Unequal Affections: A Pride and Prejudice Retelling

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets Mr. Darcy, she despises him, believing he feels the same toward her. Angered by his pride and reserve, and influenced by the lies of the charming Mr. Wickham, she is convinced he is the worst of men—until he unexpectedly proposes. Darcy's passionate declaration of love forces Elizabeth to reconsider everything she believed about him. She recognizes that he is rich, handsome, clever, and deeply in love with her, while she is poor with a future of increasing poverty unless she marries. Though the incentives to accept him are strong, she is honest enough to tell him she does not return his affections. He claims he can accept this—but will either of them find true happiness in a relationship of unequal affection? This retelling diverges from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice at the proposal scene in the Hunsford parsonage. It explores what kind of man Darcy is before his eventual humbling, and how such a proud, deeply in love man might have behaved had Elizabeth accepted his original proposal.