Tumblr crosspost (7 June 2020)
Feb. 24th, 2022 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineWhile I’m at it, there’s another disparity between Wickham’s and Darcy’s accounts, though a small one.
Wickham:
- “Yes,” replied Wickham; “his estate there [in Derbyshire] is a noble one. A clear ten thousand per annum.”
- “My father began life in the profession which your uncle, Mr Philips, appears to do so much credit to—but he gave up everything to be of use to the late Mr Darcy, and devoted all his time to the care of the Pemberley property.”
Darcy:
Mr Wickham is the son of a very respectable man, who had for many years the management of all the Pemberley estates, and whose good conduct in the discharge of his trust naturally inclined my father to be of service to him
I think it’s intriguing but reasonable that each sees the dynamic from his own family’s perspective; Wickham sees it as the result of his father making a personal sacrifice for the benefit of the Darcys, and Darcy sees it as a personal favour made to a trustworthy and competent employee. But those aspects of those story are perfectly compatible, just differing in emphasis.
Their accounts do seem different, though, in their representation of the actual property at hand. Wickham pretty strongly suggests that Pemberley proper, as a single “noble” estate, is the total of Darcy’s property and what his own father was responsible for, while Darcy says outright that Mr Wickham had management of multiple Darcy estates.
Wickham is petty enough to lie about nearly anything, but it’s not really in his interests to diminish his father’s responsibilities. So it’s quite possible that he’s not deliberately misrepresenting things. I think that’s reinforced by the fact that virtually everyone talks of Pemberley in the same way as Wickham. The only person who goes out of his way to reveal the existence of multiple Darcy estates is Darcy himself.
He might be taking pains as a matter of pride, of course, but I’m inclined to think not—not that late in the letter, and not in that particular context. Rather, IMO he does it to emphasize the extent of Mr Wickham’s responsibilities—he wasn’t just responsible for Pemberley itself but all the Pemberley estates.
The phrasing is kind of interesting, though, because it’s not altogether clear what he means by it. It’s possible that “Pemberley” is essentially a stand-in for “Darcy” here, as when Elizabeth later talks of “the whole Pemberley family.” That is, Darcy would be saying that Mr Wickham was the steward over all the Darcys’ properties, wherever they happened to be. But it’s also possible that he’s using “Pemberley” geographically, to mean that these estates are directly associated with Pemberley—adjoining it or at least in the same area, and that any other property, if existing, would have been managed by someone other than Mr Wickham. Maybe the Darcys have accumulated a group of Derbyshire estates that’s resulted in a sort of Pemberley+ that Mr Wickham managed.
If so, it could be that Wickham is actually referring to Pemberley+ and not Pemberley. Or it could be that Wickham is only vaguely aware (if at all) that Pemberley+ exists (if it does) and disregards everything but the main estate. Or it could be (per the first scenario) that Pemberley is just Pemberley but there are properties elsewhere that Darcy is referring to but Wickham doesn’t know about (or which Wickham does know about, and is indicating through his use of “his estate there”). Or … I don’t know, there are probably other possibilities.
At the end of the day, though, we often have a very strong impression of what “Pemberley” indicates, but there’s a lot we don’t know about it.
tags:
#i'm actually not inclined to think that wickham means pemberley+ #i think he simply has never spared a moment's thought for the smaller properties but they're quite important to darcy #and therefore formed a significant part of mr wickham's responsibilities in darcy's mind—one worth mentioning #even if nobody else ever does #oh and lol #my full on conspiracy theory is that while a lot of people overlook darcy's specific reference to multiple estates #there's simultaneously a very pervasive fanon that darcy owns more than pemberley #or that pemberley on paper is not the same as pemberley in reality ('reality') #like - there were discussions about it as a fanon thing c. 2006 #and my theory is that people actually /are/ picking up on all the ????? around pemberley/pemberley+ whether they realize it or not
Wickham:
- “Yes,” replied Wickham; “his estate there [in Derbyshire] is a noble one. A clear ten thousand per annum.”
- “My father began life in the profession which your uncle, Mr Philips, appears to do so much credit to—but he gave up everything to be of use to the late Mr Darcy, and devoted all his time to the care of the Pemberley property.”
Darcy:
Mr Wickham is the son of a very respectable man, who had for many years the management of all the Pemberley estates, and whose good conduct in the discharge of his trust naturally inclined my father to be of service to him
I think it’s intriguing but reasonable that each sees the dynamic from his own family’s perspective; Wickham sees it as the result of his father making a personal sacrifice for the benefit of the Darcys, and Darcy sees it as a personal favour made to a trustworthy and competent employee. But those aspects of those story are perfectly compatible, just differing in emphasis.
Their accounts do seem different, though, in their representation of the actual property at hand. Wickham pretty strongly suggests that Pemberley proper, as a single “noble” estate, is the total of Darcy’s property and what his own father was responsible for, while Darcy says outright that Mr Wickham had management of multiple Darcy estates.
Wickham is petty enough to lie about nearly anything, but it’s not really in his interests to diminish his father’s responsibilities. So it’s quite possible that he’s not deliberately misrepresenting things. I think that’s reinforced by the fact that virtually everyone talks of Pemberley in the same way as Wickham. The only person who goes out of his way to reveal the existence of multiple Darcy estates is Darcy himself.
He might be taking pains as a matter of pride, of course, but I’m inclined to think not—not that late in the letter, and not in that particular context. Rather, IMO he does it to emphasize the extent of Mr Wickham’s responsibilities—he wasn’t just responsible for Pemberley itself but all the Pemberley estates.
The phrasing is kind of interesting, though, because it’s not altogether clear what he means by it. It’s possible that “Pemberley” is essentially a stand-in for “Darcy” here, as when Elizabeth later talks of “the whole Pemberley family.” That is, Darcy would be saying that Mr Wickham was the steward over all the Darcys’ properties, wherever they happened to be. But it’s also possible that he’s using “Pemberley” geographically, to mean that these estates are directly associated with Pemberley—adjoining it or at least in the same area, and that any other property, if existing, would have been managed by someone other than Mr Wickham. Maybe the Darcys have accumulated a group of Derbyshire estates that’s resulted in a sort of Pemberley+ that Mr Wickham managed.
If so, it could be that Wickham is actually referring to Pemberley+ and not Pemberley. Or it could be that Wickham is only vaguely aware (if at all) that Pemberley+ exists (if it does) and disregards everything but the main estate. Or it could be (per the first scenario) that Pemberley is just Pemberley but there are properties elsewhere that Darcy is referring to but Wickham doesn’t know about (or which Wickham does know about, and is indicating through his use of “his estate there”). Or … I don’t know, there are probably other possibilities.
At the end of the day, though, we often have a very strong impression of what “Pemberley” indicates, but there’s a lot we don’t know about it.
tags:
#i'm actually not inclined to think that wickham means pemberley+ #i think he simply has never spared a moment's thought for the smaller properties but they're quite important to darcy #and therefore formed a significant part of mr wickham's responsibilities in darcy's mind—one worth mentioning #even if nobody else ever does #oh and lol #my full on conspiracy theory is that while a lot of people overlook darcy's specific reference to multiple estates #there's simultaneously a very pervasive fanon that darcy owns more than pemberley #or that pemberley on paper is not the same as pemberley in reality ('reality') #like - there were discussions about it as a fanon thing c. 2006 #and my theory is that people actually /are/ picking up on all the ????? around pemberley/pemberley+ whether they realize it or not