Hugh Thomson (1860-1920), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Simon Langton’s 1995 mini-series adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, Pride & Prejudice, makes unique adaptative choices of her classic novel. Both the novel and the mini-series have a very romantic story between the two characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, who originally did not like each other until they fall in love over the course of the novel as they let go of their “pride” and “prejudices.”
This romantic pairing would not be possible without one character, however: Mr. George Wickham. The chaos and audacity of his character serves as a perfect tool to push the relationships of other characters, and Langton’s television mini-series adapts this in a satisfying way.
Lizzie from the beginning of the novel does not like Mr. Darcy because he offended her from their first meeting, as she states in chapter five, “I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine” (21). Mr. Darcy mortified hers because he very rude to her when he first met Lizzie, refusing to dance with her because he did not find her beautiful enough to even consider doing so.
She is already prejudiced against him for this reason, which makes her more susceptible to Mr. Wickham’s gossip when he meets her, especially because she is at least mildly attracted to him. Mr. Wickham first appears in the novel with Mr. Denny outside on the street and Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy ride by. Lizzie notices in the novel that their faces towards each other “both changed color” (80). Langley’s adaptation enhances the introduction of Mr. Wickham as well as serving as a good introduction to the tension between him and Mr. Darcy. Since film or television adaptations focus more on action and dialogue rather than deep character thoughts, instead of having the narration of Lizzie’s first impressions of Mr. Wickham, it is depicted with facial expressions as well as having other characters like Kitty comment on his charm and good looks by asking Lizzie if she finds him to be good looking before he walks over.
The actress of Lizzie, Jennifer Ehle, seems to answer this question with her glances at Mr. Wickham after. Her facial expressions shows her soft eyes making small glances at him, and then looking away from him and smiling to herself, with her lips becoming something to focus on.
As for the tension with Mr. Darcy, we hear the horses before we see them. This is an interesting diegetic music choice, as it is paired with the start of a non-diegetic piece of instrumental music. The song is very soft and melodic, but the tone of it seems to shift into a slightly more tense one as Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham stare at each other and tip their hats to one another. The mise-en-scène is very important for this scene to adapt the tension between the two characters because the positions of the characters with the character angles matter for it to work, such as the one of Mr. Wickham from the side angle as he notices who is nearby helped create a sense of anxiety for his character. The edit of the television show cutting back in forth between their faces helps establish this intentional mise-en-scène as well as the “Close Shot” cinematography to make sure to emphasize the actor’s facial expressions to ensure the viewer does not miss the obviousness of this to Lizzie.
The characterization of Mr. Wickham’s shadiness from the novel to the mini-series was adapted correctly in the scenes where he is talking to Lizzie about Mr. Darcy. In Langton’s adaptation, the conversation between Lizzie and Mr. Wickham is cut shorter, but his actor, Adrian Lukis, can pull off the “agreeable manner” Lizzie described him having in the book (84).
Adrian Lukis even while gossiping talks in a soft tone with a smile, which makes him sound like the perfect humble victim Mr. Whickham tries to act like is. He sounds incredibly honest because he can master that attitude of “I have no right to give my opinion” from Austen’s novel (86). He can fully convince her that Mr. Darcy truly wronged him, which causes even more tension between her and Mr. Darcy until she learns the truth from Darcy’s Letter.
The adaptation did a wonderful job with the actor’s performances in the argument that takes place during Mr. Darcy’s initial proposal, and it is one of the scenes that is mostly silent to help build the tension and showcase the hatred Lizzie had for Mr. Darcy. The conversation with Mr. Wickham in the scene of the book felt more like a red flag because he was more eager to talk about Mr. Darcy and the trusting tone wasn’t as apparent compared to hearing a man as manipulative as Wickham talking in real life.
Despite knowing the truth about Mr. Wickham from reading the book first, the actor did a great job at convincing the viewer of being trustworthy compared to just the text. It was more like learning the truth with Lizzie with Darcy’s Letter in Langton’s mini-series because of how trustable Lukas was able to present himself. This revelation ends up slowly changing the perception of Mr. Darcy to Lizzie, who is mortified by how much she judged him.
Mr. Wickham, in another one of his tricks, ends up running off with Lydia to get married with no real intention of marrying her. Mr. Darcy made a risk and took a sacrifice going to Lydia’s wedding and sticking by the Bennet family because of this Mr. Wickham situation, and the television series shows a good job of how he let go of his pride and tried to do what’s right and tried to keep it a secret without any honor to it despite Lizzie’s previous disdain for him, which pushes their relationship together. In the novel, this is shown with the quote “He generously imputed the whole to his mistaken pride” and “he called it, therefore, his duty to step forward” (346).
Langton’s adaptation did a great job at showcasing this scene. As Lizzie is looking at the letter, the narration of it is being read out loud in the voice of her Aunt who wrote it, and then we cut from the letter to the actual scene. This is impactful because instead of hearing about it, the viewer hears Mr. Darcy say all of these things about his pride he had to let go of. He had to bare this despite the risks involved because Lizzie’s honor would forever be disgraced if Lydia’s reputation was ruined by Wickham’s actions. Mr. Darcy still has a lot of risk even doing this, as Lady Catherine said, “You have no regard then for the honour and credit of my nephew! Unfeeling, selfish girl! Do you not consider that a connection with you must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody!” (384).
The actress of Lady Catherine can represent this risk perfectly in Langton’s adaption as well, who came to confront her about the issue almost exactly how it is written in the text. She has a nagging, judgmental voice and her facial expressions as she scolds Lizzie are on point.
Without the character of Mr. Wickham, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy might not have been able to ever be pushed together. His chaos in the novel and mini-series is the chaos that was required for them to put their judgements aside to get together with the adaptation doing its best to perfect that utter chaos.
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