Degrees of Affection

I've read Grange's Mr. Darcy's Diary, so I was basically prepared. Then again...

This gives us a look at the villain of P&P before we meet him. We see his friendship with Darcy, his connection with Georgiana and Anne de Bourgh, and his fall into depravity and poverty. We meet his mother, the source of many of his traits and encouragement of several of his thoughts. We also see the choices he made at Cambridge that even he admits were unwise - not that this stops him from continuing to make them. Yes, we get his side of the tale of his slide down to the point of entering the militia.

And I'm not really happy with it.

Sure there are reasons and circumstances given but it takes some subtly to read between the lines and see what's really going on. And truthfully, I'm not sure if that's brilliance of the author's part or if it's thanks to my knowing the original story. From the text alone, the author seems to paint Wickham as almost a sympathetic character. Now I'll agree he's probably deluded himself as well as others at times but this man preys on women! He uses Elizabeth, uses Lydia, and tried to use Georgiana and he gave no thought to utterly destroying a family. That is what would have happened without Darcy to cover up Lydia's non-elopement; at the best the sisters might have gotten governess or companion positions...but that is unlikely given the people who hired them would almost certainly hear of the situation. If they married, it would be far below their current status.

And the waste! He had more opportunity then most people in this position and he could have gone far. With the backing of old Mr. Darcy, he could have become a gentleman with the right choices through the church or law. And yes, some of that, in this book, you can lay at his mother's feet as she encourages him to waste amazing opportunities. However, he in the end does most of the wasting. Argh.

I'm not sure what you might get out of this or even what the author wanted you to get.

But if it's sympathy for Wickham, I ain't buying!