How Rich is Mr. Darcy?

This is something that my husband asked me recently, after we watched Pride and Prejudice for the one millionth time. At first I thought he was just really into Keira Knightley, but he has also seen the Colin Firth version with me and seems to like them both equally. Or maybe he’s just really good at hiding his crush on Keira.

In any case: How rich IS Mr. Darcy? This has been written about by several historians, economists, and Austen scholars, but here’s my reply, geared toward a 2009 audience:

You know in Sex in the City how Mr. Big has a driver and the biggest New York apartment you can imagine? How he seems to have everything he wants and a ridiculous amount of folding money? That’s how rich Mr. Darcy is. Except Mr. Darcy isn’t a philandering jerk. (Sorry, SITC fans, but Mr. Big’s got nothing on a nice Regency gentleman.)

Economist Brad Delong puts it this way:

“Figure him as a thirty-year-old retired dot-com millionaire with wealth of $150 million or so…” Here’s the link to Mr. DeLong’s article.

This article by James Heldman is probably the best one on the topic of Darcy’s wealth, as well as the wealth of Austen’s other characters (and of Austen herself). When you read Heldman’s article, which pegs Darcy’s annual (adjusted) income as about $300,000/year, plus this article, which refers to the fact that Darcy’s annual income represents 4%-5% of his actual wealth, you begin to see the whole picture.

Think of his 4%-5% income as the annual return on his investments & properties. That means that Darcy’s net worth is closer to six million dollars, in today’s terms. Now think about Elizabeth Bennet telling him that she won’t marry him. Now think about Jane Austen making Elizabeth fall for Darcy the moment she sees his six-million-dollar estate. It’s really a deliciously mercenary story, couched in romantic love.

Interestingly enough, Darcy isn’t Austen’s richest character. That distinction (according to Heldman) is Mr. John Dashwood, from Sense and Sensibility. This may be because, as one of the commenters on the DeLong article points out:

“P&P takes place in 1811-12. First Impressions, the original, probably took place in 1799; it’s likely that Darcy’s income, being such a round number, didn’t change when Austen revised FI to P&P. So the basis for comparison is the high-price mid-war environment, rather than the low-price post-war slump.”

Or it could be, as another commenter points out, that Darcy’s wealth is merely symbolic. The point is not whether he is richer than a character in another novel; the point is that within the world of Pride & Prejudice, he is ridiculously wealthy. He’s a dot.com millionare who got out before it went bust. He’s Mr. Big. He’s the man. The point is that Elizabeth is a damn fool to tell him no, and THAT, my dears, is what makes it a wonderful story.