABlank: Wickham joins the ___shire Regiment, and Colonel Fitzwilliam is the younger son of Earl ____. |
| 362 | * SpiritedYoungLady: Lizzy Bennet. She's intelligent, witty and lively, but dutiful to her parents and loyal to her friends. She knows the rules of society, and is distinguished by her good manners, but she isn't afraid to break rules that strike her as obsolete or to say what she thinks. The TropeCodifier as there are some earlier examples, but none is as influential as Lizzy. |
| 363 | * StatuesqueStunner: Lydia in the book - at least, she considers herself to be tall and attractive. Early in the book, on the prospect of whether or not Bingley will dance with her, Lydia remarks, "Oh, I am not afraid, for though I ''am'' the youngest, I'm the tallest!". [[note]]If you pay careful attention as to who dances with who, Lydia ''never'' gets a personal dance with Bingley. The order of partners is Jane --> Miss King --> Maria Lucas --> Jane again --> Elizabeth, where the Boulanger at the end requires changing of partners multiple times throughout the song. Which, of course, just plays into and adds to Lydia's overestimated vanity.[[/note]] |
| 364 | * StupidGood: From Elizabeth's perspective, Jane Bennet. She would totally defend any poor defenseless hellspawn ([[TakeThat read: Caroline Bingley]]). The trope doesn't mean the character is literally stupid, however. Even Jane realizes what bad eggs Bingley's sisters are when they deign to visit her in London. However, Jane sees it differently. She maintains that up until she saw Caroline in London, she had just as much reason to think that Caroline's friendship was genuine as Elizabeth did to think it wasn't. |
| 365 | * SugaryMalice: Bingley's sisters pretty much live and breathe this trope, but nearly everyone is guilty of it at least once or twice. The only exceptions are Jane and Georgiana (and Anne de Bourgh, mostly because she never speaks). |
| 366 | * SurroundedByIdiots: On occasions when both Elizabeth and Jane are absent from Longbourn, Mr Bennet feels this way while stuck at home with his wife and three youngest daughters -- so much so that when Elizabeth leaves to visit the Collinses, he tells her to write often and "almost promises" to answer. (Since he abhors writing letters, this is a big deal.) As he puts it in the 1995 BBC version: |
| 367 | -->'''Mr Bennet:''' You'll be very much missed, my dear. Until either you or your sister Jane return, I shan't hear two words of sense spoken together. |
| 368 | * TakeThat: Many hilarious jabs that Mr Darcy takes against Caroline whenever she feels like belittling Elizabeth. The best are when Caroline accuses Elizabeth of deliberately walking to Netherfield in order to make a scene and asks Darcy if he would want his sister to make such an exhibition, to which Darcy replies "Certainly not."; and when she hints that perhaps the walk has lessened Darcy's estimation of Elizabeth's "fine eyes", he casually replies, "Not at all, they were brightened by the exercise." Also parodied [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTchxR4suto here]]. |
| 369 | %% * TallDarkAndSnarky: Mr Darcy, by dint of being tall, dark [[DontExplainTheJoke and snarky]]. |
| 370 | * TechnicianVersusPerformer: Mary and Lizzy, when it comes to playing the piano. |
| 371 | * TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Lydia and Wickham at the end for the Bingleys. |
| 372 | ** Not outright stated due to maintaining the illusion of politeness but the Bingley sisters seem to start feeling this way about Jane and Elizabeth,(especially Elizabeth) when Jane gets sick and is forced to stay at Netherfield. |
| 373 | * TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: Subverted by Austen herself (and doubling as {{Foreshadowing}}) as Wickham is NEVER referred to as Mr Wickham, only Wickham... [[spoiler: because he's a [[BitchInSheepsClothing dick]]]]. |
| 374 | * ThreateningToCutTies: After Elizabeth rejects Mr. Collins' marriage proposal, despite the fact that it would [[NoWomansLand guarantee the Bennets could keep their home when Mr. Bennet dies]], Mrs. Bennet is so angry she says she will never speak to Elizabeth again if she does not change her mind. When she tries to get Mr. Bennet to talk Elizabeth into it, he says: |
| 375 | --> ''"An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do ''not'' marry Mr. Collins, [[BaitAndSwitchComment and I will never see you again]] if you ''do''."'' |
| 376 | * TroubledButCute: Darcy is repeatedly referred to as more handsome than he is charming. |
| 377 | * TrueArtIsIncomprehensible: A blink-and-you'll-miss-it example InUniverse. During Elizabeth's tour of Pemberley, she gives up on admiring the professional pieces of art in favour of Georgiana's childhood scribbles, "whose subjects were usually more interesting, and also more intelligible". Austen - TheSnarkKnight - strikes again. |
| 378 | * TwiceShy: While Bingley is renewing his courtship of Jane, Elizabeth and Darcy carefully watch each other for any sign that there's a chance between them... and are both so self-conscious, and so hesitant to make assumptions after being proved catastrophically wrong before, that each of them comes away convinced it's hopeless. Only Lady Catherine's attempt at meddling keeps them from pining away in silence indefinitely. |
| 379 | * UnableToSupportAWife: |
| 380 | ** Wickham with Elizabeth. When he starts paying attentions to an heiress, her aunt objects, and Elizabeth points out that it's unreasonable to criticise him both for wooing a poor woman he can't marry and for wooing a rich woman he can. |
| 381 | ** Wickham with Lydia. To the extent that Lydia's (extremely brief) letter of congratulations on Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy includes an unsubtle hint that it would be nice if Darcy could help Wickham get a position at court, and also perhaps provide an allowance of three to four hundred pounds per year. Elizabeth is not inclined to promote either idea to Darcy, although she does periodically send small sums of money to help the couple out. The Wickhams also spend as much time as possible staying with the Bingleys as they cannot afford respectable lodgings, much less servants, on their own. |
| 382 | ** Inverted in the famous first line: obviously this inability is the only conceivable reason for a man not to marry. |
| 383 | * UnreliableNarrator: PlayedWith: Part of Elizabeth's CharacterDevelopment involves realizing that she is one. Thus Austen encourages Lizzy's biases in the first half of the novel by simply [[SelectiveObliviousness glossing over]] any contrary evidence, and the turning point occurs when Lizzy is forced to confront the other side of the situation. To be fair to her, though, even Darcy admits in his letter that "detection could not be in [her] power". |
| 384 | * UnresolvedSexualTension: Especially in the second half of the book. |
| 385 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Mrs. Forster, having struck up a great friendship with Lydia, invites her to accompany her and her husband to Brighton -- which unfortunately brings Lydia into close and constant contact with Wickham, leading to their 'elopement'. |
| 386 | * UpperClassTwit: Mrs Bennet, although she isn't quite as upper-class as she'd like. |
| 387 | * UptownGirl: Played with. Lady Catherine is aghast that Mr. Darcy, one of the richest men in the area, would stoop to marrying Elizabeth Bennet. But as Elizabeth points out, they're of the same social class (her father is a landed gentleman, like Darcy), just of different economic ones. Mrs. Bennet, however, married up with Mr. Bennet (her family were tradespeople) and the upperclass characters look down on her for her uncouthness. |
| 388 | * VicariousGoldDigger: A downplayed example. Mrs. Bennet would ''greatly'' prefer her daughters to marry well, hence her blatantly shipping Jane with wealthy Mr. Bingley; but the Bennets' situation (in the event of Mr. Bennet's death, the daughters would be left with nothing) is so dire that she would be content with just about any son-in-law. |
| 389 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: Wickham, whose easy manners and charm (combined with Darcy's reticence) allow him to paint himself as the wronged party in his relationship with Darcy. |
| 390 | * WakingNonSequitur: In the BBC version, Mr Hurst wakes up while Darcy and Bingley are discussing the Netherfield assembly and offers this contribution: |
| 391 | -->'''Hurst:''' "What? I agree; damn tedious waste of an evening!" |
| 392 | * WallGlower: Darcy makes a bad first impression on everybody by refusing to dance. |
| 393 | * WastedBeauty: |
| 394 | ** At the Meryton Assembly, the town's residents consider Mr. Darcy the best-looking man in the room, but are soon disgusted by his arrogant, standoffish behavior. Elizabeth in particular is angry that he publicly said she wasn't pretty enough for him to dance with. |
| 395 | ** Mr. Wickham manages to charm everyone in Meryton with his good looks and charisma until he runs off with Lydia, almost [[DefiledForever ruining her reputation]] until he's persuaded to marry her. Mrs. Bennet is the only one who forgives him for this. |
| 396 | * WeddingsForEveryone: Three of the five Bennet sisters are married by the end of the novel, plus Charlotte marrying Mr Collins in the first act. The two main couples of the book have a double wedding, Elizabeth to Darcy and Jane to Mr. Bingley. |
| 397 | %% * WellExcuseMePrincess: Elizabeth. |
| 398 | * WhamLine: "In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." Elizabeth certainly doesn't see it coming. |
| 399 | * WhatBeautifulEyes: Mr Darcy admires Elizabeth's "fine eyes". |
| 400 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Mary and Kitty's long-term fates aren't described in the novel beyond the fact that Kitty often visited Jane and Elizabeth and that Mary thus had to become her mother's chief companion. Austen revealed, to her nieces and nephews, that Mary married her uncle Phillips's clerk and became a star in Meryton society and that Kitty married a clergyman near Pemberley. |
| 401 | * WhatTheHellHero: |
| 402 | ** When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, and is arrogant about it, she doesn't just turn him down. She launches into a blistering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how he is a {{Jerkass}} that cost Jane's happiness, and broke up Jane's relationship with Bingley. Darcy has no defense against this, though he later writes an apology letter to her. The only point that she's wrong on is about Wickham; Darcy explains later his reasons for keeping Wickham away. |
| 403 | ** Later on, Elizabeth gives one to herself for not telling anyone about Wickham's character. It might have kept Lydia from eloping with the man. |
| 404 | * WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The last chapter of the book describes what became of all the characters after Mr Darcy and Elizabeth's marriage. |
| 405 | ** Mrs Bennet remains silly, but luckily Mr Bennet still finds her amusing. However, he misses Elizabeth so much that he actually travels to Pemberley - often without warning her, because he loves to surprise her with his arrival. |
| 406 | ** Mr Bingley and Jane live at Netherfield for a year after their own marriage, but they end up moving because of how taxing it is for them to live so near to their Meryton relations, and in particular to Mrs Bennet; they purchase an estate only thirty miles away from the Darcys' home, much to Jane and Elizabeth's joy. |
| 407 | ** Kitty and Mary both improve in character: the former because she is influenced less by Lydia and more by Jane and Elizabeth, the latter because she is now her mother's ''only'' companion and has to socialize more with people, and she no longer gets compared to her more beautiful sisters. |
| 408 | ** The affections Lydia and Wickham had for each other quickly cools off, and they live by leeching off the Darcys and the Bingleys. |
| 409 | ** Caroline Bingley, while very annoyed at having lost any chance of marrying Darcy, wisely decides to be gracious in defeat so as not to lose the right of visiting Pemberley, is very affectionate towards the Darcy siblings, and even manages to be civil to Elizabeth. |
| 410 | ** Georgiana and Elizabeth develop a great relationship, as Mr Darcy had hoped. |
| 411 | ** Lady Catherine and Darcy go no-contact for a while after her outraged and insulting reply to his letter announcing his engagement to Elizabeth, but eventually Darcy relents and reaches out again, and Elizabeth manages to reconcile him and Lady Catherine enough for her to visit Pemberley from time to time. |
| 412 | ** The Gardiners frequently visit Pemberley, and Darcy loves them just as much as Elizabeth does. |
| 413 | * WideEyedIdealist: Jane. |
| 414 | * WillTheyOrWontThey: Elizabeth and Darcy, and Jane and Bingley. [[spoiler:(They do, of course.)]] |
| 415 | * WritingAroundTrademarks: By the time Miss Austen's publisher decided to publish ''First Impressions'', two novels were already on the shelves with that title. |
| 416 | * WrongGuyFirst: Wickham is ''so'' not the fella for you, Lizzy. |
| 417 | * YouKeepTellingYourselfThat: Jane insists to Elizabeth that she's not in love with Bingley anymore, she just thinks he's the kindest, handsomest man she's ever met, and always will regard him as "the most amiable man of [her] acquaintance" but they can totally just be friends now that she knows he's not in love with ''her''. Lizzy laughs in her face. |
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