Tumblr crosspost (19 July 2019)
Sep. 22nd, 2019 01:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineIn response to this, madamovary at Tumblr said:
if i remember right, elizabeth has a brief moment of “and they must be married - ? well, of course they must,” and she definitely says “but SUCH a husband -!” i think she’s more alive to the practicalities than darcy, it’s a no-win situation, and lydia getting married serves lizzie’s public character a lot better than her not getting married does. i think she’s also more doubtful about how well lydia could ever have turned out, even in the best of circumstances.
I replied:
When the letter about the arrangements for Lydia comes, Elizabeth says “And they must marry! Yet he is such a man!”
I read that as, essentially, Elizabeth saying that they have to marry, but it’s awful given Wickham’s character. There’s no point where she considers Lydia not marrying Wickham as a more desirable end, as Darcy does. But Elizabeth also doesn’t have Darcy’s power; I don’t think he’s at all blind to the realities of the situation when he makes his offer to Lydia, and that’s why he offers his personal assistance.
Pragmatically speaking, Wickham is poor, the son of a servant, and has debts a mile high. If Mr Darcy of Pemberley swears to an alternate explanation of what happened, well. That’s a very different situation, if Darcy can get Lydia onboard.
if i remember right, elizabeth has a brief moment of “and they must be married - ? well, of course they must,” and she definitely says “but SUCH a husband -!” i think she’s more alive to the practicalities than darcy, it’s a no-win situation, and lydia getting married serves lizzie’s public character a lot better than her not getting married does. i think she’s also more doubtful about how well lydia could ever have turned out, even in the best of circumstances.
I replied:
When the letter about the arrangements for Lydia comes, Elizabeth says “And they must marry! Yet he is such a man!”
I read that as, essentially, Elizabeth saying that they have to marry, but it’s awful given Wickham’s character. There’s no point where she considers Lydia not marrying Wickham as a more desirable end, as Darcy does. But Elizabeth also doesn’t have Darcy’s power; I don’t think he’s at all blind to the realities of the situation when he makes his offer to Lydia, and that’s why he offers his personal assistance.
Pragmatically speaking, Wickham is poor, the son of a servant, and has debts a mile high. If Mr Darcy of Pemberley swears to an alternate explanation of what happened, well. That’s a very different situation, if Darcy can get Lydia onboard.