I don't remember which recent Darcy post of yours made me want to send this, but I just wanted to babble about how I find it so interesting that Darcy tries to persuade Lydia to leave Wickham and go back to her family. It's such an interesting sign of him being a good person in a way that's pretty counter to Upper Crust Mores of the time. Darcy thinks life with Wickham is way worse than life post Wickham scandal! [1/?]
And when Lydia refuses, only then does he arrange the marriage, which goes at least some way to helping protect her from what could easily await her if he didn't. Anyway. This ramble partly sparked by seeing someone write about how "all the adults agreed Lydia's marriage to Wickham would be best in the circumstances given the social structure of the times." because it wasn't true. Darcy clearly didn't! Anyway! I enjoy your meta in multiple fandoms. Thanks for reading my ramble!
Hey, thank you—I'm glad you enjoy the meta, and I'm always pleased to encounter someone who gives weight to Darcy's attempt to extricate Lydia. Austen is careful not to over-emphasize that he's the only person who even considers trying to get Lydia out of the situation unmarried, probably because she's very careful in how she threads the Discourse Needle of her time(s). It's important to have someone say "hey, maybe a sixteen-year-old marrying a slimy predator is not the most desirable outcome here," while having the someone be Darcy alone and mentioned in passing by a third party in a letter keeps it "safe."
