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Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer
79 Plays20 days ago
What if Pride & Prejudice was told from Darcy's point of view? What if the real heroine of the story was Georgiana Darcy who pushed her brother to chase his true love? What if we had a front row seat to Darcy pretending to himself that he wasn't pining for Elizabeth? Stefanie and Melinda discuss why this adaptation was written because of the 1995 TV show, and why Mr Darcy's character might just be modelled on the world's very first fashion influencer, in Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer.
Links & Mentions
You can find Part One of the Behind The Bastards podcast episode on Beau Brummel here.
If you need subtitles or a transcript, these are available through Apple Podcasts. Please note, they are auto generated so we apologise in advance for it not correctly understanding our accents on certain words.
As always you can find us (and our memes) on Instagram @janeaustenremixed and you can contact us via janeaustenremixed@gmail.com.
Join us every second Monday to hear all about a new adaptation of our favourite classic novel. Next episode we will be reading Unleashing Mr Darcy by Teri Wilson and watching its companion Hallmark movie of the same name. If you're reading along, we encourage you to buy second hand or support your local independent bookshop, where possible.
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Transcript
Apology and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey all, future Steph here. We had a slight issue with Melinda's microphone this episode, so all her audio was recorded through her laptop microphone. Apologies for the slightly dodgy quality on this ep.
00:00:11
Speaker
We'll be back to normal next time. Thanks for bearing with us. Hey Melinda. Hey Stephanie. What if I told you that Pride and Prejudice is actually about Mr Darcy and he's the main character?
00:00:23
Speaker
Well, I feel like lots of us make him the main character, it kind of doesn't surprise me.
00:00:42
Speaker
Welcome to Jane Austen Remixed, the podcast where we examine the romantic and the repressed world of Pride and Prejudice adaptations.
Discussion on 'Darcy's Story'
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm Stephanie. And I'm Melinda. And today we are looking at Darcy's Story by Janet Aylmer.
00:00:56
Speaker
I think that's how you say her name. It's from 1996. So clearly it was written around the time of the seminal 1995 television version. And in fact, Aylmer herself in the introduction, explaining why she wrote the book, says that one of her daughters in particular wanted to know more about the character of Darcy and how he changed himself to become worthy of Elizabeth.
00:01:16
Speaker
So she sat down and she wrote the story. Kind of actually sounds like a really cool idea, to be honest. Yeah, yeah. And I think you can definitely see the impact of the 95 version and the actors from the 95 version on the story and how she tells it.
00:01:30
Speaker
But in a way that I really loved. I didn't think it was tacky or a bit naff. I think it worked really well. Anyway, about my version. So how this came into my collection is actually quite funny. I have the illustrated version that was first published in 1999, but I actually picked it up in, I think, around 2006 in Bath, when I was at the Jane Austen Centre, the very one from episode two that our protagonist found so dull.
00:01:56
Speaker
Emily's. Oh, Emily. Rest assured, dear listener, I loved my time there. And in fact, one of the reasons I specifically went to the Jane Austen Center was to buy this book because I really wanted it. And because this was, you know, back in the midst of time where you couldn't just jump online and order one from Amazon, I couldn't get my hands on it.
00:02:17
Speaker
And it's quite a funny story behind why I wanted it so badly. a colleague of my mum's, who also loved Jane Austen, had bought herself a copy at the centre years before, and she'd been telling me how much she loved it and that I should read it.
00:02:29
Speaker
Well, why wouldn't I borrow her copy, would you ask? She refused to let me even so much as touch it. She was so attached to it that I, a certified nerd who carries her books around in extra thick paper bags to preserve their corners, was banned from touching this sacred text.
00:02:49
Speaker
I would also like to point out that my copy is perfect. It is still in perfect condition. It still looks... immaculate after nearly 20 years.
00:03:00
Speaker
And I think it's really just out of spite because I'm like, hey, I can look after my books. Look how nice this book is. I would have taken very good care of your book. Okay, Melinda, I'll get you to read the blurb
Synopsis and Historical Context
00:03:12
Speaker
for us.
00:03:12
Speaker
All right, here we go. Millions of readers have been intrigued by Mr. Darcy, the handsome, proud hero of Jane Austen's most famous and popular novel, However, Pride and Prejudice has little to say about how Darcy is changed from a haughty, reserved and fastidious young man to the ardent and humble suitor for the hand of Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
00:03:35
Speaker
Tens of thousands of people in nearly 40 countries around the world have enjoyed reading Darcy's story, which reveals how he overcomes the problems that threaten to separate him from the woman he loves.
00:03:48
Speaker
Okay, so what is our spoiler-free synopsis? Well, there's actually nothing really to spoil here. It's a straight-up retelling from the Darcy point of view, but if you would rather read it before we get into the details about how the story plays out in the scenes that Aelma has added to explore Darcy's headspace, then now is a good spot to bail, and we'll meet you right back here when you're done.
00:04:08
Speaker
Okay, so the first point I want to make is that the book is much shorter than the original and you could probably knock it over in a day with a good few cups of tea under your belt. It moves pretty quickly through the plot and as I mentioned, it's really focused on the mental and emotional development of Darcy.
00:04:23
Speaker
So it's incredibly faithful to the original. which is what Elmer was actually going for. And it's what she's really open about right up front in the book. So this copy is the illustrated version and the illustrations are actually by a man named Hugh Thompson, who created them for an edition that was published in 1894. Now, Melinda, I know that we've chatted about this offline, but I just wanted to give you an opportunity here to explain the scandal that the illustrated versions caused back in the day.
00:04:49
Speaker
um Yeah. So when we were looking at starting this podcast, I did a ton of reading around Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen and publishing of the original texts and all that kind of stuff, because I am a nerd and I like a good rabbit hole. And one of the books that I read was talking about how when the illustrated versions were first published, that a lot of people were really worried that the illustrated versions and those particular illustrations would actually limit people's imagination and limit how people saw the story and the characters, which would be a bad thing.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah. And I find that so interesting because from a modern point of view, the illustrations are so benign. The ones of Lady Catherine are probably the funniest because she kind of looks like a pug. Yeah.
00:05:36
Speaker
I it depends on the version too. There were some weird ones I remember seeing in this book. I'll find it for the show notes. But it's kind of interesting parallel when you actually throw in the fact that we are worried when there are film adaptations or things like that that really narrow down how you imagine the characters. So it's fascinating that they had the same discussion back in the eighteen hundreds Yeah, it's it's so true. We're having the same conversations about literature, but they're just developing and changing and shifting depending on the medium that's being
Darcy's Perspective
00:06:04
Speaker
discussed.
00:06:04
Speaker
So back to the plot developments and the extra scenes that we have to s sink our teeth into. We get off to the races pretty quickly at the start of the book, and it kicks off with a fun twist on the classic opening line.
00:06:16
Speaker
It is a consequence of possessing an income of £10,000 a year that a man may order his life to his own liking and choose his own society. Oh, that's really interesting, isn't it?
00:06:29
Speaker
Okay, Janet, you really came out swinging with that one His pride is just dripping off the page right from the start. Anyway, we're with Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam at Pemberley, and they're chatting through some familiar beats of the storyline.
00:06:42
Speaker
Pemberley's most beautiful place on earth, Fitz needs a rich wife, Wickham is a twat and has been spreading rumours that Darcy did him dirty in the inheritance, and Georgiana is, of course, a sweet angel baby.
00:06:53
Speaker
Soon Darcy heads to London and when he arrives there is a letter waiting for him from said sweet angel baby who has not long arrived in Ramsgate. oh Being her innocent young self she absolutely breaks her promise to Wickham and writes in her letter that she'd been hanging out with a mysterious member of their old Derbyshire crowd whose name starts with a W but as she promised not to tell she won't write out his whole name.
00:07:17
Speaker
Darcy, fearing the worst, immediately gets in his carriage and bolts for the coast. As we know, he soon discovers that the carriage to Scotland has been ordered for the very next morning.
00:07:27
Speaker
The scene where he heads to Wickham's lodging and tells him to clear off captures the characters quite well, I think. Darcy is terse and Wickham is still trying to charm his way out of things. I can definitely see the influence of the 95 Wickham, Adrian Lucas, on the character already. His lines have that real oily smarminess that Lucas was really able to bring to life on screen. Sure was.
00:07:49
Speaker
I was unable to watch that man act in anything else after this TV show. Once Wickham is given short shift and Mrs Young is kicked to the curb, we get Darcy meeting up with Bingley, who is taking a lease on Netherfield, and then we're into more familiar territory with the larger beats of the novel.
00:08:07
Speaker
Interestingly, Bingley is quite focused on catching sight of the Miss Bennetts right from the jump. He has already heard of their reputed beauty and he is immediately keen on getting to know them.
00:08:17
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Thirsty Bingley. That's interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thirsty but polite. Like he's still very much in the same vein as like Crispin Bonham Carter's stylings in 1995. But yeah, he is a bit more thirsty.
00:08:33
Speaker
Bingley also likes Mr. Bennett, but struggles to connect as he's not really a literary guy. And that's all Mr. Bennett is talking about when they have their first conversation, which I find hilarious. That's great. It's like, oh, found this book that I'm interested in reading. Let me tell everyone all about it. Yeah, we love nerdy Mr. Bennett.
00:08:51
Speaker
So we do get hints of Elmer's personal likes and dislikes early on in the novel. For example, here she accounts for Georgiana not coming to Netherfield with Darcy because he has realised that his sister did not find Miss Bingley quote-unquote very easy company, and that's why Georgiana never wanted her to stay with them at Pemberley either.
00:09:10
Speaker
Oh, interesting. That's kind of a cool way to do it. Yeah, poor Miss Bingley. She was never going to win Darcy's hand with a review like that from his darling baby sister. And then, to further rub salt in the wound, within the first few chapters, Darcy's interior monologue informs us that he has already written Caroline off as a potential wife because she's awful.
00:09:31
Speaker
Well, good judge of character. I'm glad he's at least seen that. That's that's handy. Honestly, we love to see it. As so much of the original story is contained within the female sphere, we positively gallop through the major beats of the storyline, with Darcy snubbing Elizabeth but then suddenly finding himself noticing how lively and fun she is, and in a different way to what he's used to with women.
00:09:52
Speaker
He begins to find himself disappointed when he turns up to social occasions and she's not there. And we start to get a lot of cuter sides, like Darcy resolving to eavesdrop on Elizabeth at the party with the Lucases to get to know her better.
00:10:05
Speaker
Very normal behaviour. And I've sent you a quote. Excellent. He began to find more than a passing pleasure in her lively expression, the quickness of her mind displayed in her conversation and the quality of her dark eyes.
00:10:18
Speaker
As ever, he was not confident of his skills in discourse, but as a step towards speaking with her himself, Darcy began to often attend to her conversations with others. Just buddy.
00:10:30
Speaker
Really? You're just going to stand near her like a creep? It's one way to win a girl's heart, right? Definitely. And we can absolutely see how successful it was. Yeah, note the sarcasm in that. I'm not advocating for that approach at all, just to be completely clear.
00:10:48
Speaker
I'll move us on a bit. So once Jane is ill and ensconced at Netherfield, we do start to get a bit more action and a few more feelings cropping up. Reading the letter writing scene from inside Darcy's head is even more infuriating than the original, as he gets more and more cross and wishes that Caroline was Elizabeth talking to him instead.
00:11:08
Speaker
That's amazing. It's so good. And then we get to witness him trying to bait Charles so that Lizzie, whom he's correctly assessed as loving a verbal play fight, will sally forth into the conversation and pay attention to Darcy. And it's probably the closest thing we're going to get to him literally pulling her pigtails.
00:11:27
Speaker
His mounting frustration at being thwarted by Charles answering too quickly for Lizzie to enter the conversation is likewise quite funny. Watching the bewitchment happen from inside his head is quite fun, as is his self-reassurance that because she is socially inferior, he is in no danger of truly falling in love.
00:11:47
Speaker
That's what he thinks. And soon enough, the man begins to lose control of his feelings. And here I'm going to get you to read another quote. However, that night, Darcy did not sleep well.
00:11:59
Speaker
Having resolved to remove the lady from his attention, he found that she persisted even more in his mind. Having decided by the small hours to remove himself from Netherfield, at least for long enough to avoid the forthcoming ball, Darcy found himself agreeing at breakfast to be present and even to assist in part of the discussion about the arrangements.
00:12:21
Speaker
Having concluded that it would be politic to support Ms Bingley when she criticized the deportment appearance or behavior of Ms Elizabeth Bennet, he found himself doing exactly the opposite.
00:12:32
Speaker
In short, he found himself unable to control his own free will for the first time in his life.
Darcy's Proposals and Personal Growth
00:12:39
Speaker
So basically, our man has it bad.
00:12:43
Speaker
Of course, after this, we then barrel headlong into Wickham, and then the ball at Netherfield, as Darcy twists himself in knots, thinking about Wickham being able to ask Elizabeth to dance at the ball.
00:12:55
Speaker
Because, as we know, dancing was like speed dating back in the day. In such a highly controlled society, the ability to spend any time one-on-one with an eligible person of the opposite sex was pretty sparse.
00:13:07
Speaker
So dancing was a big opportunity. As we know, Wickham wimped out, but the quote-unquote clerical gentleman who accompanied the Bennetts is watched very closely until Darcy is sure he is no threat.
00:13:20
Speaker
A fact that he settles on after watching Mr Collins crush Elizabeth's toes on the dance floor. And here I'll quote, Darcy was gratified to see that there was very little conversation between them during the two dances.
00:13:30
Speaker
When the music eventually came to an end, the lady appeared to leave the floor with some alacrity. She sure does. She sure does. She gets out of there.
00:13:42
Speaker
Our girl is basically sprinting away from the dance floor. It is interesting to note here that Darcy is already sure at this point that Wickham will have been spreading lies about him around town, but he is too focused on hunting Elizabeth down for a dance that he basically just ignores it. He decides that that is a problem for tomorrow, Darcy.
00:14:01
Speaker
The scene of their first dance is hilarious to me because i am picturing Firth's stern countenance from the 1995 version, while Audacity in this book is having these giddy feelings bubbling away under the surface.
00:14:15
Speaker
And I've got a quote here for you to read as well. He was so little inclined normally to speak whilst dancing that the absence of words to begin with did not bother him. After a few minutes, she made some slight observation on the dance.
00:14:29
Speaker
He replied briefly and was again silent. It was enough for him, for the moment, to be where he was and with her.
00:14:41
Speaker
Elizabeth, of course, ruins this by mentioning Wickham and then the various Bennetts behave abominably, which leads nicely into us getting a window into Darcy's attempts to make Bingley accept that Jane did not return his affections and that his own affections were misplaced.
00:14:56
Speaker
Satisfyingly, Darcy has quite a bit of trouble here and Charles is mentioned as being clearly upset afterwards. But of course, Darcy, being so sure that he's right, decides to merely ignore that his friend is upset because he's decided that his conscience is clear.
00:15:11
Speaker
There isn't a lot of show, don't tell in this book. ah So it is hard to relay certain scenes because it is often just a few sentences of Darcy narrating his feelings to himself. And then we move on. And this is one of those scenes.
00:15:24
Speaker
What is enunciated a little better is Darcy finding himself unable to expunge the memory of Elizabeth from his mind and make some barbicides at Miss Bingley's expense while he's at it. These are quite juicy and I've got one of the examples here for you to read out for us.
00:15:38
Speaker
The society of ladies in his own consequence only seemed to provoke memories of lively conversation and pleasant and more informed wit from that other source. Indeed, his failure to thus control his thoughts made him more abrupt than was in any case his habit.
00:15:54
Speaker
He found himself particularly short of temper in company with Miss Caroline Bingley. Her wit, which he had once found pleasantly astringent and barbed, now seemed particularly affected and tiresome.
00:16:08
Speaker
Ooh. Yes, savage. I meant it when I said the author does not like Miss Bingley at all. So Darcy has it so bad that when he hears from his aunt that Charlotte Lucas is the new Mrs. Collins, he resolves to pester her for information about Elizabeth when he's going to see her six weeks later at Rosings for his Easter break.
00:16:31
Speaker
Well, that's what he thinks he will do, until he receives another letter saying that Miss Bennet is in fact at the parsonage, but will be leaving before Darcy arrives. The new, more rash Darcy that Elizabeth has been inspiring immediately writes to Fitz and demands that they go to Rosings for their annual trip three weeks early.
00:16:49
Speaker
Fitz is obviously confused by his enthusiasm for seeing his aunt, but happily agrees. And now Darcy's really cooking with gas. Wow, that's a really interesting take on that, isn't it?
00:17:03
Speaker
yeah it's really fun. Like, especially because Elizabeth seems to be there for a really long time at that visit. Like, it's a month or something, right? Yeah, yeah. So the detail around it in the story is that she's going to be there for a month, but they normally go after Easter. So I think the timing was she was leaving a couple of days before they were due to arrive. So instead he writes to Fitz and is like, we're going for Easter, pack your stuff, we're leaving immediately. And Fitz is like, oh, okay, sure.
00:17:33
Speaker
It's almost like that, get in, loser, we're going shopping, but get in, loser, we're going traveling. Get in, loser. We're going to Rosings. Now. Now. Immediately.
00:17:45
Speaker
I'm coming by with the carriage in two minutes. Get your footman to put some s*** in a box. We're going. Let's go. but Just as a quick aside, Fitz plays a much bigger role in this because obviously he and Darcy are quite close, which I love because Fitz is one of my favourite characters.
00:17:59
Speaker
He's such like a friendly bimbo kind of character in the same vein as Bingley, but like a little bit, a little bit smarter. And it is really fun. He kind of is a bit of a deus ex machina at certain points.
00:18:13
Speaker
So they start hanging out at Rosings Park all together, as we know. But soon, Darcy is having another crisis. His jealousy over his cousin's easy manners is making him look bad.
00:18:24
Speaker
And then, to make it worse, Elizabeth is also enjoying Fitz's company and conversation and it is driving him crazy. And it's even more funny because he has no idea that he is jealous.
00:18:36
Speaker
He straight up says to himself, I'm just feeling irritable and I don't know why. oh oh, sweetie. Oh, sweetie. After the famous Rosings piano playing scene, there's also a moment where Darcy and Fitz basically admit to each other that they both have designs on Elizabeth in that super stiff English way that we love.
00:18:55
Speaker
But then they both articulate to each other exactly why neither of them can marry her. Little did Fitz know. We of course start building up to the first proposal here, and it's genuinely funny to be inside Darcy's head for this bit.
00:19:08
Speaker
When he starts talking to Lizzie about Charlotte being close to her family, he just fully projects that Elizabeth knows that he's actually talking to her about their imminent marriage and her moving to Pemberley.
00:19:19
Speaker
I've got a bit of a quote here that I'll read out to you. It is proof of your own attachment to Hertfordshire. Anything beyond the very neighbourhood of Longbourn, I suppose, would appear far. He thought that she might have similar thoughts in her mind as she blushed a little as she answered, I do not mean to say that a woman may be not subtle too near her family.
00:19:37
Speaker
The far and near must be relative, depending on varying circumstances. Darcy was much encouraged by this, for Miss Bennet must be contemplating his own interest in her and the possibility of her living in Derbyshire.
00:19:51
Speaker
Like, my guy, what are you doing? Like, okay, valid viewpoint. That's great. But like, why are we projecting that he knows exactly what's going on?
00:20:01
Speaker
He honestly, throughout this whole chunk of the book, is just like, well, I've spoken to her and she should know that I don't speak to women. So I'm speaking to her. So she must know that I'm interested. And I'm like, buddy, she doesn't know you at all.
00:20:16
Speaker
And then, of course, his version of Elizabeth telling him her favourite walks to prevent their running into each other is, of course, interpreted as her encouraging him to be on the same walks so that they can hang out.
00:20:27
Speaker
And so, Mr Darcy begins to plot his proposal and Elizabeth's acceptance. In fact, his only anxiety is that he's not very good at the whole speaking thing and may not be able to convince her that he's totally in love with her.
00:20:41
Speaker
But that's okay, because he's planned a speech. Oh, good. That's gone so well for him in the past. I've got quote here. Darcy had never flattered himself that he had the ease of manner and happy address of his friend Bingley.
00:20:54
Speaker
or indeed his cousin Fitzwilliam. He had therefore considered carefully the manner in which he would make clear the force of his affections and that they had overcome all the obstacles of his position that indicated he should look elsewhere for a wife.
00:21:08
Speaker
It's amazing how much that actually parallels Mr. Collins' proposal, right? That it's fascinating. I mean, there's always been that parallel there in the original text, but this makes fascinating.
00:21:20
Speaker
um very clear and I think it's a really astute observation from Aelma at this point as well and so Darcy makes his famous speech in vain he has struggled but rather than relay the story I'm gonna read you out three quotes where the man himself can explain his feelings to you This was not the reaction that he had expected, for he assumed that she had been aware of the special attention he had been paying to her during his stay in Kent.
00:21:49
Speaker
Really? What special attention? Staring at her awkwardly from across the room and walking towards her while she plays the piano when his cousin is sitting right there.
00:22:00
Speaker
Really, it's really special. Next quote. Sentiments so opposite to those which he had expected to hear led Darcy to regard her with feelings of mingled incredulity and mortification.
00:22:12
Speaker
Yep, all right, starting to get the point. And then after he has left, we are treated to this. When a man has been accustomed since his earliest years to command what he desires, a disappointment in matters nearest to his heart must come as more than a severe shock.
00:22:28
Speaker
He paced his room for half an hour, fury, resentment and dismay within him in equal measure. Our boy is in turmoil. So much turmoil. It's like that beat in the rom-com when, you know, the guy does something wrong and it walks away. He's like, but I tried.
00:22:47
Speaker
It's just like... I tried it so hard. And so now that he's back at Rosings Park, this is the point where we get the full text of his letter to Elizabeth and we get interspersed into it his thoughts as he is writing it, which is quite fun and it's quite well done. It really breaks it up so it's not just like a chunk of letter.
00:23:06
Speaker
There's some funny parts in it. So we start with, again, Darcy stopped the flow of his pen and stabbed it into the ink with such force that he broke the end of the quill. he's really chucking a temper tantrum.
00:23:17
Speaker
He is, he is. and even though he is hella jealous of Fitz and Lizzie getting on so well, he is not above dragging his cousin's good name into the situation to give himself some credibility.
00:23:30
Speaker
Darcy then considered by what other means he could convince Miss Bennet of the truth of what he wrote. He then recalled that his cousin Fitzwilliam had been on very good terms with her during the past days at Rosings, with his easy manners seeming to commend themselves to her more readily than Darcy's own attentions.
00:23:47
Speaker
It was an unhappy prospect, but at least he could put it to good use. Fair observation, I suppose.
00:23:55
Speaker
See what I mean? Fits, little bit of a deus ex machina, but hey. Now, once we get past the letter being written and delivered, Darcy starts to get into self-reflection territory. He's back in London, he's rattling around his mansion, there is no one there for him to hang out with, and he's having to reflect on his own behaviour for the first time in his life, and who boy, he is not enjoying it.
00:24:17
Speaker
And I'll get you to read the next quote for us. His anxiety to justify what he had said to Elizabeth Bennet, to maintain to himself the correctness of his approach, did not survive long.
00:24:28
Speaker
He soon began to examine and re-examine every part of what he had said, every manner of expression he had used on that fateful evening in Kent. There seemed to be no escape from his uneasiness and confusion, which troubled him at every time of day, wherever he was.
00:24:47
Speaker
Oh boy, overthinker alert, hey. Yep, yep. There is a bit earlier on where Bingley says that when Darcy doesn't have anyone around him on like a Sunday afternoon, he's the worst because he just gets in his own head.
00:25:02
Speaker
And that plays out really nicely here. She links the characters really well and like their characterization, there's callbacks to previous conversations. And so it's put together quite well.
00:25:13
Speaker
Now we get one of my favourite additions to the story, which plays really nicely into the later OG scenes of Georgiana and Elizabeth meeting for the first time. Darcy has been moping for weeks when Georgiana finally gets up the courage to ask him why he is so miserable.
00:25:31
Speaker
Darcy opens the floodgates and he tells her all about the woman he loves and how cool and accomplished and witty she is, despite being of a lower status, but he conveniently skips over the part where he also proposed.
00:25:41
Speaker
He keeps that bit to himself. That actually sounds like a ton of those memes that you see on Jane Austen Instagram, where it's like Darcy was totally eating the ah Regency version of Ben and Jerry's curled up under a blanket and Georgiana is there trying to deal with the man-child.
00:26:00
Speaker
Yes. And it was really funny, like rereading this for the first time in a long time to make this episode. I actually did have that thought. I was like, have these people that make those memes, have they read this book?
00:26:11
Speaker
Because honestly, yeah it sounds like they've read the book. Georgiana rightfully points out that people don't get good manners from having big houses. And Darcy, novel idea, should be nice to everyone who is nice to him, no matter where they come from.
00:26:27
Speaker
To his credit, Darcy thanks his sister and he says that he wished that he'd spoken to her first. And this is where our dashing hero really begins to spiral into personal growth. And I've got a quote here for you.
00:26:39
Speaker
Darcy tried no longer to justify to himself the manner in which he had spoken to Miss Bennet in Kent. What at the time had seemed to be his proper concern at the inferiority of her connections, the degradation which an alliance with her family would bring, his satisfaction that the concerns he had expressed were natural and just, now seemed hollow, convenience to conceal his own insecurity and feelings of inadequacy in company.
00:27:06
Speaker
It's good take. Yeah, yeah. And so how is our man going to redeem himself? Why? By running into Elizabeth at his own house and surprising her and even himself by thoroughly liking her aunt and uncle.
00:27:20
Speaker
I'll skip forward here as we all know this scene and this version doesn't really add that much to the story. What it does add is Darcy's desperation for his sister to meet Elizabeth so that he can hang out with her more.
00:27:33
Speaker
It's like using the sister as a wingman. Georgiana is absolutely his wingman. It's the best. So I've got a quote here from the book. The sooner he could introduce Georgiana to Miss Bennet, the more opportunity he would have to see her during the remainder of her stay in Lambton. He also dearly wished to see her again at Pemberley.
00:27:51
Speaker
how he longed to know whether she might have seen some improvement and softening in his speech and conversation, and an absence of this arrogance and ability to offend and insult which she had discerned previously in Kent.
00:28:04
Speaker
Unfortunately, we now land squarely in the elopement. a Darcy's immediate thought upon hearing the news from Lizzie is surprise and relief that she kept his secret, for which he immediately chastises himself because if he had permitted her to speak about it, then she would have been able to save her sister from this awful fate.
00:28:25
Speaker
And so he immediately begins to plot how he will track Wickham down in London while Lizzie is crying in front of him. And so with a long loaded glance, he sets off on his quest.
00:28:37
Speaker
So we meet up again with Darcy in London. Obviously he goes back to Pemberley and interacts with the Bingley's and we land with him in London. His thoughts are swirling around. He's going through his feelings for Elizabeth, his already keen regard for the gardeners,
00:28:52
Speaker
and chastising himself over Bingley's feelings for Jane and how he could best resolve that injury that he has done to his friend. Once he has arrived properly in London, we learn that Darcy has very handily tracked Mrs Young, the evil governess who was Wickham's accomplice, through none other than Colonel Fitzwilliam.
00:29:11
Speaker
He has the address in London where her final wages were sent after she was sacked. Of course. That makes a lot of sense, hey. It makes a lot of sense.
00:29:23
Speaker
And so Darcy fronts up, bribes the scruple-less woman, and winds up on Wickham's doorstep within mere hours of setting foot in the city. Darcy is on mission.
00:29:34
Speaker
So I've got a quick quote here for you about what goes down when he runs into the devil himself. Their conversation informed Darcy that marriage had never been his design.
00:29:47
Speaker
Wickham told him that he was obliged to leave the regiment on account of pressing debts of honour. But despite Miss Bennet's youth, he had no scruples about laying all the ill consequences of her flight on her own folly.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah, so, true to form, Wickham says, oh no, this wasn't my fault, she did this to herself. Fun. He then speaks to Lydia. We learn that she cares not a jot for anyone, or indeed when in fact she should be married to Wickham.
00:30:16
Speaker
She tells Darcy that they will be wed at some point, and she doesn't actually care when that might be. Instantly, Darcy settles on bribery, but he also makes it very clear that he can only be pushed so far, much to Wickham's disappointment.
00:30:33
Speaker
After further meetings, Wickham was persuaded that although Darcy might have the means to make greater provision for their future, his aversion to at least one of the recipients would not allow him to do more than was absolutely necessary, and at length Wickham settled for that.
00:30:49
Speaker
Wow, Wickham actually using his brain for once. He used his brain. He was like, oh, um okay. Because to this point, he had just every time Darcy's like, you have to marry her. His response is, no, no, no.
00:31:01
Speaker
I'm going to marry a rich lady. and So Darcy immediately just like, fine, fine. I'll make Lydia or a rich lady. Darcy then trots off to see Mr. Gardner to make all of the legal arrangements, much to the surprise of everyone involved.
00:31:15
Speaker
And then we get to the wedding, which is mercifully short but has one of the funniest Darcy asides at this end of the book.
Darcy's Actions for Elizabeth
00:31:22
Speaker
Quote, Whatever the disadvantages of the marriage to the youngest Miss Bennet, the nuptials would at least prevent Wickham from seeking any favours from her sister, Miss Elizabeth, as Darcy suspected might have happened in the past.
00:31:35
Speaker
It was therefore with more cheerfulness than might be expected that Darcy waited beside Wickham. Wow. He is loving life and it's just not what I was expecting at this point.
00:31:46
Speaker
They'd be thinking you'd be all about the business deals, but no. Your scruples probably won't allow you to dip as far as... cheat on Lydia with her sister. but also Elizabeth wouldn't allow that.
00:31:59
Speaker
ah sweet. We're great. Well done. We're good. We are good. We are good. So we'll race through the next bit where Darcy tells Bingley that they should hang out Netherfield again. And Georgiana declares that she couldn't possibly go because Darcy needs to get his act together and propose to Lizzie. And he can't do that if she's there and he has to babysit her.
00:32:18
Speaker
Like I said, we love Georgiana. We stand to Adriana Darcy. We do. Her brother is shocked, but also impressed at how cool his sister is becoming. I'll jump over Darcy apologising to Bingley and telling him to rack off and propose to Jane already, and I'll get to Lady Catherine.
00:32:35
Speaker
There isn't Interesting choice here from Aylmer to reuse a lot of what Lady Catherine says to Elizabeth as what she says for Darcy in the similar scene. So I won't bore you by repeating all of it, but Darcy is on those proverbial tenterhooks waiting for his aunt to get to the point, and it's quite fun.
00:32:53
Speaker
Darcy concealed his anxiety as best he could as he waited to hear her next words. It seemed to him a very long moment before she spoke, but when she did, her report was everything that he could have hoped to hear.
00:33:06
Speaker
However, it was clearly contrary to what his art had intended. So he then politely tells her that he won't marry Anne because he would actually prefer to enjoy his wife's company.
00:33:17
Speaker
Oh, ouch. Yeah. I mean, to be fair, Anne de Burgh in Pride and Prejudice is little more than a cipher. Like she's just kind of there. She's a husk.
00:33:28
Speaker
But ah still burn, mate. I know. i know. what He's very polite about it. And he says, you know, I hold her in high regard, blah, blah, blah. But he's just like, I would like to like my wife.
00:33:40
Speaker
Thank you. Goodbye. So unsurprisingly, Lady Catherine, pretty pissed. She badges him for quite a bit longer and then she gives up and she goes home.
00:33:52
Speaker
Finally, after a bit more of Bingley dithering to Darcy about how he's the happiest man in the world now that he's proposed, we get to the second proposal. They all set off to walk into town and Darcy gets his moment.
00:34:04
Speaker
Now, Aelma uses a lot of the same dialogue here from the 1995 TV version, and then adds a little bit of her own spice to the famously brief scene.
00:34:16
Speaker
They walked on, and it was some distance before Darcy had sufficient control of himself to speak. I find it difficult to find words, which can adequately express my emotions. to be confident, to know that you return my affections,' he began. "'And our separation, since we parted in Derbyshire in July, has only served to confirm how valuable and necessary to me your regard is.
00:34:39
Speaker
That you could ever consent to be my wife has at times been so impossible that I have been close to total despair. It has been a dream, which seemed it could never come true.' He glanced at her as he continued.
00:34:51
Speaker
"'And you'll have to remind me very often from now on that I am not dreaming.' Oh, that's actually of sweet, hey? It's really sweet. I did giggle to myself at the parallels to the 2005 one.
00:35:03
Speaker
ah She's like, you can only call me Mrs. Darcy when you're really, really happy. Oh, yeah, the alternate ending that was not in the Australian version. Yes, yeah it was in the American version, which is odd.
00:35:14
Speaker
Yeah, it reminded me of that a little bit, where he's a bit more forthcoming with his feelings, but in quite a sweet way. Because you know I don't like the ending of the 2005 one.
00:35:24
Speaker
The American ending is with like them sitting disheveled and kissing each other's hands and stuff. I'm like, uh, decorum, please. So from here, the rest of the book is quite familiar.
00:35:37
Speaker
Darcy's overwhelmed with happiness and we finish out the novel on a really lovely scene of the couple sharing their first Christmas together at Pemberley with the gardeners and Georgiana.
00:35:48
Speaker
Well, that's a nice way to end it. Yeah, it's really nice. There's also like a little joke in there where Darcy's like, oh, the Gardner children are like filling the house with ah with childish laughter. Maybe there'll be more of that soon. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
00:36:00
Speaker
Wow, okay. ah So yes. Now we're at the end. Overall, how does it work as an adaptation of the original? To be honest, I actually struggle to even call this an adaptation, but not in a bad way.
00:36:12
Speaker
I genuinely love this book and I think Aylmer has done a great job of shedding light on Darcy's headspace and weaving it into the familiar beats of Austen's work. But the book is so familiar at times, I forget that I'm not reading the original.
00:36:24
Speaker
And a lot of the dialogue from the key scenes is identical for obvious reasons, even as you're seeing it from Darcy's point of view. Quick aside here, Elmer is very clear that Darcy is haughty and annoyed by having to socialise with those he sees as beneath him, and specifically says that he's not shy.
00:36:41
Speaker
He's just sick of being accosted by women trying to get him to either marry them or their daughters, so he prefers to stick to his own circle. Sorry for those who are fans of the shy, socially awkward Darcy trope, this book is not having it.
00:36:54
Speaker
Curiously as well, this book aligns very closely with how Colin Firth saw his character and how he chose to present him, which makes sense with this coming out so close to the 95 version going live.
00:37:05
Speaker
And you actually sent me this great quote, Melinda, from your uni notes, and I'd love you to read it out loud.
Cultural Influences on 'Darcy's Story'
00:37:11
Speaker
It's Firth talking about Darcy in the interview from The Making of Pride and Prejudice in 1995.
00:37:16
Speaker
So yes, when I studied Jane Austen course at uni, we had to get these Norton annotated editions of each of Austen's novels. So this is from an essay that is in the back.
00:37:27
Speaker
And yes, it's on the making of Pride and Prejudice, 90-05. So this is Colin Firth speaking. Up to this point, I don't think Darcy has ever really looked at a woman. I mean, really looked with real eyes, with real interest, though he's admired women in a casual way.
00:37:44
Speaker
The truth is that he's very bored. He's one of the richest men in England, and until now, that's always been enough to make him attractive to women. I remember reading a very helpful saying, a man who is eligible needs to entertain no one.
00:37:59
Speaker
Then Elizabeth comes along, and it's probably the first opportunity he's ever had in his life to be the pursuer rather than the pursued. It's irresistible. I do love that quote.
00:38:09
Speaker
It's great. It makes so much sense. It's why Firth's Darcy is iconic. Exactly. And I think this boredom and intolerance is really front and centre from that first opening quote. And it really informs how Darcy and his seismic shift in disposition is presented throughout the book.
00:38:28
Speaker
I guess what is really interesting to me in this novel is not the analysis of the text itself, but the examination of the idea that generated it, which is something that you were speaking to in some of our chats leading up to the podcast coming to life.
00:38:41
Speaker
And that was about how Darcy was the side character in the book. He doesn't feature that much, and though we understand his big character arc, Elizabeth is way more important, and indeed the main character, as we, the reader, are held at an arm's length from Darcy throughout the entire narrative.
00:38:57
Speaker
But as we hit the 20th century, that really starts to shift and Darcy becomes a main character. We can see it now. People aren't as viciously debating who is the better Elizabeth between 95 and 2005 after all.
00:39:09
Speaker
Quick side note here. My answer is, of course, Jennifer L. She is the defining Elizabeth for me. Keira Knightley is one of my all time favorite actresses, and I love her, but she really wasn't given a chance to fly in the 2005 version.
00:39:22
Speaker
But that's just my opinion. Yeah, it's definitely interesting how the focus has shifted to Darcy. He is the enigma in the original text, so it's where the gap is that people want to explore. But I think it also just shows that we know who Elizabeth is and we all aspire to be Elizabeth.
00:39:39
Speaker
So let's learn more about the guy we're going to end up with in the end if we are Elizabeth. Yes. So hold that thought while I take us down historical rabbit hole that I found really interesting.
00:39:51
Speaker
A really fascinating thing I learned about the character of Darcy is that Jane Austen probably based parts of him and indeed Wickham on an actual historical figure called Beau Brummel. Now, Brummel can be summarized by this sort of statement that I found from Robert Evans on the great podcast Behind the Bastards.
00:40:11
Speaker
As he says, Brummel was the first modern celebrity and the first fashion influencer. He invented the suit and tie as we understand it today and indeed is credited with creating the look that we associate with dandies, the look that Darcy, Bingley and Wickham are all known to be wearing, either described or implied, in the book.
00:40:32
Speaker
Now, to look a bit deeper into this, I want to take a quote from a great article. It's from the Jane Austen Society of North America. I'll link it in the show notes. And it's called A Revolution in Masculine Style, How Bo Brummel Changed Jane Austen's World.
00:40:46
Speaker
And it looks really in-depth into how Brummel's fashion celebrity and infamy impacted society at large. And I quote, By the time that Austen's novels were published in the 1810s, the Brummel-inspired blue coat had become almost universal, something that Austen's earliest readers would have understood.
00:41:03
Speaker
The first glimpse that the Bennet sisters can get of Mr Bingley reveals that he wears a blue coat and rides a black horse. The humour of this moment to a Regency-era reader lies in the banality of Bingley's fashion choices.
00:41:16
Speaker
A group of young women desperate to learn something, anything, about their potential suitor have in fact learned nothing at all. He could be anyone. So reading this for the first time, I realised that Bingley's attire was the equivalent of a 19th century meme.
00:41:32
Speaker
Something along the lines of what exit pursued by a bear would have been in Elizabethan English times. so Excellent. So what's important for us to note here is that Darcy is Brummel, but in the opposite direction.
00:41:45
Speaker
Where the real life man started out ingratiating himself into the gentry, of which he was not a member, and worked his way up to being besties with the Prince Regent and the future King George, Darcy starts off despising everyone around him as lesser before coming to realise that they do indeed have things to offer him and that he should be involving himself them for his own benefit, and not in a conniving way, but in a way that enriches his life.
00:42:08
Speaker
Again, from the article. The selection of Mr. Darcy as the most Brummel-like of Austen's characters might surprise modern readers who have come to think of him as the ideal romantic hero, the embodiment of integrity and gravitas.
00:42:20
Speaker
Nothing is known about Darcy's sartorial style, but a strong argument can be made that Austen presents him as Brummel-like in attitude. Both seem to understand the discrepancy between style, i.e. manners, and substance, i.e.
00:42:33
Speaker
integrity. Pride and Prejudice is a novel in which the problematical discrepancies between appearance and reality are of central importance. But unlike Wickham, and one might add Brummel, Darcy is not cynical about role-playing.
00:42:46
Speaker
and by the end, his performing self is shown to be in harmony with his reflecting self. I think this is great. We can clearly see that Darcy isn't donning his suit to become something that he's not. It's a reflection of who he truly is.
00:42:58
Speaker
And who he is, is a good man, eloquently written by a female author, and so rapturously received by readers everywhere, that they made him the main character.
Recommendation and Conclusion
00:43:08
Speaker
Which is why start seeing this wave of Darcy-centric media of which this book is a symptom.
00:43:14
Speaker
None of this is a criticism, by the way. I love this book. I obviously love the character of Darcy. But it is fascinating to me that in so many adaptations, like you say, Elizabeth has become an everywoman character, a self-insert for the reader, who wants to live out the fantasy of a dark, brooding rich guy obsessing over them.
00:43:33
Speaker
Anyway, read the whole article, it's fascinating and it really gets under the skin of the historical context of the character that's accessible and it's super interesting. This then leads us into the way that Darcy has shifted position so many times in pop culture, and I think we can safely posit that Austen could never have envisaged the impact on literary culture, and indeed pop culture, that this character would have.
00:43:55
Speaker
I know you've told me that I'm not allowed to watch the 40s film version. To be clear, I haven't seen the 1940s film version either, but I read a ah section of one of the books that I read before we started the podcast, had a blow-by-blow description of how this thing was made, and I feel like I need to just read it to Stephanie.
00:44:15
Speaker
just to get her reactions in some episode at some point in the future, because it's hilarious and blows my mind. Okay. So what I find interesting is that Darcy really shifts in style depending on the social norms and desires around the quote unquote perfect man of the time.
00:44:34
Speaker
The 1995 version really brings the energy of the time when hugh Grant was at his peak and everyone was in repressed Englishman discovers his feelings kind of frenzy. Matthew McFadden in O5 really brought the early days of internet culture to life on screen with his socially awkward nerd discovers his feeling vibe.
00:44:51
Speaker
It was two years before Tumblr launched at this point, but this depiction really tapped into that frothing love of a character with the social skills of an agoraphobic lobster. The trends that really kicked off on that website.
00:45:04
Speaker
Yes, LBD reference. Steph has not seen all of LBD. I'm going to be introducing her to that soon. And then, of course, there was the Twilight craze that launched a thousand vampire Darcys and definitely led to the writing of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
00:45:20
Speaker
So Darcy is a barometer for literary and cinematic trends in masculinity. And it's fascinating. We're going to touch on a lot of them when we look at all our different adaptations. Yeah, that's so cool. I think it's really interesting because each of the adaptations we're going to be looking at definitely explore the themes that are relevant to the culture at the time. But I hadn't thought of Darcy himself as a cipher and a way to explore each of those things either.
00:45:44
Speaker
Yeah, it really struck me while I was reading this book and sort of delving into how the character was constructed. And I randomly came across this reference to Beau Brummel when I was listening to the podcast Behind the Bastards. I didn't even know that there was a link to Darcy. So it was just fortuitous. I happened to listen to the episode. And it really started to like coalesce in my mind that that's how we can see the progression of what people want.
00:46:10
Speaker
Yeah. in the perfect man. So my final thoughts on the book. It's a lot of fun and I love reading the story from the other side. It can be a little clunky at times with the overt attempts to mimic Austen's style, but don't let that deter you.
00:46:23
Speaker
Was it worth waiting several years to get my hands on a copy pre-online ordering at the time? Yes. Now, don't wait. Just order yourself a copy to your local library or your bookstore and enjoy reading Darcy's Misguided Attempts at Flirting immediately.
00:46:38
Speaker
This is getting added to whatever present list I end up having. Like, I'm finding a way to get this, I think, now. You can get it. Okay, I did check and you can get it on Booktopia.
00:46:48
Speaker
Amazing. So, now we get to the review stage. I think this fits squarely into Austin Approved. It is on brand and the adaptation works. mostly because it is basically the same book.
00:46:59
Speaker
And also because Aylmer is clearly a huge Austen fan who's been really respectful to the characters and is focused on giving Darcy a sensical arc that adds a fun layer to the book and it enhances your love of the characters and the original story itself.
00:47:13
Speaker
Big thumbs up from me. I genuinely can't wait to read this now. Don't think that you'll be borrowing my copy because it's special. It's okay. As someone who very rarely lends books, i completely understand and respect the boundary that you've given me.
00:47:31
Speaker
all right. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of Jane Austen Remixed. We love exploring this wonderful corner of the literary world with you. Please share the podcast with your friends, family, literary fans, and other Janeites. And we would love it if you could leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening.
00:47:45
Speaker
This helps us to reach other fans of Pride and Prejudice and build our community. You can also follow us on Instagram at JaneAustenRemixed. And if you have a question or a suggestion for a book, movie, or something you'd like us to review,
00:47:56
Speaker
drop us a line. You can email us at janeaustenremixed at gmail.com. Join us in two weeks when we examine Unleashing Mr. Darcy by Terry Wilson and its companion Hallmark movie directed by David Winning.
00:48:12
Speaker
Okay, now Stephanie, we've come to the most important question of the entire podcast. Yes. It feels weird asking this question given this is a reflection of the original, but does this Darcy...
00:48:26
Speaker
dive into a lake. No. i was so disappointed. She added in like little touches from the 1995, but she did skip over the lake diving.
00:48:37
Speaker
This Darcy stays dry. Sad face. We'll see you next episode.
00:49:16
Speaker
you