There’s a reason why Jane Austen’s characters have been repurposed so many times — why, they’ve simply bewitched us. We’ve seen how Emma fared in the ‘90s, living in Beverly Hills with a rad closet and Paul Rudd in “Clueless.” We’ve also seen Elizabeth Bennet in the early 2000s, stuck in a love triangle between Colin Firth and Hugh Grant in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” To keep up with the changing times, here’s what Jane’s Austen’s characters would be doing right now.
Elizabeth Bennet
Lizzie took a gap year to do charity work with kids around the country. When she got back to college, she decided to get a degree in English literature, writing her main thesis on Virginia Woolf. She also met a guy named Darcy a couple years ago at her publishing firm. She wasn’t sure what his deal was at first — he had this innovative flirting method called “avoid her at all costs most of the time.” Really strange guy. But now they’re engaged!
Mr. Darcy
No one really knows his title or what he actually does at work. If people need something from him, they go to Lizzie first.
Lydia Bennet
Lydia has a Snap Score over 1 million, but never answers her texts. She sends out mass Snapchat pictures to keep up her streaks and uses way too many dog filters, but she does what she can to show she’s living her best life. Recently, she’s gotten into cleanses and celery juice to stay relevant.
Emma Woodhouse
Emma is the friend that tells you to wear that dress with those heels. She’s the girl who “knows just the right guy” for you and is always a step more involved in people’s lives than she should be. In fact, she was so good at matchmaking that she became a Bumble ambassador and proceeded to make a career out of wedding planning. Her weddings were the most coveted events, and she became quite Pinterest and Instagram famous. Think: cream color palette, champagne and pale pink garden roses. Rumor has it, she planned Ariana Grande’s wedding and personally delivered her Vera Wang wedding dress.
Mr. Knightley
He shows up to Emma’s wedding planning office, but only so he can correct Emma on how to run something he knows nothing about. The people in the office know their love language thrives off of irritating each other and tend to steer away from them or risk getting pulled into a debate.
Elinor Dashwood
Elinor is a computer programmer. She researched all logistics on why this career is most beneficial for her and her family and has no plans to deter… until she abruptly chooses to study abroad in Morocco and falls in love with a guy who owns a bar and stays there forever. Essentially, what “Casablanca” should have been.
Marianne Dashwood
Marianne struggled to find her footing for a little bit. She started as a freshman majoring in business as per her sister’s advice. But, she became so stressed that she fell sick, and in the process, a grad student named Brandon helped nurse her back to health. She became inspired to drop business for Brandon, but then decided to re-major in business for her sister and then finally decided to drop it again, this time for herself. She’s still learning how to prioritize herself and her family, but luckily her sister is way less rigid since moving to Morocco.
Caroline Bingley
The only thing running through Caroline’s mind is: Who the heck are these “Bridgerton” girls?
