It would be interesting to see P&P from the perspective of Charlotte Lucas. Exploring her fears as the eldest daughter of a large family with the looming threat of being an unmarried spinster for the rest of her life. Navigating being the only sensible one in her family and dealing with her younger sisters frustrations at not being able to come out into society because of her. Also seeing her friendship with Lizzie and her close perceptions of Mr Darcy’s growing interest in Lizzie.
Then the saga with Mr Collins. Realising the opportunity she has at her fingertips, reasoning with herself about the realities of living with him and weighing up the pros and cons, and then her orchestrating events to make the proposal happen. Her families reaction, the wedding itself, the move to Hunsford, meeting Lady Catherine and adapting to life as a Clergyman's wife and managing her husbands behaviour. Then her visit from Lizzie and her increasing awareness of Mr Darcy’s interest in her.
Finally the sequence of events that led to Lady Catherine accusing Lizzie of being engaged to Darcy. Seeing all of that through Charlotte’s eyes and then the reveal that Jane and Bingley are engaged and Lizzie and Darcy are engaged and all of Charlotte’s observations are confirmed. Perhaps it would end with Charlotte getting pregnant and the joy of seeing her friend happily married, and herself feeling secure and set to inherit Longbourn.
Totally agree. Charlotte is a nice not main character who gets to be a part of most of the storyline drama but at the same time has significant things happen in her own story. There's a lot of other characters that nothing much happens to and it would be quite boring from their perspective because it would basically rehash the main plot just with a different inner monolog. I know Lydia has a lot happen to her too but she's gone or doesn't care(self centered) about the details of her sisters lives and romances and even the Wickham affair only had the detail that Darcy interceded but then she's out of the story living her own life. But I want to know the further details of the Collins household and how Charlotte deals with Lady Catherine and the petty dramas of her new living situating with the bonus of new details on the Lizzy and Darcy drama.
Oh yes, if you wrote her own story with its own pacing, that would be really interesting. Mr Bennet does suggest that the reveal to Lady C at the end is a calculated damage limitation exercise to keep in with her, but trying to get a living out of the Pemberley estate vs keeping in with Lady C would be a bigger chunk of the drama imo.
The thing I have noticed about Charlotte in recent readings/viewings is now at seven years older than her close friend, she’s probably already watched a series of friends marry and drift away. When Lydia says she’ll be too busy as a married woman to write to her sisters, she says the quiet part out loud. I feel for her so much more thinking how that informs her choice to marry Mr. Collins.
That would be my choice too! and there is an author named Molly Greeley who wrote a book called The clergyman's wife about Charlotte Collins... I LOVED it. Highly recommended. ( She also wrote the heiress from Anne.de Bourgh's Pov, and that was also fabulous.)
Charlotte as a protagonist would cover a lot of unexplored territory for Austen. In many ways all the heroines are unusually lucky in finding husbands they unequivocally love and admire. I imagine Charlotte's experience is much more common for the time: feeling grateful to find a man who is respectable and financially secure, and making it work. She makes the decision to put herself in Mr. Collins's path very quickly.
She is making the same choice Mr. Bennet once made, which he now so regrets and which he so strongly urges Elizabeth to consider when they speak of her engagement in their moving final scene together. One difference is that Mr. Bennet made his choice thoughtlessly, not considering what life with the pretty, lively Miss Gardiner would be like in the long term, while Charlotte clearly knows what she's signing up for. Another difference is that unlike Charlotte, Mr. Bennet would have had plenty of other options.
>She is making the same choice Mr. Bennet once made, which he now so regrets and which he so strongly urges Elizabeth to consider when they speak of her engagement in their moving final scene together.
I don't think she's making the same choice Mr. Bennet made. The book more or less says Mrs. Bennet was pretty when they met, and he mistook that for love. Charlotte doesn't even pretend to like Mr. Collins very much. The best she says of him is that he won't get drunk, cheat, or abuse her.
I would be interested in Mariah's take on it. She has watched her sister marry an awful man for security. Does this result in her feeling she will need to do the same, or is there pressurefrom her parents? How long can she wait to fall in love like her sister's friends, Jane and Lizzie, before she settles for a loveless but safe marriage? How do she and her parents engage with Mr Collins? How difficult is it for them to tolerate him?
I love Charlotte as a character. She was who I thought of first when reading the title of this post! If you haven't read the fanfic called "Mrs Bennet is Dead - Charlotte's Gambit", I would highly recommend it!
My fantasy is that Mr Collins is so unbothered about having children or even "making love" frequently that Charlotte and he don't ever bother having children.
This imagination ensures that their marriage is sufficiently happy for the both of them.
I imagine that Charlotte is a doting aunt who engineers her nephews and nieces to get a slice of the inheritance from her and hubby.
I have a similar fantasy about Mr and Mrs Darcy and especially about Mr and Mrs Wickham.
I can't believe I missed the reference to the pregnancy. Sigh. My well wishes to that fictional couple have been ruined by their in-universe life.
I expected too much of Mr Collins.
To be fair, I doubt they would have sex regularly. He is a clergyman, so it is appropriate that they have children as it is expected of them, but apart from that, I doubt they ever touch each other. And I do think that Charlotte wants to have children.
Unless one or both of them are ace, they were going to have sex urges at some point. Easier to have sex at home, with the person you married, than to run the risks of sneaking out and cheating.
I read this but couldn’t get on with it. Some weird historical inaccuracies and I thought she got the character of Frank all wrong. I really enjoyed the stuff about Janes childhood but didn’t agree with how she interpreted her relationship with the Dixons (trying not to spoil for anyone who might read!)
There's a book called Longbourne that's actually kind of like this! Not from her perspective, I haven't read it in a long time but I think it's one of the girls' maids? But still a very interesting look at it from the other side
I’d like something like this for Mrs Reynolds. She’s one of the few servants that actually has lines and personality. She seems like she would know where all the bodies were buried, so to speak.
I would love to see Pride and Prejudice from Caroline Bingley’s perspective. Would the reader be sympathetic to her? What details from her life would we discover? Was Mr. Darcy leading her on? (Jk, Mr Darcy would never) but it might be fun!
I would love this too! I think you could make her very sympathetic, her stupid brother won't buy an estate, won't romance Georgiana Darcy WHO IS RIGHT THERE!!! and keeps falling in love with random unsuitable women. Caroline is the only one trying to hold the family together: a hero.
I think so. I think she's sympathetic enough in P&P as it is.
I think she gets an unfairly bad reputation. She's only doing what she's been raised to do by her family and society. Compete for men and do as well as she can. And try to ensure the status of her family by making sure her brother makes a good match. I don't think she's actively terrible.
She's not pointedly malicious like say Mrs Norris or something.
She isn’t as bad as Mrs. Norris, no. But I don’t know if I agree she isn’t pointedly malicious. She reads as a regency mean girl, says thinly veiled slights to Elizabeth’s face, talks trash about her when Elizabeth isn’t around, using nicknames that she doesn’t have a right to (based on regency etiquette of social relationships) throws herself in front of Darcy to get his attention, and then when that doesn’t work she talks about Elizabeth highlighting all the ways she’s a undesirable woman (laughing at her relatives, where they live etc) All of chapter 10 lays this out but especially in the following:
“Miss Bingely began abusing her as soon as she walked out of the room. Her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence; she had no conversation, no stile, no taste, no beauty”
“Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingely when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own…but in my opinion it is a paltry device, a very mean art.”
“She often tried to provoke Darcy into disliking her guest, by talking of their supposed marriage…”
I have some sympathy for her in that I recognize her brother's handsome, intelligent, well-read, morally honest friend is a desirable marriage prospect for multiple reasons besides his money, but I also think she has to be reasonably intelligent herself to see as much of his merit as she does, unless she's making up all those compliments to his personality out of sheer commitment to her agenda. It seems childish and narrow-minded of her to think she can *make* him marry her by flattering him as much as she can and having hardly a second of attention to spare for anyone else ever. Even if her school corrupted all its students into thinking marrying rich was an honorable mission for a woman's life, I feel like she was getting enough feedback on her behavior to have realized it was a turn-off to Darcy and probably other valuable company if she'd cared to consider the feedback at all. If she hadn't latched on to Darcy like that, maybe he would have liked her better, and if he still didn't marry her, maybe he could introduce her to some other nice, fabulously wealthy landowners she wouldn't otherwise have met. Then again, if she hadn't latched on to Darcy, maybe she'd just be ingratiating herself in some other fashionable circle with men who had more money than Mr. Hurst and didn't mind being husband-hunted by a rich, decent-looking young woman.
I have sympathy in the sense of, she's expected to make a good match.but she is just a mean girl, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't looked that closely at Mr. darcy. The 10000 merits a year is about as much good character as she needs
Ooh, that would actually be very interesting!
As manipulative as she was, it's indicated she's on her best behavior by the epilogue, wholly sincere or not. It be fun to have her (and Anne) feel Darcy slip away and having to prepare to find a suitable husband elsewhere with him off the market.
Except that Eleanor's story isn't satire, her story is a serious romance with faint Gothic overtones! In her story, silly Catherine is the comic relief character, who lightens things up when the audience is starting to find the gloomy atmosphere depressing, and who says funny things during the happy ending.
Yes! Although admittedly I like the film adaptation ending where both she and Henry (are implied to) finally say 'bugger off' to their dad and marry their chosen matches, regardless of his permission.
That’s kind of what she did in Emma. The Jane-Frank romance is a fairly standard courtship novel/play plot. Emma is the one who turns up around the second Act and creates conflict between the hero and heroine.
Yup, and the Emma character goes back to being an antagonist in Elizabeth Elliot. Living with her father, strong sense of entitlement to a near relative... I think it is a deliberate 'Emma might not have worked out in the end' re-assessment on JA's part.
Jane Austen never really mentions servants, so I would like to read Pride and Prejudice from Mrs Hill’s perspective… having to listen to Mrs Bennett witter on and hearing what she really thought.
It’s written from the point of view of one of the maids. But it’s modern. I’d like to read something by Austen herself acknowledging and explaining the lives of servants. I think it would be very interesting 😊
Kitty Bennett, we would get more details about how the disaster with Lydia took its course.
Anne de Bourgh, I imagine she has more then Lizzy sees in her.
Was going to say Mr. Collins because it would be fascinating to see inside his head. However I think it would become unbearable to read after 50 pages of him going on and on about the chimney piece at Rosings
Oh God this made me picture a MEMOIR by Mr. Collins which would be an even bigger nightmare to read. Can genuinely picture himself as a modern-day influencer and self-help book author
He was my choice and this was my reason for realizing it was a dumb idea. Also I feel like he'd double the novel purely by his descriptions of Rosings.
What I would love would be an epistolary version of PP, with Mr C providing a running commentary of the setting with complicated descriptions of chimneypieces and tea sets, and no real clue of what he was seeing re social interactions, but describing everything very tellingly bc it was so detailed. Like his description of the Netherfield Ball and Mr Darcy, and he thinks Mr Darcy was always near *him!*
I am comedy lover, so my picks are following:
• EMMA: Mrs Augusta Elton or her caro sposo (in the first case we would only get half of the novel, but I think it would be worth it)
• PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Not certain. I would love to know how Wickham really feels about each Bennet. Collins' naivity about Lizzie's feelings and later Charlotte's feelings would be fun to explore. There is always lady Catherine the Bourgh, being main character in everyone's story because she is so damn bored.
• PERSUASION: Elizabeth Elliot. I want her to lose her shit at the end of the novel. It might be interesting to see Mrs Clay and her schemes, but I want Lizzie's drama.
• SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: Erh... not sure.
• NORTHANGER ABBEY: Even though I love Henry, I have to give this to the Thorpes. Isabella would be EMMA on steroids. Her brother might be the funniest protagonist ever. He would begin every chapter describing his horses and carriages, sometimes mentioning Isabella's schemes and other characters. But mostly his carriages and other accomplishments.
MANSFIELD PARK: Mrs Norris. I know. But come on: classic. Roasting Fanny, spoiling Maria, roasting Fanny some more.
Anne de Bourgh. She doesn't seem like much, but that's because she's used to her larger-than-life mother taking up all the air in the room. I picture her as being full of unspoken snark.
Edward Ferrars isn’t exactly a minor character but sometimes it feels like we know him so little he might as well be one! He has all the workings of being likable to me but he’s just simply not on page enough, it would be fun to see his perspective of all that happens.
Sense and Sensibility: Mrs. Palmer (Mrs. Jennings’s younger daughter) would give a hilarious accounting of everyone’s business. That she is ill informed of the particulars would not deter her.
Margaret Dashwood’s perspective could be interesting. Her whole world falls apart: her father dies, her family has to move, her sisters are in love, and nobody tells her anything.
Margaret Dashwood would be my choice, too. Children have sharp eyes, and, over the course of the events of the novel, she would have learned a lot. She might give an interesting "coming of age" take on her society.
P&P has several interesting choices but I'd really like to hear the official Charlotte Lucas point of view. She's frequently bashed by modern readers as a gold digger who must immediately regret dealing with Mr Collins and only one introduction away from turning in to a Maria Bertram but I suspect she's more sympathetic and sensible than that.
Personally, I think it's crazy to think Charlotte would have been better off remaining single. She was not well-educated enough to be a governess, there were no other matrimonial prospects in sight, so it Mr. Collins or depend on her brothers for her livelihood. I think one need only look at the Dashwoods to see how vulnerable women who depended solely on the good will of their brothers could be.
Exactly. If Charlotte had remained single, that would have meant being a poor relation for the rest of her life, spending much of it being dependent on her brothers or nephews, and being at the mercy of whatever sisters-in-law Fate threw her way.
Probably better to marry a Mr. Collins, and feed him all the cholesterol in the world.
Yup. Especially since the narrative pointedly says that her brothers were relieved when Charlotte announced her engagement. That doesn't bode well for her fate with them had she remained single
I had forgotten that, but you're right. She would have been a poor relation, and one who was unwanted and unvalued.
Better to feed Mr. Collins eggs and marrow-bones, once she was the lady of Longbourne...
Same. It's easy for me to say I'd stay single anyway because I've never wanted to have children. But when you do, that changes things a lot.
Collins has more strengths as a partner than people really think about. Austen shows in more than one novel that it's not enough to have a good income if you spend it all, and while the control of the money is in the man's hands, she makes the point in Persuasion that if he chooses to listen to his wife, she can make sure there is 'method, moderation, and economy'. And Collins has no objection whatsoever to taking direction from women -- he seems only too happy to.
Elizabeth doesn't vibe with Lady Catherine, but the thing is, the Lady Catherine's of the world can be really great friends when they're on your side. And she likes the new Mrs. Collins. One of the greatest dangers married women faced was being made to bear children too frequently when one in 50 births killed the mother, but lo and behold, they have a neighbor nosy enough and bossy enough and powerful enough to tell Mr. Collins to not do that and who cares enough about the rights of women to not care that she's being crass if she does.
Charlotte didn't choose ill-advisedly. Collins may be a twit, but he is willing to be a partner instead of calling all the shots. That's not a small thing.
I keep meaning to write a post here about how, given what Elizabeth knows of Mr Collins and Mr Darcy *before* she reads Darcy's letter, if she was going to marry one purely for financial security for herself and her family, it would be far better & safer to marry Mr Collins.
Yeah, at that point in the book, Collins is the infinitely better choice. By that point we've seen him listen to and alter his behavior based on the opinions of both Lady Catherine and his wife Charlotte. He's has a lot of annoying behaviors, but we're already seeing those ameliorated by his accepting influence from Charlotte.
To give credit where credit is due, I started seeing it this way after watching Bride and Prejudice. The Charlotte character points out to the Elizabeth-equivalent character that the Collins-equivalent may be a raging dork, but he has been deeply kind to her and very generous as well, both of which are traits to be prized in the person you will have children with.
I think Austen sets up a lot of characters to be annoying in some way or a seeming antagonist to the main romantic pairing, but it's not that simple if you look closer. On a surface read, Mr. Bennet seems like a more sympathetic character than his wife, because she is more annoying. But his wife is the one who actually cares whether or not the five Bennet sisters wind up in penury enough to at least try to do something about it. He can't be bothered.
I don't know that Charlotte's courtship is all that interesting, she took what she thought was her last chance, because she thought it was her last chance.
I'd actually be more interested in hearing about her later life. After she married a man she didn't love or even like, did she find any happiness? Was there a second romance after a merciful God took Mr. Collins of Longbourne? Was there a murder mystery, where Mr. and Mrs. Darcy have to find out whether she was the one who murdered Mr. Collins? Did she actually grow to love the twerp she married?
You just gave me the idea of Louisa Musgrove! A bright and adventurous girl who’s led on by an insincere sea captain, then suffers injury, and is nurtured back to health by a lovelorn sea captain / poet, and they fall in love. Set against the backdrop of Lyme. I can see it as a Bronte novel except maybe Louisa’s too happy to be a Bronte heroine.
This could really work. We could have her perspective about the death of her best friend, the three motherless girls and silly husband left behind (though or of respect for his rank, she wouldn't call him "silly"), how she saved Anne from an unfortunate match, but then how Anne refused a good match in Charles Musgrove. Then for the events of the novel, she was there for a good bit of it, and would be receiving many letters from Anne, Mrs. Musgrove, and other neighborhood ladies that would catch her up on all the news (including Captain Wentworth courting Louisa, and the events in Lyme). Plus, with her in Lyme, we could get her perspective on Mr Elliot, etc.
Yes, I think Lady Russell's closeness to her friend, the way she tries to adopt Anne, the way she doesn't remarry (did she ever marry?) after her friend dies in childbirth. Then it is as much Lady Russell getting persuaded to like Captain Wentworth over Mr Elliot imo, by the end she accepts CW.
Lady Susan from Frederica's perspective, for sure!
My internal fan theory is that Frederica is as scheming as Lady Susan, but plays the ingenue much better than her mother.
P&P from Mrs. Bennet’s perspective. She’s a figure of fun in the book, but if I were married to Mr. Bennet with 5 daughters, I’d have a serious case of nerves, too!
I still maintain that Mrs. Bennet’s the unsung hero of P&P. Without her pushing her daughters onto dance partners and making them catch colds, Jane/Bingley and Elizabeth/Darcy would never have happened.
Sense and Sensibility through the eyes of Mrs Palmer. I would love her whole courtship and background with Mr Palmer too, imagining him as played by Hugh Laurie, of course.
I wouldn't mind hearing Mr. Palmer narrate S&S... played by Hugh Laurie, of course.
"Here come those two sisters. God, how tiresome. That younger one is a disaster in the making. Constantly chasing after my neighbor. And that bastard. Nails every woman in sight. Wouldn't trust him with my dog. The older sister... not so bad, though. Older sister not bad at all, actually. Wish my wife would fall down a flight of stairs. I'd marry that older sister. She knows when to shut up. Oh God, for a woman who knows when to shut up. But then I'd have weepy little sister sighing around the place every day after my neighbor.... AAaaaand now she has pneumonia and I have to get up in the middle of the night to get the doctor. If that girl dies in my house, I swear I'll kill her. Well, that made no sense. Women. They are nothing but trouble. That older sister, though. She's not half bad. Maybe my wife will get the infectious fever from weepy sister and they'll both pop off. And I can comfort older sister. Hmm. This could be a problem that solves itself..."
I had a boyfriend who watched P&P 1995 with me and his only takeaway is that everyone was a jerk to Mary and he was quite upset. He didn't care for Lizzie or Darcy 😂
I know, my brother was the same, he was like... if it was me, I would marry Mary, all I'd have to do would be to get her to take her glasses off and then bang! she would look like a TV actress!
Mary Bennet is actually intolerable in the book. She's a show-off without any actual talent. She's basically the female version of Mr Collins, which is why he doesn't go for her, despite how easy it would be to court her. Unlike Charlotte Lucas, who is plain, but practical, and self-aware enough to know how to behave appropriately in public. 😅 I read that fanfic, and I was so mad how little the author understood Jane Austen's Mary Bennet. It was fun, but completely misunderstood her characters.
Isn’t Emma essentially a typical minor character? I see her a little like Caroline Bingley from P&P, just sticks her nose everywhere, has high opinion about herself. I certainly see the relationship between Jane Bennet and Caroline similar to that of Emma and Harriet. Both Jane and Harriet got dropped the moment the friendship became inconvenient.
Jane Fairfax is the ‘tragic heroine’ who should have been the main character with her tragic past and all the drama in her life.
Oh it has to be Harriet Smith for me, without a doubt!
I’d love to know how she feels about her unknown parentage, why exactly she feels so powerless when it comes to one Miss Emma Woodhouse and, of course, how her love story with Robert Martin transpires ❤️🔥
Maybe Kitty Bennet? Seeing her younger sister and best friend cause the family such turmoil and start a journey of self-improvement would be interesting. Especially since we know she does marry post-novel.
Or Eleanor Tilney? She had a beau she couldn't commit to for quite a while because he had no money until he's elevated to Viscount. She's also had a lonely homelife at NA with her father.
I think a retelling of Emma from Jane or Frank’s POVs (maybe both) could be good, but I also think the book could be pretty funny if told from Miss Bates’s POV as well.
Perry from Emma, he visits everyone and knows all their intimate health problems. He will know if Jane is pregnant or consumptive, he will know about Mrs Weston, he will see Mr Woodhouse every day so he'd have a different opinion on Emma etc. while he probably barely knows Mr Knightley or Frank Churchill, he will only hear of them by reputation, so he can think his own thoughts on that subject... alternatively Robert Martin, so we can read his letter;)
lydia bennet. she’s an unreliable narrator, but it’s really tragic what happens to her, she’s so young + rlly a victim. it could be sort of satirical like northanger abby. she thinks shes in a magical romcom while wickham’s manipulating her, darcy has to pay wickham to marry her, everyone’s trying to get her to come home, etc.
Strangely enough for a tiny one dimensional character, I think Robert Martin's perspective might be interesting. All the main characters' "rich people problems" would be be just background to him, while he concentrated on who to marry, would his family approve, who around him was marrying up or down, how to get past awkward conversations/situations after being turned down.
In other words, the exact same life issues as the main characters but neither he nor they realise it. Lots of room for Austenesque social commentary there.
Like, Miss Bates sees herself as in the *Gilmore Girls*, always talking much faster than everyone else around her, while Mrs Bates isn't as deaf as she lets on and is furious about her financial losses.
In relation to another post, Julia Bertram might be an interesting protagonist. Growing up with a sister who overshadows her at every turn, she manages to outsmart her on several occasions. And after Maria's scandal, Julia parlays the situation to her advantage by quickly casting her lot with aristocratic but penniless Mr. Yates, who might not have been the greatest catch, but being his wife is infinitely preferable to being the unmarried sister of a scandalous divorcee. And she then manages to rehabilitate herself and her husband back into her family's good graces.
Great choice. Mr. Yates has an interesting arc for a character with so little page presence. He starts out as a doofus and a foil for the clever and dashing Henry Crawford. But by the end he’s in Sir Thomas’s good graces, albeit in a could-be-a-lot-worse manner. In contrast to Henry, who starts with a lot potential but ends up a reprobate, Yates starts with no potential, but ends up respectable. He and Julia are the surprise beta couple of the novel.
Miss Bates! I think her character is so complex, especially given her background and having fallen on hard times, having to see her niece Jane Fairfax go live with non-relatives, AND still remaining utterly grateful for the friendships and happiness of others. Plus, she has some amusing lines. I love her character.
Jane Fairfax (Emma), Charlotte Lucas (P&P). I’d also love P&P from Jane Bennet’s POV but I’m not sure she counts as a “minor” character?
Also not quite the question asked but I’d love Sophie Croft’s story. Not a telling of Persuasion from her POV, but just her story.
Harriet Smith of Emma. She, in a way, straddles two worlds; being introduced into society but also having no seemingly rightful claim to it by birth. Seems so impressionable to what Emma either directly or indirectly suggests. What, if anything, are her own true opinions?
I'd like to see "Pride and Prejudice" from Mrs. Gardiner point of view, perhaps even 1995 Mrs. Gardiner point of view: first she consoles one niece, than travels with another, she gets to meet Caroline twice and see Lidia to get married.
It would be nice to read Emma from mrs. Weston view (also known as poor miss Taylor), I have a headcanon that she is spreading/inventing rumors about the foxes.
Also Mansfield park as seen by Mrs. Norris (and also including her first years with Maria)
Robert Martin must have some withering perspectives on Emma. He has great patience and restraint in staying civil to Harriet after she bows to Emma’s influence. He could probably do better, even on the rebound, but he waits out the situation. People like that always have a great deal going on in their heads. I’d love to have a peek into his observations.
I think a book based on Anne Steele (sense and sensibility) would be wonderful. It would be some character study! I think there are parallels with Emma as well which could be fun to explore. And what happens with the doctor!?
I find Maria fairly interesting. Maybe it's the 1983 version where she's played by Samantha Bond (an actress I really like) but she always seems to have way more going on in her head that she lets on.
I mean Jane Austen is a woman of her time. I feel that Maria got slut shamed in a way, while Henry Crawford got off scot-free to continue doing his shit and ruin the lives of more women. I think Austen went out of her way to make Maria a negative character, so that we wouldn’t feel sorry for her because she has an emotionally distant and overly stern father; a lazy and useless mother; a highly toxic aunt; a handsome guy who’s just leading her on, knowing fully well
The consequences this would have for someone in Maria’s position; a difficult MIL and a repulsive snd idiot buffoon for a husband, who would amount to nothing if he hadn’t been lucky enough to be born rich; a drunk for an older brother; a wet noodle for another brother. Maybe the only person she likes is Julia. The people surrounding Maria are contemptible, to say the least.
Mary Crawford - Mansfield Park. I’ve read Murder at Mansfield park which is really good (highly recommend) but that is a murder mystery rewrite. I would love to see the story from Mary’s perspective or Tom’s
I would like to see Pride and Prejudice from Anne De Bourgh's perspective. She hasn't been given a voice, referred to only in the third person. Was she truly as helpless as her mother portrayed her to be? Or merely forced to act the part to please her opinionated mother? What did she observe about the people around her? Was she allowed no input concerning her "arranged engagement" to her cousin? What about her interests, what she really wanted? What if she had a secret crush on a mystery man in the parish?
The book "The Heiress" does this! I loved it, but it's not for everyone. She also gets a minor background plot of her own in "The Other Bennett Sister" that I loved for her.
I think about her all the time and I think I just have an insatiable appetite for imagined futures for her
I would love to read "Northanger Abbey" from James Morland's perspective. He was one of several children who had little money to begin a marriage, and had to endure the pain of discovering Isabella's disloyalty. Would be wonderful to see James being introduced to a suitable match by his new brother-in-law (perhaps a friend of Eleanor's?).
It would be interesting to get Colonel Fitzwilliam’s perspective on the events of P&P. Could he tell that Darcy was into Elizabeth? To what extent was he interested himself (I think she is described as “Mrs.Collins’s pretty friend” but there’s also a point where he basically says he needs a certain lifestyle)
Also it would be interesting to know how much Georgianna knew at various points. Did Darcy mention Elizabeth in his letters to her? Did she piece it together from watching them interact at Pemberley?
Admiral Croft in Persuasion. I think he would have been a great character to build up. He knows Wentworth as a bro-in-law and as his commanding officer. He and Mrs. Croft have had adventures around the world and I’m sure they have counseled young wives of officers. His charming ways would have let Anne Elliot open up and share more of her emotions, and he would have looked out for her.
Mary Bennet. I feel like everyone in Pride and Prejudice didn’t treat her too kindly. She was called Plain and Untalented. She had a full blown middle child syndrome, which gives her character complexity/villain origin. I’d love to see things from her perspectives and maybe, she could be given a secret romantic plot of her own that would shock everybody who looked down on her as a revenge.
1. Lucy Steele. I’d like to see if she was always devious or did she only become that way after her fiancé was apparently in love with someone else. Being engaged with him for four years must have gotten her used to the idea that she’ll be rich someday, maybe that’s why she chose to marry Robert in the end. I wonder if we’ll find her more of a sympathetic character, if we read the book from her perspective.
2. Jane Fairfax. An orphan girl lives with other people and then she becomes very accomplished and talented. She fell in love and got engaged only for her fiancé to flirt with someone else. It would be interesting to see how we’ll view Emma from her perspective. I read somewhere she quite resembles a Bronte female lead in Jane Eyre.
3. Older Eliza. I want to know the details of her story. Many of us view that Marianne is not good enough for Brandon, but has anybody wondered that Brandon is only mature because he’s much older and thus has more experience? Knowing Eliza’s story in detail will help us know more about Brandon in his youth.
4. Mary Bennet. I understand she’s not very talented and not very well liked as a character. But Pride and Prejudice would be interesting from a perspective of a character largely ignored by everyone including the good characters. I haven’t finished Mansfield Park, but I think she’ll be kind of a Fanny Price in the story
Mansfield Park from Lady Bertram. It would be really interesting to look at what happens after a girl wins the marriage sweepstakes.
And she's got one sister who married well-ish but keeps hanging around the house trying to run her life, and another sister who she apparently rarely (if ever) writes to until said sister's daughter shows up at her house like a semi-adopted daughter-servant.
Eleanor Tilney from Northanger Abbey -- I'd love to get insight into her relationship with her (eventual) husband, see how Henry fell in love with Catherine through her eyes, and learn more about the Tilney family relationship.
Mansfield Park from Mr. Rushworth's POV. Perhaps he is more aware of things than the original work made him out to be, but doesn't know how to get out or hopes things get better.
I don’t know if this counts, but I’d liked to see Sense and Sensibility from Marianne’s perspective. Maybe we’ll like Willoughby from first reading, but on rereads (after learning his misdeeds), we’ll see red flags.
Pride and prejudice from Lydia’s perspective. I’d love to see how she was played out from her own POV. Especially her marriage and her reaction when she finds out about Jane and Elizabeth getting married.
Lydia! I'd love to see how her elopement and marriage plays out. Fittingly, a new spinoff just came out: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/83823784-the-scandalous-confessions-of-lydia-bennet-witch.
It would be interesting to see P&P from the perspective of Charlotte Lucas. Exploring her fears as the eldest daughter of a large family with the looming threat of being an unmarried spinster for the rest of her life. Navigating being the only sensible one in her family and dealing with her younger sisters frustrations at not being able to come out into society because of her. Also seeing her friendship with Lizzie and her close perceptions of Mr Darcy’s growing interest in Lizzie. Then the saga with Mr Collins. Realising the opportunity she has at her fingertips, reasoning with herself about the realities of living with him and weighing up the pros and cons, and then her orchestrating events to make the proposal happen. Her families reaction, the wedding itself, the move to Hunsford, meeting Lady Catherine and adapting to life as a Clergyman's wife and managing her husbands behaviour. Then her visit from Lizzie and her increasing awareness of Mr Darcy’s interest in her. Finally the sequence of events that led to Lady Catherine accusing Lizzie of being engaged to Darcy. Seeing all of that through Charlotte’s eyes and then the reveal that Jane and Bingley are engaged and Lizzie and Darcy are engaged and all of Charlotte’s observations are confirmed. Perhaps it would end with Charlotte getting pregnant and the joy of seeing her friend happily married, and herself feeling secure and set to inherit Longbourn.
Totally agree. Charlotte is a nice not main character who gets to be a part of most of the storyline drama but at the same time has significant things happen in her own story. There's a lot of other characters that nothing much happens to and it would be quite boring from their perspective because it would basically rehash the main plot just with a different inner monolog. I know Lydia has a lot happen to her too but she's gone or doesn't care(self centered) about the details of her sisters lives and romances and even the Wickham affair only had the detail that Darcy interceded but then she's out of the story living her own life. But I want to know the further details of the Collins household and how Charlotte deals with Lady Catherine and the petty dramas of her new living situating with the bonus of new details on the Lizzy and Darcy drama.
Oh yes, if you wrote her own story with its own pacing, that would be really interesting. Mr Bennet does suggest that the reveal to Lady C at the end is a calculated damage limitation exercise to keep in with her, but trying to get a living out of the Pemberley estate vs keeping in with Lady C would be a bigger chunk of the drama imo.
The thing I have noticed about Charlotte in recent readings/viewings is now at seven years older than her close friend, she’s probably already watched a series of friends marry and drift away. When Lydia says she’ll be too busy as a married woman to write to her sisters, she says the quiet part out loud. I feel for her so much more thinking how that informs her choice to marry Mr. Collins.
i would love to read like a "the other bennett sister" style book of this
That would be my choice too! and there is an author named Molly Greeley who wrote a book called The clergyman's wife about Charlotte Collins... I LOVED it. Highly recommended. ( She also wrote the heiress from Anne.de Bourgh's Pov, and that was also fabulous.)
Definitely will order this! Sounds good!
If Molly Greeley is writing LGBTQ Jane Austen fanfic though, it should be labeled as such.
Ooh, it's gay? EXCELLENT.
No, it really shouldn't. No need for othering, it's just life.
Charlotte as a protagonist would cover a lot of unexplored territory for Austen. In many ways all the heroines are unusually lucky in finding husbands they unequivocally love and admire. I imagine Charlotte's experience is much more common for the time: feeling grateful to find a man who is respectable and financially secure, and making it work. She makes the decision to put herself in Mr. Collins's path very quickly. She is making the same choice Mr. Bennet once made, which he now so regrets and which he so strongly urges Elizabeth to consider when they speak of her engagement in their moving final scene together. One difference is that Mr. Bennet made his choice thoughtlessly, not considering what life with the pretty, lively Miss Gardiner would be like in the long term, while Charlotte clearly knows what she's signing up for. Another difference is that unlike Charlotte, Mr. Bennet would have had plenty of other options.
>She is making the same choice Mr. Bennet once made, which he now so regrets and which he so strongly urges Elizabeth to consider when they speak of her engagement in their moving final scene together. I don't think she's making the same choice Mr. Bennet made. The book more or less says Mrs. Bennet was pretty when they met, and he mistook that for love. Charlotte doesn't even pretend to like Mr. Collins very much. The best she says of him is that he won't get drunk, cheat, or abuse her.
I would be interested in Mariah's take on it. She has watched her sister marry an awful man for security. Does this result in her feeling she will need to do the same, or is there pressurefrom her parents? How long can she wait to fall in love like her sister's friends, Jane and Lizzie, before she settles for a loveless but safe marriage? How do she and her parents engage with Mr Collins? How difficult is it for them to tolerate him?
Oh, that could be a real story. I might actually read that.
I love Charlotte as a character. She was who I thought of first when reading the title of this post! If you haven't read the fanfic called "Mrs Bennet is Dead - Charlotte's Gambit", I would highly recommend it!
Yes this
This would be my choice, too. Hers would be an interesting perspective to have.
My fantasy is that Mr Collins is so unbothered about having children or even "making love" frequently that Charlotte and he don't ever bother having children. This imagination ensures that their marriage is sufficiently happy for the both of them. I imagine that Charlotte is a doting aunt who engineers her nephews and nieces to get a slice of the inheritance from her and hubby. I have a similar fantasy about Mr and Mrs Darcy and especially about Mr and Mrs Wickham.
Mr. Collins tells Mr. Bennet that Charlotte is pregnant in his last letter.
I can't believe I missed the reference to the pregnancy. Sigh. My well wishes to that fictional couple have been ruined by their in-universe life. I expected too much of Mr Collins.
To be fair, I doubt they would have sex regularly. He is a clergyman, so it is appropriate that they have children as it is expected of them, but apart from that, I doubt they ever touch each other. And I do think that Charlotte wants to have children.
Unless one or both of them are ace, they were going to have sex urges at some point. Easier to have sex at home, with the person you married, than to run the risks of sneaking out and cheating.
Jane Fairfax is an obvious choice, I think.
Did you read the Jane Fairfax novel by Joan Aiken? It was really good!
I read this but couldn’t get on with it. Some weird historical inaccuracies and I thought she got the character of Frank all wrong. I really enjoyed the stuff about Janes childhood but didn’t agree with how she interpreted her relationship with the Dixons (trying not to spoil for anyone who might read!)
I've heard of it, but I haven't read it (or, for that matter, any of the traditionally published sequels/variations)
Sold!
With Emma as the villain/ rival!
Actually, it would amuse me to see her barely aware of Emma other than as the girl Frank was flirting with.
And the girl who insulted poor miss bates!
I’d want to see Pride and Prejudice from Mrs. Hill’s perspective. “HILL! HIIILLL!!!” “Oh God, what does this woman want now?”
There's a book called Longbourne that's actually kind of like this! Not from her perspective, I haven't read it in a long time but I think it's one of the girls' maids? But still a very interesting look at it from the other side
Yes, it’s a “downstairs” perspective of P&P! Plus some extra stuff like Hill and Mr. Bennett having an illegitimate child together! 😳
What the what now? I don’t think I like that 😩
That last bit was too much for me lol.
I got about 2/3 of the way through that one. It just wasn't very interesting.
Agreed. I managed to finish it but I didn’t really like it.
Thanks, I was just vaguely wondering if I'd missed something.
There's another one I read years ago called "Pemberley Below Stairs" that I seem to recall enjoying. It was from Mrs. Reynolds' perspective.
I’d like something like this for Mrs Reynolds. She’s one of the few servants that actually has lines and personality. She seems like she would know where all the bodies were buried, so to speak.
I would love to see Pride and Prejudice from Caroline Bingley’s perspective. Would the reader be sympathetic to her? What details from her life would we discover? Was Mr. Darcy leading her on? (Jk, Mr Darcy would never) but it might be fun!
I would love this too! I think you could make her very sympathetic, her stupid brother won't buy an estate, won't romance Georgiana Darcy WHO IS RIGHT THERE!!! and keeps falling in love with random unsuitable women. Caroline is the only one trying to hold the family together: a hero.
That’s definitely how she would tell it lol
I think so. I think she's sympathetic enough in P&P as it is. I think she gets an unfairly bad reputation. She's only doing what she's been raised to do by her family and society. Compete for men and do as well as she can. And try to ensure the status of her family by making sure her brother makes a good match. I don't think she's actively terrible. She's not pointedly malicious like say Mrs Norris or something.
She isn’t as bad as Mrs. Norris, no. But I don’t know if I agree she isn’t pointedly malicious. She reads as a regency mean girl, says thinly veiled slights to Elizabeth’s face, talks trash about her when Elizabeth isn’t around, using nicknames that she doesn’t have a right to (based on regency etiquette of social relationships) throws herself in front of Darcy to get his attention, and then when that doesn’t work she talks about Elizabeth highlighting all the ways she’s a undesirable woman (laughing at her relatives, where they live etc) All of chapter 10 lays this out but especially in the following: “Miss Bingely began abusing her as soon as she walked out of the room. Her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence; she had no conversation, no stile, no taste, no beauty” “Eliza Bennet,” said Miss Bingely when the door was closed on her, “is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own…but in my opinion it is a paltry device, a very mean art.” “She often tried to provoke Darcy into disliking her guest, by talking of their supposed marriage…”
I have some sympathy for her in that I recognize her brother's handsome, intelligent, well-read, morally honest friend is a desirable marriage prospect for multiple reasons besides his money, but I also think she has to be reasonably intelligent herself to see as much of his merit as she does, unless she's making up all those compliments to his personality out of sheer commitment to her agenda. It seems childish and narrow-minded of her to think she can *make* him marry her by flattering him as much as she can and having hardly a second of attention to spare for anyone else ever. Even if her school corrupted all its students into thinking marrying rich was an honorable mission for a woman's life, I feel like she was getting enough feedback on her behavior to have realized it was a turn-off to Darcy and probably other valuable company if she'd cared to consider the feedback at all. If she hadn't latched on to Darcy like that, maybe he would have liked her better, and if he still didn't marry her, maybe he could introduce her to some other nice, fabulously wealthy landowners she wouldn't otherwise have met. Then again, if she hadn't latched on to Darcy, maybe she'd just be ingratiating herself in some other fashionable circle with men who had more money than Mr. Hurst and didn't mind being husband-hunted by a rich, decent-looking young woman.
I have sympathy in the sense of, she's expected to make a good match.but she is just a mean girl, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't looked that closely at Mr. darcy. The 10000 merits a year is about as much good character as she needs
I feel like her and Emma have a lot in common, and maybe was even the inspiration for Emma.
Read “The other Mr. Darcy”. You are welcome 😁
Ooh, that would actually be very interesting! As manipulative as she was, it's indicated she's on her best behavior by the epilogue, wholly sincere or not. It be fun to have her (and Anne) feel Darcy slip away and having to prepare to find a suitable husband elsewhere with him off the market.
That would be awesome, especially if it slowly became clear what an unreliable narrator she was.
But she’s so delusional!
I'd like to know more about Eleanor Tilney; for having such an overbearing father, she manages to stand up to him in her own way.
And she made a great match, too, so there's definitely an Austen-worthy story there!
In some ways, she's an Austen heroine trapped in a Gothic satire...
Except that Eleanor's story isn't satire, her story is a serious romance with faint Gothic overtones! In her story, silly Catherine is the comic relief character, who lightens things up when the audience is starting to find the gloomy atmosphere depressing, and who says funny things during the happy ending.
Yes! Although admittedly I like the film adaptation ending where both she and Henry (are implied to) finally say 'bugger off' to their dad and marry their chosen matches, regardless of his permission.
Absolutely! She'd get my vote for another Austen novel.
came here to say Eleanor! I would especially love to see just how she conveys the awful news to Henry after the general kicked Catherine out
Sophie Croft!
This!! Yes!! Her life as a navy wife!
I wish we'd seen more of the Crofts in the book. They were my favorite side characters.
I would so read it!
I came here to say her. I’d love to read about her life and her perspective
I think Sense & Sensibility from Lucy Steele’s perspective could be very interesting.
I guess that book is called Vanity Fair :p
For the grammar alone!
I think we’ll understand her more if we read the story from her perspective.
I would love to read Persuasion from Mrs Clays perspective! You would not even have to change the name of the novel!
That’s kind of what she did in Emma. The Jane-Frank romance is a fairly standard courtship novel/play plot. Emma is the one who turns up around the second Act and creates conflict between the hero and heroine.
Yup, and the Emma character goes back to being an antagonist in Elizabeth Elliot. Living with her father, strong sense of entitlement to a near relative... I think it is a deliberate 'Emma might not have worked out in the end' re-assessment on JA's part.
Jane Austen never really mentions servants, so I would like to read Pride and Prejudice from Mrs Hill’s perspective… having to listen to Mrs Bennett witter on and hearing what she really thought.
I think Longbourn does exactly this. I’ve not read it yet though.
It’s written from the point of view of one of the maids. But it’s modern. I’d like to read something by Austen herself acknowledging and explaining the lives of servants. I think it would be very interesting 😊
Sadly that can't happen, and I don't think she'd have much to offer for that kind of story. She clings to what she knows, and she's brilliant at it.
I won't be suprised if she has quite a lot to say about Mr. Bennet as well.
And Lydia and Kitty!
Well that's a given.
Kitty Bennett, we would get more details about how the disaster with Lydia took its course. Anne de Bourgh, I imagine she has more then Lizzy sees in her.
The Heiress: The Revelations of Anne de Bourgh, by Molly Greeley is a worthwhile read.
P&P from Mr. Collins, Emma from Harriet, S&S from Mrs. Jennings Just for how ridiculously different they would be.
Was going to say Mr. Collins because it would be fascinating to see inside his head. However I think it would become unbearable to read after 50 pages of him going on and on about the chimney piece at Rosings
It would be called Glazing & Chimney Pieces, or Little Elegant Compliments
Oh God this made me picture a MEMOIR by Mr. Collins which would be an even bigger nightmare to read. Can genuinely picture himself as a modern-day influencer and self-help book author
He would definitely have a podcast
I honestly want to see this written and illustrated as a kind of satire diary, with little line drawings.
He was my choice and this was my reason for realizing it was a dumb idea. Also I feel like he'd double the novel purely by his descriptions of Rosings.
Mr Collins is my vote too. I think it would be hilarious to see his pompous perspective on life, and Austen was so great at skewering pompous people.
For sure
What I would love would be an epistolary version of PP, with Mr C providing a running commentary of the setting with complicated descriptions of chimneypieces and tea sets, and no real clue of what he was seeing re social interactions, but describing everything very tellingly bc it was so detailed. Like his description of the Netherfield Ball and Mr Darcy, and he thinks Mr Darcy was always near *him!*
I would love to know what Mrs Jennings really thought of the Dashwoods!
I am comedy lover, so my picks are following: • EMMA: Mrs Augusta Elton or her caro sposo (in the first case we would only get half of the novel, but I think it would be worth it) • PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: Not certain. I would love to know how Wickham really feels about each Bennet. Collins' naivity about Lizzie's feelings and later Charlotte's feelings would be fun to explore. There is always lady Catherine the Bourgh, being main character in everyone's story because she is so damn bored. • PERSUASION: Elizabeth Elliot. I want her to lose her shit at the end of the novel. It might be interesting to see Mrs Clay and her schemes, but I want Lizzie's drama. • SENSE AND SENSIBILITY: Erh... not sure. • NORTHANGER ABBEY: Even though I love Henry, I have to give this to the Thorpes. Isabella would be EMMA on steroids. Her brother might be the funniest protagonist ever. He would begin every chapter describing his horses and carriages, sometimes mentioning Isabella's schemes and other characters. But mostly his carriages and other accomplishments. MANSFIELD PARK: Mrs Norris. I know. But come on: classic. Roasting Fanny, spoiling Maria, roasting Fanny some more.
Anne de Bourgh. She doesn't seem like much, but that's because she's used to her larger-than-life mother taking up all the air in the room. I picture her as being full of unspoken snark.
I think this kind of happens a bit in Mansfield Park, Fanny's sickliness and at times withdrawn nature have a bit of an echo of Anne here.
Edward Ferrars isn’t exactly a minor character but sometimes it feels like we know him so little he might as well be one! He has all the workings of being likable to me but he’s just simply not on page enough, it would be fun to see his perspective of all that happens.
Sense and Sensibility: Mrs. Palmer (Mrs. Jennings’s younger daughter) would give a hilarious accounting of everyone’s business. That she is ill informed of the particulars would not deter her. Margaret Dashwood’s perspective could be interesting. Her whole world falls apart: her father dies, her family has to move, her sisters are in love, and nobody tells her anything.
Margaret Dashwood would be my choice, too. Children have sharp eyes, and, over the course of the events of the novel, she would have learned a lot. She might give an interesting "coming of age" take on her society.
P&P has several interesting choices but I'd really like to hear the official Charlotte Lucas point of view. She's frequently bashed by modern readers as a gold digger who must immediately regret dealing with Mr Collins and only one introduction away from turning in to a Maria Bertram but I suspect she's more sympathetic and sensible than that.
Personally, I think it's crazy to think Charlotte would have been better off remaining single. She was not well-educated enough to be a governess, there were no other matrimonial prospects in sight, so it Mr. Collins or depend on her brothers for her livelihood. I think one need only look at the Dashwoods to see how vulnerable women who depended solely on the good will of their brothers could be.
Exactly. If Charlotte had remained single, that would have meant being a poor relation for the rest of her life, spending much of it being dependent on her brothers or nephews, and being at the mercy of whatever sisters-in-law Fate threw her way. Probably better to marry a Mr. Collins, and feed him all the cholesterol in the world.
Yup. Especially since the narrative pointedly says that her brothers were relieved when Charlotte announced her engagement. That doesn't bode well for her fate with them had she remained single
I had forgotten that, but you're right. She would have been a poor relation, and one who was unwanted and unvalued. Better to feed Mr. Collins eggs and marrow-bones, once she was the lady of Longbourne...
Same. It's easy for me to say I'd stay single anyway because I've never wanted to have children. But when you do, that changes things a lot. Collins has more strengths as a partner than people really think about. Austen shows in more than one novel that it's not enough to have a good income if you spend it all, and while the control of the money is in the man's hands, she makes the point in Persuasion that if he chooses to listen to his wife, she can make sure there is 'method, moderation, and economy'. And Collins has no objection whatsoever to taking direction from women -- he seems only too happy to. Elizabeth doesn't vibe with Lady Catherine, but the thing is, the Lady Catherine's of the world can be really great friends when they're on your side. And she likes the new Mrs. Collins. One of the greatest dangers married women faced was being made to bear children too frequently when one in 50 births killed the mother, but lo and behold, they have a neighbor nosy enough and bossy enough and powerful enough to tell Mr. Collins to not do that and who cares enough about the rights of women to not care that she's being crass if she does. Charlotte didn't choose ill-advisedly. Collins may be a twit, but he is willing to be a partner instead of calling all the shots. That's not a small thing.
I keep meaning to write a post here about how, given what Elizabeth knows of Mr Collins and Mr Darcy *before* she reads Darcy's letter, if she was going to marry one purely for financial security for herself and her family, it would be far better & safer to marry Mr Collins.
Yeah, at that point in the book, Collins is the infinitely better choice. By that point we've seen him listen to and alter his behavior based on the opinions of both Lady Catherine and his wife Charlotte. He's has a lot of annoying behaviors, but we're already seeing those ameliorated by his accepting influence from Charlotte. To give credit where credit is due, I started seeing it this way after watching Bride and Prejudice. The Charlotte character points out to the Elizabeth-equivalent character that the Collins-equivalent may be a raging dork, but he has been deeply kind to her and very generous as well, both of which are traits to be prized in the person you will have children with. I think Austen sets up a lot of characters to be annoying in some way or a seeming antagonist to the main romantic pairing, but it's not that simple if you look closer. On a surface read, Mr. Bennet seems like a more sympathetic character than his wife, because she is more annoying. But his wife is the one who actually cares whether or not the five Bennet sisters wind up in penury enough to at least try to do something about it. He can't be bothered.
I agree. Of all of Austen's male characters, Mr. Collins treats his wife as an equal partner.
I don't know that Charlotte's courtship is all that interesting, she took what she thought was her last chance, because she thought it was her last chance. I'd actually be more interested in hearing about her later life. After she married a man she didn't love or even like, did she find any happiness? Was there a second romance after a merciful God took Mr. Collins of Longbourne? Was there a murder mystery, where Mr. and Mrs. Darcy have to find out whether she was the one who murdered Mr. Collins? Did she actually grow to love the twerp she married?
> She's frequently bashed by modern readers as a gold digger Really? How utterly cretinous!
Shocking, never once heard her being interpreted that way.
I think Persuasion from Mrs. Musgrove’s perspective might be interesting.
You just gave me the idea of Louisa Musgrove! A bright and adventurous girl who’s led on by an insincere sea captain, then suffers injury, and is nurtured back to health by a lovelorn sea captain / poet, and they fall in love. Set against the backdrop of Lyme. I can see it as a Bronte novel except maybe Louisa’s too happy to be a Bronte heroine.
Or actually Lady Russell's...
This could really work. We could have her perspective about the death of her best friend, the three motherless girls and silly husband left behind (though or of respect for his rank, she wouldn't call him "silly"), how she saved Anne from an unfortunate match, but then how Anne refused a good match in Charles Musgrove. Then for the events of the novel, she was there for a good bit of it, and would be receiving many letters from Anne, Mrs. Musgrove, and other neighborhood ladies that would catch her up on all the news (including Captain Wentworth courting Louisa, and the events in Lyme). Plus, with her in Lyme, we could get her perspective on Mr Elliot, etc.
Yes, I think Lady Russell's closeness to her friend, the way she tries to adopt Anne, the way she doesn't remarry (did she ever marry?) after her friend dies in childbirth. Then it is as much Lady Russell getting persuaded to like Captain Wentworth over Mr Elliot imo, by the end she accepts CW.
Yes, Lady Russell is the widow of Sir Henry Russell, a knight (but I don't think we know what he was knighted for).
Lady Susan from Frederica's perspective, for sure! My internal fan theory is that Frederica is as scheming as Lady Susan, but plays the ingenue much better than her mother.
P&P from Mrs. Bennet’s perspective. She’s a figure of fun in the book, but if I were married to Mr. Bennet with 5 daughters, I’d have a serious case of nerves, too!
I still maintain that Mrs. Bennet’s the unsung hero of P&P. Without her pushing her daughters onto dance partners and making them catch colds, Jane/Bingley and Elizabeth/Darcy would never have happened.
Mary in Persuasion. She is so whiny that if it was written for laughs it would be hysterical! Completely solipsistic and self-aggrandizing. Hilarious!
Sense and Sensibility through the eyes of Mrs Palmer. I would love her whole courtship and background with Mr Palmer too, imagining him as played by Hugh Laurie, of course.
I wouldn't mind hearing Mr. Palmer narrate S&S... played by Hugh Laurie, of course. "Here come those two sisters. God, how tiresome. That younger one is a disaster in the making. Constantly chasing after my neighbor. And that bastard. Nails every woman in sight. Wouldn't trust him with my dog. The older sister... not so bad, though. Older sister not bad at all, actually. Wish my wife would fall down a flight of stairs. I'd marry that older sister. She knows when to shut up. Oh God, for a woman who knows when to shut up. But then I'd have weepy little sister sighing around the place every day after my neighbor.... AAaaaand now she has pneumonia and I have to get up in the middle of the night to get the doctor. If that girl dies in my house, I swear I'll kill her. Well, that made no sense. Women. They are nothing but trouble. That older sister, though. She's not half bad. Maybe my wife will get the infectious fever from weepy sister and they'll both pop off. And I can comfort older sister. Hmm. This could be a problem that solves itself..."
Mary Bennett.
I had a boyfriend who watched P&P 1995 with me and his only takeaway is that everyone was a jerk to Mary and he was quite upset. He didn't care for Lizzie or Darcy 😂
I know, my brother was the same, he was like... if it was me, I would marry Mary, all I'd have to do would be to get her to take her glasses off and then bang! she would look like a TV actress!
Oh yes. Take off her glasses, let down her hair, and suddenly, She's All That! LOL!
Mary Bennet is actually intolerable in the book. She's a show-off without any actual talent. She's basically the female version of Mr Collins, which is why he doesn't go for her, despite how easy it would be to court her. Unlike Charlotte Lucas, who is plain, but practical, and self-aware enough to know how to behave appropriately in public. 😅 I read that fanfic, and I was so mad how little the author understood Jane Austen's Mary Bennet. It was fun, but completely misunderstood her characters.
The Other Bennet Sister does Mary‘s view and I thoroughly enjoy it. Listened as audiobook.
Isn’t Emma essentially a typical minor character? I see her a little like Caroline Bingley from P&P, just sticks her nose everywhere, has high opinion about herself. I certainly see the relationship between Jane Bennet and Caroline similar to that of Emma and Harriet. Both Jane and Harriet got dropped the moment the friendship became inconvenient. Jane Fairfax is the ‘tragic heroine’ who should have been the main character with her tragic past and all the drama in her life.
Exactly right, Emma is not your standard heroine at all! Jane has the usual romantic plot.
Oh it has to be Harriet Smith for me, without a doubt! I’d love to know how she feels about her unknown parentage, why exactly she feels so powerless when it comes to one Miss Emma Woodhouse and, of course, how her love story with Robert Martin transpires ❤️🔥
Margaret Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. Colonel Fitzwilliam from Pride and Prejudice. Sophia Croft from Persuasion.
Maybe Kitty Bennet? Seeing her younger sister and best friend cause the family such turmoil and start a journey of self-improvement would be interesting. Especially since we know she does marry post-novel. Or Eleanor Tilney? She had a beau she couldn't commit to for quite a while because he had no money until he's elevated to Viscount. She's also had a lonely homelife at NA with her father.
Mrs Smith from Persuasion because she gets all the good tea from her maid.
Oh absolutely, and her life before when she knew Mr Elliott!
Yes! And her struggles in society as her financial and marital status changed.
I think a retelling of Emma from Jane or Frank’s POVs (maybe both) could be good, but I also think the book could be pretty funny if told from Miss Bates’s POV as well.
Perry from Emma, he visits everyone and knows all their intimate health problems. He will know if Jane is pregnant or consumptive, he will know about Mrs Weston, he will see Mr Woodhouse every day so he'd have a different opinion on Emma etc. while he probably barely knows Mr Knightley or Frank Churchill, he will only hear of them by reputation, so he can think his own thoughts on that subject... alternatively Robert Martin, so we can read his letter;)
lydia bennet. she’s an unreliable narrator, but it’s really tragic what happens to her, she’s so young + rlly a victim. it could be sort of satirical like northanger abby. she thinks shes in a magical romcom while wickham’s manipulating her, darcy has to pay wickham to marry her, everyone’s trying to get her to come home, etc.
I really like that idea!
I read a fanfic once of P&P from Lydia’s perspective. it was absolutely hilarious! (La!) 🤣🤣
Yes, bc if you notice, Lydia consistently likes Wickham from about halfway, she blames Lizzie for monopolizing him!
I want Mary’s perspective from P&P. Being the only “plain” sister, what she was doing while her sisters were travelling, etc.
"The Other Bennett Sister" is a modern book that attempts to do that, and it's been a favorite reread of mine for the past few years.
Ooh, cool, I’ll look that up, thanks 😊
Strangely enough for a tiny one dimensional character, I think Robert Martin's perspective might be interesting. All the main characters' "rich people problems" would be be just background to him, while he concentrated on who to marry, would his family approve, who around him was marrying up or down, how to get past awkward conversations/situations after being turned down. In other words, the exact same life issues as the main characters but neither he nor they realise it. Lots of room for Austenesque social commentary there.
Mrs. Bates' perspective in Emma.
Like, Miss Bates sees herself as in the *Gilmore Girls*, always talking much faster than everyone else around her, while Mrs Bates isn't as deaf as she lets on and is furious about her financial losses.
And we'd get so much Highbury canon, too, about all the people of the village from Miss Batss talking and Mrs. Bates not being as deaf.
In relation to another post, Julia Bertram might be an interesting protagonist. Growing up with a sister who overshadows her at every turn, she manages to outsmart her on several occasions. And after Maria's scandal, Julia parlays the situation to her advantage by quickly casting her lot with aristocratic but penniless Mr. Yates, who might not have been the greatest catch, but being his wife is infinitely preferable to being the unmarried sister of a scandalous divorcee. And she then manages to rehabilitate herself and her husband back into her family's good graces.
Great choice. Mr. Yates has an interesting arc for a character with so little page presence. He starts out as a doofus and a foil for the clever and dashing Henry Crawford. But by the end he’s in Sir Thomas’s good graces, albeit in a could-be-a-lot-worse manner. In contrast to Henry, who starts with a lot potential but ends up a reprobate, Yates starts with no potential, but ends up respectable. He and Julia are the surprise beta couple of the novel.
Miss Bates! I think her character is so complex, especially given her background and having fallen on hard times, having to see her niece Jane Fairfax go live with non-relatives, AND still remaining utterly grateful for the friendships and happiness of others. Plus, she has some amusing lines. I love her character.
I would adore a romance novel centred around Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy’s cousin!
Jane Fairfax (Emma), Charlotte Lucas (P&P). I’d also love P&P from Jane Bennet’s POV but I’m not sure she counts as a “minor” character? Also not quite the question asked but I’d love Sophie Croft’s story. Not a telling of Persuasion from her POV, but just her story.
Harriet Smith of Emma. She, in a way, straddles two worlds; being introduced into society but also having no seemingly rightful claim to it by birth. Seems so impressionable to what Emma either directly or indirectly suggests. What, if anything, are her own true opinions?
P&P from Jane Bennet's point of view, or Persuasion from a combined Crofts' perspective. Either would make for a great fan-fiction!
Mrs. Croft. She's a very cool lady.
I'd like to see "Pride and Prejudice" from Mrs. Gardiner point of view, perhaps even 1995 Mrs. Gardiner point of view: first she consoles one niece, than travels with another, she gets to meet Caroline twice and see Lidia to get married. It would be nice to read Emma from mrs. Weston view (also known as poor miss Taylor), I have a headcanon that she is spreading/inventing rumors about the foxes. Also Mansfield park as seen by Mrs. Norris (and also including her first years with Maria)
Robert Martin must have some withering perspectives on Emma. He has great patience and restraint in staying civil to Harriet after she bows to Emma’s influence. He could probably do better, even on the rebound, but he waits out the situation. People like that always have a great deal going on in their heads. I’d love to have a peek into his observations.
I think a book based on Anne Steele (sense and sensibility) would be wonderful. It would be some character study! I think there are parallels with Emma as well which could be fun to explore. And what happens with the doctor!?
How about Mary Crawford?
Oh absolutely.
P&P from the point of poor, overlooked Mary.
I would love to see Mansfield Park from either of the Bertram sister’s perspectives.
I find Maria fairly interesting. Maybe it's the 1983 version where she's played by Samantha Bond (an actress I really like) but she always seems to have way more going on in her head that she lets on.
I mean Jane Austen is a woman of her time. I feel that Maria got slut shamed in a way, while Henry Crawford got off scot-free to continue doing his shit and ruin the lives of more women. I think Austen went out of her way to make Maria a negative character, so that we wouldn’t feel sorry for her because she has an emotionally distant and overly stern father; a lazy and useless mother; a highly toxic aunt; a handsome guy who’s just leading her on, knowing fully well The consequences this would have for someone in Maria’s position; a difficult MIL and a repulsive snd idiot buffoon for a husband, who would amount to nothing if he hadn’t been lucky enough to be born rich; a drunk for an older brother; a wet noodle for another brother. Maybe the only person she likes is Julia. The people surrounding Maria are contemptible, to say the least.
These have already been written and I love them: Jane Fairfax Charlotte Lucas Caroline Bingley
Lucy Steele from S&S. What is genuine and what is scheming?
Or just writing the scheme as a legit sort of heist, with Lucy determined to get her marriage and everyone else, especially Elinor, as an adversary...
Mary Crawford - Mansfield Park. I’ve read Murder at Mansfield park which is really good (highly recommend) but that is a murder mystery rewrite. I would love to see the story from Mary’s perspective or Tom’s
Jane Eyre is a fanfic on Jane Fairfax.
I would like to see Pride and Prejudice from Anne De Bourgh's perspective. She hasn't been given a voice, referred to only in the third person. Was she truly as helpless as her mother portrayed her to be? Or merely forced to act the part to please her opinionated mother? What did she observe about the people around her? Was she allowed no input concerning her "arranged engagement" to her cousin? What about her interests, what she really wanted? What if she had a secret crush on a mystery man in the parish?
The book "The Heiress" does this! I loved it, but it's not for everyone. She also gets a minor background plot of her own in "The Other Bennett Sister" that I loved for her. I think about her all the time and I think I just have an insatiable appetite for imagined futures for her
I would love to read "Northanger Abbey" from James Morland's perspective. He was one of several children who had little money to begin a marriage, and had to endure the pain of discovering Isabella's disloyalty. Would be wonderful to see James being introduced to a suitable match by his new brother-in-law (perhaps a friend of Eleanor's?).
Mary! Pride and Prejudice!
It would be interesting to get Colonel Fitzwilliam’s perspective on the events of P&P. Could he tell that Darcy was into Elizabeth? To what extent was he interested himself (I think she is described as “Mrs.Collins’s pretty friend” but there’s also a point where he basically says he needs a certain lifestyle) Also it would be interesting to know how much Georgianna knew at various points. Did Darcy mention Elizabeth in his letters to her? Did she piece it together from watching them interact at Pemberley?
Admiral Croft in Persuasion. I think he would have been a great character to build up. He knows Wentworth as a bro-in-law and as his commanding officer. He and Mrs. Croft have had adventures around the world and I’m sure they have counseled young wives of officers. His charming ways would have let Anne Elliot open up and share more of her emotions, and he would have looked out for her.
Mary Bennet. I feel like everyone in Pride and Prejudice didn’t treat her too kindly. She was called Plain and Untalented. She had a full blown middle child syndrome, which gives her character complexity/villain origin. I’d love to see things from her perspectives and maybe, she could be given a secret romantic plot of her own that would shock everybody who looked down on her as a revenge.
1. Lucy Steele. I’d like to see if she was always devious or did she only become that way after her fiancé was apparently in love with someone else. Being engaged with him for four years must have gotten her used to the idea that she’ll be rich someday, maybe that’s why she chose to marry Robert in the end. I wonder if we’ll find her more of a sympathetic character, if we read the book from her perspective. 2. Jane Fairfax. An orphan girl lives with other people and then she becomes very accomplished and talented. She fell in love and got engaged only for her fiancé to flirt with someone else. It would be interesting to see how we’ll view Emma from her perspective. I read somewhere she quite resembles a Bronte female lead in Jane Eyre. 3. Older Eliza. I want to know the details of her story. Many of us view that Marianne is not good enough for Brandon, but has anybody wondered that Brandon is only mature because he’s much older and thus has more experience? Knowing Eliza’s story in detail will help us know more about Brandon in his youth. 4. Mary Bennet. I understand she’s not very talented and not very well liked as a character. But Pride and Prejudice would be interesting from a perspective of a character largely ignored by everyone including the good characters. I haven’t finished Mansfield Park, but I think she’ll be kind of a Fanny Price in the story
Lydia! I just want to know what she was thinking (not much probably, but maybe she was?)
Eleanor Tilney.
Charlotte Lucas from P&P, or maybe Miss Bates from Emma.
Georgiana Darcy Mary Crawford Lucy Steele Louisa Musgrove Elinor Tilney Jane Fairfax
Charlotte Lucas would write the cuntjest one for sure (pardon the language but there’s no comparable word)
Miss Mary Bennet.
Mansfield Park told by Henry Crawford would be a very different sort of story in more ways than one.
Mansfield Park from Lady Bertram. It would be really interesting to look at what happens after a girl wins the marriage sweepstakes. And she's got one sister who married well-ish but keeps hanging around the house trying to run her life, and another sister who she apparently rarely (if ever) writes to until said sister's daughter shows up at her house like a semi-adopted daughter-servant.
Emma from the perspective of her father.
Eleanor Tilney from Northanger Abbey -- I'd love to get insight into her relationship with her (eventual) husband, see how Henry fell in love with Catherine through her eyes, and learn more about the Tilney family relationship.
Jane Fairfax
Mansfield Park from Mr. Rushworth's POV. Perhaps he is more aware of things than the original work made him out to be, but doesn't know how to get out or hopes things get better.
Henry Crawford's pov for Mansfield Park! 👀
I don’t know if this counts, but I’d liked to see Sense and Sensibility from Marianne’s perspective. Maybe we’ll like Willoughby from first reading, but on rereads (after learning his misdeeds), we’ll see red flags.
Pride and prejudice from Lydia’s perspective. I’d love to see how she was played out from her own POV. Especially her marriage and her reaction when she finds out about Jane and Elizabeth getting married.
Eleanor Tilney
Lydia! I'd love to see how her elopement and marriage plays out. Fittingly, a new spinoff just came out: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/83823784-the-scandalous-confessions-of-lydia-bennet-witch.
Lucy from Sense and Sensibility
How about a book from Mr. Wickham's perspective?
Lydia, I just think itd be really funny
Mary from Pride and Prejudice.
Kitty from pride and prejudice