I am Going to Try to Compare Mr. Darcy and Mr. Collins

           As I said in class, I love Pride and Prejudice and am glad to have an excuse to read it again. This was one of the first books I read in college and I give it credit for playing a major part in making me an English major. Maybe the plot is nothing new (perhaps even when it was written) but it just seems so well crafted in its characters and language that, whatever its predictability or use of that cold society, I can thoroughly enjoy it. Actually I think the subtlety in many ways enhances the romance and through it we get some of what seems missing. This book makes me feel both smart and really dumb every time I read it. Every time there seems to be a new aspect to Elizabeth and Darcy’s back and forth. But they said all of this in real time conversation; it took me how many readings and long stares into space to get it? Anyway that’s enough of that; that’s my bit, I can stop now.

            In class we were talking about how this novel both broke and worked within the established norms of the time. Looking at the pattern of where it break and where it keeps, it seems that Austen is trying to point out a quality that is for the most part independent of the system. It seems like she is trying to redefine what it means to have a good character. Charlotte says Mr. Collins has a good character, in that he is reliable and won’t throw her out. She marries him because he provides a secure place within that society. So it appears that being a secure part of that culture was Charlotte’s definition of character. Yet, despite his “character” Elizabeth despises Mr. Collins, “disgust” is the word used when she contemplates going to see them. At first, Darcy is surprisingly like Mr. Collins in that respect. Fitzwilliam defends Darcy on the ground that he could be relied on. Darcy would look out for his friends. In a strange way so does Mr. Collins. The most notable change in Darcy when the reader and Elizabeth see him at Pemberley is that he is nice to the Gardiners, people he would before have looked down upon. But niceness is not the ultimate virtue either. Wickham is perfectly charming to everybody when he first meets them but certainly has no character and is by no means a positive character. Where am I going with this? Not 100% sure yet, but it seems that there is a combination of character and niceness that both Darcy and Elizabeth need to adopt and, because it is not based on that societie’s structure, it involves breaking certain norms (ridged class boundaries for example) while recognizing that not all the present norms are bad (the men being held to provide for their families whatever they feel about them).

          This is not a very strong argument; I am still making it up. I may post more on it later. It would be interesting to hear you guys’ thoughts on it. Looking forward to talking about the Lizzy Bennet Diaries!