Smitten

Friday night I saw Pride and Prejudice with two single girlfriends. I know. We are so feckin' predictable...

So, what is it about the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy that continues to charm and transfix generation upon generation? Has a story like Pride and Prejudice ruined us all? How can we ever settle for a typical twentieth century romance, riddled with internet dating and boozy bars and relationship advice from Dr. Phil and Carolyn Hax when there is before us this ideal, this ridiculous ideal that Austen provided a model for centuries ago?

What is it that makes that story so damn appealing?

Darcy loves Elizabeth for all that she is. He loves her imperfections, her temper, her impetuousness, he loves her for and in spite of her flaws, and she loves him for all of his. He can be cold, and socially inept and awkward, she impulsive and course, and yet they each prove to have such strength of character, that who they are, and how right they are for each other, manages to shine through.

And they are both willing to wait it out, wait for each other, not rush on to the nest possible suitor.

Is this too much to ask for?

I know, I know, it is completely sappy, and unrealistic to judge anything by the movies that have been made of this novel. What if Darcy was not as handsome and articulate as Colin Firth or Matthew MacFadyen? What if Elizabeth was not as exquisitely beautiful and engaging as Jennifer Ehle or Keira Knightley?

Is it the picture screen adaptations that have us enamored or is it the story beneath?

I would argue that it is the story, Austen’s story itself that continues to keep a theater full of twentieth century cynics waiting for this pair to finally find each other. I did not expect to be moved by this movie, but I was. I was, yet again, enraptured by the story knowing full well that in the end it would all work out. (Although I agree that the final scene was lame and unnecessary.)

Their rapport is so appealing. They are so well matched - in wit and intellect, in compassion and heart, in integrity and grace – that you walk out of the movie believing that anything less would be a travesty.

I am such a dork.

I am such a ridiculously romantic, unreasonably demanding, unbelievably idealistic dork.

But so is Elizabeth.

And she finds her Mr. Darcy. If she hadn’t, her options would be considerably less appealing than the options that women have today. And thank goodness for that. But all the more reason not to settle for anything less than one’s own Mr. Darcy.