The Jane Austen and Brontes Newsletter Issue #6 Valentine’s Day in the Regency era as told by gifs and memes
The infamous hand flex and pond scene
I would be seriously remiss if I did not bring up Jane Austen for Valentine’s Day. I’m here to celebrate her work in the most romantic way possible: through gifs and memes!
First, a confession I’m not afraid to make: I love Pride & Prejudice (2005) more than the 1995 version. I know, I know, blasphemy. A few months ago, I ran a poll on Mastodon on which version of P+P was the favorite and as expected, the 1995 version won by a land side.
I won’t drown in arguments why I love the 2005 better, but I can say it with this gif:
At this point in the story, Elizabeth and Jane are leaving Netherfield after Jane’s illness abates. In this scene, Darcy’s hand reaches up to help Elizabeth into the carriage. Shocked, she turns to look at him as he walks away and flexes his hand in the process. Interviews with Joe Wright (director) and Matthew McFayden (Darcy) tell the hand flex was spontaneous and Wright happened to catch it on film. The flex made so much sense to the feeling of the moment, Wright keeps it in the film.
You must remember that at the time Austen is writing, interactions between couples were so regulated that our modern sensibilities cannot even fathom it. Can you imagine Elizabeth on Tinder? Touching each other, even as innocuous as helping Elizabeth into the carriage, is huge deal. Here, it is confirmed that Darcy’s feelings run deep. And we know, so do eventually Elizabeth’s.
Next up, the pond scene from 1995.
Now, when I hear how arguments 1995 is truer to the book than any other version, I point out, upon deaf ears, the pond scene IS NOT IN THE BOOK. I’ve never understood why people are so adamant that 2005 trash when we have the pond scene in 1995. Anyways, those people are wrong.
Valentine’s day in the early 1800s was not what we think of it today. The Jane Austen Centre and the blog The Risky Regencies give an in-depth history of the holiday during that era. Also, the Georgian Era blog has lovely set of Regency period and inspired Valentine cards.
Pride & Possibilities issue #108 is on Love Tokens of the Georgian Era if you’re hungry for more Valentines.
The tl;dr is things were slightly different back then as we know the holiday today. Cards, tokens, poems, and verses were given, and usually by unmarried admirers. Weddings were also big. While Valentine’s Day in 2024 is a zillion dollar industry, in the Regency period it was not and the keeping of valentine’s was not a done thing which is why there is very little artifacts. Valentine’s Day cards became popular in the mid-1800s with the advent of mass production. We tease that Victorians were a repressed era but they did believe in love coupled with capitalism.
And lastly, we cannot end an article without this declaration of love from Wentworth to Anne Elliot:
“I can listen no longer in silence. I must speak to you by such means as are within my reach. You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight years and a half ago. Dare not say that man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you.” Persuasion
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Divertingly yours,
Lisa