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?

Ohh, it shall not be!

And being accosted by ladies of negotiable virtue as he bumbles around seedy lodging houses looking for the pair.

It does make you appreciate Austen’s style all the more, though!

The Bennet marriage really is the union of a committed introvert with an out and out extrovert, isn't it?

I've been thinking.

Mr Bennet doesn't have any siblings? which suggests his mother may have died when he was young

and crucially his father didn't get him to break the entail, which suggests that his father died before he was 21

so I'm imagining this slightly lost young man returning for a funeral from Oxbridge to Meryton with his situationship-friend Gardiner, rattling round a slightly cheerless Longbourn while envying Gardiner's family life (even though the considerably more personable and sociable G is about to go off to some kind of venture in London) and then dutifully turning up to see his attorney only to encounter a vision of feminine charm

Their first daughter is named after her mother, the second after his mother, the third after her sister and the fourth after herself (which is why she's always known by the diminutive) and then with the fifth her romantic imagination is given full rein

Having read it recently in keeping with Ds doing so it’s brilliantly written.

Some lines are superb.

My eyes, noo

We underlined and shared our favourite lines and the original was one of them.

In The Big Bang Theory, Amy watches Indiana Jones, and points out a huge plot hole, that Sheldon hasn’t spotted.

So, in retaliation, he reads P&P to try to ruin it for her somehow.
But, he tells Leonard: I can’t. It’s a flawless masterpiece.

Wise words!

My reading nowadays is that both Lizzie and Darcy suffer equally from pride and prejudice. It is evenly distributed!

When we meet Darcy, he has a complacent, rather empty headed pride which is based entirely on inherited station and wealth. As a result he is complacent, and stuck in a rut of convention. The things he would have to do for himself, like the daily grind of interpersonal relationships he does not really bother with - no dancing, sneery, letting the Bingley sisters make the efforts on his behalf etc. His prejudice towards all others not of his station is easy to see.

Lizzie has holds hard to her pride even with the full knowledge of the shortcomings of her family. She shows not a little pride in her conceit that she would not do what Charlotte Lucas did, and settle in a pragmatic relationship. She is very prejudiced towards Darcy from the get go because she recognizes his acidic nature and snobbism. I think it triggers her, as it is very close indeed to how her father speaks of, and to, her mother.

They are both locked and loaded with P&P, each one challenges both feature in the other, and in so doing, they make each other better. At least imo! 😛

JA is truly an artist. I bloody love that book.

It kind of is.

I also think intelligence plays a considerable role. One has to wonder if Mrs. Bennet was more inclined to intellectual pursuits would the relationship be different?

I also think that by the time we meet Mrs. Bennet, she is menopausal, and in the throes of panic.

I can’t get over the rewrite below. It’s sacrilegious.

I hope no school touches it but who does

@AlonsoMosley “I also think that by the time we meet Mrs. Bennet, she is menopausal, and in the throes of panic.”

I think that too.

"You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves."

Ok so Darcy didn’t tell people about his sister nearly being Wickham’s victim in order to preserve his own Mr D legend and status and future options, rather than speaking out on it for the good of the other girls? So he shows morally sinful pride/self interest in that sense?

I really doubt he'd have done that because that would besmirch his sister's reputation with strangers. Certainly he wouldn't tell gently brought up girls about such a thing, and even if he did feel obliged to tell their parents, who would believe him? from the get go he had this reputation in Meryton of being proud and arrogant, and Wickham was everyone's favourite for his approachability and friendliness. People would just assume it was rich man trying to destroy man fighting for his country.

I won't encourage further modern language pollution of the shades of this thread!

The modern version does remind me a bit of the 'lolcats' craze years ago - people condensed entire books into this 'lolcats' one liners language. Someone did all Antonia Forest's Marlow novels and they were hilarious, not sure if anyone dared touch Jane Austen though.

I thought the reason Mr Darcy kept silent about Wickham and his sister, was to protect Georgiana’s reputation and prevent a terrible social scandal.

Sorry!

I'm just re-reading Emma alongside dd who is grossed out at the age gap (21 and 38). Yes both adults but he would have been an adult and her a child for most of their relationship. And again she is "silly" a lot but now I'm older reading it, at times you just want him to fuck off and let her be her.

There is an even a bigger age gap between Marianne and Colonel Brandon.

Lots of critical speculation about why Mr Collins isn’t a Bennet. Most likely theory is that he’s descended from a younger son (as Mr B is presumably descended from a line of eldests) who changed his name at some point in the past to inherit (like one of JA’s own brothers) .

Mr C is the last generation covered by the entail — it’s not like inheritance law, as I understand it; someone has to specifically set up an entail on their estate, to protect the family land against a gambler son or the like. It only usually lasts two generations, or three (though I think the one in Sense and Sensibility is longer) . Mr Collins will be able to leave Longbourn to whoever he likes, because he will own it without conditions.

This is a lovely thread.

Same!

And her father is utterly suffocating so between he two of them ... !

But he does love her!

"If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

It’s understandable why Mr Woodhouse is like this. Emma is devoted to him.

... she is mid ...

That is what mine would say!

Oh, they undoubtedly love her, and Mr. Kightley stands up to her and encourages her to be better. I really like that for Emma because nobody else can or will.

But , he is older and more than a little jaded.

Her dad loves her too, but in a very selfish way.