argumate:

anghraine:

There is a very, very common idea that Darcy’s interference with Jane and Bingley was in fact some Freudian displacement of his own anxiety over Elizabeth—he was using Bingley as a proxy, convincing himself to turn away by convincing Bingley.

This is … perfectly possible. I am not a fan of the psychoanalytical approach (at all), but displacement is at least an actual thing. He could be!

BUT.

(You had to know this was coming.)

We’re never told that this is true. And we are told about a factor slightly compromising Darcy’s judgment with Bingley—his hopes of Bingley marrying his own sister. That’s not Freudian. It’s just outright conflict of interest.

Yet the displacement theory gets repeated as some sort of objective truth of the novel. I don’t just mean “repeated on Tumblr.” I see it here, I saw it in older fandoms, on lists, in interviews, in respected lit-crit. Everywhere. 

And there is not one shred of evidence that it’s the case. It is never stated to be true, never discussed, never implied, never anything. 

convincing your bro to marry your sister so he can be your bro for real