Tumblr crosspost (5 June 2020)
Feb. 24th, 2022 03:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineI rambled about this a few years ago (and more briefly, also a few days ago), but another P&P thing that I find ultimately very charming is the quiet development of a connection between Jane and Darcy. This is partially very subjective, but also partially … less so.
Anyway:
Jane and Elizabeth’s appearances:
Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeeded her
Darcy and Georgiana’s appearances:
“She is a handsome girl, about fifteen or sixteen …”
She was less handsome than her brother
Jane’s early response to Darcy:
“Are you quite sure, ma'am? is not there a little mistake?” said Jane. "I certainly saw Mr Darcy speaking to her.”
… “Miss Bingley told me,” said Jane, “that he never speaks much, unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”
Darcy’s early impression of Jane:
Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.
Also Darcy:
- Darcy only smiled
- “And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.”
“And yours,” he replied, with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”
- He smiled, and assured her that whatever she wished him to say should be said.
- “What think you of books?” said he, smiling.
- As he spoke there was a sort of smile which Elizabeth fancied she understood
- “I am not afraid of you,” said he smilingly.
- Darcy smiled and said, “You are perfectly right.”
- she beheld a striking resemblance of Mr Darcy, with such a smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he looked at her.
- she sat in misery till Mr Darcy appeared again, when, looking at him, she was a little relieved by his smile.
Darcy’s response to Jane’s recovery:
Miss Bingley’s eyes were instantly turned towards Darcy, and she had something to say to him before he had advanced many steps. He addressed himself directly to Miss Bennet, with a polite congratulation
Darcy’s observation of Jane:
“I shall not scruple to assert that the serenity of your sister’s countenance and air was such as might have given the most acute observer a conviction that, however amiable her temper, her heart was not likely to be easily touched”
Charlotte’s observation of Darcy:
She watched him whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success. He certainly looked at her friend a great deal, but the expression of that look was disputable.
Jane, in response to Elizabeth’s negative interpretation of Bingley’s departure:
“Let me take it in the best light”
Darcy, explaining why he accepted Wickham’s request for a bunch of money:
“I rather wished than believed him to be sincere”
Jane, after Wickham spreads his stories about Darcy:
Miss Bennet was the only creature who could suppose there might be any extenuating circumstances in the case.
Jane’s response to the revelation about Darcy’s proposal/Wickham’s true character:
- Nor was Darcy’s vindication, though grateful to her feelings, capable of consoling her for such discovery.
- “And poor Mr Darcy! Dear Lizzy, only consider what he must have suffered.”
Darcy, after explaining his Issues with the Bennets:
“consider that, to have conducted yourselves so as to avoid any share of the like censure, is praise no less generally bestowed on you and your eldest sister, than it is honourable to the sense and disposition of both.”
Elizabeth, stressing about her engagement to Darcy:
no one liked him but Jane
Jane with the Gardiner children:
[her] steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way
Darcy according to his housekeeper of 24 years:
“I have always observed, that they who are good-natured when children, are good-natured when they grow up; and he was always the sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the world.”
Jane’s general demeanour:
Jane united, with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and a uniform cheerfulness of manner
Darcy at Pemberley:
when he spoke, his accent had none of its usual sedateness
Jane, when Lydia reveals that Darcy was at her wedding:
Jane’s delicate sense of honour would not allow her to speak to Elizabeth privately of what Lydia had let fall
Austen’s description of Darcy in her letters:
I can imagine he wd have that sort [of] feeling.—That mixture of Love, Pride & Delicacy.
On Jane’s character:
Jane was firm where she felt herself to be right.
Mrs Gardiner on Darcy’s character:
“I fancy, Lizzy, that obstinacy is the real defect of his character after all. He has been accused of many faults at different times, but this is the true one.”
Mrs Reynolds describing Darcy’s relationship with Georgiana:
“Whatever can give his sister any pleasure is sure to be done in a moment. There is nothing he would not do for her.”
Jane to Elizabeth:
“If I could but see you as happy!”
The three characters that Darcy refers to by their given names alone:
“he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his kindness to her as a child”
“I am more likely to want time than courage, Elizabeth.”
“Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane?”
Aaaaand—
Jane’s ultimate position on Darcy, while speaking to Elizabeth:
“there can be only Bingley and yourself more dear to me.”
tags:
#they're very different in some ways (this is why jane is more generous to him than he initially is to her) #but also ... not all that different in others! #and while jane is partly motivated by general goodwill i think she actually does feel a genuine rapport with him #that's not really possible to express or even identify but which fuses with her approval of his falling for elizabeth #to the point that she's like 'darcy is my third favourite person in the world now' considering the existence of her parents and other sisters and how careful she is not to judge them that's really extraordinary! #and i think very sweet
Anyway:
Jane and Elizabeth’s appearances:
Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeeded her
Darcy and Georgiana’s appearances:
“She is a handsome girl, about fifteen or sixteen …”
She was less handsome than her brother
Jane’s early response to Darcy:
“Are you quite sure, ma'am? is not there a little mistake?” said Jane. "I certainly saw Mr Darcy speaking to her.”
… “Miss Bingley told me,” said Jane, “that he never speaks much, unless among his intimate acquaintance. With them he is remarkably agreeable.”
Darcy’s early impression of Jane:
Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.
Also Darcy:
- Darcy only smiled
- “And your defect is a propensity to hate everybody.”
“And yours,” he replied, with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”
- He smiled, and assured her that whatever she wished him to say should be said.
- “What think you of books?” said he, smiling.
- As he spoke there was a sort of smile which Elizabeth fancied she understood
- “I am not afraid of you,” said he smilingly.
- Darcy smiled and said, “You are perfectly right.”
- she beheld a striking resemblance of Mr Darcy, with such a smile over the face as she remembered to have sometimes seen when he looked at her.
- she sat in misery till Mr Darcy appeared again, when, looking at him, she was a little relieved by his smile.
Darcy’s response to Jane’s recovery:
Miss Bingley’s eyes were instantly turned towards Darcy, and she had something to say to him before he had advanced many steps. He addressed himself directly to Miss Bennet, with a polite congratulation
Darcy’s observation of Jane:
“I shall not scruple to assert that the serenity of your sister’s countenance and air was such as might have given the most acute observer a conviction that, however amiable her temper, her heart was not likely to be easily touched”
Charlotte’s observation of Darcy:
She watched him whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford; but without much success. He certainly looked at her friend a great deal, but the expression of that look was disputable.
Jane, in response to Elizabeth’s negative interpretation of Bingley’s departure:
“Let me take it in the best light”
Darcy, explaining why he accepted Wickham’s request for a bunch of money:
“I rather wished than believed him to be sincere”
Jane, after Wickham spreads his stories about Darcy:
Miss Bennet was the only creature who could suppose there might be any extenuating circumstances in the case.
Jane’s response to the revelation about Darcy’s proposal/Wickham’s true character:
- Nor was Darcy’s vindication, though grateful to her feelings, capable of consoling her for such discovery.
- “And poor Mr Darcy! Dear Lizzy, only consider what he must have suffered.”
Darcy, after explaining his Issues with the Bennets:
“consider that, to have conducted yourselves so as to avoid any share of the like censure, is praise no less generally bestowed on you and your eldest sister, than it is honourable to the sense and disposition of both.”
Elizabeth, stressing about her engagement to Darcy:
no one liked him but Jane
Jane with the Gardiner children:
[her] steady sense and sweetness of temper exactly adapted her for attending to them in every way
Darcy according to his housekeeper of 24 years:
“I have always observed, that they who are good-natured when children, are good-natured when they grow up; and he was always the sweetest-tempered, most generous-hearted boy in the world.”
Jane’s general demeanour:
Jane united, with great strength of feeling, a composure of temper and a uniform cheerfulness of manner
Darcy at Pemberley:
when he spoke, his accent had none of its usual sedateness
Jane, when Lydia reveals that Darcy was at her wedding:
Jane’s delicate sense of honour would not allow her to speak to Elizabeth privately of what Lydia had let fall
Austen’s description of Darcy in her letters:
I can imagine he wd have that sort [of] feeling.—That mixture of Love, Pride & Delicacy.
On Jane’s character:
Jane was firm where she felt herself to be right.
Mrs Gardiner on Darcy’s character:
“I fancy, Lizzy, that obstinacy is the real defect of his character after all. He has been accused of many faults at different times, but this is the true one.”
Mrs Reynolds describing Darcy’s relationship with Georgiana:
“Whatever can give his sister any pleasure is sure to be done in a moment. There is nothing he would not do for her.”
Jane to Elizabeth:
“If I could but see you as happy!”
The three characters that Darcy refers to by their given names alone:
“he so far recommended himself to Georgiana, whose affectionate heart retained a strong impression of his kindness to her as a child”
“I am more likely to want time than courage, Elizabeth.”
“Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane?”
Aaaaand—
Jane’s ultimate position on Darcy, while speaking to Elizabeth:
“there can be only Bingley and yourself more dear to me.”
tags:
#they're very different in some ways (this is why jane is more generous to him than he initially is to her) #but also ... not all that different in others! #and while jane is partly motivated by general goodwill i think she actually does feel a genuine rapport with him #that's not really possible to express or even identify but which fuses with her approval of his falling for elizabeth #to the point that she's like 'darcy is my third favourite person in the world now' considering the existence of her parents and other sisters and how careful she is not to judge them that's really extraordinary! #and i think very sweet