Posted by Kathy F. on June 18, 1997 at 00:18:00:
Exactly what is a gentleman, anyway?
I know that Mr. Knightley is, even though he is not necessarily money-rich. Mssrs. Woodhouse, Weston, Elton, and Churchill are, too. Mr. Robert Martin is not. I have thought that not needing a profession was one of the qualifications, but Mr. John Knightley is a lawyer (?), and I think still considered a gentleman. In P&P, the Bennet girls' uncle Gardiner is in trade, which is looked down upon by the uppity Bingley girls. Is he a gentleman? Is it mostly the way one acted, which proved a "gentleman's education"? Isn't a clergyman a profession, yet considered gentlemanly?
Kathy