Pride and Prejudice FULL LENGTH REACTION

this movie crams a lot into a short time so its easy to get confused. to help here are a couple tidbits. there are 8 main women plus the mother highlighted. the five daughters Jane who marries Bingley, Elizabeth who marries Darcy, Mary who is the serious one you thought would end up with Mr. Collins, Kitty who is one of the silly ones and Lydia who runs away with Mr. Wickham. There is the blonde woman with Bingly and Darcy I believe her name is Caroline and she is Bingly's sister. Then there is Georgiana who is Darcy's sister and lastly Charlotte Lucas who marries Mr. Collins and has been a neighbor and close friend to Elizabeth. In those days women couldn't inherit so they had five children hoping one would be a boy who could. So its not that Mr. Bennett is in bad health, more that they are trying to prepare for what could happen when he passes away because by law their home would go to the eldest male relative who could throw them out without warning. The person who stands to inherit is Mr. Collins their first cousin. Back then that wasn't taboo like it is now. So pressure was put on Elizabeth to marry him so that the family could retain the house. Also that's why the mother was so obsessed with marrying her daughters off especially to wealthy men who could presumably help care for her mother and sisters should the father die and Mr. Collins throw them out. You saw Elizabeth as a flirty person but back in that time she would have been seen as abrasive. She wasn't trying to be flirty with Darcy at all until she ran into him at his house. Prior to that she started polite, then firing his own words back at him frequently to shame him for his poor behavior and then finally with hatred mixed with attraction in the rain. Once she realizes how wrong she was about him her feelings began to change. Elizabeth is very unlike other women from her time. She spoke her mind, she was intelligent, witty and occasionally sarcastic. Women were supposed to be demure and accept any offer but she knew her own mind and didn't care if others had a problem with it. That's what drew Darcy to her. She could care less about his wealth. I know you watched this long ago but maybe this may help the understanding. :)

Midgey_M