Fictional Drama / Humour / Regency
1800s
England
Subtitled Pride and Prejudice meets Pygmalion, the novel begins with Professor
Darcy, an expert in linguistics and phonetics, bemoaning the fact that a man of
substance such as himself must always be the target of fortune-hunters. His
aunt, Lady Catherine de Burgh, is planning to announce his betrothal to her
daughter, since he seems to have no intention of finding anyone for himself. Bingley suggests that if Darcy were to announce his own engagement, he would
scotch that plan immediately.
The question is, where to find a
lady who would suit his consequence enough for Society to be duped, and yet
amenable enough to play the game, and withdraw at the end of it?
Bingley suggests that his friend
might find a suitable partner among his Jane’s pretty sisters; but Darcy snubs Lizzy
at the ball at Netherfield because her accent and country manners are
insupportable – something which clearly has not concerned Bingley when making
his own choice of bride.
When Jane marries, Lizzy realises
that life at Longbourn will be intolerable. She has been invited to London for
the Season by her aunt Gardner’s sister, Lady Grant; but hearing Bingley’s
sisters denounce her as a rustic, she realises that she cannot presume to the
heights of fashionable London society as she is. She asks Darcy to teach her
how to speak; and though at first reluctant, he agrees to do so on condition
that she play the part of his affianced bride. A bargain is struck.
Darcy is at first all Henry
Higgins – rude, conceited and patronising, and unlikeable in a way that
Austen’s Darcy is not. The author makes a nod to this, when Lizzy describes his
‘various moods as being almost those of separate men’. If the reader has never
read Pygmalion, will they understand his behaviour? He is assisted by Colonel
Fitzwilliam, in the role of Colonel Pickering, who unlike that gentleman has a romantic
problem of his own to solve; and there is Freddy, another import from
Pygmalion, as a suitor for Lizzy. The conflation of LIzzy Bennet, Regency
gentleman’s daughter, and Eliza Doolittle, Victorian flower-girl, is, however, a
little stretched. That which makes Eliza Doolittle so attractive is her fiery
temper and her street-wise sense of self-preservation, and that which makes
Lizzy so interesting is her certainty and her self-belief. All are missing
here.
Lady Grant’s stated plan that
Lizzy would be presented at Court in a spectacular London debut is nonsense,
given her family’s status and lack of funds. Darcy says he will be able to pass
her off as a duchess by the time he has finished her education, which is a
claim from the play; here he’s speaking figuratively.
Until the story begins to broaden
out from the professor-pupil relationship, it has all the flavour of Pygmalion,
and Lizzy has none of the sparkle that the reader expects of her. After that
the author has fun shuffling some of the novel’s pairings in an entertaining manner,
and the plot picks up speed and interest. The Bennets take a much smaller role;
Wickham is as dastardly as ever, though made stupid by a desire for revenge;
Georgiana is suffering from depression after her mistreatment by him; and
Caroline Bingley gives full rein to her dark side.
What starts out as an homage to
both books turns into something of a romp of its own. The use of quotations
from the original is like finding old friends in strange places, though the
characters themselves are not as we know them. Shaw stated that Higgins should
never be allowed to marry Eliza, whom he created to win a bet and in order to
con Society, and there is something of that in Darcy here which the author must
overcome. There is still pride and prejudice to be overturned, but whether they
are less worthy or justified than in Austen’s version is a moot point, and
perhaps unfamiliarity with the play may colour some readers’ judgement there.
There are some errors which stand
out, one being a 'ring at the front door' (this is 1811) and 'discrete’ and ‘less
discrete' where discreet should have
been used. However, overall, a good read.
© Lorraine Swoboda
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