While George Wickham and Colonel Fitzwilliam may not seem to have much in common, these characters both represent potential matches for Elizabeth. As we discussed today, Volume 1 closes with Elizabeth escaping Mr. Collins, and hopes for marriage based on love at a low. Yet both of these young men give us something to hope for (at least for a bit).
With that in mind, compare them in terms of 1) appearance and personality, 2) social position, 3) their philosphy on marriage and 4) how Elizabeth views them. You will find information on Wickham in much of Volume 1; Colonel Fitzwilliam appears in Vol. 2 Ch. 7. Pay attention to detail-- what do they say, what does the narrator tell us, and what do other characters notice.
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Elizabeth seems to see both Wickham and Fitzwilliam as eligible-- Wickham, obviously, because he is handsome, charming and anti-Darcy; and Fitzwilliam, because, while described as a not too handsome thirty year old, he is said to be ¨in person and address most truly the gentleman¨ (Vol. 2, Ch. 7), and obviously upper-class. What makes each of them ineligible?
Both men are definitely prospective matches for Elizabeth but the only problem is that the money-issue is present in them both. Wickham is a gold digger who wants to make up for his "wrongly distributed" money; the Colonel is, on the other hand, too rich. As Lady Catherine was grilling Elizabeth earlier about her poor family and upbringing, it would be an improper match if there were to be a Mrs. Colonel Fitzwilliam Bennet. What I think would trouble Elizabeth is she were to marry either man is that she would never be truly happy. Aside from being bland characters, Wickham and the Colonel could not satiate Elizabeth's thirst for sensibility and, ultimately, debate. I have noticed throughout the novel that Elizabeth cannot turn down a good fight. She, unlike Jane, is one who likes to show that she is independent and one of a sensible, rational mind.
Ok andres, seems to be right about Elizabeth always looking for confrontation. I dont believe it is because she wants to fight but because she wants to be herself and she wont let a man (wickham, darcy or fitzwilliam) or a "lady" (lady catherine) tell her how to act and be around others. Wickham is the less likely match for elizabeth in my opinion. His character is not an honest one, though charming and attractive, the man behind the mask wouldnt be a fit for elizabeth. Fitzwilliam although a gentleman, seems dull.
Elizabeth herself says that colonel fitzwilliam's manners were less charming (not as much captivating softness) but he did have a more well informed mind. Lizzy isnt sad about the thought of either of these men, but marriage with either would be for convenience, not happiness.
Although this is not supposed to be about mr. darcy, i think Elizabeth and mr. darcy have much more in common than she does with either of the two other men. So the options remain: money and brains (but dull as a stick), sexyness (yet a liar and dumb as a stick) or some pompous dude that may not even like her...we will see.
First in appearance it is described that Fitzwilliam is not good-looking and i guess considered kind of old in those time(thirty-ish), but his personality helps him. Fitz is very agreeable and has an ease in conversation and very amiable. While Wickham is younger, much more handsome and most find him agreeable, but has a hidden agenda. (2) Fitz has a better social position that Wickham given that he is Darcy's cousin, Lady Catherines nephew and a Colonel, while Wickam is in want of social climbing and money. (3)Wickham is a gold-digger like andres said and i dont think he cares much about who he marries as long as he climbs socially and gets money, Fitz has to be careful with who he marries and its not entirely up to him on who he marries. (4)Liz likes them both in the beginning and feels a certain attraction for them both. Although she felt more attracted to Wickham she did find a similarity to him in Fitz when they met, that probably made her like him easier. With Fitz she felt a "less captivating softness in Col. Fitz manners" than in Wickhams and saw Fitz as a pleasant and more than eligible man.
Well, for the most part, I think that both men are ok in the sense that they could have both been great choices for Elizabeth. But, kinda like andres said, there is the money problem with Wickham, and to me, there is the class problem with Fitzwilliam.
What I mean is, that on Wickham faults, she lacks the money necessary to sustain her, so their marriage would have a been a short-lived happiness. Eliza is even warned against marrying him by her aunt for exactly that reason. So, although she was becoming attached to him, that money issue was a big hindrance, and like the book told us, Wickham stopped his administrations with Eliza to go with some miss King because of her money.
Fitzwilliam, on the other hand, feels like he really wants to become intimate friends, and maybe something more, with Eliza. He also has that one quality that she is looking for in all men for her to like, which is a very agreeable speech. I mean that, the way they talk makes her like them (and that is why she doesn't like being with Mr. Darcy at all). But, the thing that would prove to be most displeasing to her about him, would be the closeness of Lady de Bourgh, and also of Darcy. Eliza doesn't care about such big formalities that she would have to go through everyday if she would marry Fitzwilliam, so I guess that is his biggest flaw.
i think money is not an issue here.. for what i read the last thing in elizabeth mind is money.. she believes in marrying for love or at least that was what i understood.. she didnt care about social position as long as she was "happy".. i think that what called elizabeths attention about wickham was first that he was good looking and second, the fact that for the first time she got to really talk about her dislike for Mr.Darcy with someone who had a similar dislike for darcy.. this made easier for them to become friends and get close.
For me even though she dislikes darcy, he is her favorite subject. When she met Fitzwilliam and got to talk to him alone, they always ended up talking about darcy. What she liked aboy Fitzwilliam is that he was easy going and she could see herself talking to him endlessly, and also that he always talked more than he should since he was always saying things that he shouldnt without being intentional. For my point of view she was looking for choices of marriage.. were she could feel comfortable and somehow happy.. maybe the fact that she already rejected Mr. cullen scared her since she didnt have any other man after her.. I simply dont think she actually meant the possibility of marrying Fitzwilliam or Wickham. for me she felt attracted to darcy because she felt rejected and she was looking for ways to dislike him, and she finally accomplished it with Mr. wickham stories but deep inside her she only had "amor indio" for Mr. Darcy
and she was too stubborn to admitted that to herself.
in appearance and personality we know that Wickham is very handsome but he lacks of money and that is a disadvantage for him, but i think that elizabeth trylu starts to like him. he tells all the stories and this i believe has helped her to love him even more. colonel fitzwiliam is not that handsome but he has alot of money. his character is of a very respectable man and he seems to be a good suit for elizabeth. but i believe that his problem is the people that sorrounds him and he is too high up there for anyone to accept her as his wife. also the fact that he is darcys cousin can affect the relationship. i believe that the one she really deeply likes id Darcy, even if she denies it or anything that she is told about him.
Elizabeth feels extremely comfortable with both Wickham and Colonel Fitzwilliam. She thinks well of both of them and the idea of having them as prospective matches does cross her mind once or twice, but more for convivnience tha any other reason. Wickham is handsome and agreeable, but not as well educated as Colonel Fitzwilliam. It was pointed out that even though Fitzwilliam was not as handsome or as chrmaing as Wickham there was still something to his personality that ELizabeth really liked.
Both Wickham and Fitz have issues with money. Wickham's only reason to get married is for the money that might bring,and Fitzwilliam sees money as more of an inconvinience. He realizes that he must marry someone with a fortune to maintain his status but he's not particularly proud of it.Regardless of this, he still rather keep his status by marrying someone with more the same type of connections that he has.
Both Wickham and Fitzwilliam feel attracted to Elizabeth, but neither of them are willing to sacrifice their other interests for her.
I see what you´re all saying (or most of you) about money = marriage for both Wickham and Fitzwilliam. I am wondering though, why is Charlotte´s decision to marry Collins for a comfortable material existence so beyond Elizabeth´s comprehension; yet at the same time many of you suggest she is interested in Fitzwilliam for that very reason. With Wickham, she has a very different, much stronger attraction-- not based on money by any means because he doesn´t have it. Before she figures out the truth about Wickham (and to foreshadow, we haven´t figured out the whole truth about Wickham yet) even her father hints that Wickham should be her man. What is it about Wickham and what do we learn about Elizabeth?
Wickham is a gold digger as we can see later on in the novel and therefore money is very important to him, he must marry a girl who is rich. he is also very handsome as elizabeth tells us and does really see a possibility of marrying him, but we all know she didnt and why. Fitzwilliam was also very handomse, but on the other side was very rich and was the youngest son so he had to marry a rich woman too, and elizabeth's family did not meet the profile for him to marry her. Elizabeth did let us know that she liked wickham, but she also told us that maririage had to be based on love and not money and i do think that she didnt feel any of that for any of these two men.
charlotte saw herself as too old to find a new guy and just saw the opportunity of her lifetime in marrying him.. she knew she would never find that opportuniy again
I believe they both have similar views of marriage and as Fitzwilliam has saying he believes that marriage is based on wealth. He says that he wants to get marry with someone with money. Also Elizabeth think of them specially of Wickham, she has thought of the idea of her beig engagged with him. And as in Mr. Collins we don't know if they actually were in love but Charlotte saw him like a great opportunity and probably the only one she will have in her live.
Elizabeth tells us that she trust Wickham and believes all the stories that he tells her about Darcy. She even liked him but when Wickham suddenly starts paying attetion to another girl called Miss King, makes her believe she was never in love with him. Miss King has receive a lot of money and maybe thats what makes Wickham liked her.
George Wickham is very good-looking but does not have money while Fitzwilliam is not as handsome, but certainly very wealthy; and intelligent and a gentleman as well. At the same time, Wickham has his negative side, his only ambition is money and social status as it was previously mentioned before. They are both good choices for Elizabeth, but I belive Darcy would be the best since they would marry for love, and that’s what she truly wants since she does not mind about money or social status, and Darcy would love her regardless of everything.
I think Elizabeth sees the perfect man separated between both Wickham and Fitzwilliam. Wickham is the handsome and charming stud which she could keep a pationate relationship but nothing that would truly last for he wouldn't be able to give her a future and Fitzwilliam is the nice, protective guy that will provide for her but would keep her on a dull state of marriage. The combination of the two would be perfect but seperate both seem elegible...but also give off the vive of "something missing."
Thanks to these men, Elizabeth hope for love still exist, even though she is not really into falling for anyone because of what she saw that happened to her sister, I think she is aware of it and that's the main reason she is not so obvious with the guys. In appearance, Wickham is handsome and has a way with women, and Fitzwilliam is less attractive. Their social positions are very different, Wickham being middle or below class due to his gambling, and Fitzwilliam, being Darcy's brother, is obviously rich. Their philosophy of marriage is quite different in the sense Wickham sees it as Austen wishes it, and Fitzwilliam as it was back in those times. And eliasbeth likes Wickham, and respects Fitzwilliam.
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