20 August 2010

Hello there, Mr Darcy..

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).

12 comments:

Mansi said...

very interesting post! :)
i found roark's character very larger-than-life as well..something unattainable.

Nightflier said...

Very true when you talk about the human but unattainable quality of Darcy (for that matter our childhood heroes :))
And thanks for taking me down memory lanes!

Neha said...

@mansi:yes, Roark's character was too ideal for a long time attraction ;)
@nf: you are most welcome..i spent almost my whole weekend day dreaming about Darcy.. Planning on getting hold of unabriged version of Pride n prejudice! :D

Ashwathy said...

Darcy is the character on which ALL of the Mills & Boons heroes and based upon :-)

pallavi said...

He he, nice post. I guess EVERY girl has had/still has a crush on Mr.Darcy :-) I also think its to do with the fact that despite that tough exterior, he finally fell in love with a very ordinary 'next-door-girl' that most of us identify ourselves with :-)

Neha said...

@ashwathy: yes.. But M&B never get the sketch the characters as well as austen :D

Neha said...

thanks for stopping by, pallavi :)

Ketaki... said...

Lovely post..You know I wanted to read this post the other day when I stopped to take a look at that yummy pasta salad and then I left office in a hurry. I somehow remembered and came back today just to read this.. :) and I am so glad I did. It is funny though, I never had a crush on Darcy after reading the book or watching so many Pride and Prejudice movies. But after reading your post I think I now do.. ;)

Neha said...

aww! im glad i added another person to the Darcy fan club :)

Bhagwad Jal Park said...

Actually, Pride and Prejudice made me ill! (Not literally of course.)

Darcy seems like a woman's wet dream come true, but I have difficulty imagining any real man being like that. I guess Jane Austen built the perfect guy of her dreams - and of course, this is fiction so it's the right thing to do. It's just that I find he's quite a cardboard cutout.

But problems arise when my wife for example, reads the twilight novels and curses me for not being the romantic mysterious gentle/dangerous type...gaah!

Neha said...

@ BJP (interesting initials, btw ;))
Yes, darcy was probably austen's dream man too :D. But then its just fiction...therefore you can have crushes on fictional characters but never fall in love with them :D

Twilight.... Am I the only girl around that has not read/seen the twilight series???

Jasmine said...

@Neha no you're not i've never seen/read it either :P haha

ohhh I loveee mr. darcy<3
I had only read his prideful arrogant side in the book before I started watching the BBC series and continuing reading, so ohhh goodness, after he turned out all sweet inside and had Colin Firth's handsomeness (and perfect yummy portrayal), I was head over heels:)
I can only hope and wish that I'll find someone like Mr. Darcy<3 perhaps a bit more talkative... but a perfect gentleman who loves me infinitely..<3
ahh.. Mr. Darcy just makes me melt:)