“You strangely misread Miss Austen's target in the case of Wickham; it's charm that she is exposing as the false virtue. As for condemnations of the petit-bourgeois ("petit-gentry" in this case) and such, that's a modern attitude without appreciation for the times and context of the story. The Bennet family is already threatened without an heir and the only hope for the daughters is to marry -- well if possible. Had Lydia returned home a "fallen woman" it would have done incalculable damage to her sisters prospects and, needless to say, ruined her own.
As for love: many women fall in love with the men who save them. Darcy saves both Lydia from disgrace and Jane from disappointment. It is not surprising that Liz, not to mention a host of female readers, fall for Mr. Darcy. He certainly appears, as a man of true virtue, to be worthy of such feeling to this reader. Not only is he the mate of choice for Miss Bennet, but I rather suspect the fantasy suitor of our author as well.
Be a reader average, poor, superior, or scholastic I think that the majority recognize a romance when they read one and every Austen novel is a romance.”
posted 2 weeks ago