Mr. Darcy vs Captain Wentworth

For those of you that know me, you know that I am a big Jane Austen fan. I love her writing and I am obsessed with any movies that are made.

One of my all time favorite is Pride and Prejudice

I enjoy reading and watching the relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. It is a romance where in the end, I am exstatic that they end up with each other. I just love a good, clean love story.

This last week, as I have been down, I always turn to an Austen movie to lighten my mood and whisk me away to a different world. I checked out the movie "Persuasion" by Jane Austen, that was done by PBS Master Piece Theatre in 2007.

Can I just say, I have a new favorite Jane Austen movie!!!

First, Captain Frederick Wentworth. I think I shall now place Captain Wentworth higher than Mr. Darcy. Captain Wentworth reminded me of Jacob from the Bible. A good man who waits 8 years for the love of his life and earns her hand by working hard to become a captain of the Navy and gain fortune and rank. For some reason, I admire Wentworth more than Mr Darcy. For Wentworth earned his accomplishments rather than Darcy just inherited them. Makes Darcy seem a bit spoiled.


The story of Persuasion is about Anne Elliot who meets the love of her life at 19. They become engaged and her family persuades her to call off the marriage because Wentworth had no money or rank. Wentworth leaves heart broken and joins the Navy. 8 years later, Anne is still not married and finds out that Wentworth is coming back. Now a Captain of the Navy with rank and fortune. He is now quite the bachelor that every girl has their eye on, and Anne watches as they all try to court him to earn his hand in marriage. She still loves him and regrets the decision she made 8 years earlier.

OH!! I cannot tell you how much I LOVE this story. It hits home in many ways. At first I was not impressed with the demeanor of Miss Elliot, but the more I think of her characteristics, well the characteristics of any of Austen's leading ladies, the more I love Jane Austen's work and her portrayal of women. That will be another post that deserves to be written just about Austen's leading women.

So, I guess I can say now that I am not as big of a fan for Mr. Darcy anymore.

A few things have contributed to this.


1. Collin Firth creeps me out as Mr. Darcy



2. Mathew Macfayden who plays Mr Darcy that I like was tainted for me when I watched the first 10 minutes of BBC's "The Way We Live Now". He plays Felix Carbury who is a gambling, drunk, woman user and it tainted me.


If you want to see, watch it here.


If you have a free moment, watch "Persuasion" by Jane Austen. I can say that I am a huge fan!



I leave you with Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne:

"I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan. Have you not seen this? Can you fail to have understood my wishes? I had not waited even these ten days, could I have read your feelings, as I think you must have penetrated mine. I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature! You do us justice, indeed. You do believe that there is true attachment and constancy among men. Believe it to be most fervent, most undeviating, in

F. W.

"I must go, uncertain of my fate; but I shall return hither, or follow your party, as soon as possible. A word, a look, will be enough to decide whether I enter your father's house this evening or never."

- Jane Austen, Persuasion