...good people have been corrupted by their upbringing or are, to quote from another Austen novel, "naturally bad." Having had the amazing luck to have the persons in question on my couch--in the psychotherapeutic sense--I wish to contribute my assessment of their psychological condition in order to inform the "Crawfordite debates." (1) My diagnostic impressions, based on my sessions with these clients and additional documentation provided by Miss Jane Austen, are that Mr. and Miss C, as they shall be called, have been emotionally and ethically damaged, not only by their aunt and uncle's morally deficient influence, but by how they have each been treated by same and opposite-sex parental figures. The Cs' behavior towards the B siblings and Miss P is an unconscious--and ineffective--attempt to replicate their earlier experiences in order to resolve these experiences in a positive, empowering manner. My assessment follows.

IDENTIFYING INFORMATION

Mr. C is a single, Caucasian male in his mid-twenties, British, shorter than average--between 5'8" and 5'9"--absolutely plain, but well made, with an olive complexion and straight white teeth, elegantly dressed. He speaks eloquently and behaved very pleasantly throughout our sessions. His appearance and demeanor are suggestive of a well-educated gentleman overcompensating for his very plain appearance by charm and wit, and dressing in a manner that emphasizes his best features. He resides in a rented house in a fashionable district of London, with visits to his country estate in Norfolk.

Miss C is a single Caucasian female in her early twenties, British, also shorter than average--between 5'1" and 5'2"--very pretty, with a sturdy but slim build, olive complexion and straight white teeth, also elegantly dressed. Like her brother, she is pleasant, witty, and given to suggestive puns. Her appearance and demeanor are those of an accomplished, well-read gentlewoman who is overcompensating for her shortness by dressing in a manner that emphasizes her best features. She resides with her older half-sister, Mrs. G, and Mrs. G's husband, a doctor of theology, in a house near Westminster Abbey in London.

REFERRAL

Miss C was referred to my practice by her half-sister because of symptoms of depression, described as "low spirits," "refusing dinner invitations," and "playing plaintive airs upon the harp." Mr. C was referred to my practice by Dr. G, also because of symptoms suggestive of depression, described as "reading Shakespeare by the hour," "leaving half his dinner untouched," and "refusing even my best claret." These symptoms, according to the Gs, increased "most alarmingly" with an announcement in the London papers last fall of a marriage between Miss Frances Price and Mr. Edmund Bertram, with whom Mr. and Miss C respectively were, according to the Gs, deeply in love.

INTAKE INTERVIEWS AND INITIAL EVALUATIONS

Mr. C, when asked to describe his current state of mind, replied that he was filled with "vexation and regret--vexation that must rise ... to self-reproach, and regret to wretchedness" (468-69). Mr. C ascribed these emotions to "[my] having so requited hospitality, so injured family peace, so forfeited [my] best, most estimable and endeared acquaintance, and so lost the woman whom [I] had rationally, as well as passionately loved" (469). Mr. C reported that he had proposed marriage to Miss P and had been refused, but that he had been trying to convince her that his love was "constant." Mr. C attributed his loss of Miss P to the discovery of his sexual relationship with a Mrs. R, a cousin of Miss P, a discovery that culminated in his leaving London with Mrs. R to avoid her husband. When asked why he had entered this relationship while in love with Miss P, Mr. C responded that Mrs. R, who had been in love with him before her marriage, and who knew he had proposed to Miss P, had "mortified" him by acting coldly towards him at a party (468). He felt he must "exert [my]self to subdue so proud a display of resentment," in order to avenge Miss P, as he believed that Mrs. R's anger was "on Fanny's account; [and I] must get the better of it" (468). He claimed he had not intended the relationship to progress so far, that his views were "bounded" by "flirtation" only, but that Mrs. R's "power of feeling[ ]" was "more strong than [I] had supposed" (468). He said be could not end the relationship, as his "attentions" were so "avowedly dear to her" (468). He blamed the discovery of their affair on Mrs. R's "imprudence"; claimed he ran away with her because he "could not help it"; that he "regrett[ed] Fanny" while leaving with Mrs. R (468); and insisted that Mrs. R was "the ruin of all [my] happiness in Fanny" (464).

Mr. C appeared at this interview to be sincerely grieving the loss of Miss P but in serious denial of the extent of his responsibility in the situation, especially considering that he had begun the affair with Mrs. R in order to reassert his emotional power over her, to "make Mrs. Rushworth Miss Bertram again in her treatment of [myself]" (468). Initial evaluation is that Mr. C, despite his obvious intelligence, is rationalizing to the point of delusion and has serious narcissism and passivity issues, as well as commitment avoidance.

Miss C seemed less affected by her romantic disappointment in Mr. EB, for whom she said, she had "real affection" (464) but whom she could not "respect," since he had no desire to be "'very rich'" (213) and was content to be a clergyman when he "'really [was] fit for something better'" (93), such as the law or the military. She insisted that she "'must look down upon any thing content with obscurity when it might rise to distinction'" (214). She added that the last time she had seen him--during which time she had failed to convince him to help her arrange a marriage between Mr. C and Mrs. R, in order to patch up their "'folly'" (454)--he had condemned her corrupt morals, claimed that he had never before understood her, and affirmed that it was easier for him to give her up since he realized that she must have "'been the creature of [his] own imagination'" (458). Miss C described Mr. EB's remarks as a "'pretty good lecture, ... part of [his] last sermon,'" and laughingly predicted that he would soon become a Methodist reformer or missionary (458). However, though she appeared to be "'speak[ing] carelessly,'" she "'turned extremely red'" (458) while recounting the meeting. She blamed Miss P for Mr. C's affair with Mrs. R, claiming that she would "'never forgive'" Miss P (456). When questioned as to how Miss P was responsible for the current situation, Miss C responded that "'[h]ad she accepted him as she ought, ... Henry would have been too happy and too busy to want any other object,'" and that he would merely have...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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