Tumblr crosspost (8 January 2021)
Apr. 2nd, 2024 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineSo, at the end of Pride and Prejudice, Georgiana learns from Elizabeth that what a nearly 30-year-old man will accept from his 16-year-old sister/ward is not actually a model for how husbands and wives behave towards each other.
It seems that while Georgiana is initially unsettled by Elizabeth’s behavior towards Darcy, she (Georgiana) comes to accept that it’s fine for Elizabeth to treat Darcy in a very different way than Georgiana can treat him, with the implication that Georgiana herself will approach her own eventual husband very differently than she does Darcy (whom, we hear repeatedly, she regards as almost her father).
Of course, sometimes people take this to mean that Darcy and Georgiana’s relationship is actually ~problematic, and either he’s tyrannizing over her (intentionally or unintentionally) or, at the very least, the dynamic between them isn’t quite right. I unsurprisingly disagree; I think it’s perfectly fine for their relationship to verge on father-daughter when he’s much older and literally raised her, and that it will likely become somewhat less unbalanced as Georgiana fully grows up.
Meanwhile, an essay I read the other day takes it one step farther and argues that not only is Darcy tyrannizing over Georgiana, it indicates that he will also tyrannize over Elizabeth. Like … how you get from “Georgiana learns that this relationship isn’t what husband-wife relationships look like” to “actually this relationship is what Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship will look like” is kind of beyond me, except in an academia edgelord sort of way. Bleh.
Tagged: #the essay also completely ignored the explicit 'darcy and elizabeth were always grateful for their marriage' hea statement #like most of those sorts of takes do #and i ended up using it for my exam anyway #not that argument - a different part of it that was fine and relevant #i genuinely do think that pulling valuable aspects out of flawed work is okay and even important #but it still felt a bit dirty lol #thinking about it though #i've seen the attitude in fandom too #not the 'darcy will tyrannize over elizabeth' thing of course (...much) but #that the dynamic between a teenager and her 28-y-o guardian should be like everyday sibs and it's like... uh. no #even if we're setting the vast differences between 1795/1813 and 2021 aside #but i think part of the reason it annoys me so much is that i actually find the darcy-georgiana relationship really interesting #in how they're partially distanced bc of the age/authority gap yet also in other ways all the closer because of it #there's this repeated emphasis of how they're almost like father and daughter but it's always 'almost' and not quite there #like ... they're kind of stuck in this in-between space with very little personal direction and figured out this thing that works for them #and like. she's more talkative when he's around and they write long-ass letters to each other and-and-and #it /does/ work and the immensity of georgiana's love and respect is what ultimately saved her from wickham #i think it's both complicated and sweet and they're doing their best in a very human way
It seems that while Georgiana is initially unsettled by Elizabeth’s behavior towards Darcy, she (Georgiana) comes to accept that it’s fine for Elizabeth to treat Darcy in a very different way than Georgiana can treat him, with the implication that Georgiana herself will approach her own eventual husband very differently than she does Darcy (whom, we hear repeatedly, she regards as almost her father).
Of course, sometimes people take this to mean that Darcy and Georgiana’s relationship is actually ~problematic, and either he’s tyrannizing over her (intentionally or unintentionally) or, at the very least, the dynamic between them isn’t quite right. I unsurprisingly disagree; I think it’s perfectly fine for their relationship to verge on father-daughter when he’s much older and literally raised her, and that it will likely become somewhat less unbalanced as Georgiana fully grows up.
Meanwhile, an essay I read the other day takes it one step farther and argues that not only is Darcy tyrannizing over Georgiana, it indicates that he will also tyrannize over Elizabeth. Like … how you get from “Georgiana learns that this relationship isn’t what husband-wife relationships look like” to “actually this relationship is what Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship will look like” is kind of beyond me, except in an academia edgelord sort of way. Bleh.
Tagged: #the essay also completely ignored the explicit 'darcy and elizabeth were always grateful for their marriage' hea statement #like most of those sorts of takes do #and i ended up using it for my exam anyway #not that argument - a different part of it that was fine and relevant #i genuinely do think that pulling valuable aspects out of flawed work is okay and even important #but it still felt a bit dirty lol #thinking about it though #i've seen the attitude in fandom too #not the 'darcy will tyrannize over elizabeth' thing of course (...much) but #that the dynamic between a teenager and her 28-y-o guardian should be like everyday sibs and it's like... uh. no #even if we're setting the vast differences between 1795/1813 and 2021 aside #but i think part of the reason it annoys me so much is that i actually find the darcy-georgiana relationship really interesting #in how they're partially distanced bc of the age/authority gap yet also in other ways all the closer because of it #there's this repeated emphasis of how they're almost like father and daughter but it's always 'almost' and not quite there #like ... they're kind of stuck in this in-between space with very little personal direction and figured out this thing that works for them #and like. she's more talkative when he's around and they write long-ass letters to each other and-and-and #it /does/ work and the immensity of georgiana's love and respect is what ultimately saved her from wickham #i think it's both complicated and sweet and they're doing their best in a very human way