anghraine | Entries tagged with ch: mrs reynolds

beatrice_otter responded to this post:

Elizabeth is very sheltered, young, and relatively privileged compared to 99% of the people in England. She’s probably never really thought about power, that much, or how easily it is abused. Well, she’s probably seen abusive husbands and definitely seen neglectful/rude husbands (her dad), but there’s a gap between “this specific relationship can be Bad” and “there are a variety of relationships that can be Bad because there is a common factor (power) and how a person treats people in X circumstance is a pretty good indicator of how they’ll treat people in Y circumstance.”

And then she goes to Pemberly, and meets Mrs. Reynolds, and Mrs. Gardiner points out obliquely why Mrs. Reynolds’ report is worth considering, and Elizabeth puts all the pieces together. She’s smart, just sheltered.

“Oh, yeah! A guy who has power over a lot of people and takes care to treat them well, will probably treat other people in his power well. A guy who treats his servants and his sister/ward in such a way that they love and respect him would probably also treat his wife in such a way that she could love and respect him.”

It’s an important point.

I replied:

I sort of agree (though I don’t think Elizabeth’s epiphany here actually owes anything to Mrs Gardiner beyond what she generally owes the Gardiners; she gets there on her own). But I would disagree a bit about the significance that she sees in the extent of his power and how he uses it.

I don’t think his treatment of the vulnerable people within the range of his power—his underage sister, his housekeeper, his other servants, his tenants, the local poor—operates purely (or perhaps even primarily) as an index for how he’d treat his wife, even for Elizabeth. I’d argue that what strikes Elizabeth here is that how Darcy treats those people—people whose welfares she’s never really thought about before—matters enormously in its own right and thus, says a great deal about his general character. That’s certainly relevant to how he might act as a husband and I think she’s aware of it, but her overall thought process here is not particularly self-centered IMO.

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Take It On the Run (REO Speedwagon)

tree responded to this post:

i can’t remember the wording, but someone (mrs gardiner?) even comments on the significance of such a recommendation of his character by an intelligent servant.

I replied:

It’s in the narration, but yes!

The commendation bestowed on him by Mrs Reynolds was of no trifling nature. What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant? As a brother, a landlord, a master, she considered how many people’s happiness were in his guardianship!—how much of pleasure or pain was it in his power to bestow!—how much of good or evil must be done by him!f

The text is emphatic that the judgment of Mrs Reynolds and those in roughly similar positions to her is immensely important as an indicator of Darcy’s (or anyone’s) true character. I think people do tend to treat it as "trifling," unfortunately—nice, but not terribly weighty, despite Austen underscoring its importance here and Elizabeth suddenly grasping that Darcy’s character is best understood by those who are directly subject to his power.

I actually find that moment super interesting in general, because I think the implication is that Elizabeth had not before understood this. It’s not that she never thought about it before because she didn’t have access to the people under Darcy’s power, IMO, but because she wasn’t thinking of his power in those terms. So it’s doing interesting work with Elizabeth’s characterization, too, but still gets relegated to an afterthought. :\

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Fields of Gold (Sting)

In response to this post, akaaallttyynn said:

There’s a way in which being Virtuous can be it’s own sort of pride. As with the rich man giving to charity it ultimately feeds back into their own self image more than it impacts anyone else

I replied:

Ehhh, depends on the case. Men leading women on and then noping out is a real problem throughout Austen’s novels. Darcy isn’t wrong to think about the potential effect of his actions, just mistaken in this case (bc of his arrogance, certainly). And, while his moral character is certainly tied up in pride, a major swerve in Elizabeth’s feelings about him comes when she realizes that his virtue does have an incredibly powerful impact on a large number of other people.

“He is the best landlord, and the best master,” said she [Mrs Reynolds], “that ever lived. Not like the wild young men now-a-days, who think of nothing but themselves. There is not one of his tenants or servants but what will give him a good name. Some people call him proud; but I am sure I never saw any thing of it.”

… The commendation bestowed on him by Mrs Reynolds was of no trifling nature. What praise is more valuable than the praise of an intelligent servant? As a brother, a landlord, a master, she considered how many people’s happiness were in his guardianship!—How much of pleasure or pain it was in his power to bestow!—How much of good or evil must be done by him!

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Luke and Leia (John Williams)

awesomenell65 reblogged this post, and added a comment about how regrettable it is that the Gardiners are so sidelined in adaptation.

I replied:

I think it throws off the balance of who is really important, and what behaviors are being held up as admirable in Austen’s work, in this novel in particular.

This, exactly. It’s especially important because of Austen’s enduring preoccupation with the effects of education and upbringing on how people develop and who they become. P&P in particular highlights the failures of parents and parental figures over and over (even Mr Collins has a bad parenting backstory!). The Gardiners are virtually the only exception to this (both w/ their own children and with their influence on Jane and Elizabeth), and their intermittent but persistent presence right up to the last line centers the qualities that are really important in going forward, and undercuts the importance of others, especially class.

Tagged:

#the gardiners are both some of the lowest-ranking characters in the book #and the most purely benevolent #in a way that's not really saccharine at all #but it's... not sure how to put this #but #adaptations are always choosing to foreground certain elements and minimize others in their retellings #this is an inevitable part of adapting things—and /what/ is chosen for each can be very suggestive #beyond just weighing judgment on whether it's faithful / unfaithful #it would be perfectly possible for adaptations to foreground class /more/ than the book does #and instead it's largely diminished and when addressed it's in a super reductionist way #and that reflects a general lack of interest in it that i think particularly influences the treatment of the gardiners and mrs reynolds

Current Location: Washington
Current Music: Don't Know Much (Linda Ronstadt ft. Aaron Neville)

I can't remember if I've posted this over here (like so many things), so posting it anyway.

title: tolerably well acquainted (1/?)
verse: Comforts and Consequences
characters: Elizabeth Bennet, Fitzwilliam Darcy; Mr Gardiner, Mrs Gardiner, Mrs Reynolds; Darcy/Elizabeth
stuff that happens: Darcy's letter altered Elizabeth's feelings about him—but Pemberley alters them even more.

“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.” She wheeled around, leading them towards the next room.

Elizabeth stood absolutely still for a moment, stunned, then had to hurry to catch up, her mind whirling. Darcy? Darcy, who … but Elizabeth looked at the housekeeper’s thin, frail form, saw her evident pride in her place in the great family, and even Darcy’s worst moments seemed to fade into insignificance. He should not have said what he did, of course, nothing could make it appropriate, but—how many other men, pleasanter in a ballroom, would have treated a Mrs Reynolds half so well?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: Washington
Current Music: The Portrait Song (Austen's Pride)

I've discovered that I don't hate religion, per se, just mine. Um, yay.

But seriously. A teacher explaining that there has only ever been one universally accepted model of marriage until now as the lesson to be learned from Abraham's family is so horrifically wrong that, in retrospect, it starts coming around the other side. ~~That family tree is the simplified version I made to help me sort out the main characters. Now I wish I'd drawn it on the board.~~

---------------

Title: First Impressions (8/13, 9/13)

Fanverse: First Impressions

Blurb: Henry finishes his trip to Hunsford, discusses the fallout with Jane, then goes with the Gardiners to Pemberley and gets another harsh dose of reality.

---------------

( Chapter Eight )

( Chapter Nine )

Current Location: St Helens, OR
Current Music: Had I Been In Love

If a parallel version of Pride and Prejudice took place in the Potterverse's ~~Regency~~ Georgian period, Mrs Reynolds would be a house-elf.

That's all.

Current Location: St Helens, OR
Current Music: Mad World

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Anghraine

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