https://bit.ly/3pocpRc https://bit.ly/3qpoeWx https://bit.ly/32ttMXU https://bit.ly/3pnkR3k https://bit.ly/3yTxh69 https://bit.ly/3Fr6ssh https://bit.ly/3FthPzY https://bit.ly/32v7sx2 https://bit.ly/3pnY2MH Darcy is ten times more attractive a leading male than Knightley, in film, TV and book. The latter is a prig, brooding judgmentally on the sidelines. Darcy does his share of brooding, admittedly, and certainly he is judgmental. But he is also wrong with a capital R, about Elizabeth and her family (though not, as it turns out, about Wickham). Taken In Hand men are seldom wrong, least of all as spectacularly as this. Putting matters right (as Darcy generously does) is the act of a gentleman, but not necessarily of a Taken In Hand chap. So if there is a literary message to be drawn from the pen of England’s most beloved novelist, it is that the Ideal Taken In Hand man may not exist – and if he does, he is as liable as Knightley to be a humourless, critical martinet. He will be No Fun. Real men are surely more interesting than that – and more fun. They have their complexities too, and sometimes they even need to make mistakes and be slapped down for them, because this is something everybody requires from time to time. This is what happens to Mr Darcy, one of the most romantic male heroes in fiction, and it hardly seems to diminish his appeal. Perhaps the definition of the ideal Taken In Hand male is subconsciously broader than anyone thinks? For me, it is Mr Darcy's ability to acknowledge his faults that makes him in the end so darn attractive. That to me is strength! Strength of character at least, and that is what the 'taken in hand' man is all about. How many men or women have the ability to openly acknowledge thier own faults? How much better would the world be if we could all be more honest about our faults, learn from them and move on? Mr Darcy - solid, reliable, morally upstanding and with an acute sense of his own faults (giving more than a hint of his underlying sensitivity) and able to admit them, how sexy is that? by CC on 2005 Nov 23 - 23:18 | reply to this comment Mr Darcy and Mr knightley |