Christmas Specials | Single men in possession of good fortunes Was Mr Darcy the richest of all Jane Austen’s characters? It depends how you count their wealth Dec 12th 2025|2 min read Mr Darcy is handsome, smouldering and rich. According to the 1995 television adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice”, he is also an excellent swimmer. But in Austen’s next novel, “Mansfield Park”, she introduces a man **in possession of **even more money: Mr Rushworth. He is a clod, a “king” who appears “best in the background”. But he is blessed with an estate spanning 700 acres (not counting the water meadows), one of the best houses on London’s Wimpole Street and £12,000 a year to Darcy’s mere £10,000. It is fun to compare characters’ fortunes across novels. Doing so reveals “fiscal twins”, as Marilyn Francus of West Virginia University calls them. For example, Mr Bennet’s income in “Pride and Prejudice” (£2,000) is as large as Colonel Brandon’s in “Sense and Sensibility”. Strange, then, that Mr Bennet has done so little to secure his daughters’ futures. In “Northanger Abbey” James Morland can offer Isabella Thorpe only £400 a year. If she had settled for that, she would have become the fiscal twin of Mrs Price, the poorest sister in “Mansfield Park”, who lived a life of clatter and chaos on what is reckoned to be a similar amount. The problem with these comparisons, however, is that the pound’s purchasing power was not steady in the years between Austen novels. Harvest failures and recurring wars with France contributed to rapid inflation. Conversely, the demobilisation of soldiers in brief interludes of peace caused unemployment and deflation. Austen was aware of the problem. While revising “Sense and Sensibility” in 1811, she noted that “the Incomes remain as they were, but I will get them altered if I can.” It can make a big difference whether her numbers reflect the characters’ times or the year of publication. Some scholars, for example, argue that “Pride and Prejudice” is set around 1793-4 when militias were mobilised to protect Britain from possible invasion by France (“a whole campful of soldiers” thrills Lydia, the youngest and most feckless Bennet sister). “Mansfield Park”, on the other hand, is believed to start in 1808 or 1812. Between 1793 and 1808, the cost of living rose by over half, according to Charles Feinstein, an economic historian. That means the £12,000 flowing to Mr Rushworth in “Mansfield Park” did not stretch as far as the pounds accruing to Mr Darcy roughly 15 years earlier. Indeed, Mr Rushworth’s fortune was worth less than £7,900 at the prices prevailing in 1793. By that logic, he is not in fact the richest of Austen’s characters. Mr Darcy is a better catch.■ 聖誕特輯｜單身男子若擁有良好財富達西先生是珍．奧斯汀筆下最富有的角色嗎？答案取決於你如何計算他們的財富 2025 年 12 月 12 日｜2 分鐘閱讀達西先生英俊、憂鬱而富有。根據 1995 年的電視劇《傲慢與偏見》，他還是一位游泳好手。但在奧斯汀的下一部小說《曼斯菲爾德莊園》中，她介紹了一位擁有更多財富的男子：拉什沃斯先生。他是個呆板的人物，一位「國王」，「最適合待在背景裡」。然而，他坐擁一座占地 700 英畝（尚未計入水草豐美的河畔草地）的莊園、倫敦溫波爾街上最好的宅邸之一，以及每年 12,000 英鎊的收入，相比之下，達西先生的年收入只有 10,000 英鎊。把不同小說中的角色財富拿來比較，頗具趣味。這樣做會揭示出所謂的「財政雙胞胎」，西維吉尼亞大學的瑪麗蓮．弗朗西斯如此稱呼。例如，《傲慢與偏見》中班納特先生的收入（2,000 英鎊）與《理性與感性》中布蘭登上校的收入相同。那麼奇怪的是，班納特先生為何幾乎沒有為女兒們的未來做出安排？ (Chloe-- 但是她們的媽媽真的處心積慮了! 看單身男性都是在看年收入!! 聽看看經典的1995年BBC Pride and Prejudice的媽媽說話, 戲劇味十足而且頭會很痛!)在《諾桑覺寺》(17歲的凱薩琳·莫蘭陪伴富有無子的鄰居艾倫夫婦到巴斯度假，結識了新潮時髦的索普兄妹和有教養的蒂爾尼兄妹。後者邀請她到他們的宅第——諾桑覺寺做客。)中，詹姆斯．莫蘭只能向伊莎貝拉．索普提供每年 400 英鎊的生活費；若她接受了這樣的條件，她便會成為《曼斯菲爾德莊園》中最貧窮的姊妹——普萊斯太太——的「財政雙胞胎」，後者在大致相同的收入下，過著喧鬧而混亂的生活。然而，這些比較的問題在於：奧斯汀各部小說之間的年代，英鎊的購買力並非一成不變。歉收與與法國反覆爆發的戰爭導致通貨膨脹迅速上升；相反地，短暫和平時期士兵復員，又造成失業與通貨緊縮。奧斯汀對此心知肚明。1811 年修訂《理性與感性》時，她曾寫道：「收入仍然保持原樣，但如果可以的話，我會把它們改一改。」這些數字究竟反映的是故事設定的年代，還是出版的年份，差別甚大。部分學者認為，《傲慢與偏見》的故事背景約在 1793 至 1794 年，當時為防範法國可能入侵，民兵被動員起來——「整個營地的士兵」讓最年幼、也最輕率的班納特姊妹莉迪亞興奮不已。相較之下，《曼斯菲爾德莊園》一般被認為始於 1808 年或 1812 年。經濟史學家查爾斯．費恩斯坦指出，1793 年至 1808 年之間，生活成本上升了五成以上。這意味著，《曼斯菲爾德莊園》中流入拉什沃斯先生手中的 12,000 英鎊，遠不如大約早 15 年前達西先生所累積的英鎊來得寬裕。事實上，按 1793 年的物價水準換算，拉什沃斯先生的財富價值還不到 7,900 英鎊。照此邏輯，他其實並非奧斯汀筆下最富有的人物；達西先生才是更理想的良緣。■ -- Hosting provided by SoundOn

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