Redson Wrote:
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>
>Now guess who makes each of these statements.
>
> 1."To yield readily -- easily -- to the persuasion
> of a friend is no merit with you."
>
> 2. "To yield without conviction is no compliment
> to the understanding of either."
>
> Ah, the irony. Elizabeth, who will have reason
> later on in the novel to decry Bingley's being so
> easily persuaded, makes the first statement.
> Darcy, who will manipulate Bingley to do what he
> wants, here says people should decide based on
> conviction and understanding.
I agree with you very much, and I think Austen deliberately uses this controversy and irony. Both the characters (and so, the reader as well) have to learn how none of these statements are of absolute value and the opposite of their standpoints is just as easily acceptable given the right circumstance.
>
> This is one of Austen's delicious dilemmas.
> Bingley is a sweet guy who relied on a friend's
> judgment and unwittingly breaks the heart of the
> sweetest girl in Meryton and thereabouts.
>
> In contrast, Darcy does not suffer from Bingley's
> brand of great natural modesty. Once he has
> decided
he is in love with a girl, he leaps
> to the conclusion that she must love him to and is
> patiently hoping for his proposal. Darcy is as
> wrong as Bingley except that he cannot assume a
> higher moral ground. His hubris leads him astray
> rather than any desire to protect the other
> person.
>
> In Darcy's defense, he backs off quickly when he
> realizes his attentions are not wanted. Hey,
> wait--isn't that the same thing Bingley did--back
> off when he was convinced his attentions were not
> wanted? So, in my opinion, Bingley is not weak.
> He is strong enough to think about someone else's
> feelings, and his mistake is that he listened to
> Darcy. But Bingley is also young. I imagine he
> will get more in the habit of taking his own
> counsel rather than substituting the persuasions
> of another. In this sense, he is like Anne
> Elliott. She could be persuaded at nineteen but at
> twenty-seven, she had grown up enough to trust her
> own heart and judgment.
Austen does not actually condemn Bingley for stepping back not wanting to force Jane into a marriage without love, and she (JA) also doesn't condemn him (well, not as much as some of us modern readers) for listening to Darcy (I mean, he retains the good opinion of Darcy and Elizabeth, and he does get the girl which I suppose counts for the author's ultimate approval). And Darcy's offense of persuading/manipulating Bingley is also forgiven. As you mention in contrast Darcy's overconfidence when he proposes assuming that Elizabeth will accept him,
this behavior is perhaps more condemned by the author (it results in the angry refusal, and he radically changes his behavior before he is rewarded).
I love your comparison to Anne Elliot!
> Actually, I think that if readers see Bingley as a
> wimp, then maybe Austen is not such a good writer.
> She should have given Jane someone better.
Well, this statement I disagree with, partly because of what I stated below, and partly because of the difference of opinion in what is desirable and undesirable behavior in a gentleman/suitor/lover (and to what extent is it good to listen to others and give way versus standing one's ground) that exist between Jane Austen's era and ours. See how it is obvious for us to call an "easily persuaded" man a "wimp" - to use a derogatory term, that is.
Or, to mention another difference, in our modern mindset it is the right thing to "get things out in the open", to "use a direct approach" - that is, "Bingley, go to the girl and clear out the misunderstandings, see for yourself if she loves you!" To the Regency mindset, however (or how I understand it) it was preferable to avoid a proposal that would be refused. Young women try to give all sorts of indirect signals to discourage a man from proposing and it is awkward and unpleasant if they have to listen to a proposal and refuse it - and the opposite is also true about the gentleman: Bingley rightly feels that there would be pressure on Jane to accept his suit regardless of her own feelings if he asks her outright. I think it is suited to this way of thinking that if someone (one he looks up to) assures Bingley Jane doesn't love him as she ought, he counts this as an indirect signal, one that he failed to understand.