Today we celebrate the 202nd book birthday of Pride & Prejudice!
A while back, I posted a picture on another blog I review for that said “You can keep Mr. Grey, I’m sticking with Mr. Darcy” and to my dismay, several people commented stating they had no clue who Mr. Darcy was! As a Jane Austen Junkie, I feel it is my DUTY to introduce those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting Fitzwilliam Darcy to his humble grace. I am certain you will fall in love!
It is one of my goals as a #JANEITE & a person in the literary world to make everyone Addicted to Austen.
Why Mr. Darcy? The real question should be: How can it NOT be Mr. Darcy?!?!?
My love affair with Mr. Darcy began when I was in college. This is one of the few times in my life that I actually “watched” the book before I read it. I happened upon mini-series of Pride and Prejudice with Collin Firth, I am not sure where I saw it, I can’t remember, maybe it was at my friend Marla’s house because she had the good cable but needless to say, I fell in love. I loved everything about him! His expressions tore at my heart! The longing you could see in his eyes…*swoon.* I loved the way he looked at Elizabeth, the way he followed her around, the way he tried so hard to get her attention and win her love. It was heart wrenchingly beautiful. I had never seen a more enchanting man, Mr. Darcy bewitched me body and soul! Although I was not assigned Pride & Prejudice in high school (what a travesty, I know), thankfully my father was an avid reader and he had a copy of Pride & Prejudice in our home. I read it…and became obsessed, like dog-eared, highlighted favorite parts obsessed. I studied that book, I replayed scenes in my head, I lived the emotion over and over again! I was so in love with the story, the characters, the enemies to lovers romance and before knew it, Mr. Darcy was the man I was going to marry. I wanted someone to look at me the way he looked at Elizabeth, I wanted their passion. After this, I started comparing every book I read to P&P. I would find similarities in plot, similarities in characters, and realized that many writers are inspired by Jane Austen and her work, something I learned more of while studying British Literature in college.
There are many, many rewrites, retellings, and adaptions of this classic and if you pay close attention to our modern romance, you can see Mr. Darcy in many of our tall, dark & handsome, mercurial, brooding, romantic heroes today.
He is the original.
Pride & Prejudice is 202 years old TODAY January 28th, 2015.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRIDE & PREJUDICE!
So why Mr. Darcy?
People like to argue that Darcy is not a very pleasant man. He is rude, arrogant and comes off as a self-centered elitist. One can not argue these points as seen in the book but if you scratch beneath the surface, (like most Lit Majors do) there are so many layers to this complicated, unlikely romantic hero. It is simple, Mr. Darcy is extremely misunderstood.
First of all, he is a very private man, I’d even go as far as to say that he is shy. It is obvious with the way he behaves around people he is not familiar with, he feels vulnerable. This shyness comes across as arrogance and that really is not the case. His parents died at an early age, leaving him master of what would be an empire these days. Tragedy such as death tends to make someone grow up very fast and perhaps in the process one can become jaded. In addition to this huge responsibility of caring for an estate with people depending on him, he has his baby sister to raise. He has been wronged in the past by those closest to him and his beloved baby sister, exploited because of who he is and what they have, there really is no wonder as to why he is so guarded. He is not a gossip, he rarely speaks, but when he does he always has something insightful and important to say. His problems and his business are his own, he never involves anyone in it who has no reason to be.
He is a thoughtful, giving, kind man who does nice things for those around him and those he loves. He does all things in earnest and has no need to publicize it and is generous to a fault. He adores his baby sister and protects her the best way he knows how. He has a great reputation and good relationships with those he works with and with those who work for him. They all love him, respect him and admire him. They speak well of him when he is not around, that says a lot about someones character. He takes great care of those he loves. This is a part of Mr. Darcy many people choose not to see. He is open and honest, which are great characteristics to have. He is not defensive, in the least, he takes his shortcomings, you know, the ones that Lizzie so graciously pointed out and genuinely works on them. He honestly didn’t realize his behavior was amiss, he took his constructive criticism and became a better person for it. He knows how to listen, has no problem apologizing when he is wrong and is very, very smart.
He says what he thinks and isn’t afraid to tell Elizabeth or anyone around him exactly how he feels. He knows what he wants and he goes for it. In short, Mr Darcy is the ULTIMATE BOOK BOYFRIEND and the model many of our favorite writers today use to develop their leading men. It all comes back to Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Here are some of my favorite Mr. Darcy’s.
Laurence Olivier was the first actor to take the role of Mr. Darcy to the screen in 1940 Pride & Prejudice
David Rintoul 1980 Pride & Prejudice
Collin Firth as Fitzilliam Darcy in the BBC’s television adaptation of Pride & Prejudice.
Orlando Seale 2003 Pride & Prejudice
Martin Henderson as Mr. Darcy in the 2004 Bollywood adaptation, Bride & Prejudice.
Matthew Macfayden as Mr. Darcy in the 2005 adaption of Pride & Prejudice.
Even the world of K-POP has their very own Mr. Darcy… Choi Jin Hyuk is the lead in the K-Drama Pride and Prejudice adaption which debuted in October 2014.
Some of my favorite movie scenes…
This book is timeless, the story is told time and time again. There would be no Edward Cullen, no Christian Grey, no “Brooding, aloof, socially awkward, rich, slightly finicky, older man, imprisoned by good manners..But inside lurks a smoldering romantic flame others just don’t notice.” without Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy.
If you don’t own Pride & Prejudice or have never read it, do yourself a favor and pick it up at your local book store or download it to your eReader, I can promise you that you will NOT be disappointed. 
Pride and Prejudice FREE on Kindle
