History Fridge / PrideAndPrejudice

* It is often called out by readers that Mr. Collins gives up on marrying a Bennet daughter after Lizzie rejects his proposal. In particular, many people feel that Mary would have been an ideal match for him. Except that she is not. Mr. Collins saw this marriage idea as a kind of "olive branch" to the Bennet family for the fact that he was going to inherit Mr. Bennet's estate once he died. He was ''never'' motivated by particular interest in the Bennet daughters. Mrs. Bennet, prone to speaking without thinking, at one point makes it very clear that they can afford a cook, and so her daughters have nothing to do with the kitchen, as was normal for women of the upper-class. She also, in a StealthInsult during a different conversation, calls attention to the fact that Charlotte Lucas can and does cook. Mrs. Bennet means to imply that Charlotte is of a lower rank than her own daughters. But this is a clue to Mr. Collins's rationale, as he is very much middle-class and, until he inherits Longbourn, lives a middle-class lifestyle. A wife who knows how to cook and keep house is actually better suited to his present needs than one who is accustomed to relying on servants for these things. So, his passing over Mary, Kitty, and Lydia in favor of Charlotte Lucas actually makes perfect sense, even though Mrs. Bennet would not have realized that she was self-sabotaging her own plans to see one of her daughters marry him by trying to play up their upper-class lack of domestic skills.

* It is often called out by readers that Mr. Collins gives up on marrying a Bennet daughter after Lizzie rejects his proposal. In particular, many people feel that Mary would have been an ideal match for him. Except that she is not. Mr. Collins saw this marriage idea as a kind of "olive branch" to the Bennet family for the fact that he was going to inherit Mr. Bennet's estate once he died. He was ''never'' motivated by particular interest in the Bennet daughters. Mrs. Bennet, prone to speaking without thinking, at one point makes it very clear that they can afford a cook, and so her daughters have nothing to do with the kitchen, as was normal for women of the upper class. She also, in a StealthInsult, calls attention to the fact that Charlotte Lucas can and does cook. Mrs. Bennet means to imply that Charlotte is of a lower rank than her own daughters. But Mr. Collins is very much middle-class and, until he inherits Longbourn, lives a middle-class lifestyle. A wife who knows how to cook and keep house is actually better suited to his present needs than one who is accustomed to relying on servants for these things. So, his passing over Mary, Kitty, and Lydia in favor of Charlotte Lucas actually makes perfect sense, even though Mrs. Bennet would not have realized that she was self-sabotaging her own plans to see one of her daughters marry him.

* Had Darcy not intervened to find Lydia, she would had been left alone with the time, no money and no contact with anyone else because Wickham would had get bored with her over time, without a legal obligation to provide for her (The 1995 miniseries made a point that Wickham and she had already slept together, so that would had reduced her marriage prospects if she still had any after running with another man), while also damaging her sisters chances to marry well... Exactly what Mrs. Bennet was fearing that they daughters would had to face if they didn't married before Mr. Bennet dies.

* An early Victorian audience would have ''immediately* twigged that Mr. Wickham was a whinger and shouldn't be taken seriously when he complains to Lizzie. That bit when he complains he's just "an officer in the militia" and has no money? He needed to [[ValuesDissonance pay for his commission.]] That's about $100,000 in today's money for an ensign's position (a 2nd Lt.) There's no indication he got it otherwise from merit.

** This is somewhat of a modern view. We are expected to like Mr. Bennet more than Mrs. Bennet, but a contemporary reader would blame ''him'', not her, for their younger daughters’ silliness. They might also blame him for Mrs. Bennet’s silliness. He was the ''paterfamilias'', the head of the household; it was his duty to (at least metaphorically) whip his family into shape. Austen’s first readers would have in particular seen Lydia’s elopement as partly Lydia’s fault and partly Mr. Bennet’s for not having adequately supervised and disciplined his daughter.

* An early Victorian audience would have *immediately* twigged that Mr. Wickham was a whinger and shouldn't be taken seriously when he complains to Lizzie. That bit when he complains he's just "an officer in the militia" and has no money? He needed to [[ValuesDissonance pay for his commission.]] That's about $100,000 in today's money for an ensign's position (a 2nd Lt.) There's no indication he got it otherwise from merit.
** Indication or not, it's very, *very* unlikely that he would have earned it. While soldiers could be promoted from the ranks to officer status, it required an act of such (suicidal) courage that the officers in charge would look like idiots if they *didn't* promote the soldier. It could happen, but Mr. Wickham really isn't the kind to go in for suicidal acts of courage.

* Wickham's assisted purchase of a commission in a Newcastle regiment is treated as a bit of a cushy version of the ReassignmentToAntarctica; a seemingly prestigious post in a do-nothing home-based regiment safe from all the fighting. However, only a couple of years after the novel was published, these regiments would see heavy action at the Battle of Waterloo, to the point where the entire officer corps was practically wiped out to a man. Wickham, though neither he nor his author could possibly know it, has a bit of a cloud over his future.
** For him. For his political family, not so much. Lydia could have remarried after he died, maybe with a better suitor.
* Had Darcy not intervened to find Lydia, she would had been left alone with the time, no money and no contact with anyone else because Wickham would had get bored with her over time, without a legal obligation to provide for her(The 1995 miniseries made a point that Wickham and she had already slept together, so that would had reduced her marriage prospects if she still had any after running with another man), while also damaging her sisters chances to marry well... Exactly what Mrs. Bennet was fearing that they daughters would had to face if they didn't married before Mr. Bennet dies.

* Had Darcy not intervened to find Lydia, she would had been left alone with the time, no money and no contact with anyone else because Wickham would had get bored with her over time, without a legal obligation to provide for her(The 1995 miniseries made a point that Wickham and she had already slept together, so that would had reduced her marriage prospects if she still had any after running with another man), while also damaging her sisters chances to marry well... Exactly what Mrs. Bennet was fearing that they daughters would had to face if they didn't married before Mr. Bennet dies. Talk about AdultFear.

** For him. For his political family, not so much. Lydia could had remarried after he died, maybe with a better suitor.

** Also, this troper would like to point out that Darcy never traded in his personality for a completely different one. Such was the brilliance of Jane Austen, that the changes to his personality were simply Elizabeth seeing a different side of him; being around pleasant and elegant company and away from the less well behaved people at the dances (her aunt and uncle when compared to her family are practically nobles in their behavior), him being wrong and caught on it for the first time in the novel (there was no way he could deny that Elizabeth was wrong about Jane loving Bingley so he had to admit his wrongdoing), and him being more comfortable on his home turf than in some stranger's house with no one he knows. This troper's 'aha' moment involved this and the relation to the title, how prejudice often blinds us to a person's good traits, and how we are so sure we are right that our entire view of a person changes when proof comes up showing us what a idiot we are. Note that also, the Darcy archetype at the time was NOT a sexy staple like in today's romance, but the least desirable man to chase after. Thus, prejudice also addresses the natural bias women had at that time against the stuffy, socially awkward type... who ends up being actually pretty awesome once you get to know him.

** If you consider Lydia's situation there is plenty of reason to feel sorry for the girl. She is 16 when she runs away with Wickham, obviously not particularly clever (she is described as a silly girl with not much in her head other than partying, men and fashion) and both her parents have failed to give her any proper education or understanding. Her father doesn't pay much attention to her, he rather ships her off to Brighton than deal with her getting on his nerves, and her mother spoils her and is obsessed with getting the girls married. So when she throws herself at a handsome young man with charme and a decent position she is pretty much doing exactly what she has been taught to do, while being incapable of grasping the impact of her decision. From today's perspective it is madness that a teenager would be considered so tainted by eloping with her first crush that she will drag her whole family down unless she marries him. And Jane Austen herself, though much more familiar with those social expectations, points out the craziness and inevitability of the situation ("And they must marry! Yet he is such a man!"). So, thanks to Darcy's meddling to save Elisabeth, (not entirely selfless as he admits himself, as his chances to marry her depend on her being "untainted" by her sister's behaviour,) Lydia ends up in a loveless marriage with a bad man and shunned by her own family. Not exactly a happy ending.

* Wickham's assisted purchase of a commission in a Newcastle regiment is treated as a bit of a cushy version of the ReassignmentToAntarctica; a seemingly prestigious post in a do-nothing home-based regiment safe from all the fighting. However, only a couple of years after the novel was published, these regiments would see heavy action at the Battle of Waterloo, to the point where the entire officer corps was practically wiped out to a man. Wickham, though neither he nor his author could possibly know it, has a bit of a cloud over his future...

* When Bingley comes back to Netherfield, Mr Bennett's strong aversion to visit him again could be due to his natural laziness and disdain for social obligations, but also to his resentment for the pain he caused to Jane.

*** One major reason spurring Mr. Darcy to hunt down Mr. Wickham is that he knows well how conniving Mr. Wickham can be to a young girl. His sister Georgiana almost met the same fate. Even if Lydia were not a silly girl, Wickham might have found a way to persuade her to leave her family. Darcy may feel partly responsible for not seeing that Wickham had found another girl to dupe.

* Although I loved Creator/JaneAusten's ''PrideAndPrejudice'' even from the first time I read it, my one major issue with it was the too HappilyEverAfter ending -- the heroine gets a handsome, super rich husband who's changed his entire [[TheStoic stoic]], haughty personality out of love for her (good luck trying to find any guy in the real world who would actually do that for a girl!) and goes off to live in an opulent, ten-acre paradise. For some reason (possibly due to my own family's issues), about the third time I read it, my view of the ending ''completely'' changed, and I now find it, if anything, too ''depressing'', not because of anything to do with Elizabeth's marriage but because of Lydia. No, I don't feel sorry in any way for Lydia herself but for her family, who are now forced to baby-sit this stupid girl and her ManipulativeBastard of a husband for the rest of their lives because their expenses always exceed their income. The Bingleys are apparently forced to live with the most detestable people in the novel, and poor Mr. Darcy is now bound to financially take care of his ArchEnemy; whether he refuses them at Pemberley or not, how distasteful that must feel to him! Through the perfect combination of malice and stupidity, the Wickhams become a lifelong burden for three families, and this will most likely never change. How could I ever find this to be HappilyEverAfter?! - {{Lale}}

** This is somewhat of a modern view. We are expected to like Mr. Bennet more than Mrs. Bennet, but a contemporary reader would blame ''him'', not her, for their younger daughters’ silliness. They might also blame him for Mrs. Bennet’s silliness. He was the ''paterfamilias'', the head of the household; it was his duty to (at least metaphorically) whip his family into shape. Austen’s first readers would have in particular seen Lydia’s elopement as partly Lydia’s fault and partly Mr. Bennet’s for not having adequately supervised and disciplined his daughter.

* Mr. Bennett has the reputation for being the reasonable one in his marriage, but beyond his neglect of his daughters and his attitude towards his wife being publically disrespected by them and others, there is a moment at the end of the book that shows he's actually kind of spineless on top of it. When Darcy asks him for permission to marry Elizabeth, Mr. Bennett--who regards Darcy as solely the proud, arrogant, bad-tempered rich guy who snubbed his daughter and is detested by her--gives it automatically. And tells Elizabeth that he wouldn't ''dare'' have done anything else.