OK, I Didn’t Remember

OK, I didn’t remember that D’Arcy proposes to Elizabeth about halfway through Pride and Prejudice. And what a terrible proposal it is! At this point, you can’t say that Elizabeth’s view of the man is tainted by prejudice: he really is a jerk here, and she justly turns him down.

And, OK, so I didn’t remember that D’Arcy was such a jerk at first! In my memory, D’Arcy had legitimate concerns about some of the people in Elizabeth’s neighborhood, concerns about which, however, he was unable to speak, and so Elizabeth mistook his reticence for coldness and pride. But, no, he’s something of a misanthrope at first. So why do so many women see him as the ultimate romantic male character in fiction? Well, partly because he looks so good once he cleans up at the end. But also because from the first he declares that his ideal woman uses her mind and reads, thus complementing and justifying every girl who reads the book.

OK, so I didn’t remember that Elizabeth shows her intellect and strength at the end of the book by being so cheeky! Her conversation with Lady de Burgh, who informs Elizabeth that she has heard that she (Elizabeth) and D’Arcy are to be married, is hilarious and amazing. Females are supposed to be quiet . . . unless they have money, but Elizabeth refuses to take any of Lady de Burgh’s bait and professes her independence of body, mind, and will loudly and forcefully. And then that ending! Where Elizabeth alone of everyone he has ever known dares to tease D’Arcy. She knows more than even he himself knows that he will love this treatment because it shows a razing of the artificial walls of their code-bound society, a demolition necessary before any lasting, satisfying, spiritual intimacy is possible.

This I remember: Jane Austen never gets old.