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| "Her teeth are tolerable but not out of the common way . . . " |
Caroline Bingley has a crush on Mr. Darcy. The problem is Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy has already admitted he thinks Elizabeth has fine eyes. Now that Caroline has had a chance to observe Darcy's admiration of Elizabeth while in her company she has resorted to hurling low-down dirty insults. As Jane Austen points out: " . . . this was not the best method of recommending herself; but angry people are not always wise."
"How very ill [Elizabeth] Bennet looks this morning, Mr. Darcy," [Caroline Bingley] cried; " I never in my life saw any one so much altered as she is since the winter. She is grown so brown and coarse! Louisa and I were agreeing that we should not have known her again . . . For my own part, I must confess that I never could see any beauty in her. Her face is too thin; her complexion has no brilliancy and her features are not at all handsome. Her nose wants character -- there is nothing marked in its lines. Her teeth are tolerable but not out of the common way; and as for her eyes, which has sometimes been called so fine, I never could perceive anything extraordinary in them. They have a sharp, shrewish look which I do not like at all; and in her air altogether there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable."
Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice (ch. 45)
For a great post on the subject of jealousy visit Tim Fall's recent post at Just One Train Wreck After Another.
Hope you have a marvelous weekend! See you Sunday for "Classics and the Bible Sundays."
