In Defense of the Elizabeth Bennets of the World

This morning Spongie sent me the following email:

Found this when reading around after what Jenn had written about Colin Firth's Mr Darcy...

http://www.thefword.org.uk/features/2006/05/oh_mr_darcy
"Why do so many heterosexual women still find the Darcy figure attractive? Sheryl Plant ponders the influence of romantic fiction on women’s expectations of love and relationships. She discusses how lusting after the dominant male archetype can be interpreted both as resistance to patricarchy and compliance with it."

(It did strike me when watching the original BBC mini-series that Mr Darcy came across as a bit of a dominant grunt who had no idea of how to interact with women... so *naturally* the heroine changes her mind and falls in love with him. In Austen's defence, 1. power and social dominance are associated with male attractiveness, and 2. that was the nature of British society at the time - and some of it still exists within the anachronistic British public [i.e. private] school system.
I should know, being a product of it myself... :D )
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Okay, *cough* hmmm. I have to respond (of course). Especially since I read the article and think it's a bunch of steaming horse poop.

I've been "living" in academia for a long time. I went straight to grad school from undergrad and then overlapped finishing my Master's degree with my full-time university position. I was immersed in all things professor for years and years. And here I am again, years later, back at a university, an environment I truly enjoy, but no longer have the same wide-eyed admiration for. The problem with academia is that they may challenge each other ruthlessly on their arguments, but outside of the "ivory tower" (the real world), they believe they are never wrong. It's because they're so damn smart, damn it! If you're smarter than the others around you, you must be right, right?

And this woman's article features the same ol' discourse you get used to. It's chock full of SAT-worthy words and a slightly patronizing style. The literature professors are the ABSOLUTE worst at this. Comparative Lit students were the ones all the other already overly-verbose grad students used to make fun of. Talking to a Comp Lit person was like trying to stir a giant vat of cooling molasses. They're all about complicated theories, and thick thick thick language, some of it simply made up words that your spell checker will go mad over, but scholarly journals will embrace. ANYWAY.

In a nutshell, the woman's argument is that we "feminists" of today still pine away for that arrogant, strong, dominant asshole (Mr. Darcy) and consider winning him the true prize of courtship.

I don't think this woman gets it at all. And to try and be fair, I will just speak for myself, and any other female who has been "sucked in" by Mr. Darcy can speak on their own opinion. When you watch (or read) Pride and Prejudice, you are initially disgusted with Darcy, yes. He's a dick. But the whole point of the book, and this is funny because I talked with Beau about this very thing last night when we were watching the last 20 minutes of the BBC series, is that you see the slow and delicious progression of the Elizabeth-Darcy relationship, who they both truly are, and how they both evolve and change. When you see Darcy at his home for the first time, speaking amiably with Elizabeth's aunt and uncle, you feel as if you've finally met the true Darcy, the one more at ease with himself and his surroundings.

I loved Darcy not for his initial arrogance, but for his later dedication, tenderness, and yes, though the author claims this is a negative attribute connected to (future domestic) violence - his deep passion. The more you learn about Darcy, the more you like him. All of us have met someone we initially disliked, and as we got to know him/her and learned of all the complexities of his/her life and character, have come to truly care for that person. When you first learn the truth about the real "bad boy" Wickham, your heart softens towards Darcy. When you see his great adoration for his sister, your heart gets a little mushy. And when you learn to what lengths Darcy goes to during the whole "Lydia-Wickham" scandal, your heart just about melts. There's a reason I put that particular still photo of Darcy in the blog. It's an important moment in the story -- Elizabeth and Darcy make a connection. She knows how much he loves and cares for his sister, and Elizabeth, easily picking up on the sister's verbal wound from the icky Miss Bingley, immediately rushes to care for the sister herself. It's then that Darcy gives her "the look" -- communicating not only his thanks to Elizabeth for protecting Georgiana, but his love for her caring nature (so different from that of callous Miss Bingley).

The author keeps claiming that the love for Darcy is the love for the bad boy, the jerk, the man who leaves you "humped and dumped." As she writes:

"I believe Jane Austen’s Darcy character still exists in today’s society and still holds some women in a love like trance, exercising power over women, using and controlling women to his (usually sexual) advantage. In all walks of life such men exist; he is usually the town womaniser or ‘badboy’, picking up and dropping women whenever he likes..."

Um, huh? I never saw it that way at all. Is it any more obvious that the one displaying all these attributes in the story is Wickham? (And Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility). Both of them play the charming, "dark-haired, " love-you-and-leave-you cad. In all likelihood, Darcy may well have been a virgin when he marries, as he is so disgusted by Wickham's womanizing in college.

And the author is forgetting one very vital aspect of the whole Darcy argument: Elizabeth Bennet! Half the reason I love Pride and Prejudice so much (and Mr. Darcy) is due to her. Elizabeth is one of the most popular female literary characters for a reason. She's strong, intelligent with a fierce wit, she's fearless, and she doesn't take shit from anybody. And of course, she has a heart of gold. Women just don't fall for Darcy, they fall for Elizabeth too. And as Elizabeth slowly learns about and loves Darcy, so do you. You feel they are well-matched, if not by socio-economic status, then by their personalities and character.

At the end, it's not the "Ha ha ha, Elizabeth has conquered that arrogant prick" as the author claims to be some sort of female revenge, simply because by the end, you don't think he's a prick anymore. By the end, you feel as if you've gotten to know who Darcy truly is, an aristocratic man (and all the pomp that entails), with a genuinely good heart and true intentions.

And you love him for it.