Pride & Prejudice (Part 2) — PBS The Complete Jane Austen
Last night Masterpiece Theater showed the second part of Pride and Prejudice based on the novel by Jane Austen. The version being shown is the A&E version staring Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, David Bamber, and Crispin Bonham-Carter among others. It’s my favorite version of the ones I’ve seen so far.
Part 2 (the episodes shown last night) dealt with: Charlotte’s marriage to Mr. Collins; Elizabeth’s visit to Charlotte and meeting Lady Catherine, Col. Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Darcy; Darcy’s proposal; Elizabeth’s rejection; finding out that Wickham is not a nice person; traveling with the Gardners; visiting Pemberly; meeting Darcy again (can you say embarrassed to the max).
Again it follows the book quite well. I’m re-reading the book as this series continues mainly because I want the book to be the version that sticks in my mind, not the movies. I’m slowly moving through, not because it isn’t interesting — I could linger over some of the phrases for minutes they are so well stated — but because my reading slate is full for this month and I’m slipping P&P into what little free time I have.
That covers the events in the movie, but even while watching it, what you can miss is that there is a reason that sensible Charlotte Lucas would accept the idiotic Mr. Collins. Charlotte is in her late twenties. She’s not a beauty. She’s one of several children and luckily for her– she has brothers. Her choices are limited, she can marry or she can live with one of her brothers after her parents are gone. Limited choices that were not, unfortunately, unusual for a woman of Austen’s time. The Bennet sisters’ choices are even more restricted — the estate is entailed away and there are no brothers. When Mr. Bennet dies they might be able to live with one of their uncles but if not, they have no choices except to become lady’s maids or governesses. The two oldest might manage governess, but the younger could never pull that off and don’t have the temperament to become maids or companions. They must marry at the very least.
So, Charlotte wants her own home. She knows Mr. Collins is not vicious, has a steady income and a home, and since he’s dumber than a post, she can easily manipulate him. As we find out when Elizabeth visits, Charlotte has all she wants: a home of her own, and a husband who thinks they are of one mind. Charlotte has Mr. Collins situated so that they spend as little time together in a day as possible — and he’s happy about it. There’s no love, but there is comfort and ease. Charlotte has found a way to have what she wants within the limited choices available to her.
Elizabeth is determined to marry for love and turns down proposals. She’s also very aware of the circumstances in which the Bennet women exist. She knows that if she can’t find love and marriage — she’ll have to forge her own way in life as a governess or if one of her sister’s marry well, as a hanger on at their home–if she slips from society her life could be verey dark indeed. Hence, her very great concern for Lydia’s wild behavior.
Women did not have an easy life in those times. Things have changed a lot since then and reading or watching women in that time, we might wonder what’s wrong with them and why don’t they just strike out on their own. There are choices we can see from so far in the future, with the gender roles having changed so much. But at ground zero in Austen’s time, women had so few choices available to them, and in many cases no choices at all — the choices might have existed but were so far out of their reach they might just as well not have existed.
While the films placed in this era may appear oh so romantic, the reality of the time that Austen wrote about was not as romantic and kind as we might think — especially for women.