Mr Darcy isn't all that

[Anonymous]

I have read that book at least half a dozen times. Darcy is not the asshole he seems to be. Her "prejudice" plays a critical role in this misassessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The thing is:
He has always been warm, kind.
The situation with the predator mr wickham, someone he knows has been helped by his own family, made him more guarded. He doesn't trust as well.
I do think he always was a snob, that's true. But what bugs him most about Liz's family is not their lower class, but some of the bad manners he witnessed. Even Liz would admit to those/-she is embarrassed by them too.
Last, he just sticks his foot in his mouth. He's a little shy, only opens up to people he knows. So he says the wrong things a lot, or else clams up. And people perceive his silence to be rude.

There!

i don't find him rude. He's paranoid because of fortune hunting mamas and condescending to people of lower social status.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because Colin Firth.

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because Colin Firth.

Yup.

Not even remotely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is:
He has always been warm, kind.
The situation with the predator mr wickham, someone he knows has been helped by his own family, made him more guarded. He doesn't trust as well.
I do think he always was a snob, that's true. But what bugs him most about Liz's family is not their lower class, but some of the bad manners he witnessed. Even Liz would admit to those/-she is embarrassed by them too.
Last, he just sticks his foot in his mouth. He's a little shy, only opens up to people he knows. So he says the wrong things a lot, or else clams up. And people perceive his silence to be rude.

There!

i don't find him rude. He's paranoid because of fortune hunting mamas and condescending to people of lower social status.

Darcy is not shy. Georgianna is shy but her brother is just aloof, judgmental and guarded. He said it himself, he was raised with good principles but left to himself he didn't develop them. He's very affable with people of his own station apparently. Even Col. Fitzwilliam teased him about it in the piano scene at Rosings. If he were actually shy, no one would tease him or be shocked at his behavior in Hertfordshire.

[Anonymous]

What do you make of the fact that Elizabeth's feelings toward him soften when she sees Pemberley?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you make of the fact that Elizabeth's feelings toward him soften when she sees Pemberley?

That isn't what happens in the book, though I rather fault the excellent 1996 miniseries for giving that impression while Jennifer Ehle looks around the estate all enchanted (girl meets House).
In the book, she understands his sense of self-consequence better seeing where he comes from, but it is the housekeeper's stories and opinion of Darcy vs. her opinion of Wickham that make Elizabeth think twice and consider how much responsibility Darcy has for the well-being of everyone who depends on him, and how responsible a person he is and how much he thinks about others, unlike Wickham. She also gives weight to the high opinion people have of Darcy who have known him all his life.

Then Darcy comes along and is really friendly and open to her City relatives who make their living in trade, and that leaves her thinking 3 times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is:
He has always been warm, kind.
The situation with the predator mr wickham, someone he knows has been helped by his own family, made him more guarded. He doesn't trust as well.
I do think he always was a snob, that's true. But what bugs him most about Liz's family is not their lower class, but some of the bad manners he witnessed. Even Liz would admit to those/-she is embarrassed by them too.
Last, he just sticks his foot in his mouth. He's a little shy, only opens up to people he knows. So he says the wrong things a lot, or else clams up. And people perceive his silence to be rude.

There!

i don't find him rude. He's paranoid because of fortune hunting mamas and condescending to people of lower social status.

I love Mr. Darcy, but he is quite rude, and he thinks it doesn't matter among a bunch of fly-overs living in East Jesus. And Elizabeth's family is embarrassing, and that is a known 18th century literary trope, one used to a more broadly comic effect in a P&P predecessor novel, Fanny Burney's Evelina.

But it is him being so rude that makes Elizabeth's smack down so satisfying, and the subsequent revolution in both characters so satisfying. I like to think they end up together because of the innate goodness of each, allowing them to correct themselves with humility, no easy feat. I also think that a lot of the writers who try to do sequels misunderstand that is isn't about the house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, he is super rich and handsome but he's a serious jerk and very arrogant. He meets Elizabeth and describes her as "tolerable,"

He refuses to play the game of pretending that every woman presented to him is some great beauty. He eventually falls in love wih her for her personality and mind, rather than because she is pretty. He is also pretty sick of having every single girl in his path thrown at him simply because he's wealthy and unmarried.

he finds her family to be low class and trash;
Elizabeth thinks her family is pretty low class and trashy too. She spends large sections of the book talking smack about her mom and younger sisters to her dad.

he breaks up the relationship between Bingley and Jane
Elizabeth chastises Jane for not being demonstrative enough. Darcy sees how much Bingley likes Jane and sees how reserved Jane is with Bingley and concludes that Jane isn't that into him so he tries to keep his friend from having his heart broken.

and he insults Lizzie as he proposes to her.
This one is true. He spent his whole life having girls of Elizabeth's class thrown at him by their mothers and friends because he is so rich. He knows that he is worth a lot more than Elizabeth on the marriage market (both money and his family connections) and he is surprised by how little that matters to him. He definitely needs some humble pie, but he very quickly realizes that he would be lucky to have Elizabeth, not just the other way round.

What the hell? Why do we think he's such a dream boat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is:
He has always been warm, kind.
The situation with the predator mr wickham, someone he knows has been helped by his own family, made him more guarded. He doesn't trust as well.
I do think he always was a snob, that's true. But what bugs him most about Liz's family is not their lower class, but some of the bad manners he witnessed. Even Liz would admit to those/-she is embarrassed by them too.
Last, he just sticks his foot in his mouth. He's a little shy, only opens up to people he knows. So he says the wrong things a lot, or else clams up. And people perceive his silence to be rude.

There!

i don't find him rude. He's paranoid because of fortune hunting mamas and condescending to people of lower social status.

I love Mr. Darcy, but he is quite rude, and he thinks it doesn't matter among a bunch of fly-overs living in East Jesus. And Elizabeth's family is embarrassing, and that is a known 18th century literary trope, one used to a more broadly comic effect in a P&P predecessor novel, Fanny Burney's Evelina.

But it is him being so rude that makes Elizabeth's smack down so satisfying, and the subsequent revolution in both characters so satisfying. I like to think they end up together because of the innate goodness of each, allowing them to correct themselves with humility, no easy feat. I also think that a lot of the writers who try to do sequels misunderstand that is isn't about the house.

Yes to much of the above from both posters.
Scenes which support this: (btw I have read the book three times but because I have seen the movies 700timew, I forget what happens in the book or doesn't (but obviously everyone knows the knightly-McFayden flick is farthest from the book)

Scenes:
-The housekeepers opinion of him. Now, you could all her biased, but as liz's opinion of wickham is turning sour, the housekeeper confirms that too.
-the fact that bingley is a foil to Darcy. Also wickham is a foil to Darcy.
--bingley: friendly with everyone, maybe too open and too friendly. Praising everything, constantly optimistic, likable
--wickham: also friendly, open but also deceitful, victimizes himself at least in the telling of his fake sob stories
--Darcy is opposite of the above. Not open, not outwardly friendly. But at least he's straightforward, tells it like it is, or else keeps his mouth shut.

-georgianna's praise of her brother
-the fact he hasn't ended up with miss bingley already.
-his friendliness to liz's aunt and uncle because, though lower, they are agreeable and have kind manners. Whereas liz's mom, face it, hardly gets along with anyone. The only people mrs Bennett is close with are her gossiping neighbor and her young girls who are not exactly great company either

-he trusted Georgiana's host, but that was a mistake. He's more closed off from new people than ever. Plus, I think he's worried about letting people in, in case they find out about G & mr wickham and start spreading gossip.

-he's just so straightforward and doesn't sugarcoat. The whole conversation about the country being less varied than the city. Stupid of him to say, but true.

[Anonymous]

^gossipping neighbor is her sister, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sure, he is super rich and handsome but he's a serious jerk and very arrogant. He meets Elizabeth and describes her as "tolerable," he finds her family to be low class and trash; he breaks up the relationship between Bingley and Jane and he insults Lizzie as he proposes to her. What the hell? Why do we think he's such a dream boat?

Because you've only told half the story . . . . Did you bother to read the rest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have read that book at least half a dozen times. Darcy is not the asshole he seems to be. Her "prejudice" plays a critical role in this misassessment.

I agree. He explains that he was misunderstood. He wasn't as asshole-y as he appears. He broke up Bingley and her sister because he thought her sister was indifferent about him, and he didn't want his friend to get hurt.

And, he came to Elizabeth's "rescue" to retain her societal standing after the slutty sister debacle. That says a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think he's the ideal catch.

Personally, my ideal is Jamie Frasier from the Outlander series. I haven't seen the show, but I read all the books starting over a decade ago. Jamie just gets better as he ages!

Oh god yes.

But I love Mr. Darcy, too.

[Anonymous]

It's been a while since I re-read but I don't think you can entirely deny the house, esp in contrast to Charlotte Collins.