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Comment by hirundo | Hacker News Reader

“My dearest sister, now be serious. I want to talk very seriously. Let me know every thing that I am to know, without delay. Will you tell me how long you have loved him?"

"It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.”

Elizabeth already knew Mr. Darcy's income and despised him. It was upon learning of his wealth that her love bloomed. A practical woman, Miss Bennet.

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The reason she rejected him was due to the way she perceived his mistreatment of Wickham. She didn't realize just how bad of an egg he was, and how lucky Wickham was to have a connection with Darcy. Upon receiving Darcy's letter, where he bares his entire soul and how he went to considerable expense to make things right for Wickham and her sister anyway, she began to see him in a new light. She was already well down the path to falling for him when they toured his estate the first time.

Obviously that sealed the deal, but Austen wouldn't be hailed as one of the world's greatest novelists if the plot of her seminal work was that easily reduced to money.

I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, but Elizabeth is still being sarcastic here, as is very much in her character, despite Jane's request to the contrary.

It's not simple sarcasm. There's plenty of truth in it, so there's an element of knowing self-deprecation - not just on Elizabeth's part, but also Austen's, because the sentiment that would have been recognised by many of her readers.

Austen herself was in the same position as Elizabeth, with a tiny inheritance that provided no financial security. So P&P is as much a fantasy about finding financial safety as it is about finding a man.

For all the landscaped country houses and bonnets, it was a very brutal period for many women - and for men too, in other ways.

It's also because she sees how Darcy's servants and tenants view him. He is a popular man and treats the people who depend on him well which speaks positively to his character.

Sounds right, but she wasn't purely mercenary like her friend Charlotte, who admitted to marrying Mr. Collins for his money, which filled Elizabeth with horror.

For someone like Me Darcy income came entirely from wealth. He wasn't working, and someone in his position wouldn't be. So Elizabeth already knew he was extremely wealthy before seeing Pemberley.

I always took that as implying that what she learned was that Darcy had taste. You can have Darcy's much bruited income as a topic of conversation, no doubt about his wealth, but pounds only buy you so much status.

Hear, hear. And not just taste as evidenced by his possessions, but also the good taste to appreciate her uncle and aunt. I think we should also give some weight to the good impressions that Georgiana and the housekeeper at Pemberly may have made upon her.

Also coincident with her seeing his grounds was here talking there with tenants, servants and relatives who spoke very highly of his character and generosity.

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