Pride and Prejudice

I recently rewatched the BBC/A&E version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth.

It is a real case study and illustration of George Gilder's Men and Marriage.  Men are civilized by women when they seek to marry.  Darcy is a jerk when he first meets Elizabeth.  But as he seeks to pursue her, his jerkiness subsides, as he knows it must.  She's a jerk, too, at the beginning.  Love tempers both men's and women's rough edges.

It's a very Victorian-etiquette setting, Pride and Prejudice.  Maybe they were overly sensitive to things.  But we've been so desensitized to proper relations between the sexes, we could learn a lot from this story.  Men should be more accommodating to the feelings of sensible women like Jane and Elizabeth.  But less so to foolish women like Mrs. Bennett (her nerves!), and Lydia and Kitty.  Mr. Bennett was too accommodating to the latter three, and it cost him dearly.  The story illustrates in stark contrast the recent interest in distinguishing empathy from sympathy (Joe Rigney).

Something new I found on this rewatch was how the social prejudice against Mr Darcy hardened, even as Elizabeth discovered his true, good character.  At first it was the reverse.  Everyone thought him handsome and wonderful because he was so rich, but Elizabeth despised him for his gruff and prideful manner.  Proverbs 18:17 came to mind.  "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."  Elizabeth believed Wickham's accusations against Darcy too quickly, without hearing the other side.  When she learned the truth, she was ashamed and repented of her prejudice, just as Darcy came to repent of his pride before her.

This is a true classic everyone should read or watch.  Peter Leithart has a great saying, "Real men read Jane Austen," and I agree.  To dismiss this great work because it's overly feminine and is just a bunch of letter writing between overly-wrought women is foolish.  Making good matches in marriages is foundational to society and it is taken seriously by Austen, as it should be by all of us.

Take up and read.