I read your link and I absolutely agree with the bipolar diagnosis.

] Some of the Ladies below stated that they even "liked" the General. Yes, they can be "likable" when they so desire.

As one of those ;-), I would like to make it clear that I liked the General of the first two weeks' reading, and I think that that was, as Cheryl says in a post below, what JA meant us to do. The novel takes us through the process of realising he is not what he might seem at first. Yes, one of the features of MD, in my experience, is that charming (if slightly over the top) manner - but there are people who are charming like that without being ill.

]I believe JA is trying to tell us something – was in fact trying to tell the Ladies of her time something which was totally different from what those "conduct" books were saying. JA brought such behavior out into the light of day and exposed it.

Yes, I agree. I think NA is much more serious than it might at first appear, and women's vulnerability is one of its themes.