The BBC miniseries and (below) Jane Austen

“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil — a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”

“And your defect is to hate everybody.”

“And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is willfully to misunderstand them.”

It’s been almost 20 years since I first read this exchange between Mr Darcy (he is never just Darcy and never, ever Fitzwilliam, William or Will!) and Elizabeth Bennet and it still manages to make me sigh with satisfaction, every time I read the book, which would be more than 20 times. Jane Austen has written many beautiful stories, iconic romances and memorable characters but none quite like Pride and Prejudice, which turned 200 this year.

The first time I read the book I was 12 years old. I started out hating Mr Darcy just like Lizzy did, as did other Austenites, but ended up falling in love with what I, like many others am sure, consider the epitome of a perfect man. Tall and handsome, strong and silent, tough yet vulnerable Fitzwilliam Darcy is what dreams are made of.

I was an even bigger goner when BBC adapted the book into a six-part movie with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy. The woman in me rejoices in the wilful and strong character of Eliza Bennet. I love how a man of importance who is secure in his social standing falls for a girl who is so-called below his social stature only to be rebuffed by the girl who finds him proud, rude and arrogant and tells him “You could not have made the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it.” You go, girl!

There are many moments from the book that I now know by heart. Freaky, but I even know the page numbers of those scenes and often turn to them to give me a lift if I am feeling down. It has never failed me.

I love how she discovers Mr Darcy’s positive side through the letter he gives her after his proposal in Kent but not enough to like him. I love the scenes in Pemberley where Mr Darcy’s gracious behaviour, his eagerness to introduce Lizzy to his sister and his anxiousness to please endears him to her. And I love how he heroically helps save Lizzy’s family from scandal, sealing her love for him.

And then the joy and happiness of the final union! “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever” — Mr Darcy tells Eliza. Needless to say he wasn’t. Silenced that is.

There is so much to be said about speaking little and conveying volumes.

It is the romance of Pride and Prejudice that for me makes me go back to it again and again. And thanks to Colin Firth and his wet shirt (watch the BBC movie and your life will be irrevocably changed!) and writers like Helen Fielding (author of Bridget Jones’s Diary), Mr Darcy has become THE Mr Right for me. And us.