Posted on 06/12/2018 11:12:18 AM PDT by A_perfect_lady
In one of the most well-known classics of British Literature, Pride and Prejudice, the author Jane Austen offers a morality tale. She describes the slow realization of the heroine, Elizabeth Bennett, that her much-vaunted intelligence failed to give her an accurate reading of the man who eventually emerges as the hero of the tale. Mr. Darcy, the wealthy landowner who arrives new to town with his likable friend Mr. Bingley, is at first regarded with some appreciation. Hes a rich man, considered handsome, and:
he was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening; till his manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of his popularity . and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance
The people of the town fawned over him at first, because he was rich. But when offended, they decided he was not so handsome after all, and nothing he could do could then budge their unshakable opinions that they (with their incredible cleverness) had discovered his faulty character.
Elizabeths mother, furious that Mr. Darcy declines to dance with her daughter, describes him as a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him. He walked here and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Oh, the ego of a man who did not profess himself instantly charmed by every young lady presented to him. Darcys failure to flatter the chattering class marked him as an absolute monster.
Later in the novel, when a smooth talking young man of uncertain origin, Mr. Wickham, appears, Darcy becomes the victim of a landslide of rumors and half-truths perpetrated by the articulate and winning Wickham. Elizabeth, though she is a clever young lady, is immediately taken in by Wickham. Graceful and open, flattering and friendly, he appeals to people. When he tells Elizabeth that Darcy cheated him of his inheritance, she accepts it without question. If it be not so, let Mr. Darcy contradict it, she tells her sister. Besides, there was truth in his looks. His looks, hm? Alright.
Intelligent people tend to rely quite heavily on their own ability to sense honesty. It seems to travel with a willingness to be validated and admired. Indeed, they set themselves up to be correct. Anticipating the upcoming ball at Bingleys house, Elizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a great deal with Mr. Wickham, and of seeing a confirmation in everything in Mr. Darcys looks and behavior. Im sure the phrase confirmation bias need not be belabored here.
But in the end spoilers ahead all is turned upside down. Mr. Wickham is revealed to be a gambling no-account and seducer of young women, and Mr. Darcy turns out to be a man willing to work behind the scenes to save and protect whom he can. Elizabeth is gradually forced to realize that she was wrong about Mr. Darcy. His pride and arrogance (much of which was merely a cover for a rather awkward social persona) provoked her to be prejudiced against him, and her initial dislike rendered her all to willing to believe the worst: that he was not just stand-offish, but cruel, selfish, and dishonorable. Her chastising realization is forshadowed in an earlier quote, when her friend Charlotte encourages her to give Darcy a chance, for he may not be so bad, Elizabeth replies That would be the greatest misfortune of all -- to find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate! But this is to be her fate.
When the truth comes out, Elizabeth is taken with a torrent of self-mortificaiton. "How despicably I have acted!" she cried; "I, who have prided myself on my discernment! I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameable mistrust! How humiliating is this discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind! But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away, where either were concerned. Till this moment I never knew myself."
This moment is what makes Elizabeth a heroine worthy of admiring. She realized she was wrong and accepted it. It was painful, to know that ones own cleverness was so neatly subverted by ones ego and vanity. But she faced it, learned from it, and grew.
Now comes the Donald Trump part but is it really necessary? Is it necessary to point out that the liberal half of the world, who had courted him in the 90s, soon saw him as proud and conceited, because he did not flatter them by adhering to their ideology? That they then rushed to believe the worst? That he is emerging as a hero protecting the average American citizen, even those seduced by the smooth talking Wickhams of the world (either Obama or Trudeau could play him in the next version filmed)? And now, with this historic meeting with Kim Jong Un, he has negotiated a disarmament that the world has, up till now, claimed that it desired?
Will the liberal half of our culture have an Elizabeth Bennet moment? Or will they, like her bitter and ridiculous mother, take every victory he hands them and still complain mutteringly, I hate the very sight of him. Unable to admit that she had misjudged him, Mrs. Bennett keeps up an embarrassing front of self-righteousness, defending Wickham to the very end, despite the spoilers I wont mention here. Better to embrace the charming viper than to bow the knee to the white knight, if that would mean admitting a wrong.
The entire novel, point by point, could be a parable, and a warning, to the world about allowing their prejudice to cause them to stumble into an error that their vanity about their own intelligence could trap them in forever. Donald Trump is our Mr. Darcy. How humiliating
for some.
VERY nice post!
I was enthralled. Loved every minute of it. P.D. James is a great author. Fun concept.
I agree with your comment on the lead actress choice, but she did a fine job.
Trump isnt Darcy.
Flannery O’Connor like story. Great post.
Morning Joe is more like the womanizing and devious Mr. Wickham, with Mika as the self-absorbed, immature airhead Lydia.
Shepherd Smith might be like the prissy, brown-nosing Mr. Collins.
PAP
I saw that headline and I knew a lady wrote it no question
Cheers
Mar Lago must be Pemberley
Darcy is one of my favorite protagonists, as he shows that the truly decent man is often disagreeable in a woman’s eyes, while a lecherous bad boy is often quite agreeable.
Austen was a smart and wise woman.
Nicely done.
Only a moron would discount 30 years of keeping conservatism alive and growing, virtually single-handedly, simply because one unelectable third-party long-shot didn't get elected.
You’re right. Megyn Kelly is Caroline Bingley. LOL!
Yes. In terms of analogy, I won't concern myself with Trump's romantic exploits over the years, but I know he treats America like a lady, and liberals prefer men who treat America like a cheap tart.
Indeed not.....he is his own man
Only a stupid retard would fail to recognize that Rush is not a true conversative but a libertarian and neo con Bushitte globalist. He is slowly coming around but then this is Rush, he doesn’t change very quickly.
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