"Considering Caroline" — guest post from author Maria Grace!

Today we have our final post of the year (frowny face) from perennial Austen in August -supporter Maria Grace, who is tackling one of my new favorite things to consider: Caroline Bingley. I've found as I've gotten older, and become better able to parse our motives and circumstances from initial reactions, that I've begun considering Caroline in a new, much more forgiving light. And though I don't know that I'll ever come around on certain characters (coughLucySteelecoughMrsNorriscoughcough), I do find myself softening a bit on ol' Caro.
Click through to see what Maria has to say on this favorite Austen "villain," and let us know your thoughts — and if you've been convinced to look at Caroline in a new light! — in the comments! And make sure to check out Maria's other Austen in August posts, including her series on Regency women's archery, her part in this year's Janeite Conversations, and her contributions to this year's giveaways!

Considering Caroline

by Maria Grace

I get it. Caroline Bingley is the character Pride and Prejudice fans love to hate. Really, what is there likeable or redeemable about her? She is after dear Mr. Darcy for his money, she puts down Elizabeth, and discard’s Jane’s friendship like a wet newspaper. What more do we need to know?
What more indeed?

While I grant you, Caroline’s personality could definitely use some polishing, is it just possible that there is something more to this character that we are missing? Honestly, I think there is. If we try to slip ourselves inside Caroline’s shoes (and perspective), I think there are more than a few interesting things to be learnt.

First off, what is Caroline’s place in the world? She is the daughter of a wealthy tradesman. He sold off his business, leaving a large inheritance to his son and substantial dowries for his daughters. Clearly, father Bingely’s plan was to see his family become part of the gentry class in his son’s generation. (You can read more of what that entailed here. http://randombitsoffascination.com/2019/03/26/joining-the-gentry/) On first blush, this seems to mean he intended for his son to buy and estate and become one of the landed class. However, there was more to becoming part of the than that.

Moving into the gentry required education, connections and social graces to be able to move amongst and mingle with the upper crust. Although a son’s education was first priority, if there was money available, girls might be educated, too.

Such was the case for Caroline Bingley who attended an expensive girl’s seminary (finishing school.) There she would have learned to speak and read French and possibly Italian. She would also have been taught music, in Caroline’s case, proficiency in the pianoforte. Her manners would have been polished to a high shine and her dancing perfected. Moreover, her school masters would have helped her refine the fine art of conversation, enabling her to be a social asset to her husband. So, upon leaving her schooling, she was assured she was proper material for a gentleman’s wife.

Though we might look down on these ‘accomplishments’ today, make no mistake, Caroline would have worked hard in acquiring them, knowing the future of her family rested (in part) on her ability to do so. By marrying a gentleman, she too could take part in her father’s ambition of raising his family to the gentry class.

Then along comes Elizabeth Bennet, and everything goes a bit mimsy.

I have to imagine from Caroline’s eyes, Elizabeth represented not just a threat to Caroline’s chances, but in some ways a huge insult as well.

Elizabeth was born into a gentry family, a gentlewoman. She had no fortune (which isn’t entirely true, 1000 pounds wasn’t pocket change, but it wasn’t a big dowry either,) no good connections, no accomplishments, and no manners, but she is securely in the place that Caroline is trying to get to. How incredibly frustrating.

Think about it this way. If Caroline were a high school gymnast today and spent years getting coached by excellent coaches, and practicing to become a very, very good gymnast, only to lose a spot on the high school team to the high school coach’s mediocre gymnast daughter, we’d probably be a little more sympathetic to her snotty attitude toward her rival. In a lot of ways, that is exactly what has happened to Caroline in Pride and Prejudice. She is a far more accomplished woman than Elizabeth, a far better social asset to a potential husband, and yet, she is dumped into the country market town of Meryton by her brother, where good prospects are few and far between, and the best prospect around, Mr. Darcy, is distracted by a woman who (undeservingly) has the status Caroline so desperately wants and has worked hard to acquire. Who wouldn’t be at wits end?

We also have to keep in mind the social and economic realities of the era. Women like Caroline had only one career option—marriage. They had no job skills and there were few occupations open to them. Yes, governess and companion were possibilities, but they also brought with them a tainted reputation and lousy pay and even worse working conditions. Gentlemen were scarce and about one third of women never married. So, we can also assume a certain level of desperation over a scarce good, in this case, marriageable gentlemen, on Caroline’s part.

Even though, as I said earlier, it does seem that Caroline’s personality could use some work, I think even this assumption needs further examination. We only get to know Caroline through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, not through her own point of view. I would suggest that the narrator of Pride and Prejudice might just be a little bit jaded against Caroline and her kind.

Remember, social climbers like the Bingley’s, the nouveau riche, were viewed with some discomfort and suspicion In the era. Afterall, they were trying to climb out of the sphere to which they had been born. While the modern American culture finds that admirable, the opinions of the day were hardly so complimentary. Perhaps it is possible that our narrator views her through that lens and we are led, rather unfairly, to conclusions about Caroline that might not be justly earned?

While I probably haven’t won you over to team Caroline, I hope I’ve given you a few things to consider about why she might have been a bit—ah—grumpy regarding the Bennets, and some food for thought as to why she might not have been given quite a fair shake all in all.
What do you think?


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Though Maria Grace has been writing fiction since she was ten years old, those early efforts happily reside in a file drawer and are unlikely to see the light of day again, for which many are grateful. After penning five file-drawer novels in high school, she took a break from writing to pursue college and earn her doctorate in Educational Psychology. After 16 years of university teaching, she returned to her first love, fiction writing.

She has one husband and one grandson, two graduate degrees and two black belts, three sons, four undergraduate majors, five nieces, is starting her sixth year blogging on Random Bits of Fascination, has built seven websites, attended eight English country dance balls, sewn nine Regency era costumes, and shared her life with ten cats.

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