Nikki N Wrote:
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> I don't find the Col and Miss Bingley pairing
> implausible at all, in fact I find it very
> plausible. After reading Changing
> Principles, I find them by far the most
> natural pairing for each other! After all, Col
> Fitz would want to marry with a little attention
> to money, doesn't mean he's an outright fortune
> hunter but he simply would like his wife to have a
> little money. And canon Caroline is never so bad
> as in many fanfics. She was no worse than many
> superficial, social climbing girls of that society
> whose ambitions had no other outlet than to hope
> for marriage with a rich or great man. Eliz and
> Jane were superior to the average girl. And JA
> believes in a influences -- Eliz and Darcy are
> good influences on each other, but when Darcy and
> Caro were friends, they were bad influences on
> each other and conspired to separate Bingley from
> Jane.
I agree we do not know a great deal about Col. Fitzwilliam. He is a blank slate who has been a gift to fanfiction. He can be written in 180 degrees, from the best of men to the worst of men, and it can still fit the loose template laid out by Austen. I think Austen lovers like to think of him as good because Elizabeth likes him, Darcy trusts him and he is Georgiana's guardian. If forced, I am perfectly willing to think of the colonel as a good guy (but not handsome. Austen specifically writes that he was not handsome.)
But Caroline? Who attempts to separate her brother from Jane? Unlike Darcy, who also wishes to separate the two, Caroline lies by both omission and commission. Caroline and Darcy are not equal in intention or principle: can anyone make a case that they are? Darcy wished to protect Bingley while Caroline wished to secure a good match for her brother that would materially affect her own position. Is Caroline evil? I think it is hard to argue that, but she is, at the very least, unpleasant in the extreme.Can she be redeemed? In the hands of a good writer and a good man, I am willing to stipulate the possibility.
But fanfics that make Caroline a villain do not err. More than Col. Fitzwilliam, who can be written from good to bad, Caroline is pretty bad clearly. Her purpose in the story is to thwart the hero and the heroine, and while she does it, she is catty, deceitful and cruel (recall how Jane writes about calling upon the Bingley sisters in London and how they then waited to return the call with insulting coldness). Now, as I say, a fanfic can explain why she is the way she is, and she can be redeemed, but calling her "no worse than many
> superficial, social climbing girls of that society
> whose ambitions had no other outlet than to hope
> for marriage with a rich or great man" is just another way of saying, she is an excellent candidate for a fanfic villain. To the extent that Austen writes villains, Caroline is a villain.
That said, I very much like Lise's story, too.
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> I don't find the Col and Miss Bingley pairing
> implausible at all, in fact I find it very
> plausible. After reading Changing
> Principles, I find them by far the most
> natural pairing for each other! After all, Col
> Fitz would want to marry with a little attention
> to money, doesn't mean he's an outright fortune
> hunter but he simply would like his wife to have a
> little money. And canon Caroline is never so bad
> as in many fanfics. She was no worse than many
> superficial, social climbing girls of that society
> whose ambitions had no other outlet than to hope
> for marriage with a rich or great man. Eliz and
> Jane were superior to the average girl. And JA
> believes in a influences -- Eliz and Darcy are
> good influences on each other, but when Darcy and
> Caro were friends, they were bad influences on
> each other and conspired to separate Bingley from
> Jane.
I agree we do not know a great deal about Col. Fitzwilliam. He is a blank slate who has been a gift to fanfiction. He can be written in 180 degrees, from the best of men to the worst of men, and it can still fit the loose template laid out by Austen. I think Austen lovers like to think of him as good because Elizabeth likes him, Darcy trusts him and he is Georgiana's guardian. If forced, I am perfectly willing to think of the colonel as a good guy (but not handsome. Austen specifically writes that he was not handsome.)
But Caroline? Who attempts to separate her brother from Jane? Unlike Darcy, who also wishes to separate the two, Caroline lies by both omission and commission. Caroline and Darcy are not equal in intention or principle: can anyone make a case that they are? Darcy wished to protect Bingley while Caroline wished to secure a good match for her brother that would materially affect her own position. Is Caroline evil? I think it is hard to argue that, but she is, at the very least, unpleasant in the extreme.Can she be redeemed? In the hands of a good writer and a good man, I am willing to stipulate the possibility.
But fanfics that make Caroline a villain do not err. More than Col. Fitzwilliam, who can be written from good to bad, Caroline is pretty bad clearly. Her purpose in the story is to thwart the hero and the heroine, and while she does it, she is catty, deceitful and cruel (recall how Jane writes about calling upon the Bingley sisters in London and how they then waited to return the call with insulting coldness). Now, as I say, a fanfic can explain why she is the way she is, and she can be redeemed, but calling her "no worse than many
> superficial, social climbing girls of that society
> whose ambitions had no other outlet than to hope
> for marriage with a rich or great man" is just another way of saying, she is an excellent candidate for a fanfic villain. To the extent that Austen writes villains, Caroline is a villain.
That said, I very much like Lise's story, too.