ye olde pet peeve
Oct. 7th, 2012 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineAt some point, I may put up a more polished version at austenfanon. For the present, ranting! There really is nothing like tiptoeing back into an old fandom to remind you of the things that irritated you. But it's an enjoyably trivial kind of irritation and not the serious business stuff, so let's talk about social status.
Or:
"Grandson of an earl!" said nobody, ever.
When it comes to Darcy's status and Darcy's importance and Darcy's family in general, fandom talks a lot about the Fitzwilliams. This is completely understandable.
For one, every member of Darcy's family that we meet is part of the immediate or extended Fitzwilliam family: Darcy himself, Georgiana, Lady Catherine, Anne, Colonel Fitzwilliam. We're given plenty of details about the relationships between the Fitzwilliam clan and the personalities of many of the people in it, but know virtually nothing about the other Darcys beyond the existence of his widely beloved father and a great-uncle who was/is one of England's twelve or so judges. Darcy is closely associated with them in narrative terms, especially Lady Catherine (who he physically resembles, to boot). And their social status is, on the face of it, clear and uncomplicated: the head of the family is a peer. So it makes a certain sense to assume that the reason that Darcy, untitled and moderately wealthy, comes off as so ... elevated is because his mother was the Lady Anne, daughter and sister of earls.
The only problem is that it's wrong.
I'm not arguing that the Fitzwilliams have nothing to do with Darcy's high status. In fact, I'd say they're very relevant to it, but that people are generally looking at it backwards. It's not that Darcy owes his relatively exalted position to Lord Whatshisname, but that he has a Lord Whatshisname in his family because of his position. He's the sort of person whose uncle would be an earl.
Yes, yes, Elizabeth argues that their (patrilineal) standing is basically equal. To Lady Catherine. Who is making the ludicrous argument that Elizabeth is from a completely different world than Darcy. Elizabeth, a Miss Bennet of Longbourn, daughter of an established country squire with a prosperous family estate. It's popular to say that Elizabeth is middle-class, but she isn't. Her family ties (as Lady Catherine points out, and Elizabeth can't refute but dismisses) are to the middle class, certainly. Mrs Bennet was middle-class; the Phillipses and Gardiners still are; Lydia and Wickham, and Mary and her clerk, will be. The Bennets, however, aren't. And no, they're not on the fringes, either - they're comfortably in the middle of the gentry.
It's not like Elizabeth is going to be expected to change her dialect or her mannerisms or that she'll have no idea how to manage the domestic affairs of an estate, which are things that might theoretically be relevant. But she could make the exact same argument about any of Lady Catherine's nephews. Or to put it another way, Henry Crawford is arguably stepping over a much more significant social gap in proposing to Fanny than Darcy is with Elizabeth, even though Henry Crawford is not nearly as significant as Darcy, because Fanny has origins in a genuinely different sphere (however ameliorated by her connections and education).
Consider - this is Elizabeth on Darcy's ambiguous attraction to her, before she meets Wickham:
She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man; and yet that he should look at her because he disliked her was still more strange. She could only imagine, however, at last, that she drew his notice because there was a something about her more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in any other person present.
This is something that tends to get overlooked in discussions of how on earth Elizabeth fails to notice Darcy's entire courtship (which is inept, but progressively more blatant). It's not just that she thinks he finds her too unattractive, or that he dislikes her, or even that he's that personally arrogant, or that she is just willfully blind (though these are all factors). She also genuinely believes that his stature is such that he'd never look twice at her, regardless of the circumstances.
Now, this is Elizabeth and Wickham:
"You know of course that Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy were sisters; consequently that she is aunt to the present Mr. Darcy."
"No, indeed, I did not. I knew nothing at all of Lady Catherine's connections. I never heard of her existence till the day before yesterday."
Until this point, Elizabeth knew nothing of Darcy's connections to the Fitzwilliams; she didn't even know who his mother was. The whole so-great-a-man thing couldn't possibly have anything to do with them. It was entirely about Darcy as Mr Darcy of Pemberley, son of Mr Darcy of Pemberley.
Wickham, incidentally, attributes all of Darcy's merits (which he very comprehensively details) to pride - specifically, to pride in his father and his (paternal) family, and in "the influence of Pemberley House." He also suggests that Lady Catherine derives some part of her standing from her connection with Darcy, rather than the other way around. Now, it's Wickham, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt, but it'd be a rather odd thing for him to lie about - and while Elizabeth makes exclamations of surprise over a number of other things he says (how can this be?), she accepts that quite readily.
There's also Mrs Bennet:
"My dearest child,'' she cried, "I can think of nothing else! Ten thousand a year, and very likely more! 'Tis as good as a Lord!"
It's Mrs Bennet, and she may or may not remember his Fitzwilliam connections - but again, it's about Darcy-as-Darcy, and not Darcy-the-collateral-Fitzwilliam. This is Mr Gardiner, after visiting Pemberley (so, while less explicit, the association is with Pemberley and the Darcy family, not the Fitzwilliams):
"But perhaps he may be a little whimsical in his civilities,'' replied her uncle. "Your great men often are."
Lady Catherine, naturally, has more to say about her own family, but even she doesn't confine herself to that:
Miss Darcy, the daughter of Mr Darcy of Pemberley, and Lady Anne, could not have appeared with propriety in a different manner.
They are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father's, from respectable, honourable, and ancient -- though untitled -- families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses
Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?
That's not everyone, but really, we hear plenty of effusions over Darcy and don't really need to go through them all. Sometimes the speakers know about his mother's family and sometimes they don't, but nobody (except Lady Catherine) seems to very much care. It's all about Pemberley and the Pemberley fortune and the late Mr Darcy and the Darcys generally. They scarcely allude to the existence of his mother, and literally nobody mentions his uncle and grandfather. They really aren't the source of his position or his pride.
Or:
"Grandson of an earl!" said nobody, ever.
When it comes to Darcy's status and Darcy's importance and Darcy's family in general, fandom talks a lot about the Fitzwilliams. This is completely understandable.
For one, every member of Darcy's family that we meet is part of the immediate or extended Fitzwilliam family: Darcy himself, Georgiana, Lady Catherine, Anne, Colonel Fitzwilliam. We're given plenty of details about the relationships between the Fitzwilliam clan and the personalities of many of the people in it, but know virtually nothing about the other Darcys beyond the existence of his widely beloved father and a great-uncle who was/is one of England's twelve or so judges. Darcy is closely associated with them in narrative terms, especially Lady Catherine (who he physically resembles, to boot). And their social status is, on the face of it, clear and uncomplicated: the head of the family is a peer. So it makes a certain sense to assume that the reason that Darcy, untitled and moderately wealthy, comes off as so ... elevated is because his mother was the Lady Anne, daughter and sister of earls.
The only problem is that it's wrong.
I'm not arguing that the Fitzwilliams have nothing to do with Darcy's high status. In fact, I'd say they're very relevant to it, but that people are generally looking at it backwards. It's not that Darcy owes his relatively exalted position to Lord Whatshisname, but that he has a Lord Whatshisname in his family because of his position. He's the sort of person whose uncle would be an earl.
Yes, yes, Elizabeth argues that their (patrilineal) standing is basically equal. To Lady Catherine. Who is making the ludicrous argument that Elizabeth is from a completely different world than Darcy. Elizabeth, a Miss Bennet of Longbourn, daughter of an established country squire with a prosperous family estate. It's popular to say that Elizabeth is middle-class, but she isn't. Her family ties (as Lady Catherine points out, and Elizabeth can't refute but dismisses) are to the middle class, certainly. Mrs Bennet was middle-class; the Phillipses and Gardiners still are; Lydia and Wickham, and Mary and her clerk, will be. The Bennets, however, aren't. And no, they're not on the fringes, either - they're comfortably in the middle of the gentry.
It's not like Elizabeth is going to be expected to change her dialect or her mannerisms or that she'll have no idea how to manage the domestic affairs of an estate, which are things that might theoretically be relevant. But she could make the exact same argument about any of Lady Catherine's nephews. Or to put it another way, Henry Crawford is arguably stepping over a much more significant social gap in proposing to Fanny than Darcy is with Elizabeth, even though Henry Crawford is not nearly as significant as Darcy, because Fanny has origins in a genuinely different sphere (however ameliorated by her connections and education).
Consider - this is Elizabeth on Darcy's ambiguous attraction to her, before she meets Wickham:
She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man; and yet that he should look at her because he disliked her was still more strange. She could only imagine, however, at last, that she drew his notice because there was a something about her more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in any other person present.
This is something that tends to get overlooked in discussions of how on earth Elizabeth fails to notice Darcy's entire courtship (which is inept, but progressively more blatant). It's not just that she thinks he finds her too unattractive, or that he dislikes her, or even that he's that personally arrogant, or that she is just willfully blind (though these are all factors). She also genuinely believes that his stature is such that he'd never look twice at her, regardless of the circumstances.
Now, this is Elizabeth and Wickham:
"You know of course that Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy were sisters; consequently that she is aunt to the present Mr. Darcy."
"No, indeed, I did not. I knew nothing at all of Lady Catherine's connections. I never heard of her existence till the day before yesterday."
Until this point, Elizabeth knew nothing of Darcy's connections to the Fitzwilliams; she didn't even know who his mother was. The whole so-great-a-man thing couldn't possibly have anything to do with them. It was entirely about Darcy as Mr Darcy of Pemberley, son of Mr Darcy of Pemberley.
Wickham, incidentally, attributes all of Darcy's merits (which he very comprehensively details) to pride - specifically, to pride in his father and his (paternal) family, and in "the influence of Pemberley House." He also suggests that Lady Catherine derives some part of her standing from her connection with Darcy, rather than the other way around. Now, it's Wickham, so you have to take everything with a grain of salt, but it'd be a rather odd thing for him to lie about - and while Elizabeth makes exclamations of surprise over a number of other things he says (how can this be?), she accepts that quite readily.
There's also Mrs Bennet:
"My dearest child,'' she cried, "I can think of nothing else! Ten thousand a year, and very likely more! 'Tis as good as a Lord!"
It's Mrs Bennet, and she may or may not remember his Fitzwilliam connections - but again, it's about Darcy-as-Darcy, and not Darcy-the-collateral-Fitzwilliam. This is Mr Gardiner, after visiting Pemberley (so, while less explicit, the association is with Pemberley and the Darcy family, not the Fitzwilliams):
"But perhaps he may be a little whimsical in his civilities,'' replied her uncle. "Your great men often are."
Lady Catherine, naturally, has more to say about her own family, but even she doesn't confine herself to that:
Miss Darcy, the daughter of Mr Darcy of Pemberley, and Lady Anne, could not have appeared with propriety in a different manner.
They are descended, on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father's, from respectable, honourable, and ancient -- though untitled -- families. Their fortune on both sides is splendid. They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses
Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?
That's not everyone, but really, we hear plenty of effusions over Darcy and don't really need to go through them all. Sometimes the speakers know about his mother's family and sometimes they don't, but nobody (except Lady Catherine) seems to very much care. It's all about Pemberley and the Pemberley fortune and the late Mr Darcy and the Darcys generally. They scarcely allude to the existence of his mother, and literally nobody mentions his uncle and grandfather. They really aren't the source of his position or his pride.