George wickham
| George Wickham | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Officer in Colonel Forster's regiment. |
| Income | Less than 100 pounds a year. |
| Family | |
| Spouse | Lydia Bennet |
| Romantic interest(s) | Georgiana Darcy Elizabeth Bennet Mary King |
George Wickham is a fictional character created by Jane Austen who appears in her novel Pride and Prejudice, published in 1813. George Wickham is introduced as a member of the local militia who has a shared history with Mr. Darcy. Mr. Wickham's charming demeanour and his story of being badly treated by Darcy attracts the sympathy of the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, to the point that she is warned by her aunt not to fall in love and marry Mr. Wickham. It is revealed through the course of the story that George Wickham's true nature is that of an unprincipled layabout, a Ne'er-do-well profligate and : calculating and remorseless; he is a liar, a charmer, a gambler, a manipulator, and seducer and libertine.
Jane Austen's inspiration for the plot developed around the character of George Wickham was Tom Jones, a novel by Henry Fielding, where two boys – one rich, one poor – grow up together and have a confrontational relationship when they are adults.
A minor character, barely sketched out by the narrator to encourage the reader to share Elizabeth's first impression of him, he nonetheless plays a crucial role in the unfolding of the plot, as the actantial scheme opponent, and as a foil to Darcy.
Henry Fielding's Tom Jones influenced the development of Wickham's character. He has traits of the main protagonists of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling: the hero, Tom Jones, and his half-brother, Blifil. There is a deliberate resemblance between the confrontational relationship between the two characters in Fielding's novel and in the one created by Jane Austen between Wickham and Darcy. Finally, the Pemberley estate, under the authority of Mr. Darcy, Senior, recalls the property of the wise Squire Allworthy of Paradise Hall.
At the beginning of her novel, Jane Austen gives Wickham the appearance of a hero by his good looks and distinguished manners: he is reminiscent of Tom Jones, the foundling, unfairly banned from the squire's estate by the severe and pretentious Blifil, son of Bridget, the squire's sister. Master Blifil and the bastard Tom grew up in the same estate, and have received the same education and the same affection from the squire. Blifil is rather strict and reserved; Tom, a jolly lad who pleases the ladies (both young and old), generous but impulsive and not strictly honourable, is too easily moved by a pretty face and has a tendency to put himself in difficult or scabrous situations.
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