200 Years of Mr Darcy

Dear Ms Austen, 

200 years ago, your timeless novel was published and the women the world over fell in love with your anti-hero, the man beast that is Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy. 


Thank you, 

All womankind. 


As I've mentioned in many a previous blog, my love affair with Pride and Prejudice and all things Jane Austen is a long one, beginning at the age of 7 when my Father gave me the book. My copy had a white cover and a illustrated picture of Elizabeth who was inexplicably blonde. But brushing that aside, my copy is now battered, slightly torn and re-read a hundred times over.It's got me through many a bout of heartbreak, illness and rainy Saturday night.


There are countless books, university courses, documentaries and magazine articles on why Ms Austen's 6 novels inspire such a fervent devotion with their readers, and why - 200 years later, they still find a new audience- in fact I heard on BBC Breakfast this morning that over 50,000 copies are sold each year.

I'm not even going to pretend to be educated enough to offer an opinion on their worldwide appeal, but I can tell you why I love them.

In all Jane Austen's novels (apart from perhaps Emma) the leading lady is unique, slightly off beat and always true to herself that gets the man at the end. The heroine is always loved fundamentally for who she is - even after Lizzie told Darcy to go shove his proposal up his bum he still ardantly admired and loved her. Even though Emma flirts with another ladies man and makes some terrible life decision, Mr Knightely still adores her.

And I think deep down, all women fundamentally want to be loved for who they are. They want a man as lush as Mr Darcy to see through the exterior, through societal obligations and still be so overcome with passion to admit that they love them unconditionally.

I am not ashamed to admit that as an awkward teenager, with no romantic prospects, the thought of meeting my Mr Darcy in my future kept me going. And now that I've met him, I know that he was worth the wait.

Today, I would like to thank the remarkable woman that was Jane Austen for creating so many men, so worthy of living forever in women's fantasies.