Darcy's Passions: Pride and Prejudice Retold Through His Eyes

Regency England speaks of love and romance when Darcy's Passions brings to life once again Jane Austen's classic love story. An interpretation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Darcy's Passions tells the story from Mr. Darcy's point of view.

When Fitzwilliam Darcy comes to Hertfordshire as a service to his best friend Charles Bingley, who has recently let the Netherfield Park estate, Darcy assumes the locals will possess "vulgar" country manners. So, when the opportunity arises, he refuses to dance with Elizabeth Bennet at the Meryton Assembly; however, from that moment, the woman's charms possess his every waking and sleeping minute. Obsessed with Elizabeth Bennet, Darcy places himself in a position to learn more about her while realizing his social status will not allow him to marry her. He manipulates Bingley and others in order to spend time with her. He tells himself Elizabeth Bennet is simply a "diversion" from the lack of society he finds in Hertfordshire.

However, if she is only a diversion, then why does he dream of her as mistress of his estate? Why does he seek her out as a friend for his shy, withdrawn sister? Why does he allow her to speak to him with a saucy attitude? Why can he not even breathe when she is in the room? Why does a raise of her eyebrow or an enigmatic smile or the smell of the lavender she wears create havoc with his emotions? His duty to his family and his estate demand he choose a woman of refined tastes. Yet, what his mind tells him he wants and what Darcy's heart knows he needs are two different things.

Darcy is a man in turmoil. He loves a woman he first denies as being worthy, but it is he who is found wanting when Elizabeth Bennet refuses his proposal of marriage because he does not conform to her standards of a "gentleman." Devastated, he must transform himself into the man she learns to love and respect.