If Pride and Prejudice were a fairytale- my first fairytale
Where did Elizabeth Bennet live?
In a land of nativity, nobility, and goodness.
Elizabeth's predictable, organized, and homely neighborhood.
Elizabeth has to cover the unpredictable forces of nature and walk over a bridge to reach the castles that house the Bingleys and the Darcys.
Where did Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley live?
Darcy's folly home
Bingley's folly home
In a land of curated and crafted rose gardens. They spend most of their time in garden follies. Darcy's folly is more natural while Bingley's folly is more expensive but both are very beautiful.
Where did Miss Darcy live?
She lived in a beautiful convent overlooking a garden. The bars suggest that she has all things necessary for the life of a good Christian girl but she is not yet free to live her life. She is yet to see the evil forces in the world. She lives in a controlled world that her big brother has set for her.
Where did Wickham live?
In a large Gothic home because he was a spendthrift and wanted to solicit money using girls. Since Pride and Prejudice is a girly novel, a man like that must look like a creepy, spooky, scary monster in disguise of a prince-like gentleman. He is that to an unsuspecting young woman what a monster is to kids.
Where did Wickham take Lydia after marriage?
To a land of pretense with respectability on the outside and hate on the inside.
Where did Mr. Collin live?
In a land of flattery.
Where did Mr. Darcy's aunt and her sickly daughter live?
In the land of bigotry, sneer, and greed.
How did Pemberley change after Elizabeth's marriage?
Pemberley had a lot of cultivated and exquisite roses earlier but now they also grow wild roses and other rose-like flowers in there.
In fairy tales, internal appearances show in external beauty or ugliness.
Bennet's house
Theme 1: Pride
Theme 2: Prejudice
The girl has a magical mirror of experience and intellect to see the world. When she meets a new person, she asks this mirror about them and that mirror tells her all about them. But, the mirror does not know the truth, it only reflects imperfectly in the colors of the limited experience of this girl. And, to Elizabeth, the world is full of black and white evil and good and there is no scope for grey.
Theme 3: Snobbery (Miss Bingley)
Theme 4: Deceit (Wickham)
How would I picture deceit?
Like a fake currency note which gives itself away at a closer scrutiny but can easily fool a trusting and hardworking person.
How do you personify a fake currency note?
Theme 5: Idiocy of Mrs. Bennet
How would I picture idiocy?
Like a watermelon which has a bulky looking fruit with a delectable looking pulp which is full of nothing but water. When you eat a watermelon, you feel so full but what you have really eaten is water.
How do you personify a watermelon?
Theme 6: Insecurity about social connections
How do you picture insecurity about social connections?
I picture it as a woman who has stuffed her hips with clothes and has hidden her face behind a mask of makeup and stuffy jewelry and gowns.
What is her personality like?
Theme 7: Marriage as a nymph (Charlotte and Lydid find the nymph harmful while Jane and Elizabeth find it benevolent)
Marriage is a beautiful thing sometimes and at other times, it is a matter of convenience. In the former case, it gives peace to the soul, and in the latter case, it gives peace to the body only. So, the nymph comes as the bridesmaid at every wedding. Her clothes and behavior are different every time.
When she gives peace to the soul
She is dressed as simply as a rural and rustic maiden. People look at her innocence and smile. She is much loved and coveted but in a worshipful way. When she starts to dance then men and women join her and feel energetic and rejuvenated to dance with her. The women all want to coo her with compliments and the men lower their gazes in reverence to her innocence.
She wears a wreath of multicolored bougainvillea. She looks at everyone with utmost love and appreciation and cannot have an unkind thought about anyone. She adds empowering and happy moments in lives of all people. People who adore this bridesmaids give themselves a good example during times of crises and joy alike. The marriage may not be materially blessed but it is rich with inner happiness. It brings a life of fulfillment and love.
When she gives peace to the body
Most exquisite clothing and expensive dresses. Everyone keeps gawking at her and covets her but no one wants to worship her. The men grope around for her hand and drag her to the dance floor. The women watch her with jealousy and aversion. She makes every man feel rich but hollow and every woman feels insecure.
She wears a wreath of the most luxurious roses. She looks down on everyone with scorn though she is sophisticated and kind and all things it is of course just a show. She draws the life out of all those lives and makes them as non-living as her own self. The life that a person invests to dance with this bridesmaid or adore her is lost forever. The marriage is hollow with the appearance of happiness. It brings about a life of regret and lovelessness.
A bougainvillea house entrance
A rose house entrance
Theme 8: Woman's reputation
How do I picture a woman's reputation?
Like a fragile glass doll with delicate beauty but one little shock and it shatters. Then if you try to touch it, you get cuts and no matter how hard you try to repair it, it is never the same thing again.
Theme 9: A Woman's virginity
How do I picture it?
Like a bouquet of white buds. Either they grow and change colors from light pink to red to blue or they remain white forever. But, the white color also means that it has to be kept with utmost care otherwise it will lose its colors or get faded or dirty.
References
Why was the bougainvillea wreath for the bridesmaid?
Bougainvillea has thorns like roses but it is a climber. Like all ideal marriages where the partners must grow much higher up than their own capacities, bougainvillea plant bring about the same thing. The bracts are colourful but the flowers are small and are hidden behind the bracts. The simplicity of love symbolized by the flowers is hidden beneath the color of marriage.
The plants are drought and sun tolerant which every marriage has to be. It has to be tried and tested because even married life is not a bed of roses. But, both rose and bougainvillea come in different shades of colors. It shows that marriage can bring many emotions along with it. Bougainvillea symbolizes passion and attraction, it also stands for peace.
Here is a poem about a glass doll and a woman's life
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