Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, and gold-diggers/shallow women.

[prozacpark]

I binged on the 1995 version of "Pride and Prejudice" with Heather this weekend, which is one of my favorite movies/books, not least because it's immensely enjoyable and fun (as opposed to my usual leanings towards doom and gloom fiction). But one thing that leaves me really uncomfortable with the ending is Lydia being married to Wickham. She's

Comments

[scrollgirl]

Maybe I'm misremembering P&P, but doesn't it address the double-standard of gold-digging in men v gold-digging in women? Wasn't there a conversation between Lizzy and her aunt when they learned Wickham was making a play for Mary King and her 10,000 pounds?

[scrollgirl]

And S&S makes it clear that Willoughby is going to be pretty miserable for the rest of his life because he chose money over love, IMHO.

[prozacpark]

Yeah, to her credit, Austen *is* equally harsh on male and female gold-diggers, and from what I understand, they were both equally common in her time? However, I am still viewing the texts from the lens of a century where the term is almost exclusively applied to women. I am sure there are patterns to be picked in her male gold-diggers, but I am personally a lot more interested in female characters and their narratives so probably can't do that critique justice

[fallingtowers]

So given that gender gap, I think gold-digging as a career is a lot more justifiable for one gender than another.

Yes, indeed. As much of a flat character and easily ridiculed caricature Mrs Bennet is, her eagerness to marry off her five daughters to wealthy providers is actually rather sensible, from a certain point of view. (Although I equally understand Lizzie's horror at the prospect of that provider being a Mr Collins, but that's another can of worms.)

And, completely OT: Happy birthday! (Slightly late, though.)

[prozacpark]

I admit to finding Mrs. Bennet more amusing than annoying, and am probably vaguely fond of her. I can understand where she's coming from, which helps. And the fact that Mr. Bennet is so dismissive towards her concerns kind of makes me dislike him.

And thank you! :)

[prozacpark]

So, I skimmed over my copy, and they find out in chapter 26, where Lizzie says the famous "Handsome young men must have something to live on, as well as plain." And there really isn't much else besides that, except that a comparison is made between his situation and Charlotte's.

I understand that sometimes, tropes were put in books to make them more acceptable for printing. In which case, it would make sense for Austen to tell rather than show her displeasure with the double-standard. Do you happen to remember which chapter the discussion takes place in?