"The extremely disagreeable"
Posted by Erica on July 21, 1998 at 03:40:46:
In response to Stirring things again, written by Linden on July 01, 1998 at 03:35:57
For my part, Lydia Wickham (nee Bennet) is my favorite villain, if you could call her that. P+P has some interesting portrayals of nasty female behavior; Caroline Bingley, whilst vile, is sadly jealous and thus we at least understand her motives. Mrs. Bennet is merely ill-bred and uncontrolled--a condition Mr. Bennet delights in sneering at--and encouraging-- rather than attempting to correct her. But Lydia is utterly selfish. I hope I don't sound histrionic when I call Lydia a virtual sociopath and really, if you discount murder, she fits the term exactly. Utterly heedless of others, completely self-centered, unable to reflect or learn from past mistakes, driven only by her pleasure. I loathe her. As Knightley says in Emma, she "offends me deeply."
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] The trouble with JA is that she's resolutely sane, and tells us merely of the exceedingly disagreeable, rather than the truly wicked.
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