Tumblr crosspost (26 April 2020)
Jan. 24th, 2022 05:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineIn response to this post, someone (as usual) suggested that Lady Catherine was basically manufacturing the agreement with Lady Anne about Darcy and younger Anne marrying.
I replied:
When I was in Austen fandom, it was pretty generally assumed that the whole thing was to a greater or lesser extent a figment of Lady Catherine’s imagination.
But the first person we hear about it from is actually Wickham, who is prattling on about his background at Pemberley. He could be making up the expectation of a Darcy/Anne marriage for some reason of his own, of course, but if so, his lie gels with Lady Catherine’s understanding of what happened, even though they both hold each other in contempt. I think it’s more probable that he’s simply repeating what he heard at Pemberley to bolster his bona fides.
I do think there’s often a certain … hm, tendency towards preserving Lady Anne’s character by distancing her from Lady Catherine, even though Lady Anne has almost no character to preserve. We know a) she was a good person, b) she was apparently less benevolent and amiable than her husband, c) with him, she participated in allowing and encouraging Darcy to think himself better than other people, d) her otherwise egotistical sister named her only child after her, and e) Wickham and Lady Catherine believe that Darcy was expected to marry Anne.
It’s all so vague that we can’t know for sure, but personally, I don’t think there’s any reason to suppose Lady Catherine is consciously or unconsciously misrepresenting what happened.
#i do think it's notable that the text gives no indication that the arrangement wasn't actually made #but just treats the whole thing as outdated and ridiculous—which it would have been by then #and i think the line about how both of darcy's parents were good people but mr darcy was particularly benevolent and amiable is #um. pretty suggestive and meant to be so #tbh i think it's quite probable that lady anne was closer and more similar to lady catherine than is generally assumed
I replied:
When I was in Austen fandom, it was pretty generally assumed that the whole thing was to a greater or lesser extent a figment of Lady Catherine’s imagination.
But the first person we hear about it from is actually Wickham, who is prattling on about his background at Pemberley. He could be making up the expectation of a Darcy/Anne marriage for some reason of his own, of course, but if so, his lie gels with Lady Catherine’s understanding of what happened, even though they both hold each other in contempt. I think it’s more probable that he’s simply repeating what he heard at Pemberley to bolster his bona fides.
I do think there’s often a certain … hm, tendency towards preserving Lady Anne’s character by distancing her from Lady Catherine, even though Lady Anne has almost no character to preserve. We know a) she was a good person, b) she was apparently less benevolent and amiable than her husband, c) with him, she participated in allowing and encouraging Darcy to think himself better than other people, d) her otherwise egotistical sister named her only child after her, and e) Wickham and Lady Catherine believe that Darcy was expected to marry Anne.
It’s all so vague that we can’t know for sure, but personally, I don’t think there’s any reason to suppose Lady Catherine is consciously or unconsciously misrepresenting what happened.
#i do think it's notable that the text gives no indication that the arrangement wasn't actually made #but just treats the whole thing as outdated and ridiculous—which it would have been by then #and i think the line about how both of darcy's parents were good people but mr darcy was particularly benevolent and amiable is #um. pretty suggestive and meant to be so #tbh i think it's quite probable that lady anne was closer and more similar to lady catherine than is generally assumed