Key Quote
“"A military life is not what I was intended for, but circumstances have now made it eligible"”
Wickham · Chapter 16
Focus: “circumstances”
Wickham positions himself as a victim of circumstance — the passive voice ('was intended for', 'have made it eligible') removes his own agency from the narrative. He presents his life as something that happened TO him rather than choices he made.
Technique 1 — PASSIVE CONSTRUCTION AS SELF-EXCULPATION
The passive voice ('was intended for', 'have made it eligible') systematically removes Wickham's agency — things happen to him; he never acts. 'Circumstances' is a deliberately vague noun that avoids naming his own dissolute behaviour as the cause of his situation. This self-exculpatory (self-excusing) grammar is Wickham's signature: he constructs himself as passive victim rather than active agent.
The word 'eligible' (suitable, worth choosing) is ironic — it's the same word used throughout the novel to describe desirable marriage partners. Wickham applies it to a military career he joined out of necessity, not choice. The word's double resonance exposes his habit of dressing up necessity as selection: everything Wickham does by default he presents as a conscious, dignified choice.
Key Words
RAD — STAGNATE
Wickham's refusal to accept responsibility for his own situation is a form of moral stagnation — he cannot grow because he never acknowledges his role in his own failures. His passive self-presentation is not just a deceptive strategy but a genuine feature of his psychology: he has deceived himself as thoroughly as he deceives others.
Key Words
Technique 2 — VICTIM NARRATIVE
Wickham constructs a coherent victim narrative — a story in which he is consistently wronged by powerful people (Darcy, fate, circumstance) while remaining blameless himself. This narrative is compelling because it has elements of truth: he WAS promised a living, and Darcy's father DID intend him for the church. But the narrative omits his gambling, his debts, and his attempt to elope with Georgiana Darcy for her fortune.
Austen shows how sympathy can be weaponised: Wickham's victim story generates sympathy that he then converts into trust, social advantage, and eventually Elizabeth's partisan support against Darcy. The novel warns against automatic sympathy for apparent victims — not because victims don't exist, but because victimhood can be performed.
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Context (AO3)
THE CHURCH & THE ARMY
In Regency England, the younger sons of gentlemen had three respectable career options: the church, the law, or the military. Wickham was intended for the church (an ironically inappropriate career for a man of his morals). His shift to the military signals a fall in social respectability — the militia was considered less distinguished than a church living.
WICKHAM & DARCY
Wickham and Darcy grew up together — Wickham was the son of Darcy's father's steward. Their different paths (Darcy inherits wealth and responsibility; Wickham squanders opportunities and blames others) create the novel's most direct moral contrast. Austen uses them as paired foils: same starting point, opposite moral trajectories.
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WOW — NARRATIVE IDENTITY (McAdams)
Psychologist Dan McAdams argues that identity is a story we tell ourselves about ourselves — we select, arrange, and interpret events to create a coherent life narrative. Wickham's carefully constructed victimhood is a textbook example of a distorted life narrative: he selects events that support his role as wronged innocent and omits those that contradict it. McAdams argues that emotionally healthy people revise their narratives in light of new self-knowledge; unhealthy people rigidly maintain narratives that protect them from accountability. Wickham never revises — his story is fixed because revision would require admitting fault.
Key Words