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My favourite..
Ulrike Wrote:
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> One of my favourite Bingleyisms is this
> conversation with his sister:
[...]
> "I am talking of possibilities, Charles."
>
> "Upon my word, Caroline, I should think it more
> possible to get Pemberley by purchase than by
> imitation."
> THAT is not a stupid man!
Great example, Ulrike. I like the exchange with Caroline regarding balls:
"I should like balls infinitely better,” she replied, “if they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of the day.”
“Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball.”
As the narrator tells us, "Bingley was by no means deficient" in understanding.
Sadly, nuanced characterisation is often one of the first casualties of fan fiction. Characters can all too easily become caricatures.
Suzanne, to go back to your original question in this thread, I think you've created an intelligent, wonderfully plausible scenario with this story. Elizabeth has not lost any of my respect in accepting Darcy in these circumstances. I think in some ways she might even look a bit better than in the original in being able to look past vanity and personal affronts in order to look at Darcy and the offer more rationally, more pragmatically.
As contemporary readers I think we essentialise romance and passion within fiction, and forget how much of our beliefs are cultural rather than natural. I find the most satisfying aspects of Austen's romances in her rationalist undercurrents. I love that Lizzy considers issues such as respect and compatibility:
"She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him; she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his addresses"
and "She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance. But no such happy marriage could now teach the admiring multitude what connubial felicity really was"
I find these rational considerations far more substantial than heart palpitations, heaving bosoms and longing gazes.
Given the circumstances of women in the early nineteenth century, and of the Bennet women in particular, I'm certainly not going to fault Lizzy's choice. Can I go so far as to say, I give the couple in your story a far better chance of fulfilling relationship than those based on a passionate love/lust at first sight. Though both Elizabeth and Darcy are far from perfect, they do have the tools needed to build a foundation of mutual understanding and esteem. The aspects of compromise in this story already show they both can learn, bend, grow and develop.
I've been remiss in not commenting on the message board, Suzanne, but I'm thoroughly enjoying your tale.
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of my favourite Bingleyisms is this
> conversation with his sister:
[...]
> "I am talking of possibilities, Charles."
>
> "Upon my word, Caroline, I should think it more
> possible to get Pemberley by purchase than by
> imitation."
> THAT is not a stupid man!
Great example, Ulrike. I like the exchange with Caroline regarding balls:
"I should like balls infinitely better,” she replied, “if they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of the day.”
“Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball.”
As the narrator tells us, "Bingley was by no means deficient" in understanding.
Sadly, nuanced characterisation is often one of the first casualties of fan fiction. Characters can all too easily become caricatures.
Suzanne, to go back to your original question in this thread, I think you've created an intelligent, wonderfully plausible scenario with this story. Elizabeth has not lost any of my respect in accepting Darcy in these circumstances. I think in some ways she might even look a bit better than in the original in being able to look past vanity and personal affronts in order to look at Darcy and the offer more rationally, more pragmatically.
As contemporary readers I think we essentialise romance and passion within fiction, and forget how much of our beliefs are cultural rather than natural. I find the most satisfying aspects of Austen's romances in her rationalist undercurrents. I love that Lizzy considers issues such as respect and compatibility:
"She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him; she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his addresses"
and "She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance. But no such happy marriage could now teach the admiring multitude what connubial felicity really was"
I find these rational considerations far more substantial than heart palpitations, heaving bosoms and longing gazes.
Given the circumstances of women in the early nineteenth century, and of the Bennet women in particular, I'm certainly not going to fault Lizzy's choice. Can I go so far as to say, I give the couple in your story a far better chance of fulfilling relationship than those based on a passionate love/lust at first sight. Though both Elizabeth and Darcy are far from perfect, they do have the tools needed to build a foundation of mutual understanding and esteem. The aspects of compromise in this story already show they both can learn, bend, grow and develop.
I've been remiss in not commenting on the message board, Suzanne, but I'm thoroughly enjoying your tale.
