Pride & Prejudice: watching the father

It’s a story about love. But that isn’t what I want to talk about.

To be honest, I think the actress who plays Lizzie is one of the most beautiful women I have seen. Her beauty grows on you; the longer you watch, the more you find yourself drawn to her.

What really impressed me, though, was Lizzie’s father. He seems lazy, as if all he wants is a quiet life. Yet the different ways he responds to his daughters made me see him as a perceptive man.

With the youngest, he seems relieved to have her married and out of the house. With the eldest, I read his acceptance as a willingness to let her experience the difficulties that might come with her choice. But with Lizzie, whom I take to be his favorite, he is extraordinarily careful. He cannot bear the thought of her marrying someone she doesn’t love.

When Lizzie tells him that she has found love, his tears seem close to spilling over. That, to me, is a father’s love: appearing not to care very much in everyday life, while quietly caring more than anyone realizes.

Perhaps he sees in Lizzie the daughter most like himself, knowledgeable and brave.