Recently I have read Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed it immensely. The richness of Jane Austen’s prose is of course captivating and although at times the long discourses are tedious the way she is able to bring life and drama to her subjects through their day to day conversations is unbelievable.
But as I research my next book “Sons” I read it with another view in mind. The roles of the sexes in a time when (early eighteen hundreds) evolution through natural selection had not been thought of, when genes and cells are in the future. In fact when all our modern biases which we bring to bear on a subject do not exist. Jane Austen writes with the innocence and purity of a child combined with the brilliance of genius.
It is a time of a new awakening a new enlightenment and new revolutions in thought, science, industry, dress, and politics. This is the time of Britain’s beginnings of industrial revolution, a new and emerging middle class, the time of the Napoleonic wars. But still a time of deep class consciousness, sexual norms, strict moral codes and behaviour.
Let us look at the two main character:
Miss Lizzie Bennet:
Precocious sensible, well read, thoughtful but willful, opinionated and beautiful. She comes from a genteel and respectable family. But one of low means, uncertain future, where everything rides on the fact that one of the five daughters has to make a good match.
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy
Serious, well educated, aloof, changeable, aristocratic, opinionated and handsome. He comes from a high born aristocratic family of some standing and fortune. His position and status means that he is a very eligible partner for any aspiring genteel lady and is guarded and measured.
Mr Darcy as a Male
Mr. Darcy like all males is governed by evolutionary adaption and he is drawn to females he thinks will be able to reproduce. (Young, good complexion, 16-28yrs, fertile, etc.) He is governed by basic desires and aversions which are traits embedded in him long ago. Like all males he is a psychological fossil of our ancestors.
Thus a Mr. Darcy’s’ along with other men’s’ behaviour is not only governed by powerful evolutionary urges but by the situation or society he finds himself in. The subsistence hunter/gatherer may share his spoils from the hunt with the group, share parenting responsibilities with his sole partner and probably with other males and women within the group, especially his extended family or clan. The suburban westerner will have one wife, 1.2 children and will be expected and expect to work, shelter and look after this family with his wife and perhaps in-laws or grandparents on the periphery. They are constrained in their relationships with women and family by the powerful forces of society, and means. Most men are constrained (or not) by their situation.
Mr. Darcy lives in a society where the moral code is very strictly enforced, (Lydia’s Downfall with Mr. Wickham is a case in point) where status and class are displayed for all to see. A male’s status is judged by his income, landholding, rank, descent, class and family connections. He can lose this status by an indiscretion, family failure, family financial ruin or scandal.
Mr. Wickham the scoundrel of the story tries to deceive the society he lives in and specifically the female part of it as to his status and respectability. A trait that is also common today as in every past and future society, males trying to be more than they are. It is after all a matter of survival. It is interesting that the females of this era as of todays find the scoundrel larrikin male attractive.
Jane Austen does not even mention the other men who are there in the shadows, the servants, merchants, shop keepers, ordinary soldiers, and man servants. In her world they hardly exist. They have no status or standing. But surely there would have been some of them who were as good looking and handsome as Mr. Darcy. It is a truism that the poor man’s wants are no less than the rich man’s only his opportunities are more limited.
Mr. Darcy as in common with all men’s reproductive value is only apparent to him when he has sex. They do not conceive, give birth, ovulate, lactate, have periods and all the other reminders of sexual reproductive worth inherent in the female. The only thing he really is involved in physically is the sexual act. For something that has little reproductive value, it is highly enjoyable. Men do have commitment in evolutionary terms, they have a commitment to have sex and impregnate as many reproductive women as they can!
Although the language in Pride and Prejudice is couched in “genteel terms” Mr. Darcy’s’ world is highly competitive. Men are competitive regardless of the time or situation they find themselves in, especially among themselves. Mr. Darcy of course has the advantage of his birth, wealth and standing which gives him a huge edge. That will get him noticed by desirable females such as Miss Bingley, Miss Bennet and others but he still has to impress and of course compete for them. Like most societies the female still make the choice although it is a qualified choice. Lizzie of course refuses an offer from Mr. Collins where as her friend Charlotte accepts him. Much of the talk among the female gatherings is to the worth or lack of, of the eligible males.
As Darwin said:
“The sexual struggle is of two kinds; in the one it is between individuals of the same sex, generally the males, in order to drive away or kill their rivals, the females remaining passive; whilst in the other, the struggle is likewise between the individuals of the same sex, in order to excite or charm those of the opposite sex, generally the females, which no longer remain passive, but select the more agreeable partners”.
The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Charles Darwin 1871
Human beings are alone in the animal world in that they are able by dressing, grooming, altering their environment and even their physique to compete with their own gender and impress the other. Mr. Darcy and Lizzie are of course representative of this phenomenon. They are not dressed to kill they are dressed to impress, impress the others of their sex and the opposite sex. Mr. Darcy tries to make his silhouette bigger, his shoulders broader, and his height taller.
Although, in some species it is the best song, the biggest mound, the best nest, the best dance and so on. The male Peacock is stuck with his tale, the Lion with his mane, the trout with his hooked snout, and the butterfly with his colour, etc. Evolution is capable of much change but it is an in-ordinatley slow process reliant on selection or genetic mutation. The human male has none of these restrictions and can change overnight or from situation to situation.
Every situation we find ourselves in is subject to evaluation not only on the superficial and ordinary standards of the day but also as to its creation by the forces of evolution and genetic replication of the ages. For ordinary life is the greatest show on earth and we are ever so lucky to be a part of it.
Pride and Prejudice
a Synopsis
The news that a wealthy young gentleman named Charles Bingley has rented
the manor of Netherfield Park causes a great stir in the nearby village of
Longbourn, especially in the Bennet household. The Bennets have five unmarried
daughters—from oldest to youngest, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia—and
Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see them all married. After Mr. Bennet pays a
social visit to Mr. Bingley, the Bennets attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley is
present. He is taken with Jane and spends much of the evening dancing with her.
His close friend, Mr. Darcy, is less pleased with the evening and haughtily
refuses to dance with Elizabeth, which makes everyone view him as arrogant and
obnoxious.
At social functions over subsequent weeks, however, Mr. Darcy finds himself
increasingly attracted to Elizabeth’s charm and intelligence. Jane’s friendship
with Mr. Bingley also continues to burgeon, and Jane pays a visit to the
Bingley mansion. On her journey to the house she is caught in a downpour and
catches ill, forcing her to stay at Netherfield for several days. In order to
tend to Jane, Elizabeth hikes through muddy fields and arrives with a spattered
dress, much to the disdain of the snobbish Miss Bingley, Charles Bingley’s
sister. Miss Bingley’s spite only increases when she notices that Darcy, whom
she is pursuing, pays quite a bit of attention to Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth and Jane return home, they find Mr. Collins visiting their
household. Mr. Collins is a young clergyman who stands to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property,
which has been “entailed,” meaning that it can only be passed down to male
heirs. Mr. Collins is a pompous fool, though he is quite enthralled by the
Bennet girls. Shortly after his arrival, he makes a proposal of marriage to
Elizabeth. She turns him down, wounding his pride. Meanwhile, the Bennet girls
have become friendly with militia officers stationed in a nearby town. Among
them is Wickham, a handsome young soldier who is friendly toward Elizabeth and
tells her how Darcy cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance.
At the beginning of winter, the Bingleys and Darcy leave Netherfield and
return to London, much to Jane’s dismay. A further shock arrives with the news
that Mr. Collins has become engaged to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s best friend
and the poor daughter of a local knight. Charlotte explains to Elizabeth that
she is getting older and needs the match for financial reasons. Charlotte and
Mr. Collins get married and Elizabeth promises to visit them at their new home.
As winter progresses, Jane visits the city to see friends (hoping also that she
might see Mr. Bingley). However, Miss Bingley visits her and behaves rudely,
while Mr. Bingley fails to visit her at all. The marriage prospects for the
Bennet girls appear bleak.
That spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte, who now lives near the home of Mr.
Collins’s patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who is also Darcy’s aunt. Darcy
calls on Lady Catherine and encounters Elizabeth, whose presence leads him to
make a number of visits to the Collins’s home, where she is staying. One day,
he makes a shocking proposal of marriage, which Elizabeth quickly refuses. She
tells Darcy that she considers him arrogant and unpleasant, then scolds him for
steering Bingley away from Jane and disinheriting Wickham. Darcy leaves her but
shortly thereafter delivers a letter to her. In this letter, he admits that he
urged Bingley to distance himself from Jane, but claims he did so only because
he thought their romance was not serious. As for Wickham, he informs Elizabeth that
the young officer is a liar and that the real cause of their disagreement was
Wickham’s attempt to elope with his young sister, Georgiana Darcy.
This letter causes Elizabeth to reevaluate her feelings about Darcy. She
returns home and acts coldly toward Wickham. The militia is leaving town, which
makes the younger, rather man-crazy Bennet girls distraught. Lydia manages to
obtain permission from her father to spend the summer with an old colonel in
Brighton, where Wickham’s regiment will be stationed. With the arrival of June,
Elizabeth goes on another journey, this time with the Gardiners, who are
relatives of the Bennets. The trip takes her to the North and eventually to the
neighborhood of Pemberley, Darcy’s estate. She visits Pemberley, after making sure
that Darcy is away, and delights in the building and grounds, while hearing
from Darcy’s servants that he is a wonderful, generous master. Suddenly, Darcy
arrives and behaves cordially toward her. Making no mention of his proposal, he
entertains the Gardiners and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister.
Shortly thereafter, however, a letter arrives from home, telling Elizabeth
that Lydia has eloped with Wickham and that the couple is nowhere to be found,
which suggests that they may be living together out of wedlock. Fearful of the
disgrace such a situation would bring on her entire family, Elizabeth hastens
home. Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet go off to search for Lydia, but Mr. Bennet
eventually returns home empty-handed. Just when all hope seems lost, a letter
comes from Mr. Gardiner saying that the couple has been found and that Wickham
has agreed to marry Lydia in exchange for an annual income. The Bennets are
convinced that Mr. Gardiner has paid off Wickham, but Elizabeth learns that the
source of the money, and of her family’s salvation, was none other than Darcy.
Now married, Wickham and Lydia return to Longbourn briefly, where Mr.
Bennet treats them coldly. They then depart for Wickham’s new assignment in the
North of England. Shortly thereafter, Bingley returns to Netherfield and
resumes his courtship of Jane. Darcy goes to stay with him and pays visits to
the Bennets but makes no mention of his desire to marry Elizabeth. Bingley, on
the other hand, presses his suit and proposes to Jane, to the delight of
everyone but Bingley’s haughty sister. While the family celebrates, Lady
Catherine de Bourgh pays a visit to Longbourn. She corners Elizabeth and says
that she has heard that Darcy, her nephew, is planning to marry her. Since she
considers a Bennet an unsuitable match for a Darcy, Lady Catherine demands that
Elizabeth promise to refuse him. Elizabeth spiritedly refuses, saying she is
not engaged to Darcy, but she will not promise anything against her own
happiness. A little later, Elizabeth and Darcy go out walking together and he
tells her that his feelings have not altered since the spring. She tenderly
accepts his proposal, and both Jane and Elizabeth are married.
This blog is longer than most, therefore I will cover Miss Bennet in the
next one.
John is researching for a new book “Sons”
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