The only JA villain who suffered genuine remorse is Henry CrawfordActually, I will go even further and say it's hard for me to even consider Henry Crawford in the same category as a Wickham or a Willoughby. Henry most definitely should not have done what he did with a married woman. But even so, I think he came closer to truly loving Fanny and doing more for her than did the selfish Wickham did for anyone ("must make my fortune somewhere"). I know --someone may object that Henry had his own money while Wickham was poor. Is that an excuse? Should we allow Willoughby the same excuse, namely, as Elizabeth Bennet might have said, handsome young men must have something to live on just as the plain ones. Well, I think Elizabeth was wrong in that bit of wisdom if it was intended to give any man a pass for mistreating a woman, however little money he has. And I don't really think that is what Elizabeth meant.
Willoughby's love was meaningless to Marianne when it could have counted because it did not occur to him to tell Mrs. Smith about Marianne. He hid his love because he was too afraid the old lady might snatch away his financial support. It is deliciously fitting that he later finds that Mrs. Smith might indeed have gone on supporting him if he had presented a reasonable candidate like Marianne to be his wife AND, of course, at the same had acknowledged his poor treatment of Eliza. Everything could have been fixed in his favor had he only been true to Marianne and kind to Eliza. But, instead, Willoughby latched on to the rich Sophia Grey with all the integrity of a thirsty leech. As much as he might have regretted Marianne when she married someone else, his regret is much less pitiful than the misery Marianne suffered in London waiting for him to write and then being cut by him when he was in Sophia's presence.
Later, JA reports he frequently enjoyed himself. Plenty of money, the life of a gentleman with not a care in the world. If in his luxury, he moaned at the thought about Marianne in the arms of Colonel Brandon, then good! It is regret richly deserved and his misery did not reach the agony Marianne had experienced over him. At least, his regret of Marianne was one cloud on a life of ease otherwise untouched --but I see no evidence and can infer none that suggests his regret made him a better man. That is what counts. (Forgive the rant, everyone, I think it's out of my system now--LOL.)
