Anghraine

I know it’s not news that I love my OTP, but also, I love my OTP:

Elizabeth:

“What does Mr Darcy mean,” said she to Charlotte, “by listening to my conversation with Colonel Forster?”

“That is a question which Mr Darcy only can answer.”

“But if he does it any more I shall certainly let him know that I see what he is about. He has a very satirical eye, and if I do not begin by being impertinent myself, I shall soon grow afraid of him.”

Darcy:

“Indeed, Mr Darcy, it is very ungenerous in you to mention all that you knew to my disadvantage in Hertfordshire—and, give me leave to say, very impolitic too—for it is provoking me to retaliate, and such things may come out as will shock your relations to hear.”

“I am not afraid of you,” said he smilingly.

<3 <3

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I reblogged a post about the feeling of squee (not their word, lol) when half of a pairing touches the other half's face and the second person leans into it, and I added:

#i saw the picture of this in austen's pride and my heart nearly stopped

Sometimes she [Elizabeth] could fancy that he [Bingley] talked less than on former occasions, and once or twice pleased herself with the notion that as he looked at her, he was trying to trace a resemblance [to Jane].

Meanwhile, back at Rosings:

after examining the mother [Lady Catherine], in whose countenance and deportment she [Elizabeth] soon found some resemblance of Mr Darcy …

*whistles*

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Speaking of passages in P&P that encapsulate character, this one very much represents early Elizabeth to me:

Mr Darcy smiled; but Elizabeth thought she could perceive that he was rather offended, and therefore checked her laugh.

All that unambiguously happens is that Darcy smiles and Elizabeth opts not to laugh. But Elizabeth’s interpretation is laced with so many qualifications that I think we’re pretty much invited to question it. It’s possible that she’s right! But it is also entirely possible from this description that she’s misinterpreting his smile (one of many, as she’ll recall much later) and projecting her expectations onto him. I’m inclined to go with the latter, in part because IMO the construction of the passage throws her conclusion into doubt, and in part because it fits her character arc.

However, what her judgment actually leads her to do is not to further attack Darcy, but to courteously refrain from doing so even though she dislikes him. I think that people don’t always appreciate the extent of Elizabeth’s everyday courtesy, and how intensely she prizes courtesy in others. And while she gets it mixed up with flattery in others’ behaviour towards her, she herself is no flatterer (as she points out at the end!), just a very polite and considerate person.

That’s why lack of consideration is the core of her problem with Darcy, and why a) Mrs Reynolds’s account of his usual behaviour and b) his altered behaviour wrt Elizabeth/the Gardiners specifically weigh so much with her.

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An anon said:

So I've been having a P&P glut recently. I've loved your E/D commentary, It's especially nice to see their similarities being discussed rather than romanticising pairings with opposing characteristics (which I often find sits somewhere between being naïve & deeply unhealthy). Also when re-reading about E's visit to Pemberley it struck me that she has: 1) a inner snobby streak for good taste - like a certain somebody else & 2) a serious competence kink she didn't know she had.

I replied:

I feel you on the P&P glut, haha. And thank you!

I took an Austen seminar during my MA where my prof/advisor was super emphatic about Darcy and Elizabeth’s similarities, and while I already thought about them that way, it definitely reinforced my sense of an underlying affinity (that I think is part of the reason they overreact to each other).

That’s part of the reason that it’s so important, I feel, to avoid the natural Darcy=pride, Elizabeth=prejudice, when pride is so persistently present in both of their characters and in their relationship to each other (at all stages! one of my favourite moments is when Elizabeth’s response to discovering the extent of Darcy’s heroism is pride). I wrote a paper on it for that same class, actually—a lot of criticism traditionally aligns Elizabeth with one end of some binary and Darcy with another, and while the assignments often make no sense anyway, the whole underlying concept of a basic binary opposition is super problematic with them. They have many differences, of course, but that doesn’t make them polar opposites.

Anyway, those are good points! I think it’s interesting that they’re so overlooked in the preoccupation with whether Elizabeth marries Darcy for his money or not, a question which makes zero sense in the context of what actually impresses her at Pemberley. Those are a) his taste and b) his effective use of power.

She cares very much more about how elegant and tasteful Pemberley is than how much money it brings in (with the revelation of her and Darcy’s shared aesthetic tastes suggesting a deeper rapport). And if people are going to see Elizabeth’s interest in Darcy as self-interested rather than romantic, then it would make more sense to see Elizabeth as attracted to his power and use of it rather than, again, simple wealth. Of course, that leaves out the impact of how scrupulous his use of power is, and that she explicitly says she loves him.

I’ve been thinking about P&P as usual, and I really feel the moment that most represents early Darcy to me is this:


That is: he assumes that of course she’d be enthusiastic if she knew he was interested, because lol who wouldn’t, so it’d be inappropriate to let her imagine he’s thinking of marriage when he (obviously!) can’t marry her. It combines “I am such a good catch that any woman would be eager to have me” and “she is far beneath me” and “leading her on would be Wrong” all at once.

The thing I find interesting is how smoothly they all bleed together here, to the point that he can’t even really disentangle them. And yet, of course, part of this is coming from principle (wrt women specifically, in this case) and part of it from sheer snobbish arrogance, and those are really quite different things.

I do think part of his development is … well, Austen imagined pride as always part of Darcy’s character, and I definitely agree. He becomes less snobbish, in particular, as seen in his relationship with the Gardiners (it’s a pity that it’s so overlooked, because I think that it, even more than his relationship with Elizabeth herself, is where we see the most change). But he’s still a proud man in many ways, and I think that part of his character development is less abandoning pride than separating it out from principle, which he very explicitly does at the end.

I’ve been listening to Austen’s Pride again, since I’m in a P&P mood and it’s very soothing, and … “The Portrait Song” has its flaws (~SO MUCH PAAAAIN), but it includes the line “the way you used to smile at me” and ahhh ALL IS FORGIVEN

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In response to this post, elperian said:

this is a very relateable characteristic that I’ve never seen drawn out for darcy before. it’s interesting in that it’s the flip-side (the…MIRROR?!) of elizabeth’s perspective, which is framed in contrast with jane’s well wishing. it’s also fun to think that elizabeth finds in darcy something she values in jane.

I replied:

Right! After Elizabeth receives the letter, she realizes that her self-indulgence is “useless or blameable distrust” that led to her misjudgment of Wickham’s and Darcy’s general characters. It’s similar to how Darcy initially comes across and is in the habit of being, but I think ultimately forms a neat contrast(mirror!!) to his basic inclinations. Those are probably why he’s wrong about Jane’s feelings bc (IMO) he sees what he wants to see in them, but rightly respects her general character, as Jane does his.

I suspect this is part of the reason that, in Elizabeth’s rumination about what she and Darcy would offer each other in marriage, she thinks she’d gain the benefit of his “judgment.” Otherwise this could be a somewhat puzzling thought, but it makes sense in this context, I think.

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I just saw P&P unironically described as “enemies to lovers”

jkadfdjkfladf;a

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A cute OTP thing:

Darcy:


Elizabeth:


It is really easy to laser-focus on the ways in which one or the other benefits from their ultimate relationship, but I think it’s adorable that Darcy goes on about how Elizabeth’s influence is sO IMPORTANT, while Elizabeth is 100% sure that his influence on her would actually matter more.

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