Dating Mr. Wickham

I have two confessions:

1. I am a Jane Austen fanatic.
2. I dated Mr. Wickham.

This blog is about confession number 2. ***As a disclaimer, if you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice (you should), it’ll sound like babble and this may ruin the story for you if you should ever choose to read it, so don’t spoil it for yourself.*** That being said, here’s my parallel to my favorite piece of literature.

I waited just as many years as Miss Elizabeth Bennett, and people who are familiar with her character say I closely resemble her personality and temperament. Then how did I get stuck with a Wickham? Simple enough, if you remember, at the beginning of the novel, the oh-so-charming snake of a man, George Wickham is exceedingly impressive and gentlemanly… he only betrayed himself in small ways every once in a while, and Lizzie liked him a bit too much to be objective. So it was with me. In the same area of misjudgment lies my fatal flaw. I see what I want to see, not what’s there.

Sad to relate, I see other girls I know getting tangled up with the Wickhams of the world, and also finding themselves broken and angry. When we fall for him, it follows that the Lydias in our lives swoop in at the time when we’re most attached and crow over us about their conquest. Real classy, but comeuppance is inevitable so just you girls wait.

What’s unbearable about the Lydia Bennett/George Wickham pairing is it seems they’re getting off easy. They get their mate with no thought of the people they’ve left bruised and hurt along the way… But I get the supreme satisfaction of seeing how beautifully ironic that couple turns out to be. A conniving, cheating pair is not going to last long in their happy land of oblivious “love”, sooner or later they’ll tire of each other and look for greener pastures. But the true poetic justice comes when they both begin to regret their backstabbing; it’s always right when Lizzie gets her Mr. Darcy.

My dear Elizabeth Bennetts, fear not, your Darcy is on his way! And as an added bonus, you don’t have to deal with Mr. Wickham anymore, he and Lydia will serve as each other’s punishment. Goodbye horrid Mr. Wickham, hello wonderful Mr. Darcy, wherever you are.