To think Marianne shouldn't have married Colonel Brandon?

[squoosh]

Okay Willoughby was a cad and a bounder and took himself out of the running, but I do think that Brandon swooped in to take advantage of her rain induced fever which had left her a bit dazed and compliant.

It's a bit creepy that he falls in love with her because she reminds him of his long lost, 'fallen', dead love. Plus he's a bit intense, the laughs wouldn't be forthcoming and I'll warrant he expected her to do all kinds of dark shit in the bedroom.

Ideally she'd have had another couple of seasons in London and met lots of nice suitors or maybe even nipped across to Pride and Prejudice and married that nice Colonel Fitzwilliam.

You had me at 'all kinds of dark s* in the bedroom' 😏

Colonel Brandon has a dark side? Unlikely, but I like the suggestion very much.

Yes, Willoughby and Emma Thompson are/were married in real life.

Watched this a while ago becoming Jane which traces Janes doomed love affair and the influence it had on her writing.

The best bit about the zombie P&P is the tongue-in-cheek book club discussion suggestions at the end.

You know what I've never quite understood in P&P is did Wickham COUNT on Darcy wanting to save the reputation of the Bennets when he eloped with Lydia? I must read the book again. Beacause the repeat of it with Jennifer Ehle seems to imply this.

ppeatfruit- Wickham ran away because he had gambling debts and took Lydia with him as something to pass the time. He never had any intention of marrying her and still hoped to make a marriage of fortune elsewhere. As Lydia was poor, had no brothers or 'connections', it was a safe bet no-one would come after them. But obviously when Mr Darcy found out, he had other ideas.

As for Marianne Dashwood, she didn't deserve Colonel Brandon. She's one of those tedious women, a bit like Jane Bennett, who can't catch a cold without nearly dying from it, Awful, awful character.

I don't know if anyone else saw it, but there was a great production of P&P this year at the Regent's Park Open Air theatre. They had a wonderful girl playing Lydia - the actress was only 17 in real life, and looked very young, so it did give you an added sense of what an exploitative creep Wickham really was.

Never thought about it really. I think it more likely that Wickham, being a bit of a cad, did not want to marry Lydia anyway and was probably a bit put out that Darcy turned up just in time to save the Bennets' reputation. Lydia is not a catch, so I can't see why Wickham, who has been able to depend on Darcy's generosity in the past, should want to settle with a girl with very little. And he did pursue Darcy's (rich) sister for a while.

The under-rated Henry Tilney is the nicest Austen hero and the only one I would actually want to marry. Much as I love P&P, Darcy would be far too high maintenance.

I think I've only read Northanger Abbey once, I need to read it again soon for sure.

Henry Tilney's intense interest in dresses and fabrics would be a distinct turn-off for me, I must say. Plus any adult man who is prepared to go off and spend two entire days preparing to host his (admittedly tyrannical and fussy) father to dinner at his vicarage needs to get a grip!

At the end of P&P JA implies that once married Wickham regularly sent Lydia to Darcy to ask for handouts to fund their extravagant lifestyle

There's a lovely blog post here that talks about the Bechdel test and the "Jane Austen exemption".

When Jane and Elizabeth and Charlotte talk about Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy, they talk about £5,000 and £10,000 a year respectively. These are conversations about economics and sociology much more than they are conversations about men. They are conversations about whether you will be able to survive after your parents die and whether the man whom you will be utterly dependent on for said survival will treat you halfway decently.

Henry Tilney's intense interest in dresses and fabrics would be a distinct turn-off for me, I must say

Better to be a beard that Mrs Wickham

I often wonder if Ja was a bit of a man-hater, as she seems to make fun of so many of them. Perhaps her own spinsterhood left a mark?

Lovely witty Mr Tilney is my favourite as well.

I thought Gwyneth Paltrow made a good Emma because I dislike the character and I dislike Gwyneth!

But if Willoughby had been ditched by his rich fiancee before the wedding I wonder if she would have married him after all. No. I think she is better off with Brandon.

Thanks judy So in a way Darcy is more of a hero because he 'forced' Wickham to marry the stupid garrulous Lydia and I bet Wickham regretted it for ever!!

biryani She takes the piss out of women as well though e.g. Mrs. Bennett and Lady Catherine de Burgh and her poor daughter (who i feel sorry for actually ). There ARE more silly men though she was a realist IMO !!

It seems that none of them had any money of their own, and when they married, their husband got it.

I don't think it would have been n Charlotte's best interest to put arsenic in mr Collins' tea" more tea vicar?" as the house that they lived in was tied to his job.
She had no security at all, maybe a bit more by having a baby?

I think JA gave a good snapshot of life without any independence for both men and women: they were all nearly buried under obligations.
The only ones that seems to have any fun are the men about town, or those who can buy a commission in the army, or church. And even then, that had to "take a wife", as it was expected.

We can only bless the suffragettes! Hip hip hurrah!

Oh I've thought of someone else I'd marry from JA's back catalogue, Robert Martin from Emma. He was prosperous if not overly wealthy, could afford to keep a cook and a maid so you wouldn't need to slave away too much. Definitely not posh so you would be allowed go to raucous barn dances and then drunkenly scoff some game pie together in the wee hours.

And he was very nice.

IKWYM Venus it was just a pipe dream .

True about independence; if you were a younger son you had very little hope as well (apart from the death of all your older brothers!)

Yes I agree squoosh perhaps a bit too nice to put up with Harriet's snobbish treatment especially as it was a copy of Emma's unpleasant treatment of him.

I've just got to the furniture-molesting scene

And is it my imagination or can i see massive skyscrapers through the Windows in the scene where Fanny Dashwood goes mental at Lucy Steel?