By: Abbi Zaugg
This weekend, I had the pleasure of rewatching Pride and Prejudice (2005) with some of my roommates. While it is, to my generation and many others, an age-old classic, I was struck with the varying portrayals of consent in the film, how it is explored through a lens of class.
In Pride and Prejudice, there is a particular emphasis placed on consent; mostly in the form of what women are and aren’t allowed to do. When Elizabeth rejects her first two marriage proposals, the first from Mr. Collins and the second from Mr. Darcy, there is an expectation of societal guilt placed upon her actions. We, the audience, are to understand them as selfish and out of place yet entirely justified. There is a very prominent class component, in that we are reminded about every five minutes just how poor the Bennet family is. For Elizabeth to reject not one but two proposals is unheard of and incredibly unrealistic. Yet there is a level of peculiarity and independence placed upon the character of Elizabeth. Sure, it is uncommon that one woman would reject so many prosperous marriage proposals but if there would have been a woman to do it, it would have been Elizabeth Bennet.
Additionally, the scene choices place an emphasis on the guilt that Elizabeth feels for turning down Mr. Darcy and the shame of not being able to speak to her family about it. It is such a small choice that perfectly reminds the viewer of the extent of our female lead’s agency; she gets to say no, and she gets to make decisions that some people would deem unwise.
The movie also places a very unsubtle and enjoyable pressure on how consent is viewed through the lens of the pursuer. Throughout the course of the film, Mr. Darcy is shown to be obtuse to social cues and incredibly blunt in speech. The first time our leads meet, Elizabeth points out Mr. Darcy’s rudeness in his unwillingness to dance; this leads us to the iconic scene where she points out that the best way of “encouraging affection” is through dancing. And what do we see in the next scene in which it is socially acceptable to dance? Mr. Darcy asking to dance with Elizabeth. In this scene, the emphasis in consent is placed more on the words exchanged. The audience can see that Mr. Darcy is hesitant to say something incorrect and would rather say nothing at all, yet Elizabeth desires the stimulation of such “conversation” (it really is more just tension than conversing).
Even in the first proposal scene with Mr. Darcy, there is a level of agency placed on Elizabeth that would not typically exist. She hates the man, we know, but other than her reasonable hatred there is no other indication that she should not say yes. Here is where we once again get into the class aspects of the movie. Not only does Mr. Darcy insult her status, he insults her family. The complexity of this refusal is then heightened by the fact that Elizabeth refuses to recount the event to anyone else. She is aware that in rejecting the proposal, she has most likely squandered the greatest class mobility that will be given to her or her family yet she does not come to regret this action until Mr. Darcy’s character becomes more apparent. In the final confession scene Mr. Darcy’s second proposal is framed with an understanding that if Elizabeth doesn’t want him after he clears his name, then he will give her the space to move on and forget him.
Additionally, the film explores the idea of manufactured consent through the storylines of Charlotte and Lydia. Charlotte ends up married to Mr. Collins in an arrangement of convenience and while this is presented as a functional relationship, we see the discord that this marriage causes in Charlotte and Elizabeth’s friendship. While Elizabeth is horrified at the thought of not marrying for love, Charlotte is more pragmatic and chastises Elizabeth for holding such views towards people who don’t have the luxury of thinking of love. It is a poignant scene that highlights the selfishness of Elizabeth’s rejection yet also serves to show us how consent of marriage is manufactured by class structures and a patriarchal society. Similarly we see Elizabeth’s sister, Lydia, elope with a soldier, Mr. Wickham. Lydia is 15. Her “decision” to run off with Wickham is made through grooming by both her future husband and her society. She makes her choice not out of duty and conviction, but because of what she understands to be love. She follows in Elizabeth’s steps and “chooses” her husband not based on class or social standing but based on the way he makes her feel. Both girls’ situations serving to offer foils to both the rational and emotional sides of Elizabeth’s decision.
Pride and Prejudice is a fantastic case study of proper consent and what I consider to be the straight ideal in romance, mainly for women. There is something to be said about the way that a woman audience grows to find Mr. Darcy attractive along with Elizabeth. Seeing his actions as pure and selfless, motivated by love and not by reason. It is for this reason that I think it resonates so deeply with women. There is a longing to be not only chased, but respected; to be pursued by a man, incredible in his own right, but to be treated as his equal even if the playing field is unequal due to class or gender. The portrayal of consent especially in relationship to Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth is one that I feel sets a standard of kindness for most women. A standard to be treated gently in order to even consider romance.