Pride and Prejudice - in the view of 2026 society is Mr. Wickham simply a predator?

[mids2019]

So Lydia is 15 years old and to my (admittedly non literary mind) groomed by Mr. Wickham into eloping. Reading the book now it seems full of victim blaming with Lydia being blamed as much as Whickam for the inappropriate relationship. Is this too simplistic?

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain “Darcy always wanted a brother and Bingley fits that”

"Unfortunately an only son (for many years an only child),

I never read that as him wanting a brother. He hoped Bingley would marry his sister Georgiana, which would have made Bingley his brother-in-law.

And promptly quit acting to be a classics teacher, I think!

He was the headteacher of a school in North London last I heard!

You could flip that, though, and say Bingley, as new money trying to bed in by buying an estate (well, he’s renting Netherfield, but he’s basically trying on the life of the landed gentry with the plan to adopt it) needs to be likeable and generally friendly because he’s socially upwardly-mobile.

Whereas Darcy can stalk about looking sour and snubbing people because his social position is unassailable. He’s never had to try to fit in.

It’s even possible that Caroline Bingley is copying what she sees as Darcy’s aristocratic hauteur, because she thinks that despising the ‘vulgar’ is what you do when you’re at the Darcy level.

Interesting, I always assumed Caroline Bingley was deeply insecure because her family’s money came from trade.

Still could have been at school together - its only a theory but it is possible if he was nearly 23 and Darcy only turned 28 towards the end.

Very true!

I saw Longbourne recommended here few years ago, read it and absolutely adored it. One of my favourite books ever. Don’t know what it says about me since PP rubbished it!

I have tried to read the original P&P but english not being my mother tongue, I found it to be too laboursome . But I love reading your analysises and theories!

Just curious really - is there a translation available in your mother tongue? It would be really interesting to compare a translation with the original version in English - unfortunately I don't speak any other languages well enough to do this personally.

Talking of translations,I was just googling idly to see what Pride and Prejudice was called in French, German etc. (as you do fall down these mini rabbit holes) and apparently there is a version of the novel translated into 'modern English'!

I wonder what on earth that is like!

Found the Kindle sample of the 'Modern English' version - here is the first page.

Seems to be neither one thing nor t'other to me 😆

“I wonder what on earth that is like!”

Original: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

Modern English : Everyone knows that a single man with a good fortune must be looking for a wife.

We cross-posted. The author hasn't touched the famous opening line, it seems!

We get this!!

Original: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me." — Mr. Darcy

Modern: “She is okay-looking, but not pretty enough for me to care.”

Original: "In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." — Mr. Darcy

Modern: I tried to fight my feelings, but I failed. I love you like crazy, and you have to let me say it.

Oh, this is fun, I'm chuckling here.

It is amusing!

Original: "In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." — Mr. Darcy

Modern: I tried to fight my feelings, but it didn't work. I am crazy about you, and you have to let me tell you I love you

Original: "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me." Mr Darcy

Modern: She's alright-looking, but not hot enough to get my attention.

@SeedsOfReason How about this one!

Original: "An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do." Mr Bennet

Modern: “You're in a tough spot Elizabeth, because from now on you will be cut off from one of your parents: your mother will disown you if you refuse to marry Mr. Collins, but I will disown you if you do marry him."

Actually the more comments I read the more convinced I am that Wickham wasn't exacting revenge on Darcy. I think he would have given Lydia the brush off if he knew that Darcy was in love with Elizabeth, the last thing he needed was someone rich and powerful pursuing him. He probably knew that without help Mr Bennet and Mr Gardinar would be pretty clueless when it came to tracking him down.

”He probably knew that without help Mr Bennet and Mr Gardinar would be pretty clueless when it came to tracking him down.”

I don’t think Wickham was thinking about being tracked down by Lydia’s family. He fled Brighton to escape his massive gambling debts and creditors, and simply took Lydia along as a willing companion.

What did he think would happen when he did a bunk with a gently brought up girl from a respectable family? WAS he thinking?

If this was a Georgette Heyer book the family would have got the Bow Street Runners onto them. Mr B did go about finding them in a slightly half-arsed fashion, but then I wonder how much he actually stirred from his study into the wider world.

Wickham was utterly reckless, completely indifferent to who he hurt, and willing to sacrifice a young girl's reputation and her family's social standing for his own immediate escape.

@MrsDanversGlidesAgain “Mr B did go about finding them in a slightly half-arsed fashion, but then I wonder how much he actually stirred from his study into the wider world.”

Mr. Bennet is described in the novel as a homebody who prefers the comfort of his library. I think he is the least travelled character in P&P.

That modern language translation is excruciating. Please don’t let this lovely thread be thus polluted with any more of it!

I always feel there’s an unwritten comic scene with Mr Bennet bumbling hopelessly around London inns before Mr Gardiner gets there, thinking ‘Where do I start?’, longing for his library and hoping no duels are in his near future.