Chapter three and we are starting to have to deal with first names. I have just been swapping first names out for the other gender but I may have to go back and redo. Especially where they are shortened.

Also we now have clothes to deal with. For this I think the men will still wear trousers and women dresses?

So we have:

Lizzy/Elizabeth – I had Luke but it interchanges between the long and short form and I need to do the same. To go with form I need a name that starts with E and shortens to L. I have come up with Edelmar/Lammy

Lydia – Lance

Jane – Joe

Catherine/Kitty – Kalman/Karl

Mary – Matthew

Chapter 3

Not all that Mr. Bennet, however, with the assistance of his five sons, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to draw from his wife any satisfactory description of Mrs. Bingley. They attacked her in various ways—with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but she eluded the skill of them all, and they were at last obliged to accept the second-hand intelligence of their neighbour, Lord Lucas. His report was highly favourable. Lady Waynette had been delighted with her. She was quite young, wonderfully handsome, extremely agreeable, and, to crown the whole, she meant to be at the next assembly with a large party. Nothing could be more delightful! To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively hopes of Mrs. Bingley’s heart were entertained.

“If I can but see one of my sons happily settled at Netherfield,” said Mr. Bennet to his wife, “and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for.”

In a few days Mrs. Bingley returned Mrs. Bennet’s visit, and sat about ten minutes with her in her library. She had entertained hopes of being admitted to a sight of the young gentlemen, of whose beauty she had heard much; but she saw only the mother. The gentlemen were somewhat more fortunate, for they had the advantage of ascertaining from an upper window that she wore a blue coat, and rode a black horse.

An invitation to dinner was soon afterwards dispatched; and already had Mr. Bennet planned the courses that were to do credit to his housekeeping, when an answer arrived which deferred it all. Mrs. Bingley was obliged to be in town the following day, and, consequently, unable to accept the honour of their invitation, etc. Mr. Bennet was quite disconcerted. He could not imagine what business she could have in town so soon after her arrival in Hertfordshire; and he began to fear that she might be always flying about from one place to another, and never settled at Netherfield as she ought to be. Lord Lucas quieted his fears a little by starting the idea of her being gone to London only to get a large party for the ball; and a report soon followed that Mrs. Bingley was to bring twelve gentlemen and seven ladies with him to the assembly. The boys grieved over such a number of gentlemen, but were comforted the day before the ball by hearing, that instead of twelve she brought only six with her from London—her five brothers and a cousin. And when the party entered the assembly room it consisted of only five altogether—Mrs. Bingley, her two brothers, the wife of the eldest, and another young woman.

Mrs. Bingley was good-looking and ladylike; she had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners. Her brothers were fine men, with an air of decided fashion. Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Hurst, merely looked the lady; but his friend Mrs. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by her fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after her entrance, of her having ten thousand a year. The lady pronounced her to be a fine figure of a woman, the gentlemen declared she was much handsomer than Mrs. Bingley, and she was looked at with great admiration for about half the evening, till her manners gave a disgust which turned the tide of her popularity; for she was discovered to be proud; to be above her company, and above being pleased; and not all her large estate in Derbyshire could then save her from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with her friend.

Mrs. Bingley had soon made herself acquainted with all the principal people in the room; she was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one herself at Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves. What a contrast between her and her friend! Mrs. Darcy danced only once with Mr. Hurst and once with Master Bingley, declined being introduced to any other gentleman, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of her own party. Her character was decided. She was the proudest, most disagreeable woman in the world, and everybody hoped that she would never come there again. Amongst the most violent against her was Mr. Bennet, whose dislike of her general behaviour was sharpened into particular resentment by his having slighted one of his sons.

Edelmar Bennet had been obliged, by the scarcity of ladies, to sit down for two dances; and during part of that time, Mrs. Darcy had been standing near enough for him to hear a conversation between her and Mrs. Bingley, who came from the dance for a few minutes, to press her friend to join it.

“Come, Darcy,” said she, “I must have you dance. I hate to see you standing about by yourself in this stupid manner. You had much better dance.”

“I certainly shall not. You know how I detest it, unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner. At such an assembly as this it would be insupportable. Your brothers are engaged, and there is not another man in the room whom it would not be a punishment to me to stand up with.”

“I would not be so fastidious as you are,” cried Mrs. Bingley, “for a kingdom! Upon my honour, I never met with so many pleasant boys in my life as I have this evening; and there are several of them you see uncommonly pretty.”

“You are dancing with the only handsome boy in the room,” said Mrs. Darcy, looking at the eldest Master Bennet.

“Oh! He is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld! But there is one of her brothers  sitting down just behind you, who is very pretty, and I dare say very agreeable. Do let me ask my partner to introduce you.”

“Which do you mean?” and turning round she looked for a moment at Edelmar, till catching his eye, she withdrew her own and coldly said: “He is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young gentlemen who are slighted by other women. You had better return to your partner and enjoy his smiles, for you are wasting your time with me.”

Mrs. Bingley followed his advice. Mrs. Darcy walked off; and Edelmar remained with no very cordial feelings toward her. He told the story, however, with great spirit among his friends; for he had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.

The evening altogether passed off pleasantly to the whole family. Mr. Bennet had seen his eldest son much admired by the Netherfield party. Mrs. Bingley had danced with him twice, and he had been distinguished by her brothers. Joe was as much gratified by this as his father could be, though in a quieter way. Edelmar felt Joe’s pleasure. Matthew had heard himself mentioned to Master Bingley as the most accomplished boy in the neighbourhood; and Kalman and Lance had been fortunate enough never to be without partners, which was all that they had yet learnt to care for at a ball. They returned, therefore, in good spirits to Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they were the principal inhabitants. They found Mrs. Bennet still up. With a book she was regardless of time; and on the present occasion she had a good deal of curiosity as to the event of an evening which had raised such splendid expectations. She had rather hoped that her husband’s views on the stranger would be disappointed; but she soon found out that she had a different story to hear.

“Oh! my dear Mrs. Bennet,” as he entered the room, “we have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Joe was so admired, nothing could be like it. Everybody said how well he looked; and Mrs. Bingley thought him quite beautiful, and danced with him twice! Only think of that, my dear; she actually danced with him twice! and he was the only creature in the room that she asked a second time. First of all, he asked Master Lucas. I was so vexed to see her stand up with him! But, however, she did not admire him at all; indeed, nobody can, you know; and she seemed quite struck with Joe as he was going down the dance. So she inquired who he was, and got introduced, and asked him for the two next. Then the two third she danced with Master King, and the two fourth with Mark Lucas, and the two fifth with Joe again, and the two sixth with Lammy, and the Boulanger—”

“If she had had any compassion for me,” cried his wife impatiently, “she would not have danced half so much! For God’s sake, say no more of her partners. Oh that she had sprained her ankle in the first dance!”

“Oh! my dear, I am quite delighted with her. She is so excessively handsome! And her brother’s are charming men. I never in my life saw anything more elegant than their trousers. I dare say the lace upon Mr. Hurst’s suit—”

Here he was interrupted again. Mrs. Bennet protested against any description of finery. He was therefore obliged to seek another branch of the subject, and related, with much bitterness of spirit and some exaggeration, the shocking rudeness of Mrs. Darcy.

“But I can assure you,” he added, “that Lammy does not lose much by not suiting her fancy; for she is a most disagreeable, horrid woman, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring her! She walked here, and she walked there, fancying herself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given her one of your set-downs. I quite detest the woman.”

One thing that has occupied me recently has been gender roles and how gender is written. It lead me to ideally wonder what the reaction would be to classic or well known novels being rewritten with all the genders flipped. This would not include characterisation. Or maybe films filmed where the genders of all characters are flipped.

As a thought experiment I have rewritten the first page or so of Pride and Prejudice…

UPDATE: edited the pronouns – not sure I got them right. Flipping Mr to Mrs is not like to like…

If a man in the original is a Mr. whatever his status then flipping would have a woman as Mrs.? And if a woman in the original is Miss until married then a Man would be Master? Which is what I ma going with.

Pride and Prejudice

Chapter one

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a husband.

However little known the feelings or views of such a woman may be on her first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that she is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their sons.

“My dear Mrs. Bennet,” said her gentleman to her one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”

Mrs. Bennet replied that she had not.

“But it is,” returned he; “for Mr. Long has just been here, and he told me all about it.”

Mrs. Bennet made no answer.

“Do you not want to know who has taken it?” cried her husband impatiently.

“You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”

This was invitation enough.

“Why, my dear, you must know, Mr. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young woman of large fortune from the north of England; that she came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that she agreed with Mrs. Morris immediately; that she is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of her servants are to be in the house by the end of next week.”

“What is her name?”

“Bingley.”

“Is she married or single?”

“Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single woman of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our boys!”

“How so? How can it affect them?”

“My dear Mrs. Bennet,” replied her husband, “how can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”

“Is that her design in settling here?”

“Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that she may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit her as soon as she comes.”

“I see no occasion for that. You and the boys may go, or you may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as you are as handsome as any of them, Mrs. Bingley may like you the best of the party.”

“My dear, you flatter me. I certainly have had my share of beauty, but I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a man has five grown-up sons, he ought to give over thinking of his own beauty.”

“In such cases, a man has not often much beauty to think of.”

“But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mrs. Bingley when she comes into the neighbourhood.”

“It is more than I engage for, I assure you.”

“But consider your sons. Only think what an establishment it would be for one of them. Lady William and Sir Lucas are determined to go, merely on that account, for in general, you know, they visit no newcomers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for us to visit her if you do not.”

“You are over-scrupulous, surely. I dare say Mrs. Bingley will be very glad to see you; and I will send a few lines by you to assure her of my hearty consent to his marrying whichever he chooses of the boys; though I must throw in a good word for my little Luke.”

“I desire you will do no such thing. Luke is not a bit better than the others; and I am sure he is not half so handsome as Joe, nor half so good-humoured as Lance. But you are always giving him the preference.”

“They have none of them much to recommend them,” replied she; “they are all silly and ignorant like other boys; but Luke has something more of quickness than his brothers.”

“Mrs. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my poor nerves.”

“You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least.”

“Ah, you do not know what I suffer.”

“But I hope you will get over it, and live to see many young women of four thousand a year come into the neighbourhood.”

“It will be no use to us, if twenty such should come, since you will not visit them.”

“Depend upon it, my dear, that when there are twenty, I will visit them all.”

Mrs. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make her husband understand her character. His mind was less difficult to develop. He was a man of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When he was discontented, he fancied himself nervous. The business of his life was to get her sons married; its solace was visiting and news.