#by wickham just like darcy's sister was and that's why he helps elizabeth's family and THAT'S what makes her change her opinion of him.

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: Georgiana Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)

Favorite thing about them: That she's not victim-blamed for her near-elopement with Wickham. If she didn't exist and the book had only Lydia to represent girls who are seduced by the Wickhams of the world, then it might be easier to accuse Austen of victim-blaming. But no one blames Georgiana. She was only fifteen, Wickham was a childhood friend/almost foster brother whom she trusted, and he took advantage of her trust to make her think he loved her. She's a sweet, lovely girl, she's not portrayed as flirtatious or brash like Lydia – on the contrary, she's extremely, painfully shy – and yet she was manipulated and seduced, and the blame is placed firmly on the people who did it, Wickham and Mrs. Younge. Of course it helps that she ultimately chose her family over her "romance" and confessed the elopement plan to her brother; whereas Lydia refuses to leave Wickham when Darcy offers her the chance and shows no remorse for nearly disgracing her family.

Least favorite thing about them: The fandom's views on her. I'm glad I haven't seen too much of it myself, but what @anghraine has described in some of her posts is horrible. From the fans who do victim-blame her and treat her as a "gotcha" for Darcy (i.e. "so much for his sense of superiority over the Bennets – his sister almost ruined herself just like Lydia"), to the ones who turn her sweet bond with Darcy into some toxic cliché (i.e. "she's only shy because he's an overbearing brother and she's afraid of him" – then why does she become more talkative in his presence?), to the ones who think she "needs" to learn how to be feisty and outgoing like Elizabeth, and/or who think the 2005 film improved her by making her bubbly instead of shy and awkward... They're all bad. Just like all fandom commentary about gentle and shy girls tends to be bad.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I tend to be shy.

*I'm affectionate.

*I enjoy music and art.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I don't have a brother.

*I'm not an orphan.

*I've never come close to eloping with anyone.

Favorite line: N/A, since she has no dialogue in the book.

brOTP: Darcy and later Elizabeth.

OTP: None yet.

nOTP: Darcy or Wickham.

Random headcanon: Besides adoring Elizabeth when they're sisters-in-law, she'll also come to love Jane as an extended family member, especially because Jane's temperament is closer to her own.

Unpopular opinion: Besides disagreeing with all the views on her I mentioned under "Least favorite thing about them"... I don't picture her as a blonde. I have nothing against illustrations or adaptations that portray her that way: you'll see below that several of my favorite pictures of her show her as a blonde. But not all ingenues need to be blonde, after all. I usually picture her with the same hair color as Darcy, which like most fans, I imagine as dark brown or black.

Song I associate with them: None.

Favorite picture of them:

The only decent color illustration I've found of her, by H.M. Brock:

This illustration by Hugh Thomson:

Emma Jacobs in the 1980 miniseries:

Emilia Fox in the 1995 miniseries:

Tamzin Merchant in the 2005 film (although that facial expression is probably one that Austen's withdrawn, serious Georgiana would never wear):

[swisheywishyoverlord]

Perhaps I am a romantic fool, but I did enjoy Pride and Prejudice more than the other Austen novels we read this semester, probably because of the stronger romantic plot lines. While everyone does end up married in the end in Austen’s work, I feel that the pairings in this book make a lot of sense for all the characters involved. 

Starting with the most obvious, Elizabeth and Darcy are both characters that are extremely prideful and prejudiced, yet they level each other out. At the beginning of their relationship Darcy’s flippant, prideful commentary creates a bias for Lizzy disposing her away from him (Austen, 9). When Wickham enters her life, she quickly allows his manipulation to reinforce her negative opinion, boiling over when she rejects Darcy’s marriage proposal (Austen, 134). Darcy’s pride is usually very blatant. He has a cold exterior at almost all times and he does things like write letters to get the final word in so that Lizzy cannot wound him again (Austen, 141). However, these elements of his nature melt away when he is able to truly converse with Lizzy. During their walk in the garden, her expression of affection caused a visceral reaction in him: “heart-felt delight, diffused over his face, became him” (Austen, 250). This shift away from his usual prideful demeanor toward a contented, at ease persona shows the balancing act for both of them. Darcy in turn checks Lizzy’s prejudices and pride. It was after reading the letter that she exclaims, “‘I have courted prepossession and ignorance’” (Austen, 144). Their relationship is mutually beneficial because it helps them be more aware of themselves. It is exactly as Mr. Bennet expressed when he said Lizzy would not survive in an “unequal marriage,” she needs a relationship of equals which she gets in Darcy, flaws and all (Austen, 258). Their relationship is brilliant.

Jane and Bingley are the gold standard. They are both doofuses in love. The only reason they were not together sooner is because of the interference from other characters like Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bingley. Other than their rather pure relationship, Jane and Bingley share other similarities. Jane is the eldest daughter and responsibility falls to her to secure a good marriage that is advantageous enough to aid in marrying off her sisters. A similar sense of responsibility weighs on Bingley as one of the young men of large fortune who has to attain a good wife and have an heir. They are a sweet couple and I like their simplicity in contrast to the darker love between Lizzy and Darcy.

This meme was created by me and I am very happy with it. Of course, as I explained above, I love the two obvious romantic pairs in this novel, but I am especially appreciative of Mary remaining alone. Yes, it is tragic for her, but her character could not have been in a happy romantic relationship from my perspective. It is not because of her lack of beauty compared to her sisters or anything. She is too selfish. At one of the first balls we see Mary “eagerly succeeded” her sister and she was described as someone who “worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments,... impatient for display” (Austen, 18). As the only plain one of her sisters Mary was definitely dealt a harder hand, but she goes through the world demanding attention and for skills she does not have to compensate, hurting everyone else in the process. Her lackluster playing was an embarrassment to her entire family and yet she persisted. I think she needs to take a good long look at herself and spend some time alone. Her apparent plainness is not a complete detriment. Plain women get married all the time. However, she holds herself back. That is why Gru is just as eager with Mary’s lack of marriage as he is for the previous two. Mary being alone is the right thing for her right now.

I’m going to keep Lydia and Wickham short. They are both manipulative and immature in their own ways which leads to their forced marriage. Yes, it ended up being more than Wickham should have hoped for with Darcy’s interference, but they are clearly still poor as Lydia asks Lizzy for aid at the end of the novel (Austen, 264). Gru looks so down in the meme because their pairing is a result of their negative traits condemning each other to their fates. It is sad. Lydia is impulsive and immature and Wickham is impulsive and greedy. They are well matched like the other couples, but their bad traits build up together instead of evening out like Darcy and Lizzy.

Sorry this is long winded, but as the Gru meme suggests I can talk about this for a while. I am Gru and this is a short synopsis of what he ranting about in his presentation. Thank you :)

[deborahdeshoftim5779]

I am very glad to see recognition of Elizabeth Bennet's glaring faults here.

Nobody is defending Mr. Darcy's ungentlemanlike remarks about her looks, but Elizabeth's reaction was completely unreasonable.

There's a glaring difference between how Elizabeth told the story among her friends, and how she decided to behave to Mr. Darcy thereafter:

Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him. She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.

(AUSTEN, J- Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 3)

And yet she resolved to spend her time poking fun of Mr. Darcy, even without provocation.

Why? I personally believe that Elizabeth was nowhere near as forthright as she wanted to appear; I believe she was insecure; I also believe she had trouble dealing with evidence, even evidence right under her nose.

She was insecure because she knew she was not the prettiest daughter in the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet often told her other children that they were nothing to Jane Bennet, and Elizabeth, though often embarrassed by her mother's comments, evidently raised no objection to this claim. This despite the fact that Mr. Bingley thought Elizabeth was "very pretty" (ibid).

Along came Mr. Darcy, admired by everyone, and confirmed what her mother had been saying for years. Mr. Darcy said that Jane Bennet was "the only handsome girl in the room" (ibid); by contrast, Elizabeth was just "tolerable" (ibid).

Elizabeth either said or implied that she feared not living up to Mr. Darcy's standards, and she therefore needed to defend herself:

“What does Mr. Darcy mean,” said she to Charlotte, “by listening to my conversation with Colonel Forster?”

“That is a question which Mr. Darcy only can answer.”

“But if he does it any more, I shall certainly let him know that I see what he is about. He has a very satirical eye, and if I do not begin by being impertinent myself, I shall soon grow afraid of him.”

(AUSTEN, J- Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 6)

Elizabeth decided to fabricate reality by deciding what Mr. Darcy thought based on what he said weeks ago. Of course, she soon ran into problems with this theory:

Mrs. Hurst sang with her sister; and while they were thus employed, Elizabeth could not help observing, as she turned over some music-books that lay on the instrument, how frequently Mr. Darcy’s eyes were fixed on her. She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man, and yet that he should look at her because he disliked her was still more strange. She could only imagine, however, at last, that she drew his notice because there was something about her more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right, than in any other person present. The supposition did not pain her. She liked him too little to care for his approbation.

(AUSTEN, J- Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 10)

And, as already mentioned above, her dislike became sillier and sillier as time went on.

For the sake of Mr. Darcy not thinking she was handsome enough, she was willing to believe the most absurd and malicious claims made by Mr. Wickham, despite her own sister, Miss Bingley, and Mr. Bingley all insisting that Mr. Darcy wasn't to blame.

She was willing to believe that the senior Mr. Darcy couldn't be bothered to write a proper will stating exactly who received the church living. She was willing to believe that Mr. Darcy, whom she knew to value propriety, would openly flout his father's wishes and get away with it for years, and apparently nobody noticed or complained. She was willing to believe that a man who claimed to have been so wronged would mysteriously keep quiet about it in his home county, only to blurt this all out to a complete stranger he met hours ago in a different county. She was even willing to ignore his obvious contradictions, from claiming that Mr. Darcy had no sense of feeling to acknowledging that Mr. Darcy was an excellent brother!

All of this apparently had to be true because Mr. Darcy was proud and arrogant, and, more importantly, because he slighted her looks.

And yet, at the Netherfield Ball, Mr. Darcy picked her out of every other woman to dance with!

This is why it is so satisfying when Elizabeth finally realises how silly she has been the whole time.

Mr Darcy having too much pride and that being why Lizzie hates him is good but have you ever considered the comedy in Lizzie just fucking hating him because he said a shitty thing about her once and like never budging on that because that is so funny

[darlinghowl]

i've been a jane austen fan from a very young age but if people don't stop making pride and prejudice retellings i'm building a time machine, going back in time and physically stopping jane austen from ever writing it. i swear to god.

[linmeiwei]

I read Pride and Prejudice again… and now I get why Kitty

So two things always bothered me about Pride and Prejudice:

1. Jane Austen seemed weirdly cruel to Lydia and

2. Why Kitty? Like, in a novel so tightly, so expertly plotted and cast, what was the point of this seemingly superfluous character?

For ages my answer to those two questions was:

1. Well, progressive, proto-feminist though Austen was, she was not immune to the standards of her time, sadly

2. She needed someone for Lydia to interact with I guess?

I didn’t love those answers but it’s all I had. After re-reading P&P again though…epiphany! I get it! And these two outlying problems are actually connected!

Okay, so hear me out (and possibly laugh at me for not realising this sooner).

Lydia is a flibberty-gibbet. Yes, she’s badly brought up by a silly mother and an indifferent, indolent father, but she’s also naturally not particularly thoughtful, not contemplative or serious, she’s outgoing, flirty, superficial and flighty. She’s good-humoured, she likes to have fun, she’s boy-crazy. She’s a teenager.

Upon first reading, her story seems a typical cautionary tale of its time. It seems to say: listen up teenage flibberty-gibbets! If you go about Lydia Benneting, you’ll end up ruined or married to George Wickham! It seems like Austen has no sympathy for Lydia, who is written as irredeemably stupid and deserving of her punishment… except Kitty.

See, Kitty is just as bad as Lydia. She is like a poor copy of her younger sister. She’s like Lydia in every way except less successful at Lydia Benneting. She also runs after officers, flirts, laughs and seems to entertain no serious thoughts at all. But she does not end up punished. Nothing bad happens to her at all. In fact, in the end she’s taken under Elizabeth’s wing, and there matures, improves and grows out of flibberty-gibbetdom.

And that’s the point. That’s the real moral to Lydia’s story. That’s what should have been Lydia’s arc if Lydia had had better luck!

You might think: no, Lydia needed better guardians. But to rebut this I give you Georgiana.

Here we are presented with a girl whose character we have no reason to fault, and whose guardians are attentive, loving and careful. She still falls for the same trick Lydia does. What does that tell us? Of course it tells us that Jane Austen thinks the moral of Lydia’s story isn’t: don’t be a teenage flibberty-gibbet and don’t let your teenage daughter be one. It’s really: the only reason your teenage daughter or sister escaped being taken advantage of by a predator isn’t high morals on her part (or that she wasn’t wearing a mini skirt and make up) or that you’re such a super parent, but the fact that a skilled predator has simply not taken the trouble.

That’s what Kitty is for. Kitty is what Lydia would have been if she had not attracted a predator. Austen wasn’t cruel to Lydia. She was sorry for Lydia.

I guess ultimately we can see what she really thought of Lydia through Darcy: he thinks her annoying and vulgar, yes, but when he finds her with Wickham, he doesn’t want to rush her to the altar to be rid of her as a problem. His first desire is to return her to her family, so she can finish growing up. He understands that primarily she is not a misbehaving child who needs to be punished or controlled. Primarily, she’s a victim. He’s powerless to help in the end, and so Lydia’s tragedy is complete.

I should have trusted my old friend, Jane. She’s no slut-shamer. What she’s really doing with Lydia’s story is destroying the “but what was she wearing” argument. And Pride and Prejudice has proven itself to be, once again, far ahead of its time.

[whetstonefires]

In a Pride and Prejudice au of Naruto where the Uchiha are the Bennetts and Itachi is Jane and Itachi-Jane Uchiha-Bennett ends up killing Mr and Mrs Bennett to protect them, what would that be? I've never read P&P, so I wouldn't know. Regardless of plot/narrative of either, which Naruto characters would be which P&P characters in your opinion?

Oh my god?? Oh my god. I'm. I know this was technically my idea to begin with but I'm still dying. I put it forth specifically as something impossibly dissonant.

Okay. I can't handle these as two separate questions so I'm gonna just.

Start from Itachi-Jane. Hm. There is...no reasonable force in the narrative of Pride and Prejudice that would lead to this outcome. Itachi doing it required the combination of his having been raised as a child soldier with a strong background in assassination and a very specific political climate, plus two separate layers of scheming old man plot. Polite society in Regency England is just not going to put a gentleman's daughter in that kind of position.

And while the Bennets aren't great parents, there's nothing they could reasonably do to make it a necessary decision. In fact one of the driving tensions in the whole story is that legally speaking when Mr. Bennet dies his wife and daughters will instantly become homeless, because his estate is entailed to a male heir. This is why they have five daughters and haven't done right by them; the entire plan was to have a son and when that fell through Mr. Bennet was kinda like WELL SHRUG I GUESS.

So Jane like, martyring herself to keep her dad alive so her mother and sisters will be safe is more the kind of thing you'd get if you escalated Pride & Prejudice into the melodramatic violence kind of plot Austen so pointedly eschewed.

Jane Bennet as the Uchiha heir and she's ANBU captain at 13 and everything but still Jane is screamingly funny. Also terrifying. Imagine this middle school student fussing over her four younger sisters and insisting everyone is actually a good person somehow and there must have been a tragic misunderstanding, and then she goes to work and cuts a bunch of throats. This person is coasting even harder for total mental breakdown than Itachi.

Casting Naruto characters into P&P--okay, step one, starting from the established point of contact Sasuke and Shisui are in competition for Elizabeth. Janetachi's younger sibling who she's most loyal to and the Main Character, but also her nearest confidant and support.

Logically Bingley must be played by Kisame, as Itachi's partner with whom he was on relatively good terms, after leaving home. Soft himbo Kisame coming up? It's not the worst casting tbh they're both very honest people. Shark Bingley. Itachi/Kisame by default. I'm sure they'll be very happy?

I...how do I cast Darcy. I mean obviously it depends on who's Elizabeth. Can I make Elizabeth Sasuke just so Darcy can be Sakura, on the basis that technically she's his canon love interest and that's the funniest casting I have thought of so far?

Sakura being from a Grand Old Family that looks down on Sasuke's is too weird tho. And there are no Senjus of their generation really I can arbitrarily ship Shisui with. Oh now I want to stick Tobirama in there, he's got the same 'lordly attitude of maximum social awkwardness and genuinely looking down on you' deal. Although then we risk replacing 'your inferior connections' with the whole. Feud thing.

This is terrible. 😆🍻 There is no way to do this that makes sense.

Okay Tsunade as Sakura's horrible aunt would be great though. Obviously very different energies from Lady Catherine, but. Family feud canceled, Senju Sakura is go--this is totally unreadable, nobody write this, please--

Did I just make Ino be Mr. Collins.

Do I have to make Obito be Wickham. No. Absolutely no.

Help.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🌻

[iamthenightcolormeblack]

My Thoughts on Pride and Prejudice 1980: The Ladies Take Center Stage

It's easy to forget that there are dozens, if not hundreds, of other Pride and Prejudice adaptations because the discussion is generally limited to "1995 versus 2005." The subject of this review is the 1980 BBC miniseries adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which stars Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennet and David Rintoul as Mr. Darcy and consists of five 1 hour long episodes. Some Pride and Prejudice fans consider this show as the definitive version of the book, since it was one of the first adaptations that attempted to be faithful to the story by incorporating much more of Austen's dialogue compared to previous adaptations.

1. THE PRODUCTION

The video quality is blurry (typical with 1970s/1980s BBC TV shows), so this adaptation is hard to watch compared with the 1995 and 2005 adaptations. While I like the historic houses used in the miniseries, boring, stuffy studio interiors are used for the interior scenes (except for Pemberley). I would only recommend this adaptation for extreme Pride and Prejudice fans/completionists.

Each episode's opening credits are accompanied by illustrations of what happens in the episodes, reminding the viewer that they are watching a filmed version of the book. The caricatured figures are not appealing to the eye and look dated. It doesn't help that they all are accompanied by "ye olde timey" music.

The costumes are for the most part very historically accurate for the early 19th century Regency Era, possibly even more so than the 1995 version with open chests, since the women's day dresses cover their necks as well. The costume designer mastered the famous Regency era white dress; I liked Elizabeth's white day dress and Jane's white evening gown. However, not all the costumes are flattering; some of the ugly floral patterns and garishly bright colors come straight from the 1970s, while a lot of decent evening dresses are ruined by fake lace or clunky 1970s bibs.

The hair is mostly accurate, with the exception of Mary's straight bangs and pixie cut. Unfortunately, the makeup is of the 1970s, especially with the penciled eyeliner/eyebrows on Jane and Caroline Bingley. Poor Mr. Bingley meanwhile has the most unflattering 1970s "helmet bowl" hairstyle.

2. PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

The adaptation focuses heavily on the female relationships within the book, much more so than other adaptations. Throughout the episodes, there are many slice-of-life scenes in which the Bennet sisters are gathered together in conversation while occupying themselves with typical activities for women of the Regency era (sewing, flower arranging, trying on clothing).

Charlotte Lucas has a larger role here than in the book. In this adaptation, she frequently visits the Bennet sisters at Longbourn, and the screenwriter uses her dialogue as a representation of the Regency perception of marriage as an economic proposition.

Mary Bennet also receives more screen time, and like Charlotte, she voices Regency attitudes towards women in general through her didactic remonstrances.

The many scenes in Elizabeth and Jane's bedroom are a means for Elizabeth to express the feelings and attitudes that she keeps hidden from society.

Elizabeth's favoring of Mr. Wickham is more obvious; she even pronounces him to be "above everyone, in person, countenance, [and] air" and is delighted that Wickham's trash-talking of Darcy confirms her hatred of him.

Inner monologues highlight Elizabeth's mental transformation as she grapples with the consequences of her prejudice against Mr. Darcy and considers the consequences of her family's social gaffes.

I dislike that the show chose to end with Mrs. Bennet's joy over the advantageous marriages of her elder daughters. It reinforces the perception that these marriages are ultimately for money rather than love.

The cast consists of largely unknown (to a mainstream audience) British actors whose portrayals of the characters are solid and replicate the book exactly. The rest of the supporting cast portray the characters just as they are in the book, but do not otherwise stand out. Here are my comments on the lead actors and other supporting cast:

Elizabeth Garvie: Garvie effectively portrays Elizabeth's wit, intelligence, and poise. She also looks right for the part, as she is believably youthful and has captivating eyes. Her pride is not so obvious because Garvie acts like a proper Regency girl, but it is brought out by the way Elizabeth looks people straight in the eye and addresses them directly while confidently stating her opinions, however flawed. My only minor nitpick is that Elizabeth is less vulnerable here; most of the time she is confidently in control of every situation she faces and has a smile for everyone.

David Rintoul: Rintoul looks the part, as he is tall, handsome, proud, and carries himself gracefully. However, he is too stiff and boring like a robot. In many scenes, even private ones with his close friends, he is always standing at attention like a soldier. With the exception of the Pemberley visit and the second proposal, he never smiles, and his voice is very monotone, even in the key romantic scenes where he is supposed to lose himself to his great passion for Elizabeth. Though he tries to appear amused at times, and shows some intelligence, his stiff body language never changes, undercutting the meaning behind his words.

While fans of this show have praised Rintoul for being stiff, like book Darcy, this stiff portrayal hinders Darcy's character development, since he must change his cold manners in order to be worthy of Elizabeth's love. There are MANY instances in the book where Darcy shows some emotion; he smiles as he teases Elizabeth at Rosings, becomes angry when Elizabeth rejects his first proposal, and blushes when he sees Elizabeth at Pemberley. This Mr. Darcy is "all politeness" and we don't get to see Elizabeth peeling back his cold exterior to reveal the good man underneath, unlike in the book.

Malcolm Rennie as Mr. Collins: His portrayal of Mr. Collins is very similar to 1995's Mr. Collins, as both are fat and simpering (maybe 1995's portrayal of Mr. Collins is a copy of this one, except even grosser). I also like how he is super moralizing and preachy in this version. He even walks like a penguin too!

Casting I disliked:

Moray Watson as Mr. Bennet: His Mr. Bennet is thoroughly unsympathetic; he does nothing but scold the family, slam doors, and drink tea. While Mr. Bennet is a neglectful parent, he expresses his dislike of the family in far more subtle ways and does not get into fits of anger easily.

Judy Parfitt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh: While the adaptation makes clear that Lady Catherine likes getting her way, this Lady Catherine isn’t intimidating enough to frighten anyone into submission. What doesn't help is that the scene where she interrogates Elizabeth about her family situation is cut; this scene is important in establishing Lady Catherine's tyrannical personality.

The actresses hired to play Kitty and Lydia Bennet are far too old for the parts; they do not look like teenagers!

Scenes I liked:

The opening scene -- the adaptation gives Charlotte a larger role, as she visits Elizabeth at Longbourn right after the news of Bingley's arrival. She also reveals her practical view on marriage as a necessity for securing comfort, which is at odds with Elizabeth's view of marriage as an equal partnership between people who love each other.

"First Impressions" -- Elizabeth shares her bad opinion of Darcy with Jane and reveals that the Bingleys earned their wealth in trade, making them "new money" as opposed to the Darcy family, which has many generations of nobility. This detail about the origins of Bingley's wealth could explain Caroline's extreme arrogance and make Jane's separation from Bingley on the basis of her poor connections more cruel.

Elizabeth at Mr. Lucas' party: This adaptation includes a scene from the book which isn't in many other adaptations, not even the 1995 miniseries. Elizabeth, acting impertinently to catch the attention of Darcy's "very satirical eye," addresses him sarcastically. Charlotte then gets Elizabeth to play the piano and she takes another opportunity to show off her wit:

"There is a fine old saying, which every body here is of course familiar with - 'Keep your breath to cool your porridge', and I shall keep mine to swell my song."

Jane and Elizabeth at Netherfield. In a series of scenes, Elizabeth confides in Jane her true thoughts and feelings about Darcy, the Bingleys, and the Hursts. For instance, she theorizes about why Darcy stares at her and rants about how disagreeable and annoying the Netherfield party are. It's really entertaining to see Elizabeth driven to frustration by the arrogant rich people.

Any scene with Mr. Collins in it, but here are the funniest ones:

Mr. Collins eating with the Bennet family: I laughed at how he examines the food with a critical eye before shoving it in his mouth quickly. It perfectly captures Mr. Collins' arrogance combined with bad manners.

Mr. Collins at the Netherfield Ball: he cannot dance and embarrasses Elizabeth (definitely a parallel with the 1995 version, where he bumps into the other dancers and apologizes profusely).

Mr. Collins' first proposal to Elizabeth: I laughed at the added flourish (not in the novel), where he bends down on one knee, but instead of professing love for the intended, states proudly to Elizabeth that the main benefit of the marriage is the patronage of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Collins' proposal to Charlotte Lucas: this is not in the original book, as it is (mostly) limited to Elizabeth's point of view, where she only finds out about the proposal after it happens. This comical scene begins with pleasant music and blooming flowers to establish romantic connotations, before it cuts to an awkward Mr. Collins following Charlotte Lucas. When Charlotte accepts Mr. Collins, they are sitting together by a rosebush, and his pure joy at the unromantic, arranged marriage, combined with the floral imagery from earlier, elevate the situational irony and make for a good laugh. The flower imagery also ties into Charlotte's earlier comparison of marriage to growing a plant; Elizabeth challenges Charlotte's assertion by asking her what would happen if the soil was poor (metaphor for the respect Elizabeth feels is a foundation for a loving relationship).

Aunt Gardiner's advice to Elizabeth: This scene isn't included in other adaptations, not even the 1995 miniseries. Here Aunt Gardiner warns Elizabeth against falling in love with Wickham, telling her that she needs to keep her common sense intact; Elizabeth dismisses this, fully confident in her powers of judgment. It's great that this exchange is included because it foreshadows the discovery of Wickham's true character, and hints that Elizabeth's perceptions of others may be wrong.

Scenes I disliked:

The romantic scenes. This adaptation unfortunately fails in the romance department; there is zero chemistry between the actors; even the otherwise wonderful Elizabeth Garvie is not exempt. (more about this later).

The first country ball. The interior is dark, small, cramped and stagey. Also, the dancing and overall manner of the guests is very sedate and orderly; it’s so quiet you can hear the dancers feet scrape the floor in spite of the music. This isn't very realistic compared with the other adaptations, where we are presented with much more boisterous country dances.

The activation of Stalker Darcy: While Elizabeth plays the pianoforte, Darcy, while shrouded in darkness, moves like a ghost among the crowd until he all of a sudden appears very close to the pianoforte and golf-clapping. perhaps Darcy is a blood sucking vampire? Though this scene is entertaining for all the wrong reasons, it doesn't make sense that Darcy's love for Elizabeth makes him even more robotic and creepy.

Lady Catherine confronting Elizabeth: While the dialogue for this scene is lifted straight from the book, there isn't quite enough fury and anger on the part of either person.

3. THE SCRIPT

What makes this adaptation stand out is the script by Fay Weldon. While the majority of the script is taken directly from the book, many have commented that her interpretation of Pride and Prejudice is much more feminist because of the greater emphasis on Elizabeth's point of view, as well as her relationships with other women. Many of the creative changes made emphasize the ridiculousness of the patriarchy and Elizabeth's outspokenness. In addition, Austen's narration slips into the dialogue of the female characters; for instance, Mary proclaims the village's judgment of Darcy as "the proudest most disagreeable man in the world."

Creative Changes/Great Quotes from the Script:

Darcy adding further insult to injury: after proclaiming Elizabeth to be unattractive to him, he adds: "She has too many sisters."

Mrs. Bennet criticizing poor Mary: “You read too much! No wonder you’re shortsighted.”

Elizabeth has had enough with Darcy, the Hursts, and the Bingleys: “Jane, they are monsters! They like nothing and dislike everything!"

Elizabeth has no patience: "This is unendurable! Mr. Darcy has scarcely spoken more than 10 words to me during the whole of today!"

Mary Bennet praises Mr. Collins' writing skills: "But he is intelligent. In point of composition the letter he wrote Father was not deficient and it was very long."

Mr. Collins scrutinizes Longbourn (his future inheritance) Part 1: "The hall. The hall should be imposing. This one is spacious enough but a little dark..."

Mr. Collins scrutinizes Longbourn Part 2: "Truly a gracious dining room. Lady Catherine de Bourgh would not be ashamed to dine here...The table, though a trifle rustic, is solid and a good match."

Mr. Collins provides much needed moral lessons to Kitty and Lydia: "I have often observed how many young ladies are very little interested in books of a serious stamp, though written solely for their benefit. Certainly there can be nothing so advantageous to them as instruction."

Mr. Collins on Anne de Bourgh: "She is agreeably fragile, and she is to marry Mr. Darcy."

Lady Catherine de Bourgh supporting the patriarchy: "If I were to have more children, they should all be sons."

Mr. Collins' Aquatic Hat: In one of many examples where Lady Catherine micromanages everyone's life, she orders Mr. Collins to plant bulrushes by the lake and per her instructions he orders an ugly top hat with a shower cap inside it to prevent himself from drowning. Charlotte and Elizabeth laugh about it when Mr. Collins isn't looking.

Darcy is a dog person, how sweet! Before the first proposal and before he meets Elizabeth again at Pemberley, Darcy is accompanied by a dog. Perhaps if he brought his dog to the first proposal it would have succeeded?

Elizabeth's internal monologue after she reads the letter: I normally dislike internal monologues because they detract from the action or become redundant, but I like how this adaptation utilizes the internal monologue to show Elizabeth actively confronting her prejudice against Mr. Darcy and acknowledging that she has acted wrongly in judging him harshly. Some adaptations reduce or even leave out this fundamental part of Elizabeth's personal growth. My only quibble with this scene is that Elizabeth lets go of her prejudice too soon and in too calm a manner. In the book, she is initially angry at Darcy and needs to reread the letter multiple times before she starts to form a grudging respect for Mr. Darcy. For Elizabeth, letting go of her prejudice is a slow, exhausting, and emotionally taxing process, unlike in this adaptation, where her logical reasoning allows her to quickly overcome her unreasonable hatred of Darcy.

4. THE ROMANCE (or, to be more accurate, lack of)

Many of the key romantic scenes between Elizabeth and Darcy are shortened, which surprised me because the length of a miniseries in general allows for more character development. I was hoping to see a fuller picture of Darcy and Elizabeth's relationship than could be provided in a movie.

While the female characters of the adaptation are fully rounded and have many opportunities to express their perspectives, the male characters remain one-dimensional and do not get the same treatment as the women. In other words, the male characters are reduced to mere objects of affection.

Some critics have argued that Darcy is irresistible to women in part because he is mysterious. Even his appearance is left to the reader's imagination, as Austen only notes that Darcy has a "fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien...[and] ten thousand a year." Thus, the reader gets to craft their ideal version of Mr. Darcy; he could look like any handsome man. When the "historically accurate Mr. Darcy" image was released several years ago (where he looks like George Washington); many, including me, were disappointed because we all have different images of Mr. Darcy in our heads (or more likely, we pick between Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen). This adaptation capitalizes into the mystique of the character by leaving the viewers to guess Darcy's intentions. Since we do not have access to his internal thoughts or motivations, we are limited to what we see before our eyes, much like the Meryton villagers. We do not get to see how Darcy develops feelings for Elizabeth; nor do we see how he is like in private occasions (even when alone with his friends, he says little and reveals little).

Other critics/Austen scholars/fans have argued that the one-dimensional treatment of male characters is in keeping with the unique writing style of Pride and Prejudice. Typically, female characters were the ones reduced to objects of affection for the male characters. Austen reverses this norm by focusing more on Elizabeth's viewpoint while Darcy remains mysterious.

Though a more reserved Darcy may work in the book, it does not serve the development of the romance well. Darcy's falling in love with Elizabeth is characterized by a gradual loss of control over himself; in his words he was "in the middle before I knew that I had begun [falling in love]." After all, he cannot stop staring at Elizabeth and frequently tries to keep talking to her at Netherfield before he begins to feel "the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention." During his first proposal, he is agitated, and when Elizabeth rejects him, becomes angry. It is obvious, in the book and in the 1995 and 2005 adaptations as well, that the man is clearly an emotional train wreck.

The conflict between Darcy's outer shell and inner self is a key part of his falling in love with Elizabeth, and the adaptation misses out on this with a stiff, wooden Darcy who always carries himself properly and never smiles. In general, the most entertaining romances have this tension between self-control and passion, with lapses in manners usually the only sign of the passion beneath the surface; after all, in Elizabeth's words, “Is not general incivility the very essence of love?”

Back to the idea of the one-dimensional Darcy being an inversion of gender norms in writing: I have to disagree with this because (this is obvious I'm sure) Darcy is still a fully rounded character and does undergo his own journey, since he has to change his manners to earn Elizabeth's love. This quote shows what Darcy has learned about himself:

"I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. As a child I was...given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit. Unfortunately an only son, (for many years an only child) I was spoilt by my parents [who] almost taught me to be selfish and overbearing, to care for none beyond my own family circle, to think meanly of all the rest of the world, to wish at least to think meanly of their sense and worth compared with my own."

Though some fans of this adaptation like how the other relationships are treated with equal importance as the well-known love story, the romance is important as a source of personal growth for Elizabeth as well as Darcy. After all, they do have to overcome the "pride and prejudice" that separates them.

The marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth is a feminist triumph for Elizabeth Bennet; in my review of the 2005 movie, I noted that Elizabeth Bennet is revolutionary because of her unwillingness to compromise on her belief that marriage should based on love and respect, contrary to the prevailing social view of marriage as an economic proposition. While it seems counter-intuitive for a repressive institution like marriage to be a feminist triumph, Austen's heroines use marriage as a means of gaining not just material comforts, but ultimately the self-respect they desire by uniting themselves with partners whom they are equals with. The marriages Austen's heroines make are testaments to their independence, as they are choices made by the women themselves. Even Charlotte Lucas' otherwise unhappy arranged marriage works for her, since she enjoys the freedom that running her own household gives her. Not focusing on the romance of Elizabeth and Darcy leaves out Austen's complex perspective on marriage as a social necessity but also an unlikely route to freedom.

Here's my breakdown of the Elizabeth and Darcy scenes in this adaptation and why the romance fails:

"She is tolerable:" Elizabeth reacts rather too sedately to the insult Darcy gives her (and he also makes an added comment about her having too many sisters); unlike in other versions where she attempts to suppress a laugh or even taunts Darcy outright. The adaptation diverges from the book by having Elizabeth tell her mother instead of her friends about Darcy's insult; it does not make sense why Elizabeth would confide this in her mother, given that she knows her mother is a fool.

Netherfield dance: Darcy attempts to flirt with Elizabeth during this dance (which only lasts one minute!), but doesn't succeed because of his poor social skills and her prejudice. It's also an amazing battle of wits, as Darcy counters Elizabeth's accusations while admonishing her not to trust Wickham.

Unfortunately, the adaptation cuts out essential dialogue revealing the extent of Elizabeth's prejudice and foreshadowing the discovery of Wickham's true character. For example, what isn't included is Elizabeth's accusations that Darcy is to blame for ruining Wickham's life, to which he replies that Wickham is capable of charming others but not necessarily of retaining good friends.

More significantly, the adaptation cuts Elizabeth's admission that she cannot figure Darcy out:

"'May I ask to what these questions tend?' 'Merely to the illustration of your character,' said she...

'And what is your success?' She shook her head. 'I do not get on at all. I her such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly.'

'...I could wish, Miss Bennet, that you were not to sketch my character at the present moment, as there is reason to fear that the performance would reflect no credit on either.'"

The development of the romance is harmed due to the omission of the portrait metaphor. Here, Darcy shrewdly observes to Elizabeth that her judgment of character may be flawed and foreshadows the discovery of her prejudice against him. After his many observations of Elizabeth, Darcy knows her so well that he can read her like an open book (though he underestimates the extent of Elizabeth's prejudice against him). The metaphor of the picture as a representation of character also becomes literal through Darcy's portrait at Pemberley; Elizabeth only falls in love with Darcy after examining his character through the portrait.

Ultimately, the Netherfield Ball dance between Elizabeth and Darcy is essential in demonstrating the fallacy of first impressions, and reducing the dialogue only to the beginning part where Elizabeth teases Darcy on his inability to make small talk undermines the richness of the story.

Darcy's first proposal: This scene is definitely the worst one in this miniseries because it fails on so many levels. First, this Darcy remains stiff throughout the entire proposal, like he was at a public ball rather than declaring love. This is a total contrast to book Darcy; who, though formal, is "agitated" and "pale with anger" at times. Those famous opening lines ("In vain I have struggled...") are delivered so quickly and without any sort of overwhelming passion. What should be the climax of Darcy finally letting the volcano of his repressed emotions erupt (with bad consequences for him) instead becomes a cold recitation of the script. Elizabeth also becomes robotic as well, repeating her lines back with a detached tone of voice as if reading a teleprompter. I'm warning you: be prepared for the worst 5 minutes of your life.

Visiting Pemberley: The adaptation utilizes Elizabeth's inner monologue as she praises Pemberley; it's interesting to people who have read and re-read the book, but I don't think it's necessary to "copy and paste" large portions of the book and read them to the audience.

I do like that this adaptation clearly indicates that Elizabeth still stands by her decision to reject Darcy's first proposal, even though she really likes his great big house:

"'And of this place,' thought she, 'I might have been mistress! 'I might have rejoiced in [these rooms] as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. - 'But no'... 'I should not have been allowed to invite them.'"

Most adaptations include the "Pemberley could have been mine" part, but don't include Elizabeth's realization that Darcy's class prejudice would have estranged her from the Gardiners (unfortunately that includes the 1995 miniseries). Including Elizabeth's thoughts about her aunt and uncle dispels the perception that she is a gold-digger who marries Darcy only after realizing how rich he is.

The portrait: why, why, why does Darcy not smile in his portrait?! The book LITERALLY EMPHASIZES that DARCY SMILES in his portrait, revealing a more sensitive side to him than his cold and formal appearance would otherwise suggest. Big mistake.

Lydia's elopement: the adaptation messes up this scene so badly, which is unfortunate because the scene is important in showing how much Elizabeth trusts Darcy and how much he still loves her, as shown through his concern for her. First, it diverges from the book by having Elizabeth run several miles to Pemberley (while fully outfitted in a spencer, bonnet, and long dress) and somehow she doesn't sweat or faint from the exertion. Running to Darcy to tell him the news doesn't make any sense, since the book makes clear that she did not want anyone outside her family to know about Lydia's elopement, or else her marriage prospects would certainly be ruined; the news devastated her because she feared losing Darcy's respect due to his social prejudice. Darcy learning of the news was purely a coincidence because he happened to be waiting for her at the inn where she was staying (aw how romantic!). As for Darcy, he remains cold and doesn't seem concerned enough for Elizabeth, in contrast with the book, where he immediately springs into action. The adaptation also omits Darcy's kindness by cutting out the part of the scene where he consoles Elizabeth, gets her to sit down, and brings her some wine.

Second proposal: Darcy breaks the rules of social etiquette by going out alone with Elizabeth before proposing to her, unlike in the book where they are with Jane and Bingley, but this scene is still thoroughly unromantic because the two actors have zero chemistry.

5. CONCLUSION

Although this adaptation has some good moments, the dated production design, underdeveloped romance, and wooden acting means that I will only recommend this version to Pride and Prejudice nerds/extreme book purists. The adaptation is boring to watch unless you know the book by heart.

This script highlights Austen's wit and sarcasm, but the performances don’t always do it justice. The feminist approach to the novel makes the adaptation stand out, but comes at the cost of Darcy's character development and the central love story.

Purists and casual book fans are better served by the 1995 BBC miniseries, which has the right balance of entertainment, historical accuracy, and faithfulness to the novel.

Thanks to JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) for all the wonderful online articles that I pull many of my ideas from. I spent many hours entertaining myself by reading their scholarly analyses of Jane's other works as well as those related to Pride and Prejudice, and they have really helped me as I write these reviews.

@princesssarisa @austengivesmeserotonin @dahlia-coccinea @obscurelittlebird @appleinducedsleep @colonelfitzwilliams

[thymechaos]

charlotte: darcy must have feelings for you or he wouldn’t keep seeking you out and trying to get your attention when he hardly ever does that with anyone else

elizabeth: sounds fake

darcy: i am certain my feelings can’t come as a surprise because i can’t help being drawn to you

elizabeth: :0

charlotte: jane should show she likes bingley in a way that can be parsed by people outside the family, or he might end up withdrawing because he’s convinced she doesn’t return his feelings

elizabeth: sounds fake

darcy: i told bingley that your sister didn’t feel the same because i genuinely thought it was true

elizabeth: :0

charlotte: maybe you would be a complete dumbass to write off mr darcy just bc of what mr wickham said

elizabeth: sounds fake

darcy: so anyway here’s why wickham was lying about everything as i’m actually the injured party here

elizabeth: :0!!!!!!

y’all charlotte must be so tired

[lavellenchanted]

Why do you think Mr. Darcy tried to break up Jane and Mr. Bingley's relationship when he wanted to be with Elizabeth? It's not like the circumstances of the family were different lol so why would it be okay for him but not mr bingley??

Because it’s not really about the Bennets’ circumstances. It’s about the fact that Darcy believed that Jane didn’t love Bingley. He explains in his letter to Elizabeth:

“I could then perceive that his partiality for Miss Bennet was beyond what I had ever witnessed in him. Your sister I also watched. Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening’s scrutiny, that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.”

After watching them at the Netherfield Ball, Darcy believes that Bingley’s feelings are one-sided and that Jane is, presumably, only interested in Bingley insofar as he is rich and would be a good match for her, but not actually out of any affection or regard for the man himself. 

It’s not an unreasonable assumption to make given the time period - as the eldest of five daughters all fairly close in age, Jane would be under pressure to get married first and to marry well in order to give her sisters better opportunities. Nor has Mrs Bennet been subtle about encouraging the match. And while there’s a significant level of arrogance in Darcy making his decision based on one night’s observation, his conclusions aren’t entirely without foundation. It harks back to the warning Charlotte gives when Bingley first starts paying attention to Jane:

“It may perhaps be pleasant,” replied Charlotte, “to be able to impose on the public in such a case; but it is sometimes a disadvantage to be so very guarded. If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him; and it will then be but poor consolation to believe the world equally in the dark. There is so much of gratitude or vanity in almost every attachment, that it is not safe to leave any to itself. We can all begin freely—a slight preference is natural enough; but there are very few of us who have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement. In nine cases out of ten a woman had better show more affection than she feels. Bingley likes your sister undoubtedly; but he may never do more than like her, if she does not help him on.”

“But she does help him on, as much as her nature will allow. If I can perceive her regard for him, he must be a simpleton, indeed, not to discover it too.”

“Remember, Eliza, that he does not know Jane’s disposition as you do.”

Jane is naturally a reserved person who doesn’t easily let her emotions show, and only those who know her very well see through that. Charlotte outright tells Elizabeth not to forget that she has the benefit of knowing Jane far better than Bingley or anyone else and so understanding her far more easily - but that’s exactly what Elizabeth does. She displays a good deal of arrogance of her own, assuming that because she can tell that Jane has sincerely fallen for Bingley that everyone else should be able to see it, too. 

And when Elizabeth looks back at everything after reading the letter, she acknowledges that “Jane’s feelings, though fervent, were little displayed”, so while Darcy is dead wrong about what Jane’s actually feeling, there’s no real reason why, just from appearances, he should believe otherwise - which is the point, given one of the book’s biggest themes is appearances vs reality.

It’s partly why the proposal is the turning point in her own arc as well Darcy’s: she’s not just mistaken about him and Wickham, but she also has to reassess everything that happened between Jane and Bingley. 

Additionally, although Darcy does still object to the fact that Bennets’ circumstances are inferior, he also clarifies:

“My objections to the marriage were not merely those which I last night acknowledged to have the utmost force of passion to put aside, in my own case; the want of connection could not be so great an evil to my friend as to me.”

So it’s not so much that it’s okay for him, but not for Bingley and in fact if it were just about the Bennets’ circumstances it would rather be the opposite. He’s never going completely approve of what he sees as marrying beneath him or Bingley - because, hello, classism - but if he had seen and understood that Jane was genuinely, deeply in love with Bingley he wouldn’t have objected, as he shows at the end of the book.

But as to why he still proposes to Elizabeth himself . . . well, I think it hangs on that line: “the utmost force of passion to put aside.”

When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth for the first time, he believes her to be expecting and even wanting it but I don’t think he’s insensible to the possibility that she might not love him. Maybe he thinks she does, or that there’s a chance she could, but mostly I think he believes she’ll accept because she knows she’s not likely to have a better prospect for a husband. 

So he knows, going to see her, that he might well be in the same position as (he believes) Bingley’s in. But Darcy’s too in love with her to care. He says to her:

“I have no wish of denying that I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards him I have been kinder than towards myself.”

Darcy went to great lengths to separate Jane and Bingley because he didn’t want to see his friend trapped in a marriage where Bingley wasn’t loved or cared for - he’s genuinely trying to do the right thing. But he feels such an “utmost force of passion” for Elizabeth that he can’t do the same thing for himself. He’s so far gone, he wants to marry her even with the chance that she might not love him back.

[janeaustentextposts]

Before Mr Darcy sweeps in, when Mr Gardiner is preparing to drop a lot of money on Wickham that he probably knows Mr Bennet can't really afford to repay - is this purely out of love and responsibility to his sister's family, or would Lydia's downfall be so great as to affect his own children and so he's also preserving their futures? How big could the disgrace ripples be?

I would say there is certainly enough of a connection to the Bennets to make things sticky down the line, even if his own kids are years away from entering society. But then again Gardiners will always move in slightly different circles than Bennets, given they reside in London and are not considered genteel (deriving their income from trade.) There are those who would never consider the Gardiners to be good associations, and the Bennet Scandal can’t be anything but unhelpful if that had been supposed to be a connection that might have helped lift the family into more genteel circles (if that was their aim.)

That being said, the fallout is so chaotic and the direct social gains so nebulous that it’s hard to argue that this is the main motivator for Mr. Gardiner to help his extended family. Also I’m not certain Mr. Gardiner DID intend to drop 10K to persuade Wickham to marry Lydia before Darcy got involved. I seem to recall that Darcy helped track them down in the first place, then pushed for the marriage and provided the financial incentive, and then asked Mr. Gardiner to take credit in order to conceal his involvement. We see things from Lizzy’s perspective, and so at first it really does look like Mr. Gardiner has been a marvellous help to the family, but even so there is some perplexed suspicion that it’s extraordinary for Mr. Gardiner to do this (Jane of all people first expresses this doubt to Elizabeth and then to Mrs. Bennet, who brushes it aside and says of course her brother would do this.) Everyone is so relieved Lydia will be married properly that no one really questions the details of how or why Mr. Gardiner has apparently done this and why his letters to Mr. Bennet just beg him to never mention the entire thing ever again.

Mr. Gardiner, as a Londoner, is doing his best to be helpful in the recovering of his niece and the resestablishment of the family’s good name, but the concrete successes of finding the elopers and discharging Wickham’s debts aren’t his at all, and we really have no proof he was ever planning to do such a thing. He’s a good man with a generous heart and that’s enough for his extended family to mostly believe him capable of doing so, at first, because why would he lie about such a thing; but I think he’s really taking things one day at a time as they try to find Lydia and Wickham, first, and then see what needs to be done to save face.

[amazingphanisnotonfire-imagines]

Luke//the very first moment i beheld you, my heart was irrevocably gone

Request: Can you do a Luke Hemmings x female reader one-shot? The reader is a British actress and was cast as Elizabeth Bennett in the movie Prejudice and Zombies instead of Lily James (I have nothing against her, it’s just that she needs to be removed from the one-shot in order for it to work) and her boyfriend Luke’s there when she and Sam Riley film Elizabeth and Darcy’s fight scene and they go out for lunch with Sam and his wife afterwards? The scene’s from the video on the YouTube channel Movieclips

hey! so i know that this scene wouldn’t have been filmed all in one shot, but i just thought it would be better if i wrote it like i did. i also know they probably didn’t do their own stunts (lie, lily james can do absolutely anything and everything) but well, i made it so you do! anyway. how’s everyone’s day? i hope they’re well! and i hope future me’s day is going well too! i also hope future you is good too! 

Your whole life you’d been dreaming of this. Everything you’ve ever done has been leading up to this moment. Your first feature film, before this you’d had small roles in a few cable shows and side characters in a couple of films, as well as playing the main character in some indie film a friend was doing, but this was your big break. 

The director and casting agents saw something in you, sent you the script and asked you to send them a tape. You’d done it at 10am, and found out you got the job at 2, so they were clearly very impressed. 

And when you told Luke he was even more impressed. You’d never seen him smile so wide and the two of you jumped up and down in excitement before you phoned all your friends and family. 

Two weeks later you were on a place back to England with Luke in tow so you could find a small flat to rent for the months you’d be rehearsing and filming. You were of course happy to be home, your house with Luke may be lovely and LA’s weather may be a lot better than Britains but it doesn’t stop the home sickness. However that’s what you were worried about with Luke, he hadn’t been in London for this long since he lived here with the band, so you were worried he’d end up bored and lonely. 

But to your surprise he was loving it. He was glad to be back and with you being away filming for most of the day it gave him the chance to do some song writing and to catch up with other hobbies he may have neglected since the success of the band. 

Today however, Luke had asked if he could tag along with you. He wanted to see you at work and watch you do what you loved. He said it was only fair because you’d been to all of his shows you could possibly go to, and for a while you were even on tour with him. So now it was his turn to return to the favour. 

Plus, he said he needed to see you in action in order to hype you up to everyone he spoke to. 

“Okay!” The director calls and the room goes silent.

You make eye contact with Luke and send him a thumbs up which makes him chuckle and shake his head. 

“Everyone ready? Good. And action.” 

“I’ve come to feel for you a most ardent admiration and regard, which has overcome my better judgement.” Sam starts, his head moves as if he’s trying to find the right words and you stare at him in, your lips pulled into a straight line and your eyebrows furrowed at his sudden declaration. 

Even when the camera’s not on you you need to act, it helps keep you in character, helps keep you in the moment, and most importantly it helps whoever you're acting alongside. If they see your reactions to the words they are saying, they can use that to better their own performance and that gives everyone the most authentic scenes possible. 

“So.” He takes a deep breath and gets down on one knee. You take a step back, a small gasp leaving your lips as you stare down at him. “Now I ask you most fervently to end my turmoil and consent to be my wife.” He asks and there’s a few seconds of silence while you look between him and the floor. 

“If I could feel gratitude, I would now thank you...” You start, your voice quiet. Hurt flashes through your eyes as you take a deep breath and say your next line. 

You have to admit, the way Sam is staring up at you, it does kind of feel like you’re turning down an actual marriage proposal, and if this is what it feels like when you’re just pretending, you hope you never have to do it in real life. 

“But I cannot.” You sigh, nodding your head just to get your point across. “I never desired your good opinion and you have certainly bestowed it most unwillingly.” 

Sam blinks and looks at the floor, not really sure what to say next. He stands, confusion thinly veiling the disappointment that’s written all over his face and you shift awkwardly. The fabric of your dress crinkling is the only thing that can be heard in the room as you smooth the skirt out, waiting for Sam to say his line. 

“Might I be informed why?” He huffs. “With so little, endeavour at civility, I have been rejected?” 

“You intentionally ruined the happiness of my my most beloved sister.” You reply, and tilt your head up to try and regain some sort of authority. “Do you deny it?” You ask and he lets out a short breath. 

“I have no wish to deny it.” He replies, bitterness lacing his tone and you raise an eyebrow at him. “I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister.” 

Your jaw tightens and you look him up and down, both of you have a silent conversation, just to make sure the other one’s ready, and then you kick him. He throws himself backwards, landing on the desk with a loud crash, a fake vase breaks under the weight and you shout. “How could you?” 

“Because I perceived his attachment to her to be far deeper that to hers to him.” He replies, narrowly avoiding the books you’re throwing at him. Of course you’re told to try and miss him on purpose, but it still is really fun to be able to throw things at someone and get paid for it. “I believed her to be indifferent.” 

“Indifferent?!” You gasp incredulity. “She’s shy!” You seethe and finish throwing the books. One of the smashes a window and Sam looks behind him concerned before looking back at you. 

You walk around the room, deep in thought and Sam watches you as you grab a fire poker from the fireplace. 

When rehearsing this part, you seemed to have a problem with waving it around too much. 

You think you get a bit too into it and each time you swung it around you always seemed to break something, so you’re hoping and praying that this time you won’t cause any property damage. 

The props department has already had to replace three vases and a clock because of you, so let’s hope you don’t break anything or anyone else. 

Sam gulps as you slowly make your way towards him and he takes a few steps backwards, looking incredibly nervous as his gaze moves from you and the stick. 

“Did you suggest to Mr Bingley that his fortune had some bearing on the matter?” You ask and he backs up towards the glass. Nothing you’re saying is threatening, but the way you’re brandishing your new weapon, you do look like you’re going to stab him. 

Luke watches on amazed, he’s never seen you like this before. This is you in your element, doing what you love to do and transporting yourself and the people around you back to a time where people wore corsets and zombies ran around. 

Luke knows people that when they step in front of a camera or onto a stage, they are just totally themselves. Whatever they’re doing, whether it’s singing, acting or dancing, it’s like a second nature to them. They know what they need to do, when they need to do and they don’t even have to think about it. 

But he’s never seen anything like this before. A part of him wonders if it’s just because he loves you, but then he realizes that everyone else watching you and Sam work together are also totally floored by how brilliantly the scene its going. How the two of you work together, the small glances and little touches, every little thing you do just adds to the scene and he’s never been prouder. 

“I wouldn’t do your sister the dishonour...though it was suggested.” He adds and you swing the poker over your head. He ducks, missing each attempted hit and you fall onto the table. He takes the opportunity to jump over it and when you turn around to try and regain your balance, he grabs your wrists and pins you to the table.  

“By Miss Bingley.” You ask furiously and his grip tightens. 

“By your mother, at the ball.” He replies and you shut up. He glances down and you stare at him annoyed, pushing him off you and swinging your weapon around. He misses each hit, just like you’ve practiced and you can’t wait to watch it back. 

“Your character was revealed to me many months ago by Wickham.” You say after each missed hit, and he wrestles you to the floor, making you drop your weapon. “As I heard of his scandalous misfortunes at your hand.” You spit and wrap your ankles around his neck, squeezing just a tiny bit. 

“Oh, yeah. Mr Wickham’s misfortunes have been very great indeed.” He struggles to speak and grabs on your legs, his hands shake so it looks like he’s struggling and when he’s finished you pull him forward just a little and pretend to punch him in the face, making him stumble backwards again. 

A chair smashes when he lands on it and you quickly stand up, grabbing the letter opener as you do. He rolls over and stands and the two of you stare at each other before you move forward. He blocks each attempt at a hit and the two of you move backwards and forwards. 

Fight scenes remind you of well rehearsed dance numbers. You move one way, they move the other. Each hit has to be choreographed to make it look real but remain safe and both of you have to know exactly what you’re doing otherwise it can end in disaster. 

“You withhold the advantages that you know were designed for him.” You slice the letter opener down his shirt, popping the buttons and he stares down at it, watching the small pieces fall to the ground. He looks back at you, letting down his guard and you swing your arms up to hit him in the face. He grabs them and pushes you into the door. 

“This is your opinion of me?” He asks, grabbing the poker of the floor and swinging it around a few times. “Then I thank you for explaining it so fully.” He slowly edges towards you and you do the same, giving each other untrustworthy looks. 

You lunge towards him, raising the blade and he narrowly avoids it, using one hand to grab yours while the other slices the top of your dress. The buttons pop and a part of it comes down, exposing the top of the corset below.

You both look down before you slowly raise your head to glare at him. He looks at you afterwards, and he glances at you, raising his eyebrow before you take a deep breath and spin kick him. 

He falls to the floor and you raise the blade above your head, an annoyed groan escapes your lips as you run towards him. He grabs your arms spinning the two of you around and you back hits the floor with a loud thud. 

You feel the air being knocked out of you for a split second Sam looks worried that he’s hurt you, but you send him and look and he seems to get the message. Get the job done and then ask if you’re alright. 

His hands pin your arms to the hard floor and he rests between your legs, the two of you panting and hot while staring at each other. 

“You could not have made the offer of your hand, in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it.” You say through gritted teeth. “I had not known you a month, before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.” You finish and he lets go. 

You sit up, pointing the blade at his chest and he stares down at you, hurt flashing through his eyes. However the facade quickly comes back and he pulls his gaze away from you, his expression hardens as he stares straight ahead. 

“You’ve said quite enough, madam.” He forces himself to look at you. “I fully comprehend your feelings and now have only to be ashamed of what my own have been.” He stands and quickly walks away from you. 

He turns back around to watch you stand, his hands resting on his hips as he figures out the best way to end this. 

“Please forgive me and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.” He bows and quickly leaves the room. 

You pull yourself up onto the chair, waiting for the sound of the door closing as your cue to start crying. The camera slowly zooms in on you, tears run down your cheeks and you let out a shaky breath.

“Cut!” The director calls and you look at him. 

“Did we get it?” You ask and Sam pokes his head back through the door, glancing between you and the crew. 

“Yeah, we got it. Good job guys!” He replies and everyone cheers. 

“You were brilliant!” You grin at Sam. 

“You did pretty well too.” He jogs over to you, his boots squeaking as he runs and you let out a small giggle. He reaches his hand out to you, helping you stand and leading you off set and towards Luke and Alexandra. 

“You’re such a gentleman.” You tease. “You’re very lucky Alex.” You smile and she laughs, rolling her eyes at her husband. 

“Yeah. Sure I am.” She replies and the three of you laugh, while Sam just glares at you. You pull a face at him and he huffs loudly at you. 

“Take lunch guys. Everyone needs to back by 2.” A producer tells you and you let out a pained breath. 

“Oh shit. Are you okay. You hit that floor pretty hard.” Sam asks and Luke’s eyes widen in concern. He’s stood in front of you instantly, gripping your arms and he looks you over. 

“Babe, are you okay?” He asks and you smile at his concern. 

“I’m fine. It wasn’t so bad, I think it’s just the corset making it feel worse. I’ll be fine when I take it off.” You reassure them and Sam nods slowly, not quite believing you. 

“Come on. I’ll take you back to your trailer.” Luke says and looks around to try and figure out where he’s supposed to be going. 

“You go out of the door, walk all the way down the corridor, take a left and then a right and then another right. Go through them doors and her trailer is the first one you’ll see.” Sam explains and Luke’s blinks at him. 

“I’m fine.” You laugh. “Come on. I can get there on my own. I’ve cracked a rib not my brain.” 

“You’ve crac-” 

“Joking.” You place a hand on his arm and he lets out a nervous breath. 

“Not funny.” He pouts and you pull the same expression. 

“Aww.” You pinch your cheek. “Come on.” You grab his hand and start pulling him away. “Oh, do you guys want to head out for lunch together?” You call over your shoulder. Sam and Alexandra look at each other before nodding, an eager smile twitching at their lips. 

“Yeah. Sounds great.” Sam replies. 

“Great. Swing by my trailer in like twenty minutes and we can get going.” 

“Okay!” He replies and you wave one last time before disappearing through the door. 

“So, what did you think?” You look up at Luke and he gives you a toothy grin. 

“That was amazing!” He exclaims. “You were so fucking good. How are you so badass. How did I get the most talented, pretty, smart and badass girlfriend in the world. You like destroyed him and you still gorgeous while doing it. How? I jump around on stage for a bit and by the time I get off I look like a sweaty giant. But you. You literally fake fight people and act and cry all in a massive dress and you still look like...like that.” He motions wildly and you look at the floor, heat creeping up your neck and spreading across your cheeks.  

“Did you really like it?” You ask one more time. 

“Yes!” He laughs. “If I wasn’t a singer, I definitely would be an actor.” 

“You could be both. Harry Styles acts.” You reply, pushing through yet another door. He stops in the doorway, and hums as he thinks about what you’ve just said. 

“Yeah.” He nods. “That’s very true. Hey!” He smiles brightly. “You never know. One day we could be in a movie together!” 

---

“Have I ever told you that you look really hot wielding a weapon.” Luke asks as he watches you shuffle out of the bathroom. Your dress is bunched around your waist while you slowly try and pry yourself out of the fabric. 

Luke stands behind you, undoing the buttons at the bottom of it and after he’s done the last one it falls to the ground. You stand in a corset and stockings, with your hair up in curls and look over your shoulder at him.

“No, you haven’t.” You blush. “But you can tell me if you want.” You wink and his own cheeks heat up once he realizes he’s been caught staring. 

“Well, you look very hot when wielding a weapon.” 

“Thank you.” You smile and step out of your dress. “Can you pick that up and just hang it on that please?” You point towards the hanger on the chair. He nods and you watch him carefully pick your dress up. 

“It’s not going to break you know.” You tease as you undo the top of your corset. 

“With my luck it will.” He mutters and you snort a laugh. 

“True.” You agree. 

“Would you like some help?” He asks after watching you struggle for a while. 

“Please.” You slump as best you can and a pout takes over your appearance. 

“I hope when I ask you to marry me you don’t have the same reaction.” He mumbles while fiddling the strings and buttons. 

“It depends how you ask me, and how much you’ve annoyed me that day.” You shrug and he pauses to give you a disapproving look. “Joking.” 

“Not funny.” 

“You always say that.” You frown. “But I think I’m hilarious.” 

“Yeah. You think you’re great.” He grumbles and pulls on a bit of fabric. “And done!” He cheers and let’s go. You turn around and look at him surprised. 

“How did you do that so quickly?” 

“I’m just that good.” He winks and you roll your eyes. 

“Sure you are.” You walk towards the bathroom and pat his shoulder. “Give me five minutes to get changed and then we can get lunch.” 

“Take all the time you want.” He replies. “I’m going to snoop while you’re gone.” 

“If you find my secret phone and pictures of my other boyfriend can you just put them back where you found them?” You tease and he looks at you amused. 

“Of course.” 

“Thanks.” You grin and push the door closed. 

---

“So how are you finding London?” Sam asks after swallowing the last of his lunch. 

“I love being back home!” You grin. “I’ve missed England’s shit weather so much. There’s nothing like a miserable day to really cheer you up.” 

“Are they pulling that corset a little too tight?” Alexandra teases making you giggle while sipping your water. 

“I think it’s just an English thing.” Luke replies, shaking his head playfully while staring at you. 

“I think it’s just a Y/n thing.” Sam replies and you send him a glare.

“Hey, LA weather isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The rain can be good you know.” You argue. 

“Sure it can be.” He replies. “What about you Luke?” 

“It’s great! This is the longest I’ve stayed here in years and I love it. I’ve been seeing friends I have’t spoken to in years.” He talks enthusiastically and you watch him fondly as he waves his arms around. Sam and Alex share a look before looking back at him. 

“You guys are made for each other.” Alexandra smiles. “How did you two meet?” 

“Oh.” You giggle, a little embarrassed as you think of the story. 

“Ooo, you’re embarrassed. Tell us.” Sam prods your arm and you swat him away. 

“Fine.” You huff. “I was a fan of his music, so I sent him a DM and asked if he liked a certain show that I was in. He er, he told me he did and I told him I was in it, so he asked who I played. I told him and we just kind of started talking from there.” 

“Awww.” Alexandra gushes and you rolls your eyes. “And how is it dating an actor?” She asks Luke. “For me it’s a nightmare.” She looks at Sam and he stares at her offended. 

“What did I do?” 

“The black eye.” She raises and eyebrow and he shuts up. 

“The black eye?” You ask. 

“He came home with a black eye a while ago. I thought he’s been beaten up or robbed or something. It didn’t help that he limped through the front door, there was blood on his lip and everything. He wouldn’t tell me what happened and then after a few minutes of me panicking, he told me it was just make up from a film he was doing.” She explains and your jaw drops. 

“Sam!” You gasp. 

“I thought it would be funny!” He defends. 

“How is that funny?!” You and Alex say at the same time. 

“That is pretty funny.” Luke laughs and the three of you look at him. 

“Thank you!” 

“Fine. I’ll do that and then we’ll see how you like it.” You reply and he shrugs. 

“Well, you’ve told me you’re going to do it now so I’ll know what you’re doing.” 

“And what if I have actually been mugged? Are you going to take that chance?” You raise an eyebrow. 

“She’s got you there.” Sam says. “And I wouldn’t argue with her, she’s got a hell of a kick when she wants to.” 

“I didn’t even touch you.” You roll your eyes. 

“That’s not the point.” He argues. 

“I can actually kick you next time if you want?” 

“No thanks.” He shakes his head quickly. Him and Alexandra start their own conversation about what to have for dinner and so you turn your body to face Luke. He’s already staring at you when you look at him and you feel yourself become breathless.

“What?” You wonder. 

“Nothing. I’m just proud of you.” He shrugs.  “So when you win your first of many oscars, will I be the first person you thank?” 

“Hmmm.” You pretend to think for a while. “As long as I’m first on your grammy speech?” 

“Deal.” 

[fictionadventurer]

Reasons why The Watsons is my favorite Austen fragment:

Emma is in such an interesting situation. Taken from her family at a young age, raised to be an heiress, and then shoved back to her poor family without a penny. She has different manners and beliefs than her family. She knows nothing about her family, since she hasn’t seen any of them since she was a child. It’s a very sad situation with so much potential for character clashes.

That opening ball scene is my favorite in all of Austen. Charles is so adorable! He wears little gloves to the dance!

Elizabeth Watson is one of my favorite Austen sister characters. She’s like Anne Elliot--disappointed in her first love, mistreated by her sisters--but with a more practical, more cheerful, more lower-class attitude that gives her a unique spin. I love the scene where Lord Osbourne visits, and Emma’s mortified by how poor they must seem, but Elizabeth’s able to keep her cool and just present her home without shame.

Other Austen books have embarrassing siblings or disrespectful siblings, but this is the only one that promises to have actively hostile siblings. There’s a level of unpleasantness there that’s halfway between the annoying behavior of some of the younger Bennets and the snide behavior of the Bertram girls. It’s an interesting flavor of cattiness that promises a lot of good conflict.

Margaret “was rather mortified to find that she was not ill-used”. 

Robert and his wife promise to be such good villains. The scene where Robert has Emma almost in tears--not even because he’s trying to be particularly mean, but just because he’s so blunt.

Robert’s wife is all “Honey, you should put some powder in your hair,” and he’s like, “I don’t wanna put powder in my hair, we’re just dining among family.” And then when a visitor comes, Robert’s like, “Oh, sorry I’m so shabby, I didn’t even have time to powder my hair.”  Emma couldn’t help entering into what she supposed her sister-in-law’s feelings at that moment. 

There are so many potential romance threads here. Elizabeth’s separation from her first love. Emma’s attraction to Mr. Howard and her drawing the attention of Lord Osborne. Penelope chasing after her doctor and Margaret chasing after Tom Musgrave.

And, my personal favorite, Sam’s potentially doomed love for Miss Edwards. The only other Austen novel with an unmarried brother is Northanger Abbey, and that’s nothing more than puppy love that goes south. Here, we have Sam already established in a career (as a surgeon!) and in the usual Austen heroine position of having his romance limited due to his low social position. Sam’s not even on screen and I love him so much.

Tom Musgrave is such a weird blend of the charm of a Willoughby or Wickham with the groveling toadyism of a Mr. Collins. The guy who can charm people on his own but trails after his betters. The guy who knows good social standards but flagrantly tosses them aside just because he likes to annoy people.

Lord Osborne is like if Mr. Darcy actually was the extremely socially awkward person that fandom sometimes claims he is. He just shows up at random hours and talks about boots. Has no clue how to hold a conversation. It’s fun to see a guy be so rich and so dumb.

It’s kind of fun to see an Austen heroine in the wish-fulfillment situation of “she’s the new girl at the ball and she’s so handsome she draws the attention of all the men”, but unfortunately, most of the men aren’t worth having.

This whole thing is like if Jane Fairfax were the star of a story that blends Pride and Prejudice with Mansfield Park. 

Because she reused and remixed a lot of these characters and tropes in later works, it feels like the big Austen mashup that I’ve always dreamed of, but even better because all of these characters are significantly different from the later characters they inspired. It is any wonder that this feels like my favorite Austen novel that never existed?

[runnyeggsnham]

Hi! I would love to hear the reasons why you love Jane/Bingley even more than Elizabeth/Darcy. As you can see by my blog, I'm obsessed with Jane/Bingley, aka the sweetest angels on this planet :)

Hello! Sure, I'd love to share ❤️ Jane/Bingley fans unite, lol! It's been almost a year since I last read the book though, so please forgive the probably scattered thoughts.

It's definitely been talked about a LOT before but the relationships between Jane/Elizabeth and Bingley/Darcy are so similar that the misunderstanding and interference from Darcy is just pure irony, and that's a big source of my love for these two specifically tbh.

Elizabeth/Bingley are the out-spoken but self-deprecating and joyful spirits to the reservedness of Jane/Darcy, and are also the only ones that can easily interpret and read them. Yet Jane/Bingley are so almost naively good-natured and unwilling to think ill of people they end up relying on Elizabeth/Darcy to warn them (like Elizabeth does repeatedly about Bingley's sisters and of course Darcy does about the Bennet family and about Jane's feelings). So the fact that Darcy misconstrues Jane's feelings is equally as ironic as Elizabeth holding Darcy's haughtiness against him, imo, because both of these characters' outward appearances were basically the societal ideal for the men and women in their positions?

Like, Jane IS aware of her poorer position and expectations. She forces herself to remain composed at all times, unlike her frivolous younger sisters, and so like Miss Lucas observes, this practice combined with her shyness means she's gone in the extreme of appearing aloof. Jane forces herself to be rational too in whether or not to expect a proposal from someone as rich as Bingley, and this is obvious because of how she invites Elizabeth's confidence to talk through the thoughts she's desperate to make herself accept. She's desperate not to acknowledge or entertain hope, because to hope is to wish and to wish is to expect. It's that old false thought, 'if I never hope then I'll never hurt'.

And of course Darcy's way of talk and composure from his aristocratic upbringing is worsened by his own shyness and awkwardness and further worsened because no one takes his friendship with the less-aristocratic Bingley into consideration. Bingley is seen as an exception to Darcy's character, an 'in spite of' instead of a genuine indicator of who he really is. Darcy's haughty reserve only looks worse next to Bingley's vibrant and courteous behavior. The false impression between Elizabeth/Darcy at the first ball is exactly what happens between Darcy/Jane at the last. Jane's humble reserve gets cast in a not just aloof but downright indifferent, underserving, and calculating light from his cynical perspective because of how brashly her whole family behaves that last time.

Which is all to say that I think Jane/Bingley captures my heart just a bit more than Elizabeth/Darcy because they have that 'all hope is lost' moment I can't help but be a sucker for. You the reader don't doubt that at the very least Jane loves him and Bingley cares for her (of course, the story means for you to doubt if his depth matches hers until we get Darcy's confession of meddling) by the time they're abruptly separated. But then they are separated, and the reasons are so very unclear, and then Jane gets rebuffed by Miss Bingley in London, and there's that period of hopeless frustration of obvious miscommunication happening but no clear way to rectify it because he's out of reach.

Elizabeth/Darcy get their own moment, but it's never felt as hopeless as Jane/Bingley to me. Darcy's eagerness to console her in the Lydia/Wickham letter scene, the welcoming he had for her and the Gardiners and in introducing his sister, and his obvious understanding of Elizabeth's changed countenance toward him at Pemberley even on the first read left me with the expectation of his return. This is the most hopeful reception he's ever had--and he proposed to her the first time despite her family anyway!

But Bingley didn't just have Darcy's influence, he also had his sisters trying to control him, and their power remains a wild-card until the announcement of his return. Especially because he's obviously in love with Jane and just as consumed by thoughts of her when Elizabeth sees him again, but he's also so nervous and skirts around directly asking about Jane. He's just so CAREFUL this time about social conventions and then her trip is cut short before they can have a moment alone for him to perhaps be bold, as Elizabeth expects, and ask directly after Jane and talk about her, so the question of whether or not he will be even MORE bold, throw off his sisters' remaining influence, and go back to Netherfield and propose to Jane is imo genuinely up in the air. And of course whether or not Darcy will admit the mistake to him is unclear, too (if I remember correctly that this happens after Elizabeth gets the Lydia/Wickham letter and leaves their company).

Once we the reader find out Darcy was ultimately responsible for Bingley's leaving, imo we also see that Jane's the more self-determined of the two. It took her receiving Miss Bingley's cold reception to realize the truth of Elizabeth's words but it's the verbal seeds of doubt from his sisters and Darcy that made Bingley doubt and keep away, despite how strongly he felt. And like, I can't fault him for any of this, because he was being manipulated by those around him, those he trusted most! But it does make the yearning for them to reunite that much stronger because these innocent cuties deserve the happiness they found with each other and they deserve to finally get that moment, alone in a room, to realize how right they were about each other. (Which they get before Elizabeth walks in on Bingley proposing and every time I'm grinning at their little whispers and him running away and Jane bursting with glee !!!!!!!!!)

Jane/Bingley don't have an epic falling in love journey, true, and it's not the tropey love at first sight, which I'm pretty sure in Bingley's and Jane's own words they caution against such hasty conclusions. But they do have such an instant CONNECTION, and every time I read their few little lines here and there, it feels so obvious that they SEE each other and that they're very compatible. For hours at a time every other day (when he's first at Netherfield and again when he returns, I think), and for hours and hours through the night at the Netherfield Ball, Elizabeth just observes them talking. Even in group settings, they are inclined to retreat into this little bubble by themselves and be completely enraptured by the other. There's just something so wholesome and charming about that.

The more I reread P&P, the more I'm struck by the quaintness of their dynamic, and it's amazing how, again, with just a few lines here and there, Austen makes it clear that these two are ATTUNED to one another. The shortness of their acquaintance is no deterrence from how they just CLICK. In fact, it's only the shortness of this acquaintance imo that makes Bingley at all susceptible to being persuaded to stay away.

And aren't they both just so cute??? Everyone loves a dramatic love, but these two really are the sweetest! They can't help how attracted they are to one another and, by the end of the novel, even Jane is incapable of hiding how she brightens around him and how eager she is to see him, too. There's one moment I always remember and it's so fleeting but it's one of the last times Bingley calls on the Bennets before proposing to Jane, I think, and he shows up so early (lol!) that everyone's running about getting ready and Jane could go downstairs first to meet him but she absolutely refuses to until one of her sisters is ready enough to join her. Bingley's such a lovesick puppy at this point and it's so freaking obvious and Jane's at her most desperate to not read anything into it but she's so full of butterflies herself! Oh oh and the line in the last chapter about why Jane/Bingley don't settle at Netherfield, because Mrs. Bennet's even too much for their easy-going natures, that always makes me laugh!

So yeah, I guess I love Jane/Bingley even more than Elizabeth/Darcy because from the very first they just find a kindred spirit in one another. There's something so precious about that. All the struggle in their story comes from outside forces. When the manipulations and miscommunications stop and they can just be with one another again, they're still the two people they always were with one another. They were always honest and always saw the true self of the other, and that's so rare but oh so beautiful.

Gosh I hope this makes sense. I don't feel like all of this is very coherent lol I had to stop myself from rambling a lot. But yes they're angels!!! (And I love your blog btw!)

[sortinghatchats]

Sorting the Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Note: in the way we like to play this sorting game, “primaries” are WHY you do things and “secondaries” are HOW. If you want to learn more about our system’s definitions, check out our other tumblr posts, our blog at sortinghatchats.wordpress.com, or our quiz at https://ejadelomax.itch.io/sortinghatchats.

Lizzie Bennet values her sisters more than anything. She is not just confused but sometimes horrified when others don’t intuitively perform or understand that. The way Darcy eventually wins her over is by doing kindnesses and reparations for her sisters (without any clear aim to gain praise or recognition), and by letting Lizzie see him interact fondly with his own sister.

Lizzie’s drive is based around her own aspirations and the people she loves; she’s a Slytherin Primary, with a loud Gryffindor Secondary. Most adaptions of Elizabeth Bennet seem to make her this Slytherin/Gryffindor – she is one in the original source material, and those themes of healthy selfishness, close personal dedication to her loved ones, and forthright manner have carried over.

As a Gryffindor secondary, Lizzie can’t keep thoughts to herself, and she can’t be anything but herself. Where Darcy stumbles into social interactions overburdened with scripts and plans, Lizzie barrels through them and often gets herself in trouble with the way she instinctively, honestly, and thoughtlessly reacts to what she encounters. She drives herself almost completely on intuition and assumption. It screws her up sometimes, but that same burning Gryffindor Secondary is what draws people in her wake like eager moths.

Darcy is a Hufflepuff Primary, burnt by George Wickham and others. He’s defensive and suspicious of charisma, and he circles anxiously and sternly around the few people he holds in his good graces– Gigi, Bing Li, Fitz, sometimes Caroline, and eventually Lizzie.

The boy can’t improvise worth anything– neither the reactive Gryffindor or the adaptable Slytherin Secondary is for him. Darcy is practical rather than emotional (or would like to be). He builds thriving systems and approaches social situations with a stiff set of social scripts and rules. It’s a Ravenclaw Secondary’s system-building and prep where he excels. It’s his Hufflepuff Primary’s essential generosity and goodness which causes big hearts like Fitz and Bing to flock close, support him, and sing the taciturn kid’s praises.

Lovely, giving, beautiful Jane is a Hufflepuff/Hufflepuff in a nest of Slytherins (Lydia, Lizzie, Caroline, and likely Ms. Bennet as well, though she’s so much a caricature in this, by design). Jane’s kindness is not so much a choice as a willingly held obligation; by right of their being a person, every other individual deserves her time and the benefit of her doubts. And Jane fulfills her Puff Primary obligations to all people with kindness, patience, tolerance, tea making and cookie baking– common skills of the traditional Puff secondary.

Luckily, kind Bing, who looks at her like she’s made of sunshine, is also a Puff/Puff. Even his great failure, in listening to Caroline’s ploys and Darcy’s honest worries, originates there – he’s much to apt to take people at face value and not question their judgements or their accuracy. But once he gets his head out of his, well, um (with Darcy’s repenting help) Bing and Jane are very well matched. They’re likely to give too much to other people, but at least Jane, who gives too much, and Bing, who trusts too much, have a romantic partner who will repay them in kind and never take willing advantage.

Lydia is a Slytherin/Slytherin, and a reactive one. Her actions are driven not by ideals but by who she thinks is currently the most loyal to her. The tumble down into her consuming and abusive relationship is fueled by her feeling spurned and betrayed by her family, all of whom she holds close. This is also why she shatters so hard when she’s betrayed at the end of the series– once again, she has been burned (this time so much more severely) by the people she chose to give her Slytherin loyalty to. Only the rekindled (or rediscovered) love from her family stops her from what may have been the beginning of a spiral toward petrification.

She uses performances almost constantly, and it’s a testament to her actress that we can tell that sometimes she believes her own performances, and other times she doesn’t. But in both cases, Lydia puts them on and carries them not because they are a buffer between her and the world but because they’re how she best likes to interact with it. This adaptability as a solid nature is her Slytherin Secondary, and it’s there for Lydia when she starts to spiral as much as it is when her world is filled with joy.

Caroline Li is also a Slytherin/Slytherin – ambitious, possessive, and manipulative, she’s a classic example of the maligned Slytherin/Slytherin as a villain.

Charlotte, who “leaves” Lizzie for Collins&Collins, who loves quietly and practically and well, who eyes Lizzie’s fiercely possessive Slytherin with a kind of wry, fond confusion, is an Idealist Primary– Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

From the way Charlotte deliberates over her choices and the way she makes choices she *thinks* are right, rather than *feels* are right, she’s likely a Ravenclaw Primary. Her instincts don’t tell her to take Mr. Collins offer, her practicality and her well-thought-out ambitions do (and it’s the right choice, go Charlotte).

For secondary – the way Charlotte shows affection, or one of the ways, is to do service for her friends and family (this suggests Hufflepuff secondary). She edits Lizzie’s videos. She gives her little sister the internship opportunity and tries to make it effective and educational. She excels at Collins&Collins by being clever and prompt but I think her greatest successes come from a dedication to hard work, a willingness to ladder-climb and put in her time, and an ability to honestly and genuinely decide to like and value people like Mr. Collins.

Charlotte’s deliberation and organization suggest Ravenclaw, but I think that’s just something she models, a tool set she’s found useful and developed. I think her actual secondary is Hufflepuff– hard work, service, tolerance, and an ability for decisive fondness that’s as useful as it is nice.

tl;dr

Lydia, Lizzie, and Caroline are all Slytherin Primaries, with their greatest priorities laid on their personal worlds and the people they love. Lydia and Caroline rock the adaptive (and sometimes manipulative) Slytherin Secondary, while Lizzie charges in and bowls the world over with her Gryffindor Secondary.

Darcy and Charlotte, Lizzie’s most important non-family people, are switched, which is interesting: Darcy has the Hufflepuff Primary’s dutiful generosity with a side of its optional stuffiness, where Charlotte has the steady service and adaptable warmth of the Puff secondary. Charlotte, then, has the constructed and thought-out decision making of the Ravenclaw Primary where Darcy has its deliberate and effective system building as his secondary.  

Bing Li and Jane are a matched pair of Hufflepuff/Hufflepuffs, possibly too nice for this world and the nest of beautiful snakes that inhabit it.

[in-tua-deep]

I would love to see Delores punch the Handler! Your ideas for the pride and prejudice AU are inspired! What role would the rest of the family play in this story? I just love your blog so much!

oh i am very down to detail out this au and make it one big post

SO you have Eudora Patch playing the role of our lovely Elizabeth Bennet, and Diego playing the role of Mr. Darcy, protective idiot who puts his foot in his mouth frequently. Eudora’s parents died when she was little and she was raised by her godparents alongside Dave and Dolores, who she considers her siblings - but Dave is her best friend in the world

Dave is kind of ridiculous and more than a little gay and he’s a soldier home on leave, and when Netherfield is occupied and he goes to the ball he falls head over heels for the biggest dumbass in the known universe, Klaus. So Dave is Jane Bennet and Klaus gets to be Mr. Bingley!!

Then Mr. Bingley has two sister and a brother-in-law in the book so that’s just going to be Allison, Vanya, and Luther hanging around. Allison takes Diego’s side after the absolute disaster that was Vanya falling for Leonard (ew) and agrees to help convince Klaus to leave Netherfield with Diego, so she’s taking the role of Caroline Bingley except less bitchy

So the reason the kids have all returned to Netherfield is because their father just died and they’re dividing up the estate etc. etc. and the reason Ben isn’t there is because he’s up in London dealing with the financial stuff because let’s be real there are two (2) people in the family who have the head for finances and one of them is thirteen (and also I needed a reason for Ben to not be there for the falling in love part because he would yeet Diego and Allison’s attitudes out the window)

and then there’s Five who still lives at Netherfield and is best friends with Dolores but they’re secret friends, or at least they were because now the old man is dead he can associate with whoever the fuck he wants wheyy BUT some of the debate over inheritance is also about who gets custody of Five

which is a long way of saying that Five has a vested interest in trying to get at least one of his siblings to stay in Netherfield so he can continue being bros with Dolores and doing whatever he wants because he doesn’t want to have to move

Dolores?? Sort of gets the younger Bennet sisters roles? Sort of Lydia Bennet because she does run away briefly but YEAH she’s Dave’s little sister and is mute and Five is her best friend and she taught him sign language but honestly half the time it’s like they’re reading one another’s minds anyway?? 

They met when they were younger and Five ran away and Dolores found him and was like ?? well okay and proceeded to smuggle him food and hide him in the shed for a day and a half before he ended up going back because he did miss his siblings but the two decided they had bonded and Five frequently secretly exited the manor to meet up with her and play

Dave knows that Five exists abstractly but just knows him as some kid in town that Dolores plays with so he does not put two and two together until later shenanigans when he realizes his little sister’s best friend is the love of his life’s little brother who can pull some strings

anyway

so Wickham’s role goes to the Handler who ?? tried to kidnap Five or something when he was younger? Or rather, she convinced Five that he wanted to go with her because she pretended to be his friend and Five ended up escaping, which was actually the whole ‘running away’ thing where he met Dolores (except he never told Dolores because that Handler highkey scares him and he’s actually kind of ashamed the Handler tricked him to begin with)

so yes obviously someone the whole family despises but is very manipulative and probably weaves some tragedy for Patch to sympathize with and when Diego sees them associating he’s even ruder to her and there’s that whole misunderstanding going on

So Patch is happy for Dave, who is in love, and then Klaus ends up being convinced to go to London to chill with Ben who is his favourite brother because Diego Doesn’t Trust Like That and Patch gets super pissed off about it because Dave is heartbroken and mooning around sadly and being depressed and how DARE Diego do this to her best friend/brother?? absolute fucker

meanwhile Diego is wrestling with his attraction to Patch and making every single wrong step in the book

Five and Dolores plot in the background and are up to shenanigans which involve trying to set their idiot siblings up in situations where they are forced to interact (Dolores is actually invested while Five is sort of just throwing Dave and Patch at his siblings to see what sticks because he really doesn’t want to have to leave Netherfield and Dolores) while Dolores ALSO tries to figure out The Mystery of The Handler because Five goes super pale when he sees her in town but won’t tell her why and no Patch she doesn’t care that you think the Handler is actually good there’s something weird going on here and she’s going to find it out

I’m not usually one for human Dolores aus but I’m delighted by the idea of this child who loves her pretty dresses and things that glitter but who also learned how to sew just so she could add pockets to all of her pretty dresses so she could put things like frogs in them for when she wants to Do Crime with her bestie. Dolores is 80% of the brains behind the operation while Five is 70% the ‘sneaky little shit who can get into just about anywhere’ part. He was probably the one who taught her how to pick a lock. And no, Dave does not know that Five is teaching his baby sister Crime Skills.

but yes Allison is probably still married to Patrick in this au and is kind of angry/irritated because they fight quite a bit which is probably why she was willing to project some of those bad feelings on Klaus and Dave as well

what even other character are there in Pride and Prejudice idk

Grace exists but she’s the kids stepmother or something and for whatever reason she isn’t actually a part of the inheritance?? She’s just sort of in the background waltzing around fussing over her kids and also reminding Diego to be nicer and is probably the catalyst of Diego realizing what an utter shit he’s been after Patch’s big old “Fuck you I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on the face of the planet and also fuck you again for good measure” speech

Vanya just really wants to be able to play cards in peace and stop being dragged into whatever the fuck is going on now but she 100% takes Klaus’s side when everything is dragged up and is like “C’mon guys for real just let Klaus go back to Netherfield and see what happens, Dave seems really nice. And also fuck you for comparing every person we want to date to my shitty ex, like, we GET it, I made some questionable choices.”

Luther is doing his level best to ignore the family drama going on and actually try and do what they came for which is, you know, dividing up the estate and figuring out custody and etc. etc. but every time he brings things up his siblings blow him off because they’re all too focused on their personal lives and drama and the love stories unfolding and Luther is suffering because it’s like herding cats but somehow worse

Dolores finds out about the Handler and decides she’s ready to throw down and runs off to pick a goddamn fight because how fucking DARE and Patch doesn’t know where she IS and her and Dave are STRESSED and Diego hears about it and ends up going and fetching this child and bringing her back which makes Patch respect him or something idk

but at the end, Dave and Klaus get together and they’re cute as FUCK. Patch and Diego get together and their terrible childish rivalry evolves into a terrible childish romance which evolves into what is sure to become a terrible childish marriage. Allison and Patrick actually speak to each other and sort out some of their issues. Ben comes back into this clusterfuck of a situation like that one pizza fire gif and ends up sorting everyone out while nursing a migraine. Vanya gets some god damn peace and quiet. Luther finally manages to sort out the estates. Dolores and Five get matching best friend necklaces or something because they’re kids and high five the fuck out of one another at the wedding because hell yeah all their plans worked (even though like 90% of their plans backfired, accomplished nothing, or were just hilarious but not actually successful)

and yeah that’s the pride and prejudice au

[stressedidiot]

so i just read pride and prejudice for the first time and i’m almost done and carry on has ruined me because all i can see are parallels between the characters.

- darcy was mean to elizabeth because he liked her and so was baz (also both of their moms are dead i’m sorrY)

- elizabeth didn’t like darcy because he was proud and rich but still thought he was hot like simon did with baz

- wickham = the mage. also mrs. bennet’s ridiculousness ties in with the mage too. if she was a man she would have a handlebar mustache too and i will fight you if you disagree.

- “i cannot fix upon the hour, or upon the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. it is too long ago. i was in the middle before i knew i had begun.” (darcy telling elizabeth he didn’t know when he fell in love w her) is definitely baz realizing he loved simon in fifth year

- mrs. gardiner = ebb. she knew what was up between darcy and elizabeth and ebb definitely knew there was something between baz and simon. also mrs. gardiner was much more of a sensible mother figure to elizabeth and ebb was the most motherly figure simon is aware of

- lady catherine gives off old family/ malcom vibes since she’s rich, rude, thinks she’s better than everyone else, and disapproves of elizabeth & darcy/ simon & baz

- miss darcy = headcannon mordelia. fully supports e & d/ s & b and is just great overall. the reason why it’s headcannon is because we don’t see much or mordelia but still. plus both darcy and baz love their little sisters

- the elizabeth and charlotte dynamic kind of reminds me of simon and agatha (this is a bit of a stretch but bear with me). so elizabeth and charlotte were really close but mr collins kind of screwed it all up since charlotte chose him over elizabeth. agatha picked baz over simon even though baz didn’t reciprocate or anything but it still mirrors the damaged relationship. however, in both p&p and wayward son, the relationship between e & c and a & s is getting repaired.

- pemberley and pitch manor. at both of these places our couples become an actual thing. elizabeth realizes that she loves darcy and simon and baz get their shit together and actually become a thing™️. also both of them have beautiful woods and servants (i would say there’s a parralel between vera and mr darcy’s servant that helped redeem darcy but i can’t remeber if canon vera was super close to baz or not)

there’s probably more but i can’t think of anything else