Agnes Beatrix Wrote:
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> Redson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
>
!" 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.
But surely, there would be no pressure on anyone by Bingley in his simply returning to Meryton, just to see what developed? He knew he would be welcomed with open arms by matchmaker in chief Mrs Bennet and, he would surely know from her how Jane felt. I would think he'd absolutely insist on doing so. He needn't mention romance, engagements or promises at all until he was sure of his ground. Instead, he just takes the word of his friend backed up by his sisters and keeps away from a woman he supposedly loves for eight months? .Wasn't it Darcy who, during the course of a friendly argument, insisted on outlining the pros and cons of the situation before deciding on action? Smacks a little of double standards does it not? I admit Jane Austen was intelligent and what she did was deliberate (in my view) and she was very conscious of the form of things in her own era, and there has to be controversy involved to suit the plot, but the question was : Is Bingley a wimp? for following the path he did, or is he a wimp purely by design. Jane Bennet, sweet to the point of total naivety, would actually need a husband who didn't swear when he clouted his thumb with a hammer, but again, that's how Jane Austen wanted her, so Bingley was created wimpish by design. As a male, I have to hope he might have acted a little differently in reality. (-:
