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[bethanydelleman]

I find this post-engagement exchange in Pride & Prejudice between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy very cute:

...To be sure you know no actual good of me—but nobody thinks of that when they fall in love.” (E) “Was there no good in your affectionate behaviour to Jane, while she was ill at Netherfield?” (D) “Dearest Jane! who could have done less for her? But make a virtue of it by all means. My good qualities are under your protection, and you are to exaggerate them as much as possible...." (E)

Because in a way Elizabeth's right, it's pretty normal for a sister to take care of a sister when she's sick. But in another way, he's right because Mary refused to come and Kitty and Lydia only cared about the ball.

It's this cute thing about how we can't even see our own virtues that others fall in love with.

[bethanydelleman]

The best genre of family portrait is and will always be Husband With Multiple Kids Making Come Hither Eyes At His Wife

Barbara Krafft, Die Familie Anton von Marx 1803

Marie-Geneviève Bouliard,Monsieur Olive & family 1791

[bethanydelleman]

There is something incredibly depressing about not being within the standard sizes.

I once barely kept myself from weeping in a store because they told me they didn't sell long jeans anymore and they were the only store that fit me (the sales person was wrong btw). I buy the exact shoes and pants over and over because it's so hard to find items that fit. I lived in abject fear during pregnancy that my feet would grow (I know people who permanently went up a shoe size) because I already can't buy shoes. I gave up years ago on finding long-sleeved shirts that reach my hands (you know your height is also your wingspan?) Dresses are almost a foot shorter on me than intended.

I like being tall, but being reminded over and over that you aren't within the normal range sucks.

[bethanydelleman]

most important thing to remember about being a woman is if youre married you have to go under the covers with your husband and laugh cutely and play wrestle so when you die to progress the narrative he can remember it in slow motion montages

[bethanydelleman]

My youth is wasting away; my prospects are darkened; my life is a desolate blank; I have no rest day or night; I am become a burden to myself and others

Holy existential crisis, Hargrave.

[bethanydelleman]

I'm at John and Maragret's first introduction and

Y'ALL LMAOOOOOOOO IT IS

CHEF'S KISS

Like the way John interprets Margaret's mannerisms as haughty when really she's just Exhausted

Her thinking that he's curt bc he only gave her one word answers when really she left him Overwhelmed

It just sets the stage for the rest of their misunderstandings that is UGH MUWAH!!! MAGNIFIQUE

[bethanydelleman]

Look, I know the scene where Darcy is describing a truly accomplished woman is meant to be tense and stuff, but I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s hilarious that when Elizabeth told him off for it, he asked if she truly thinks so lowly of her own sex. That entire conversation is essentially

Darcy: for a woman to be accomplished, she has to live up to all these standards

Elizabeth: no one can live up to those standards

Darcy: wow, you don’t think women can be all those things? Sexist🙄

Elizabeth: bitch-

[bethanydelleman]

“Young People” of Fortune

I really want to know how old the Crawfords are in Mansfield Park (just because, no real reason). We are never given their ages but we have some clues.

Mrs. Grant is 33 when the Crawfords come to Mansfield Park (she was 30 when she arrived and Fanny was 15, Fanny is 18 when the Crawfords arrive). Mrs. Grant is a half sister through her mother, so the absolute oldest Henry can be is 31-ish, but that would assume that Mrs. Grant’s mother was pregnant when her husband died and married immediately after her mourning period ended.

On the lower end, we know Henry is at least 22 because he has come into his inheritance and has already completed his minor improvements to Everingham. These only took 3 months, but since it seems like they must be done in summer, we can assume he did it about a year ago. The Crawfords also must be young enough that both of them went into guardianship when their mother died but Mrs. Grant was old enough to marry.

Keep reading

[bethanydelleman]

so i just finished mp and........you were right. you just. you were right

Somehow this feels ominous, but I am going to take the win. Sweet! I was right! Yay!

About what? Meh, who cares. I was right!

[bethanydelleman]

love shakespeare. did a hamlet run tonight, looked someone dead in the eye to say “am i a coward?” during a speech and the fucker shrugged and nodded

[bethanydelleman]

François Gérard (1770-1837, French) ~ Marie Laczinska (1789-1817) Comtesse Walewska, puis Comtesse d'Ornano, 1810

[Source: basedescollections.musee-armee.fr]

[bethanydelleman]

I will add to the foils: Mrs. Smith's husband squandered all their money and left her destitute, another possible fate of Anne since Wentworth had not yet proved he was capable of saving.

But yeah, Lady Russell was sensible. She may have also been overly class conscious, but that doesn't make her wrong.

Captain Wentworth had no fortune. He had been lucky in his profession; but spending freely, what had come freely, had realized nothing. But he was confident that he should soon be rich: full of life and ardour, he knew that he should soon have a ship, and soon be on a station that would lead to everything he wanted. He had always been lucky; he knew he should be so still. Such confidence, powerful in its own warmth, and bewitching in the wit which often expressed it, must have been enough for Anne; but Lady Russell saw it very differently. His sanguine temper, and fearlessness of mind, operated very differently on her. She saw in it but an aggravation of the evil. It only added a dangerous character to himself. He was brilliant, he was headstrong. Lady Russell had little taste for wit, and of anything approaching to imprudence a horror. She deprecated the connexion in every light.

It's interesting to me, Persuasion is the last novel Austen wrote and she had this trend prior of "W" being a villain (Wickham and Willoughby) and this paragraph about Wentworth makes me think about her other dubious men. He's gambled or spent all his money away, just like the other two, he's confident he'll get more. Wentworth and Henry Tilney are the only heroes with wit, but only Wentworth has this magnetic charm that seems to draw every woman in the room. Very Wickham of him, recall how drawn every female was to him when he came into Meryton. Wentworth feels a lot like Austen's villains, especially at first.

It makes me feel that Lady Russell was right to be worried. This sort of magnetic person, with very pretty words but no substance to back it up. It could have been a Willoughby-esq whirlwind romance and left Anne with nothing.

[bethanydelleman]

Same girl, same 😔

[bethanydelleman]

What about the Austen heroes?

So the current professions of the Austen heroes are Trust-Fund Baby (Darcy, Bingley, Knightley, Colonel Brandon) and clergyman (Tilney, Ferrars, Bertram) and of course, naval officer (Wentworth).

Darcy's personality and insane degree of stable wealth makes his character pretty hard to write without him being a trust fund baby. So I will not assign him a profession, he's managing the generational family wealth.

George Knightley - runs a small but successful factory that is basically the only industry in his small town. Cash poor because he's always reinvesting in the company. Robert Martin is the floor manager.

Charles Bingley - his father struck it rich in the dot.com era and then died. He's inherited most of the fortune. Has no idea what to do with it, so he's been in university for 6 years.

Colonel Brandon - did four tours in Afghanistan before his brother died and he took over the indebted family chain of hardware stores. He's finally gotten the finances straightened out and the chain is once again profitable (with 100% less tax fraud).

Edward Ferrars - went to a super prestigious university because his mother donated to it, has a degree in Environmental Science much to her chagrin. Wants to work at a non-profit or do his PhD but his mom won't help him with the cost of living so he lives at home, doesn't work, and is miserable.

Edmund Bertram - clergyman or civil servant

Frederick Wentworth - I'm not sure what to do with him, because he needs an uncertain, dangerous career that can also strike rich, not sure if we have a modern analogue... oh it's athlete. He's an athlete who actually made it big and got rich. You pick the sport.

Henry Tilney - this one is so tricky! Because you see Henry Tilney is a nepo baby, but he seems to actually enjoy his profession. So I guess he has a corporate job at Tilney Inc. but he does like it (despite the CEO)

[bethanydelleman]

Single man who just moved into Cranford: hi

*the Cranford ladies*

[bethanydelleman]

It's because of the Broody McBrooderson portrayal of Thornton in the 2004 mini reminds people of Broody McBroodface Darcy in 1995. That Thronton was just black clothes, punching workers, and staring dramatically out of windows.

The only way that "North and South is Pride and Prejudice plus labor disputes" makes even a little bit of sense is if we assume Margaret is in the Darcy role. (She's the outsider with an upper-class upbringing and a proud bearing who's a bit prejudiced against the lower-class town she moves to).

Beyond that, what are the similarities? A romance with two people who initially dislike/misunderstand each other where the guy makes a proposal halfway through that the girl is offended by? The connection is flimsy at best. Even calling the proposal a similarity is a stretch, because she's offended not because she has anything against the man, but because he misinterpreted her actions as romantic interest. Beyond that there are almost no points of similarity. So I'm going to keep being frustrated at the comparison.

[bethanydelleman]

I want to set up a cast of historical characters and then kill them off using meticulously calculated statistics based on the best possible historical evidence.

"I can't believe you killed off my favourite character! How could you?"

slams massive collection of spreadsheets down on the table "A man of his age surviving WWI and the Spanish Flu? Please. The sheets have spoken."