Reply to What were Elizabeth Bennett’s prospects in the real world?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Would a love match to a member of the landed gentry really be so far outside the realm of possibility? It was a fantasy but is there anything specific that would make it impossible? Or just a love match to somebody in the church? Or even a trade?

I think that if Elizabeth didn’t find a love match she would have remained single. [/quote]

One of her problems was her rural isolation and apparently small extended family. I think her best bet would have been meeting a man through the Gardiners, but he would have been a professional man in their circles, not a gentleman. Still could have been a man of sense and education and the son of a gentleman, but someone in line to inherit an estate.[/quote]

The Gardiners were affluent London merchants (not a barrister). Mr. Gardiner was Mrs. Bennett's brother, and he would have been the son of the country solicitor that was Mrs. Bennett's father, and who was also father to Aunt Phillips, whose husband was also an attorney.

This shows that the social boundaries between the minor gentry and affluent professionals and solicitors and merchants was always fluid. Mrs. Bennett did comment there had been a fellow merchant friend of Mr. Gardiner who showed interest in Jane and she'd have been satisfied with that match.

Darcy was a much higher rank. By the standards of the day, the provincial gentry and working merchants were far below him in social status. Although he had no title, he was the grandson of an earl and his family's fortune, estate, and history placed him very high up in the social ranks. It was a different world from the Bennetts. I daresay a decent comparison to today would be comfortably off UMC people with net worth of 5-10M to someone worth 100+M.[/quote]

Funny comparison.  So in DCUM-land, the Bennetts live in MoCo in a nice $1.5M home which they bought for the good schools because sending 5 kids to private is too much.  They fret about their home prices going down with affordable housing going up in the area, and gossip about the tech guy building a McMansion nearby (Mr. Bingley).  Mr. Bennett brings in a reliable income as a fed, but he's really checked out and just in it for the benefits and steady paycheck.  Mrs. Bennett used to work before they had kids, but now she's a SAHM and she obsesses a lot about getting the kids into a good college.

Whereas Mr. Darcy is like from the NYC old-money social scene.  His family's name graces a wing of the Met (where he is on the board) and several college buildings.  He has homes in NYC, the Hamptons and somewhere in the south of France.  He works, but it's for like "managing the family investments" or some other very flexible "finance" job, but which is definitely not a 9-5.  [/quote]

Hah, yes.  And Mrs Bennett posts constantly on DCUM about how their HHI of $200K or whatever is really poor in this area and they can’t afford anything.[/quote]
I love everything about this analogy. So who would mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas be in DCUM Austenland? What about colonel firzwilliam? Also Mr wickham? What would the dcum equivalent of Lydia running off with wickham be?

Also where would pemberley be located in the DMV? My money is on middleburg maybe. Brighton is clearly Annapolis.[/quote]

I'll take a shot at this:

[b]Charlotte is a public interest lawyer.  She believes in what she does, but she works long hours for not great pay.  She's a bit frumpy and with her long hours, she never found someone to settle down with.  She's always wanted kids.  Now she's mid-30s and fears her fertility window closing.  Mr. Collins is also a lawyer -- he's not very attractive, he's balding and has a paunch and an abrasive personality but his Biglaw firm has promised him that he'll make partner in a couple of years in which case the big bucks start rolling him.  He promises her that she can stay home after he makes partner and raise the kids.  Charlotte's tempted -- she likes her job but she's burnt out, she's having hard time supporting herself on her pay, and if she marries Mr. Collins -- she could have a beautifully appointed house in Bethesda, kids and hired help.  She doesn't love Mr. Collins, but he'll be working so much in Biglaw, she'll hardly ever see him![/b]

Colonel Fitzwilliam is a a distant relative of Mr. Darcy who has the impressive name but not much of the money.  His family had just enough money to send him to good schools and give him a small trust fund.  He studied visual arts and filmmaking in college and is not interested a "regular" job.  He adjuncts at NYU and that small income combined with his small trust fund is enough to get by, but he's looking for someone with real money who can fund his vanity art film project and the lifestyle to keep up with his friends and relatives like Mr. Darcy who are on the NYC benefit social scene and then summer in the Hamptons.  What he can offer is a share in the old family beach house in Montauk -- he gets two weeks a summer.

Lydia has left HS to go live the vanlife with Mr. Wickham, who's going to document their trip on IG and Tiktok.  He is an "influencer" who thinks he can make a living this way.  He will pressure Lydia to start an onlyfans.  Mrs. Bennett is beside herself because this is not what UMC kids who go to Churchill do!  She's afraid the other moms in her mom friend group will ostracize her.

I don't think Pemberley is in the DMV.  If the DMV is Hertfordshire, Pemberley is nowhere nearby.  Sorry to knock the DMV but like Hertfordshire, it is not considered "fashionable" like NYC or LA.  Remember Mr. Darcy only visited because his new money friend Mr. Bingley was considering buying a place here and he is very dismissive of the local social scene.  Pemberley is classic old money.  Pemberley is in Greenwich, CT.  
 [/quote]

Disagree only about the Hunsford couple. Charlotte's problem disappears in the modern world. She has what it takes to live today in modest, independent, and respectable comfort without the man, even as a public interest lawyer with not great pay.

Also, Collins does not have what it takes to work in BigLaw. What's a minimally-educated position that comes with housing that you can get today by flattering a single vain patron? Maybe a celebrity entourage member who gets to live in the guesthouse? He appeals to Lady Catherine but doesn't seem able to appeal to anyone else, and he doesn't seem bright enough to have a successful professional life without people skills.[/quote]

The other thing is that Charlotte is probably too practical to go into a less well-compensated field. She's not short on intelligence or self-discipline, so she doesn't have to compromise the way she did in a system that counts only dowry, connexions (sic!), and looks.[/quote]

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