Probably one of the most romantic fictional characters EVER. He remains unmatched, to this day. There have been other fictional romantic heroes, but i dont think anyone has matched up to him. Not in my opinion, at least. So much so, that in 2010 a protein sex pheromone in male mouse urine, that is sexually attractive to female mice, was named Darcin in honour of the character (or so says the Wiki) That is quite an honor, I think. Even though it is associated with mouse urine.. ;). But jokes apart, Mr Darcy has been one of my "constant crushes". Now, I generally dont get crushes. Not on real life people anyways.. (no, wait, there was just the one time when i had a crush on a real person.. but i guess it lasted for just a couple of days. We are now great friends, and no, he does not know about the crush ;)). Anyways, i digress. Coming back to fictional heroes.. There have been a couple of characters that came across in books and television that made me swoon and fall down with a thud.. and dream about them too. To name a few: H Roark (the fountainhead), Sirius Black (HP-the book, and not the movie... I think they could have gotten someone better than Gary Oldman to play the role), John Thornton (North & South), Rhett Butler (gone with the wind), Hank Rearden (Atlas Shrugged). But none of them stand upto what I feel for Mr Darcy.
The reason I decided to do a post on Mr Darcy was because i watched Pride and Prejudice yesterday... the 1995 television series in which Colin Firth plays Mr Darcy. I have seen almost all the versions of Pride and Prejudice out there in the market and I cannot imagine any other actor in front of my eyes other than Firth when I think of Darcy. But this isnt about Firth, its about Darcy. Why do I (or for that matter any girl in her right mind) have a crush on him? To start with, he is handsome, well read, honest, arrogant and proud. And yes, i forgot, has the most amazing estate in Pemberley. What attracts me to the character is not his tough arrogant and proud exterior but the fact that he is willing to analyze himself. When he is turned down by Elizabeth Bennet, was his ego hurt? im most certain it was. But he used this hurt ego in a good way. He did not hide away from Elizabeth just because she rejected him. He did not deny his arrogance. But on the contrary he introspected and changed what he felt was wrong. That I feel gives a 'real' touch to the character. Even after accepting his mistakes the character does not undergo a 180 degrees turn. Till the very end, the character maintains its exterior of pride (but maybe to a lesser degree). He changes himself not because he wants to impress Elizabeth (he hides from her all his involvement in helping her sister Liddy. If he wanted, he could have very well told her his involvement improving his chances of her liking him back), but he truly believes what he has done was wrong. This whole helping behind the back is very genuine. Without any expectations of a return gesture from Elizabeth. (How often do we help people without expecting a kind word or appreciation in return?) His sole intent being seeing Elizabeth out of misery and ofcourse his blaming himself for inflicting that misery on her. The sincerity in almost ALL his actions is what attracts me to the character.
Another important factor that adds to the attraction (not to be confused with being in Love ;) ) is that he is 'almost' unattainable. This, I feel is crucial. A character disconnected from reality, someone who you cannot quite touch is not attractive. And so is someone who easily gives you attention. Someone like Mr Wickham. He is seemingly friendly and easily gives you attention. Attention you might like, but I doubt there will ever be any 'attraction' towards the character. But Mr Darcy.. he is on the edge. He seems like someone you cannot touch, but then he also has this human layer just beneath this arrogance layer that shows up once in a while. Especially in scenes where Elizabeth hears the Pemberley estate people and tenants talk good about their 'master'. That i feel is crucial in subtly showing Mr Darcy's softer side.
So there you go... These are my reasons of having a crush on him. The longest crush duration-wise i have ever had (first time i read Pride and Prejudice years ago - Present).
