(no subject)
In response to a totally random discussion that cropped up on a livejournal today, I was asked to explain my Darcy-Draco Parallel Argument a bit more extensively than I had in the LJ. As my argument is pushing 5000 words, though, I thought it a bit unfair to post it to the livejournal where the discussion was taking place, so instead, I'm posting it here, so I can post a link to it over there. Feel free to read and comment - it's all canon discussion (we don't see that much here (although marysia has a wonderful canon!Draco-analysis which I'm off to comment on in a few...)
Anyhow, so here's the overview of the explanation, extrapolated from some posts I'd made to the HPforGrownups Yahoogroup earlier this year, all of which are vaguely based on canon and the fact that JKR is a Jane Austen fan:
If Draco follows in the footsteps of Fitzwilliam Darcy, he'll be a
better match for Hermione, if she continues to have her parallels to the character of Elizabeth Bennett, than anyone else in the books could be. Yes, I admit it's a big if... but they've both got a bit of growing up to do, and it could happen.
Following in the footsteps of is different from "is a complete
parallel to". While I see that there are parallels in the descriptions
about Darcy provided by Elizabeth, or in his statements from the early
parts of the book, it's more that I see in the narrative the ability
to modulate Draco's character to give him a chance to separate the
principles that he was raised to believe were right (in this case, the
belief that he could act with self absorbtion and in pride and
conceit) from the way that one actually *should* behave.
I have never said, and I do not think, that she's rewriting the
character of Darcy through Draco Malfoy. I do, however, think that the
sharp shock of Elizabeth's denial of Darcy's proposal, which caused
him to make a sea change in his outward personality (at least towards
her or for her benefit), may be paralleled in the narrative by having
Draco experience something that shakes the foundations on which he
lives his life- and thus cause him to make a sea change as well.
That's the fundamental parallel, at it's basest level. It's not
superficial, it's an underlying narrative structure.
Darcy is in his late 20s, a gentleman whose father has died at least five
years before the novel begins. Draco is, when we last see him, fourteen years
old and still quite under his father's (eye/control/thumb/financial
grip/demands) (choose whichever one you feel most appropriate). Draco's
father is abusive, at least to the servants (slaves, if you prefer Hermione's
term) and many see him as also having been at least emotionally abusive to his
son.
Draco is, as I've said elsewhere, fourteen! And the only time he said he
wished Hermione dead was when he was *twelve*. He didn't say it as a "wish"
think in the end of GoF, he was just "predicting" what he saw to be the likely
consequence of Voldemort's return. And he was actually accurate in his
supposition - those who are muggles and muggle-lovers are actually most at
risk now.
And while you may dismiss Darcy's original reaction to Elizabeth as mere
dislike, and note that he liked her not long after meeting her, even when he
first proposed, he said that such a marriage - her connections and family -
were a significant impediment to a marriage. "His sense of her inferiority --
of its being a degradation..." to wed her, were things that he discussed while
*proposing*. So I don't think it's fair to even describe his feelings toward
her as blooming with love and sunshine when he proposes, much less at any time
before. Indeed, he says about Elizabeth and the other women at the assembly,
"and there is not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment
to me to stand up with."
Punishment to stand up with? Sounds much closer to at least despairing of and
hoping to never come in contact with than anything else, doesn't it? Darcy is
clever/bright (we're given the impression that Draco isn't a complete loser in
academia as his name isn't mentioned with Crabbe & Goyle in the list by Harry
& Ron at the end of PS/SS, and it is implied in CoS that only Hermione beat
him in all his classes). Darcy is also "haughty, reserved, and fastidious, and
his manners, though well bred, were not inviting. . . . Darcy was continually
giving offense."
hen I say, as I have done, that there is a possibility of a romantic
relationship between Draco and Hermione, I am not speaking of something in
Book 5, or even in much of Book 7 - I do think, though, that JKR has created,
in Draco, a character who can overcome his pride *and* his prejudice. The
critical descriptions of Darcy throughout the book resonate in the
descriptions of Draco - family pride, the belief that others are not good
enough to associate with, the tendency to pass judgments about people and
situations without looking too closely - all those things apply to both Darcy
and Draco. And nobody has even bothered to criticise the very obvious
parallels in personality between Elizabeth and Hermione - they are both
cynical and idealistic at the same time. If JKR wanted to create a resonance
between P&P and a relationship in her books, she could easily and reasonably
do so.
Sorry for the length of this - but I just wanted to put all my eggs on the table - this is an issue I've been running around with for coming on two years, so as you can tell, I've been through the wringer on it - it's a fun topic to play around with - literary archetypes, I mean - and Draco is at least three of them.