Archive of Our Own ^beta

when does elizabeth realize a man who respects his wife so little
did not respect his mother
and does not respect her except as she is
not a woman

why does s/he realize it only when he isn’t anymore,
a woman,
is able to see better, the ways men fight each other
for made-up power;
how they hurt women
to become themselves;
that their kindness (they think weakness)
— chivalry
is possible only thru condescension:
you can pretend, playing with someone younger than you, or stupid,
that you’re not very good at whist,
as you never would with a man

eliot thinks it’s a nice name; he
tries not to see what he / his father both can’t help:
how it’s too late for mr bennet; who, 
predestined, or having made
a series of decisions during a lifetime,
to be blind, and egotistical, and stupid;

to marry someone he did not respect.

(fitzwilliam (will) says he likes men too, & kisses eliot like he means it)

it takes a person very sure of the significance of genitalia
to be entirely unwilling to believe that names can change
and people very sure of the significance of genitalia
rarely believe that women can be smart
and eliot
is not a child, nor stupid; and mr bennet (no one’s) worth
pretending otherwise