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What do we Really Know about Colonel Fitzwilliam?
40 responses to “What do we Really Know about Colonel Fitzwilliam?”
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Colonel Fitzwilliam is such a fan favorite so always enjoyable to read about him.
Some of the earliest, most interesting and well written JAFF that I read paired the good Colonel with Jane or Mary Bennet. These ladies have much stronger character as well so nicely matched.
Thank you!-
Paired with Jane? Poor Bingley!
He is certainly a fan favourite, it always surprised me how much, since he’s barely in the novel.
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Hard to argue with so well-written and cogent an article!!! I think I just like the Col. – even if he MIGHT prefer his cushy lifestyle – just because he appreciated Elizabeth.
And, while Darcy really COULD please himself – Lady C. huffed and puffed, but not blow his house down – it’s still possible that the Colonel couldn’t – that Charlotte was wrong about calculating him as being entirely independent.
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It is certainly possible that Charlotte doesn’t know everything, but we have to work with the clues we have about the Colonel!
And thank you!
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It got me thinking now, how Col F links the thought of Darcy being richer and freer to have his way with his better chances of marrying whoever he likes in a convo with Lizzy specifically. Whether they are BFFs or not he clearly knows Darcy as a whole better, and would have gotten the clues of his interest which Darcy himself thought were obvious to others. So it can also sound like a “and so I am not even playing a losing game when he’s the competition other than not being to my advantage otherwise also”.
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I’ve never been sure if Colonel Fitzwilliam suspected that Darcy likes Elizabeth or not, but I 100% agree that he probably wouldn’t even bother to play if he though Darcy was his competition! If Darcy did tell him that Elizabeth refused his proposal, it would have been a huge shock.
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The very fact that we know so little about him makes him a great character for authors to play with. After all, there’s just so much room to have fun! He could be a rival to Darcy, a match for one of the other sisters, a good guy, a bad guy… did he know everything and tell Elizabeth about Darcy’s interference to make her dislike Darcy even more?
Personally, I like the guy, even if his name isn’t really Richard. But he’s just so full of potential!
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He is a good blank slate to work with for sure! We know so little about his motivations as you say, there is a possibility that he was messing with Darcy on purpose.
I am always a little hesitant to match him with a Bennet, he said he wants money after all and they have none.
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Ah, but it’s fiction, so we can invent a fortune for him to inherit! 😀
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True true!
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I admit the ONLY jaff pairings I read are Colonel and Mary Bennet (plus Mary mysteries)
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Interesting! What do you like about that pairing in particular?
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I feel that MB and the Colonel are the mirror images of D&E, with less known of them, so the stories can be anything, and therefore are for me so much more interesting
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I also only read Mary/Colonel Fitzwilliam stories, although decent examples are hard to find. However when I started reading JAFF this was not the case. I just liked Mary to have a decent partner (NEVER Collins) and my preferred partners for CF were Jane, Anne or possibly Caroline. The single pairing I would not tolerate was Goergiana
My WIP has him injured at Waterloo and having Catherine B fall in love witj and marry him, with a lifestyle not quite as excessive as when he relied on Darcy.
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That sounds dramatic!
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Austen wrote P&P in 1796-97 IIRC, so COL Fitzwilliam would need to survive the Peninsula before Waterloo in 1815. But if still in the army then, he’d likely be a general, so could get by with less income from his wife’s dowry.
I would like to see the Colonel paired with someone just not sure with who!lol Maybe Mary Benett? Certainly not Anne De Bourgh!
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Why not Anne? Rosings sounds like a great house and you’d have such a charming mother in law, lol!
Thanks for this. I tend to write “Richard” as “handsome” but know it’s fanon and cringe when someone tells an author they’re wrong when they call him other than “Richard.” There’s far too much fanon out there!
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I do find it odd when people mention in their reviews that they deducted a star (or whatever) because Colonel Fitzwilliam wasn’t named Richard! If it was in the novel I’d understand, but it’s really just a strong trend in the genre.
I just do my best not to name him at all, Austen can do it so why not me?
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I must confess that I prefer Richard Fitzwilliam. As to who he might marry, pairing him with Miss Bingley would be interesting if she got desperate about Darcy not wanting her, and she was willing to marry an earl’s son. Having him marry Georgiana was kind of robbing the cradle. As to looks, I see Darcy as the handsomest of any man in the book. I’m half in love with him anyway. Thank you for the fanon vs canon. 🙂
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You’re welcome! I am also not a big fan of Colonel Fitzwilliam marrying Georgiana, for the same reason.
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Delightful read! I have always pictured Colonel Fitzwilliam as a George.
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I love that name for him!
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How weird – when I saw George, I just went ‘God, no’. But actually, if you follow what I think is the fanon path of Darcy’s father being named George, it would be a pretty logical name for his nephew. So, nice one
I like it best when his name is Richard, and he marries Jane. I can’t really forgive Bingley for listening to his horrible sisters and Darcy and abandoning Jane and I don’t think she should have either. I like it much better when she gets a better partner and Colonel Fitzwilliam is one of my favorite characters, even if it is from fannon.
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Interesting! I’m personally partial to Bingley, I’ll take his modesty over every other man’s audacity and arrogance. But that’s just me 🙂
It is wonderful that JAFF supplies lots of different storylines, so we can all find our favourite pairings!
In “Mr. Darcy’s Diary” by Amanda Grange, he ends up with Anne de Burgh – and she turns out to be a much nicer and more interesting character than she is in the book. It makes sense that the domineering Lady Catherine keeps her under her thumb, and when she manages to escape she is more lively. I rather liked this ending!
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That’s a nice ending for him for sure
He wanted money- I have no doubt that he married Anne
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If Lady Catherine let him!
Very interesting article. I have read the book several times and I would swear that the Colonel is named Richard, and that he is called that in several adaptations. But I just found out that he is not. That this comes from the 2005 movie and and I imagine the fanfics I’ve read. As they say in the comments, I admit I like Richard a lot, and also George. Although calling him Darcy would have been a fantasy XD
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I think Richard is very common in fan fiction, but my favourite is that his first name is Darcy, just for the amusement of it all.
I loved to read your article. I was rummaging the internet trying to find information about who was cast to be the Colonel in the new Netflix adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Well, when I imagine Colonel Fitzwilliam pair, I think he would be the best option for Anne de Bourgh, not her mother’s or her aunt’s choice, but an excellent choice indeed.
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I think he’d go for it if given the chance. I wonder if that’s why he visits with Darcy every year, so he can swoop in one day.
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If so I would think he might lay some ground work by talking to her now and then, even when Elizabeth is in the room.
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There is a lot of the visit we don’t see.
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I still don’t think we have enough information to declare him mercenary. We don’t see him *trying* to marry someone with money, we only see him unwilling to marry without it. Is Mrs. Gardiner Mercenary for advising Elizabeth that Wickham is an imprudent match?
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I think it depends how you define “mercenary.” Charlotte Lucas marries for a “comfortable home,” but she also will probably get Longbourn, is that mercenary? Elizabeth cannot marry Wickham and be comfortable, so is that mercenary? Colonel Fitzwilliam is already probably above Charlotte Lucas comfort, so is him wanting to marry rich mercenary or not? I think Austen was playing around with the idea of what we find acceptable and not. Most people disagree with Caroline’s mercenary ways, but as someone with a larger fortune herself, of course she would try for a richer man. It’s an interesting thing to consider.
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