Mr. Wickham

George Wickham
Gender	Male
Occupation	Officer in Colonel Forster's regiment.
Income	Less than 100 pounds a year.
Family
Spouse(s)	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 militia officer who has a shared history with Mr. Darcy. 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 him. It is revealed through the course of the story that George Wickham's true nature is that of a manipulative unprincipled layabout, a ne'er-do-well , compulsive liar (talking out of both sides of mouth, and using the truth to make his falsehoods very believable) and a degenerate, compulsive gambler, a seducer and a libertine, living the lifestyle of a rake. Lacking the finances to pay for his lifestyle, he gambles regularly (not just because he is a degenerate compulsive gambler and has no sense of economy) and cons credit from tradesman and shopkeepers and skips out on paying-up.

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.

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