mrdarcysdadbod:

colonelfitzwilliams:

Real talk.

Do you all think Darcy would have still married Lizzy if he wasn’t able to bribe Wickham into marrying Lydia?

I mean yeah, bc bribing Wickham into marrying Lydia was his last resort. He first tried to talk Lydia into just leaving:

“He saw Wickham, and afterwards insisted on seeing Lydia. His first object with her, he acknowledged, had been to persuade her to quit her present disgraceful situation, and return to her friends as soon as they could be prevailed on to receive her, offering his assistance, as far as it would go.” (Ch 52)

Now I can’t say for sure if this would mean Lydia was returning as a bona-fide “fallen woman” per se, but it certainly wouldn’t have been good for her reputation. Darcy only paid Wickham off to marry her because Lydia insisted on it.

“But he found Lydia absolutely resolved on remaining where she was. She cared for none of her friends; she wanted no help of his; she would not hear of leaving Wickham. She was sure they should be married some time or other, and it did not much signify when. Since such were her feelings, it only remained, he thought, to secure and expedite a marriage,” (ch 52)

I think it’s difficult to say what effect this would or would not have had on his willingness to marry Lizzie, primarily because at this point marrying Lizzie isn’t really an object in his mind. She’s already rejected him! He’s not doing all this with the intention of bringing her around, he’s doing it because he feels responsible for the harm Wickham is doing, because he feels responsible for Wickham. Marrying Lizzie doesn’t re-enter his mind until after Lady Catherine talks to her, a full two chapters later.

It’s ultimately just kind of immaterial. Like, we as readers know that this will change her mind, but Darcy doesn’t. He doesn’t know her mind CAN be changed. I think it’s an issue of, like…. Projecting into the text from what we know is going to happen.

And the other thing is that Darcy is trying to help Lizzie and her family. Even if he isn’t thinking of marrying her, doing something that would make her unmarriageable goes against his goals here. So he wouldn’t be trying to send Lydia home if it would actually doom them all to eternal shame. It’s clearly a bit of a scandal either way, since Lady C thinks Lydia and Wickham’s marriage is such a shameful thing!

Darcy doesn’t want to bribe Wickham into marrying Lydia. He doesn’t want Wickham to marry Lydia at all. And frankly I think he’s too fair of a person to consider the rest of her family ruined had he successfully talked Lydia into going home instead of marrying Wickham.

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6. twodelinquents said: I worry that he wouldn’t, when Lizzie goes to thank him he says he did it for her and not her family, I think it’s partly because he couldn’t marry her if her family had such a scandal and he selfishly couldn’t let that happen since he still held hope of winning her over
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16. girl-ghostly said: I like to think he would… but I can see why he wouldn’t. 😕
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29. mrdarcysdadbod reblogged this from colonelfitzwilliams and added:

    I mean yeah, bc bribing Wickham into marrying Lydia was his last resort. He first tried to talk Lydia into just...

30. appleinducedsleep said: I also think it’s unlikely. The scandal might be too much, and he has Georgiana to thing about too.
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33. firawren reblogged this from colonelfitzwilliams and added:

    Great question! I'm no Regency expert, but there has to be a line somewhere that Darcy won’t cross, and I’m inclined to...

34. colonelfitzwilliams posted this

    Real talk. ...Do you all think Darcy would have still married Lizzy if he wasn't able to...