Diane,
thanks for your reply, which I just saw as I was getting ready to post this
followup of my own. Let me clarify one important point re the theological
allegory I see operating in P&P with Wickham representing Quakers and Darcy
Anglicans---I am not suggesting that Wickham himself should be viewed as a Quaker,
merely that his small scale situation as an individual character in P&P
mirrors that of the Quakers on a larger scale in key ways—and the same with
Darcy, who surely is an Anglican—Darcy, in his arrogant crushing of “dissidents”
from his “edicts’ behaves with the casual cruel arrogance exhibited by the
Anglican church toward its much smaller and less powerful theological rivals,
in their competitive courtship of English souls (Elizabeth).
Now
on to my original followup to my two recent posts about the Wickham-Darcy
Quaker-Anglican subtext of P&P. It occurred to me this morning to do a word
search of “Society of Friends” and “Brotherly Love”, two key phrases of course
associated with Quakerism since prior to JA’s era, and it turned out to be a
gold mine of allusions hidden in plain sight.
As
you go through the following textual excerpts from P&P, where I’ve put in
ALL CAPS those keywords to help you spot them, please focus in particular on
what I believe is Ground Zero of this Quaker allusion in P&P, the excerpts
from the scene when Wickham first tells Eliza the story of how Darcy screwed
him over. And that in turn relates back to the conversation at Netherfield
about Bingley’s handwriting that morphs into a discussion of persuasion. That
conversation provided My Subject Line as the best example of the novel’s Quaker
subtext, because it puns in a masterfully clever way on the double meaning of “persuasion”.
I.e., besides its ordinary meaning of “convincing someone to change an opinion”,
it also was often used in JA’s era, and is still sometimes used today, to refer
to one’s religious denomination. That meaning was used most famously in the 1945
novel The Friendly Persuasion, later
made into a famous movie saga starring Gary Cooper about—what else?-a Quaker
family!
And that
entire conversation between Eliza and Wickham can be viewed as a very specific
allegory about the dilemma of an English Christian trying to pick between
mainstream Anglicanism and dissident Quakerism. And finally, as you read the
several references to Wickham’s discussion of Darcy’s fraternal pride (aka “Brotherly
Love”), consider the curious fact, perhaps a coincidence, that the 1709 Anglican
tract A Confutation of Quakerism,
written by Thomas BENNET, just happens to take on the topic of “brotherly love”
head-on!
So,
without further ado, here are the textual excerpts which clinch the deal on the
Quaker subtext of P&P.
"What
a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like
dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished
SOCIETY."
"Certainly,
sir; and it has the advantage also of being in vogue amongst the less polished SOCIETIES
of the world. Every savage can dance."
Sir
William only smiled. "Your FRIEND performs delightfully," he
continued after a pause, on seeing Bingley join the group…
"I
am sure," she added, "if it was not for such good FRIENDS I do not know
what would become of her, for she is very ill indeed, and suffers a vast deal,
though with the greatest patience in the world, which is always the way with
her, for she has, without exception, the sweetest temper I have ever met with….”
“…you
must remember, Miss Bennet, that the FRIEND who is supposed to desire his
return to the house, and the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it
without offering one argument in favour of its propriety."
"To
yield readily—easily—to THE PERSUASION OF
A FRIEND is no merit with you."
"To
yield WITHOUT CONVICTION is no compliment to the understanding of either."
"You
appear to me, Mr. Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of FRIENDSHIP and
affection. A regard for the requester would often make one readily yield to a
request, without waiting for arguments to reason one into it. I am not
particularly speaking of such a case as you have supposed about Mr. Bingley. We
may as well wait, perhaps, till the circumstance occurs before we discuss the
discretion of his behaviour thereupon. But in general and ordinary cases BETWEEN
FRIEND AND FRIEND, where one of them is desired by the other to change a
resolution of no very great moment, should you think ill of that person for
complying with the desire, without waiting to be argued into it?"
Mr.
Denny addressed them directly, and entreated permission to introduce HIS
FRIEND, Mr. Wickham, who had returned with him the day before from town, and he
was happy to say had accepted a commission in THEIR CORPS.
"Oh!
no—it is not for me to be driven away by Mr. Darcy. If he wishes
to avoid seeing me, he must go. We are not on FRIENDLY terms, and it
always gives me pain to meet him, but I have no reason for avoiding him
but what I might proclaim before all the world, a sense of very great
ill-usage, and most painful regrets at his being what he is. His father, Miss
Bennet, the late Mr. Darcy, was one of the best men that ever breathed, and THE
TRUEST FRIEND I ever had; and I can never be in company with this Mr. Darcy
without being grieved to the soul by a thousand tender recollections….”
Mr.
Wickham began to speak on more general topics, Meryton, the neighbourhood, the SOCIETY,
appearing highly pleased with all that he had yet seen, and speaking of the
latter with gentle but very intelligible gallantry.
"It
was the prospect of constant SOCIETY, and good SOCIETY," he added,
"which was my chief inducement to enter the ——shire. I knew it to be a
most respectable, agreeable corps, and my FRIEND Denny TEMPTED me further by
his account of their present quarters, and the very great attentions and
excellent acquaintances Meryton had procured them. SOCIETY, I own, is necessary
to me. I have been a disappointed man, and my spirits will not bear solitude. I
must have employment and SOCIETY. A military life is not what I was
intended for, but circumstances have now made it eligible. THE CHURCH ought
to have been my profession—I was brought up for THE CHURCH, and I should at
this time have been in possession of a most valuable living, had it pleased the
gentleman we were speaking of just now."
"How strange!" cried
Elizabeth. "How abominable! I wonder that the very pride of this Mr. Darcy
has not made him just to you! If from no better motive, that he should not have
been too proud to be dishonest—for dishonesty I must call it."
"It
is wonderful," replied Wickham, "for almost all his actions
may be traced to PRIDE; and PRIDE had often been HIS BEST FRIEND. It has
connected him nearer with virtue than with any other feeling. But we are none
of us consistent, and in his behaviour to me there were stronger impulses even
than PRIDE."
"Can
such abominable PRIDE as his have ever done him good?"
"Yes.
It has often led him to be liberal and generous, to give his money freely, to
display hospitality, to assist his tenants, and relieve the poor. Family PRIDE,
and filial PRIDE—for he is very proud of what his father was—have done
this. Not to appear to disgrace his family, to degenerate from the popular
qualities, or lose the influence of the Pemberley House, is a powerful motive.
HE HAS ALSO BROTHERLY PRIDE, which,
with SOME BROTHERLY AFFECTION, makes
him a very kind and careful guardian of his sister, and you will hear him
generally cried up as the most attentive and BEST OF BROTHERS."
"I
am astonished at his intimacy with Mr. Bingley! How can Mr. Bingley, who seems
good humour itself, and is, I really believe, truly amiable, be in friendship
with such a man? How can they suit each other? Do you know Mr. Bingley?"
Jane
pictured to herself a happy evening in the SOCIETY OF her two FRIENDS, and the
attentions of their brother; and Elizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a
great deal with Mr. Wickham, and of seeing a confirmation of everything in Mr.
Darcy's look and behaviour.
"Mr.
Wickham is blessed with such happy manners as may ensure his MAKING FRIENDS—whether
he may be equally capable of retaining them, is less certain."
"He
has been so unlucky as to lose YOUR FRIENDSHIP," replied Elizabeth with emphasis, "and in
a manner which he is likely to suffer from all his life."
"I
do not pretend to regret anything I shall leave in Hertfordshire, except your SOCIETY,
my dearest FRIEND…”
…it was
not to be supposed that their absence from Netherfield would prevent Mr.
Bingley's being there; and as to the loss of their SOCIETY, she was persuaded
that Jane must cease to regard it, in the enjoyment of his.
"It
is unlucky," said she, after a short pause, "that you should not be
able to see your FRIENDS before they leave the country. But may we not hope
that the period of future happiness to which Miss Bingley looks forward may
arrive earlier than she is aware, and that the delightful intercourse you have
known as FRIENDS will be renewed with yet greater satisfaction as sisters? Mr.
Bingley will not be detained in London by them."
Sir William's
ALLUSION TO HIS FRIEND seemed to strike him forcibly, and his eyes were
directed with a very serious expression towards Bingley and Jane, who were
dancing together.
“My
father was not only fond of this young man's SOCIETY, whose manners were always
engaging; he had also the highest opinion of him, and hoping THE CHURCH would
be his profession, intended to provide for him in it. As for myself, it is
many, many years since I first began to think of him in a very different
manner. The vicious propensities—the want of principle, which he was careful to
guard from the knowledge of his best FRIEND, could not escape the observation
of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, and who had opportunities
of seeing him in unguarded moments, which Mr. Darcy could not have…”
