Mr. Darcy & the “I Can Fix Him” Trend

It is a universally acknowledged truth that in the time around Valentine’s Day, everyone, whether single, in a couple or exploring the “it’s complicated” tag, will inadvertently revert to a romcom to fill their evenings. Little do they know that the male lead all (okay, fine, most) viewers are collectively drooling over was invented by a writer in the 18th century. 

We all know him — he’s tall, dark and handsome. He has an unbearable attitude, all the women want him and he is undeniably aloof when it comes to everyone around him but you. And you are the one he will choose. He could have any of the prettiest girls, but he is going to pick you.

Jane Austen, The Original Girl’s Girl 

As every single person in the lecture hall raised their hands when Prof. Elisha Cohn, Department of Literatures in English, asked who had read Jane Austen before, I shrank into my seat. It was the first day of classes of the fall semester and the English major in me was ashamed to admit it, but other than that one time my thirteen-year-old self had cracked open Pride and Prejudice before promptly proceeding to stuff it back into my bookshelf, I had never read anything by the famous English author. 

But why would that even matter? Jane Austen wrote all six of her novels just over 200 years ago in a time that seems distant and abstract to us today. Her worlds of ballgowns and marriage markets seem foreign and fantastical, and yet there’s something at the heart of her stories that’s proven to be everlasting. Every raised hand in that room proves it — Jane Austen has staying power.