And Brutus knows I am no orator
Posted by Helen on December 05, 1997 at 13:02:06:
In response to So were they all, all honourable men!, written by Mark on December 05, 1997 at 12:10:56
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] ] ] Excellent observation! I agree. I think she understands why he does need an heiress, though. No matter how much in love they might be at the start of their marriage, I think that his style of living (as younger son of an Earl, I mean) would put a drain on the finances and ultimately cause friction, resentment, and unhappiness. On the Colonel's part, I think he's being realistic as well. It may be very romantic to say that you will give up everything for the woman you love, but....
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] Mark
] Elizabeth wasn't too upset about Wickham chasing Mary King. I also thinks she respects the Colonel for telling her fairly quickly that he's concerned about money. Compare his actions to Willoughby and Edward Ferrars.
Yes, he's doing the decent thing and stopping the possibility before it gets started. So she knows he's not going to marry a non-heiress like herself: so if she chooses to flirt with him, that's fine, but she shouldn't form an attactment. Which is pretty essential at a time when a young woman's unrequited attachment can blight her reputation in the eyes of others (and no, I know we're not talking Victorian propriety here)
] But getting back to my original premise, suppose the Colonel was the eldest and therefore could marry where he likes (like Darcy) or that she was an heiress (like that lady Willoughby dumps Marianne for), I would say that Elizabeth very likely would have married him if he had popped the question.
] What if, instead of Darcy calling upon her at Hunsford, it had been Col. Fritzwilliam who walks in and proposes! Would she have accepted him? This assumes that he would have been more gentlemanly about it than "foot-in-mouth" Darcy.
] Interesting questions, no?
Fascinating ones! Because I like to think that she would have said to herself, "No, I don't love him, so it would not be fair to marry him". But she would have faced a lot more pressure from Mr. Bennet to take him - remember, he is concerned that she respect rather than love her husband. And she would not even have Fanny Price's inner certainty that he was not truly moral. I think that every conceivable external and internal social pressure would have pressured her into accepting, but she would have refused, or at least told him to wait some time before she knew that she could accept.
Helen, typing illicitly in library again, because this is such a fascinating conversation, hence the poor rhetorical skills referred to in the subject ;-)
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