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Swap them around a bit...
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Just to make Lady Catherine’s life a living hell, I’d like to pair Mr. Collins with Maria Bertram. Or, to make it awful in another direction, Isabella Thorpe or Mrs. Elton.Mr. Elton and Lucy Steele would make a great suck-up couple to hang around a snob like Sir Walter Elliot.
Henry Tilney and Elizabeth Bennet would make a cheerful couple who would laugh their way through life.
Lady Bertram and Mr. Woodhouse would sit immobile in their drawing room so long that moss would grow on them!
How about Miss Bates and Mr. Palmer? She would drive him into Bedlam.
Lady Bertram and Mr. Woodhouse would sit immobile in their drawing room so long that moss would grow on them**
Wonderful!!!!!
Hilarious line by Abigail, I completely agree Beth-in-UK. Best thing I've read all day!
I feel sorry for Mary Bennet and think she should marry Mr. Collins. Yes she's silly and he's a fool but I think she'd blossom more in a home of her own being told what to think by Lady Katherine instead of some prosy, moral men she's never met.Yes to Lizzy and Mr. Tilney!
Catherine Morland's brother James and Fanny Price would make a nice couple since Edmund Bertram is too dumb to notice her. or maybe Fanny Price and Mr. Knightley. Mr. Knightley and Anne Elliot. She needs someone to cherish her!
Mrs. Dashwood and Col. Brandon. She's an older version of Marianne and closer to his own age.
I am always surprised at any description of Lady Bertram on her feet. Or indeed Mr Woodhouse.Lady Bertram and Mrs Price are so similar as characters, although one has to deal with comparative poverty. I suspect if Sir Thomas had married Fanny Senior (ie the future Mrs Price) she would have spent life on the sofa as well.
Mary Bennet was ideal for Mr Collins, and I always think it's a bit of a plot hole in P&P that Austen doesn't refer to it. I think, though, reading between the lines perhaps, that it speaks ill of Mr C that he doesn't bother with Mary because she is plain.However, it could be that had Charlotte Lucas not nipped in smartly the moment LIzzie turns him down, he might have moved on to Mary. It would be the perfect solution for both of them, and each would have had genuine admiration for the other.
Mrs Price would have enjoyed the sofa I think! She always comes across as the perpetually harrassed housewife. She definitely needs a relaxing holiday, perhaps with Fanny and Edmund once they are married.
Are there any nice spare men around for poor little Anne de Burgh? I always feel sorry for her. I don't think she's proud at all (any more than Georgiana is), and she is so crushed and miserable around her dreadful overbearing mother.She deserves to be released from her ordeal and given a better time, more fun, and a happy ending for herself with a nice chap.
I always think Lizzie will ensure Darcy invites Anne to stay with them. Mind you, Lady C might still be so incensed at Lizzie she forbids her poor daughter. Maybe Lady C will keel over in an apoplexy and then Anne can be 'free at last'!
I know Fanny Price's sister Susan comes to Mansfield Park to take Fanny's place there, and I know Harriet Smith marries Robert the farmer in Emma, but I could see Harriet at MP 'attending' Lady Bertram ..... and also being very useful to Mrs Norris (had she not gone to darkest Northumbria or wherever with Maria)
Is there a suitable wife in any of the novels for Mr William Eliot I wonder? What about Caroline Bingley perhaps?
Beth, regarding Anne de Bourgh, you are not alone in wishing this! I once wrote a short story in which she wound up with Colonel Fitzwilliam.
They would be ideal really, given he is nice and pretty handsome I think, and quite dashing, and she is rich.
It was fun to imagine her coming out of her shell and earning his admiration!
If Anne really is sickly, and not just the unfortunate daughter of an overbearing mother, then she isn't likely to find a young husband. She might find an older fortune hunter who already has an heir but she doesn't sound like she would be able to withstand childbirth right now. Maybe her mother will die and Anne will blossom and find a nice man who loves her. There are some stories about her.
There’s a recent one, The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh by Molly Greeley, that should be good. I really liked her previous book about Charlotte Collins, The Clergyman's Wife: A Pride & Prejudice Novel.
Beth-In-UK wrote: "Is there a suitable wife in any of the novels for Mr William Eliot I wonder? What about Caroline Bingley perhaps?"Excellent idea!
Abigail wrote: "Beth, regarding Anne de Bourgh, you are not alone in wishing this! I once wrote a short story in which she wound up with Colonel Fitzwilliam."Have you read Before Elizabeth by Rohase Piercy. It nearly happened in this version. Great minds think alike it would appear.
Here is an alternative. Mrs Bennet conked out with her flutterings and spasms so dear old Mr Bennet was free to marry again. He fell in love and married a younger woman who adored him, bore him a son and therefore the estate remained in the family. Charlotte Lucas ended up less fortunate than she had expected.Who would that woman be one wonders, Isabelle Thorpe, one of the Miss Morlands perhaps?
maybe Collens drops dead and Charlotte marries him? who should marry Frank according to family legand Jane dies young? maybe Kitty? another match for Mr Bennet could be Mrs Goddard as a school head she would be well read
How would Mr palmer and Mary Crawford do? they would enjoy each others humour and thayt would free charolote Palmer for Mr Rushworth
Helene wrote, “Have you read Before Elizabeth .. .”No I haven’t heard of that one! I guess the good colonel is an obvious choice because he’s around and Anne moves in a very limited sphere.
As far as re-pairing Mr. Bennet goes, it’s a pity we can’t mix up the genders more. Can you imagine the fun Mr. Bennet and Henry Tilney would have, teasing each other and making sport of their neighbors? I can definitely see them as a couple. Of course, if Mr. Bennet were actually happy in his partner he would have no spur to his wit and might become terminally lazy.
What lovely lively ideas for mix and match!I suspect Anne De Burgh is less sickly than she comes across. I think she's just crushed, and her mother also makes a fuss over her.
Maybe, too, Anne has discovered that she can use being ill to get out of being pushed forward embarrassingly by her mother? Or just to get some peace and quiet, perhaps, if she can take to her bed for a day or so every now and then, and have the day to herself quietly reading in her room??
I do like the idea of Mr Bennet re-marrying, and his second wife having a son and cutting out Mr Collins.Though, you know, Mr Collins would probably make a very conscientious land-owner (a 'Squarson' as they were called, when they combined being a 'Squire' landowner with a 'parson' cleric.)
Of course, it could be that Mr Bennet would die while Mrs B was still only middle aged (she must be at least 45 in P and P?) (or close to?).
Who might she marry I wonder? She could marry Mr Woodhouse and drive him bonkers! Or, ha ha, snap up General Tilney (he might think her a very wealthy widow) (and MIL of Fitzwilliam Darcy of course), and boy would he get his come uppance!!!
It would be nice if she could marry someone with more money than sense, and have a wonderful time spending it.
I don't want Jane Fairfax to die young!!!!!!
It is not in the book but oral Neices gossip soignore that fact. I do . Ipretend I never heard/read it like most gossip
Jane Austen
Books mentioned in this topic
The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh (other topics)The Clergyman's Wife: A Pride & Prejudice Novel (other topics)
In my dream Mr Darcy was with me, naturally, but the other couples were all mixed from different books.
I thought it would be fun to match likely, unlikely or hilariously opposing characters to others from the books and why.
I can't imagine Mr Collins will get any luckier in your imaginations than he did with Charlotte...