George and Georgiana: Symmetries and Antitheses in Pride and Prejudice

EVEN AFTER MULTIPLE RE-READINGS OF Pride and Prejudice, the character of George Wickham repays close detection. He does not "unfold"--even multiple re-readings do not deepen him into a character for the reader to relate to--but close pursuit of this shakiest of snakes through the narrative timeline discovers an awesome amount of leftover material in him. Flaubert or Tolstoy or even Thackeray would have indulged fuller development to a character anything like Wickham, and actor Hugh Grant extends himself in the more superficial role of rival to Darcy in the two Bridget Jones films. Austen, in contrast, sketches Wickham rather thinly, more by inference than through direct dialogue and action, and ultimately passes him along to Lydia Bennet like a bolt of leftover fabric. Nonetheless, Wickham is key to development, in more than one sense, in the novel. Pride and Prejudice is partly a detective story of emotional development, like Emma--which Sinclair Lewis called one of the five greatest detective novels ever written--and any work of detection depends on timeline. First, without being presented as a conscious observer like Elizabeth, Wickham is present when Darcy and Elizabeth re-encounter on the street, with others, after their visit of several days in Netherfield Hall. The narrative focus in the scene is entirely on Elizabeth's observation of the mysterious exchange between Wickham and Darcy: Mr. Darcy ... was beginning to determine not to fix his eyes on Elizabeth, when they were suddenly arrested by the sight of the stranger, and Elizabeth happening to see the countenance of both as they looked at each other, was all astonishment at the effect of the meeting. Both changed colour, one looked white, the other red. Mr. Wickham, after a few moments, touched his hat--a salutation which Mr. Darcy just deigned to return. What could be the meaning of it?--It was impossible to imagine; it was impossible not to long to know. (72-73) The focus on Elizabeth's observation, and curiosity, is so powerful here that it makes the observation seem one-directional. But Wickham, motivated by envy, has obviously been an astute and close observer of Darcy--handsome, clever, and rich--throughout their formative years. He knows Darcy well, probably better than Bingley does. He must be preternaturally alert to any emotional exchange involving Darcy and well able to perceive Darcy's interest in Elizabeth, better than Elizabeth does. Against the backstory, the benevolence and affection of Darcy's late father toward Wickham, the novel repeatedly suggests that Wickham knows how to provoke Darcy. From the moment Wickham joins the regiment at Meryton, furthermore, he is well positioned to catch up on local gossip. If handsome young men, as well as plain, must have something to live on, they must have fodder for gossip, and Wickham is an adventurer alertly looking for a rich wife. Wickham's acquaintance with tire Bennet family is furthered in this first meeting, when Denny and Wickham walk the young ladies to their uncle Philips's house. Wickham shares his enmity with Darcy with the regiment, as Denny confirms in explaining Wickham's absence from the Netherfield ball: "'I do not imagine his business would have called him away just now, if he had not wished to avoid a certain gentleman here'" (89). Thus, while the narrative does not explicate these connections, Wickham would undoubtedly hear about Darcy's dancing with Elizabeth, et cetera, and when he encounters Darcy on the street, he hears that Elizabeth and Jane have visited at Netherfield for several days. As Captain Tilney has known of" Isabella's engagement almost as long as he has known her, Wickham knows, from the moment of his being introduced to Elizabeth, that Darcy takes an interest in her. Second, it is Wickham who tells Elizabeth, just after she has stayed four days in the same house with Darcy, that Darcy will marry Miss de Bourgh: Mr. …