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][quote]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.[/quote]

No, it was a clerk of her Uncle Phillips, a solicitor.

Mrs. Bennett married up. Her father was a solicitor and her sister married one of his clerks, who then took over his practice. Mrs. Bennett, nee Gardiner, married a gentleman, i.e., someone who did not have to work for a living because he owned property. If Jane had married the clerk, she would have moved down in social standing and Mrs. Bennett would NOT have been satisfied with that.

When Lizzie tries to refute Lady Catherine deBurgh's statement that d'Arcy is out of her social class, she says something close to "He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter," deBurgh says something like "that is true as far as it goes ...but who are your mother, your uncles?"

And when d'Arcy sees Elizabeth when she and the Gardiners visit Pemberley, he asks to be introduced to them. Lizzie thinks it ironic that he is being asked to be introduced to people who he would not have deigned to talk to because of their class. She mentions that he is surprised by the connection. He had thought Mr. Gardiner was a gentleman.

Oh and there is no world in which Col. Fitzwilliam was going to propose to Lizzie.

[/quote]

Why wouldn't Col. Fitzwilliam propose? Why was he waiting  for her by himself? For what purpose?[/quote]

He couldn't afford to marry her. He needs a dowry to afford to remain in society [/quote]

Why didn't he also inherit from de Boergh? [/quote]

Younger son -- his older brother gets the title and the money, which is also why Col Fitzwilliam is in the army.  But if he wants to live his adult life comfortably and like he lived his childhood and keep hanging out with all the people he knows he needs to marry someone with a lot more money than he (or Elizabeth) has.[/quote] Makes sense, but how would he pull that off? What's in it for his potential bride with a large dowry?[/quote]

Marriage to the son of an Earl - instant “cred” for someone with new money (aka money from trade) like Caroline Bingley, for example. [/quote]

He's also an acceptable choice for a woman who who has money and simply prefers him. There are only so many titled men to go around. He's also an illness (or two or three depending on whether or not his older brother has kids) away from an earldom [/quote]

And how many brother he has -- if he's brother three or four, his chances of inheriting are pretty slim.  BUT his kids will grow up with their titled relations (and cousins marrying wasn't taboo), so it would be a great opportunity for social mobility for someone like Caroline Bingley or the daughter of a country Squire who had invested well and had a decent dowry for his daughter.  Or a wealthy daughter of a peer who finds that his good manners and good looks make up for his lack of fortune.[/quote]

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