Fitzwilliam Darcy, Esquire?
Diane Morris | Tuesday, January 16th, 2018 | Mr. Darcy, Regency Gentleman | No Comments
Of late I have been wondering about Esquires. What, precisely, is an Esquire? Might Fitzwilliam Darcy, he of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice fame, be such a man? We can be certain that Darcy isn’t a Peer, since no one addresses him either as “Your Grace” (signaling his status as a Duke) or as “Lord” […]
Read More »Good Breeding: The Regency Principle of Decency
Diane Morris | Thursday, November 10th, 2016 | Regency Gentleman | No Comments
“An able man shows his spirit by gentle words and resolute actions.” — Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773)1 The long, arduous, ugly, disheartening US election is over. Today’s sunrise is a reminder that the world still turns on its axis; we may not be content, but we continue to live and breathe. Now is a good time […]
Read More »Mr. Darcy’s Breeding Problem
Diane Morris | Thursday, November 5th, 2015 | Jane Austen, Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice, Regency Gentleman | No Comments
A Regency era gentleman was a man who knew his place in the world. He guarded his reputation; dressed elegantly; and treated lords, servants, and lowly commoners with great civility.1 By these criteria, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice fame was every bit a Regency gentleman—except when he wasn’t. In his dealings with his fellow characters […]
Read More »A True Regency Gentleman Had Good Breeding
Diane Morris | Thursday, October 22nd, 2015 | Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Regency Gentleman | No Comments
What did Jane Austen mean when she said that a gentleman had good breeding? For example, in Pride and Prejudice Jane Bennet tells her sister Elizabeth that in Mr. Bingley she never saw “so much ease, with such perfect good breeding.”1 In Persuasion Sir Walter Elliot was flattered to have himself described to Admiral Croft as […]
Read More »Is Mr. Darcy the Ideal Regency Gentleman?
Diane Morris | Thursday, September 24th, 2015 | Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice | No Comments
My previous post addressed the issue of why Mr. Darcy—the much loved suitor in Pride and Prejudice—is a gentleman but not a lord. While working on that post I began to wonder: “What exactly is a gentleman?” As it happens I have a book here in my office that describes the rise and fall of […]
Read More »Mr. Darcy Was a Second-Class Citizen
Diane Morris | Sunday, August 10th, 2014 | Life & Times, Mr. Darcy, Pride and Prejudice | 5 Comments
Fitzwilliam Darcy was the handsome, wealthy gentleman who fell in love with the sparkling Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth’s mother was confounded and amazed to hear that her daughter would marry a man of fortune, especially as she at first thought Darcy was “a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing, […]
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