Mr Darcy isn't all that

[Anonymous]

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?

[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 he slowly falls in love with her wit and fiestiness and that eventually changes him. He becomes warmer and more generous and gentle. He goes to great lengths to help her and her family out with no expectation of anything in return. Also he's good looking and super rich.

The love of a good women changing an asshole man is a tale as old as time.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 he slowly falls in love with her wit and fiestiness and that eventually changes him. He becomes warmer and more generous and gentle. He goes to great lengths to help her and her family out with no expectation of anything in return. Also he's good looking and super rich.

The love of a good women changing an asshole man is a tale as old as time.

+ 1

That's what Beauty and the Beast is about, for example.

[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!

I think the guy who plays him is just about the most attractive man I have ever seen! And the character is so funny and charismatic. I'd go for him over Mr. Darcy in hot second.

[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?[/quote]

I think we need to look at this in a Regency context. It seems like a little thing, even inconsequential, that Elizabeth's sisters' behavior doesn't have much impact on Darcy's interest in her, but the cultural expectation and attitude of the time dictated that the sisters' behavior (especially the "elopement" and forced marriage) would severely hurt Lizzie's marriage chances. The fact that a man of Darcy's station not only stayed interested, but went out of his way to help clean up the slutty sister mess, would be all but unheard of in that time.

[Anonymous]

Op did you bother to read the book or are you just basing your assessment on a film or tv adaptation?

[Anonymous]

Mr. Darcy vs. Jamie Frasier. Intriguing, and a very tough call!

[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!

Ahh yes!!! Amen.

[Anonymous]

Pemberley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mr. Darcy vs. Jamie Frasier. Intriguing, and a very tough call!

Wow - I was about to furiously defend Darcy, but Jamie. Yum...........

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mr. Darcy vs. Jamie Frasier. Intriguing, and a very tough call!

Yum! Anyway, OP probably didn't read the book! And in the newest movie how can anybody don't fall in love with the rain scene, Matthew Macfadyen totally steals the scene, even if he is not as gorgeous as actor who plays Jamie Frasier. Jamie is even better in books! The whole point of Pride and Prejudice is how Mr. Darcy is a snob brought to his knees.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pemberley

Meh. It could easily be a gilded cage.

Jamie makes Claire happy even when they are poor, on the run, ill, whatever. They became each other's home.

[Anonymous]

Because Colin Firth.