Post by MISS CAROLINE BINGLEY on May 27, 2013 6:19:19 GMT -5
MISS CAROLINE BINGLEY
FULL NAME AND TITLE: Miss Caroline Bingley
GOES BY: Caroline (to her siblings & dearest friends), Miss Bingley (to the remainder)
AGE: 25
CLASS: Gentry
OCCUPATION: Socialite
POSITION IN FAMILY: Youngest Daughter/Manager of the House
FINANCES: £20 000 (1200/Year with 5% interest.)
FACE CLAIM: Kelly Reilly
EYE COLOR: Green
HAIR COLOR: Red
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'3", Slender
DESCRIPTION:
If her tendency towards judgement – when openly revealed - is not an attractor of persons, then Miss Bingley's figure most certainly is. In compensation for her somewhat modest background, Caroline is sure to be always at the forefront of the Season’s trend and has begun to be known for her flawless taste. There is not a thing about her that is not meticulously chosen, though it is her ability to make it look so effortless that has truly begun to define her. Well-kept and impeccably dressed, this wolf always looks to be the loveliest of lambs and ensures at all times that such assets appear at their best.
Her face is no exception to this rule; she is as handsome in visage as she is cunning in thought, and knows how to use her charming bone structure and elegant green eyes to good advantage - were it only that they more often glowed with warmth than with contempt. Her pale complexion – kept almost obsessively from the sun to avoid the development of any more freckles – is the envy of many a girl who has spent one too many days out doors and the finish of her auburn hair lends her an undoubtedly rosy countenance.
Quite tall for a woman of the Ton, Miss Bingley has a stately presence, augmented by the strictest training of her posture and careful mask of confidence, so as to appear the part of the woman she will become, rather than the woman she has been.
Considering her wealth and looks, it is apparent that the only reason Caroline is not yet married is personal choice.
Of course, on nearer inspection, there is a certain meanness of spirit that underpins and, frankly, undermines Miss Bingley’s charms. While at first glance she is of the loveliest women to be found about society, an extended acquaintance seems to peel away her pristine exterior layer by petty layer, revealing a much more fragile and sometimes ugly creature underneath.
PERSONALITY:
Caroline Bingley is brilliant, well-educated and terribly misguided.
The hallmark of her kind, she is so distinctly fashioned by the expectations of a highly pressurised society as to make her adherence to it almost admirable and while many instincts within her are rather noble ones - to marry well, to be the pride of her position, to care for her family at whatever cost - her execution of these leaves much to be desired in the eyes of a more stringent morality that examines both the means and the end. Were it not for the egregious omissions of kindness in her, she might well have been a force for extraordinary goodness in the world.
As it is, however, Caroline possesses far too high a regard for the opinions of those who are perceived, however erroneously, as the ones who ‘matter’. She is so busy being about the business of conforming, that she has quite forgotten that there might be anything more genuine to the life she is building for herself and has opted instead for an empty and ironic form of vanity. Her family coming ever so recently into its wealth, she has lived in constant fear of lacking anything at all that ought to be hers by way of her position. She is very much aware that those who are born with natural grace into generations of good family are at an advantage and she will do everything she possibly can to ensure that she makes up for whatever deficiency there might be in her with pure tenacity and studied perfectionism.
Her motives for this might be perceived as purely selfish, but Caroline thoroughly believes in the betterment of oneself and it would simply be incorrect to say that she does not think of her family, especially the one that is to come.
It is a greater life for those who are well-bred and well-connected.
Thus, she charges after her checklist of perfections with all the gusto of a hungry lioness, taking her lead from those she perceives as her betters and stepping into their shoes whenever she can, projecting an image of self-confidence that even she very nearly believes. She makes no apology for her high standards, no matter how inherited they may be, believing them to be the marks of a superior society and a superior woman. As a natural result of this tendency, she is highly manipulative, feeling a desperate need to be in control of her environment and her fellow man in equal measure.
For on closer inspection, young Caroline is trembling with the strain of her ongoing crusade and grows weary under the weight of such an aversion to herself, for indeed she dislikes herself intently and views her flaws with a more critical eye than she applies even to those she sees as beneath her. Of them it is expected. Of herself? Intolerable. The more she attempts to correct the error, however, the more ardently she seems to fail. So, naturally, she takes it out on others around her, lashing out at what faults she can perceive in her social inferiors so as to better recommend herself and idolizing those in her company she perceives as being excellent models for any aspiring contributor to society.
CHARACTER GOAL OR CONFLICT:
Perfectionism: Caroline subconsciously believes that her only worth lies in meeting the approval of excellent people. She consciously pursues this need for affirmation by pursuing society’s ideal for a young woman, or at least the appearance of it. The only problem is that ‘society’s ideal’ is built entirely upon her own erroneous perceptions of what it is that other people expect and, as she continues to fail in meeting their true standards of authenticity and a generous nature, the gulf grows wider and wider, separating what she longs for from who she is pushing herself to be.
MAJOR FLAW:
Faulty perception: Caroline has a hard time ‘reading’ the world around her correctly, the lens of her inherent insecurity colouring everything she sees and every move she makes, sending her reeling after an ideal that is desirable to no one and drawing her further away from that affection that she so desperately craves.
MINOR FLAWS:
Manipulative, vain, judgmental, false, inclination towards cruelty, jealous and attention-seeking.
STRENGTHS:
Intelligent, tenacious, disciplined, highly observant, resilient and strong-willed.
RESIDENCE:
FAMILY MEMBERS:
Mr Charles Bingley (23 – Younger Bother)
Mrs Louisa Hurst (28 - Older Sister)
Mr -- Hurst (35 - by Marriage)
HISTORY:
It is often said that where there is family, there is joy no matter the circumstance. These sentimental words are, of course, generally uttered by those in arguably better circumstance than the rest. For where there is lack, there is always the risk of its slipping beyond the temporal and into the more porous parts of the soul. As the youngest of the daughters in a household with only a modest amount, some of the earliest of Caroline Bingley’s experiences were exercises in lack. She was never to receive the doll when it was new, nor the prettiest day dress. It was she who was thought of last when a governess was employed – her services matching exactly what she was paid, which was very little indeed – and she was only more ignored at the birth of a darling boy to carry on Papa’s legacy, though Caroline did not see much to the thing that it ought to be so protected.
That, she was oft told, was entirely inconsequential; for the mere presence of an heir suggested that whatever this legacy was, it was to be inherited! Thus, she learned young from her mother that what truly mattered was the appearance of things and the more the Ton looked on them as genteel, the more they would come into their own. She noted this very same thing in her closest sister Louisa; the greater her circle of friends, the greater her reception at each meeting. While this did breed in Caroline a deeper sense of injustice that she was never the most pleasantly presented, it also put her brother in a vastly different light. If Louisa owned the status as elder sister, then Caroline could only rely on the status of her family as a whole. This, of course, meant Charles. By his virtue, as she had learned, they might all be looked on in an entirely new way.
From then on, she delighted in showing Charles to his advantage, trusting in her mother’s judgment for the primary reason that she was unable to lay claim to anything else that might recommend her.
His promotion was hers.
She continued in this manner for some time, under the illusion that it was somehow her doing that her family’s station had begun to climb and when her father made his fortune and they were to be escalated at last, she felt certain that that would be the completion of her happiness. It was timeous then, that it was to be the moment of a viciously deep loss. With her mother’s passing, so to passed all of Caroline’s contentedness, for no matter how earnestly she strove to fill the sudden gap in her aspiring youth, nothing could quite satisfy the gulf that had opened within her. She was left to grasp only at an image of the woman that had been, and that image prized advancement.
It was on this instinct that she and Louisa walked boldly into the world of wealth, anxious to cover up any imperfection and beginning to take delight in the temporary satiety of shallow fulfillment. The sisters grew close in this endeavour and both began to see the true necessity of Charles’s success in the wake of their father’s waning strength. Without their brother, there was nought that they could rely upon to keep them in their newfound glory and with fear of what was and hopes for what could be, there was no other direction but up. Thus, even as they primped and preened, flexing their social muscles and winning the great connections that must go hand in hand with great wealth, they pulled Charles along with them, designing more for him than they should have and learning the subtle art of manipulating him for his own good.
The family flourished, their mother’s old adage proving true and the appearance of things growing brighter by the day.
The brightest moment amongst all these, in Caroline’s estimation came in the form of a University friendship that she could not doubt would last a lifetime, if only because - having recently witnessed the security to be found in matrimony through Louisa’s transition to Hurst - she intended to marry the man. Such a superior gentleman she had never known, his natural graces those of the gently born – shining an ugly light on all that she still so lacked – and his proud way absolutely the peak of society’s hill.
With such a man, who could doubt her place in the world?
As acquaintance turned to intimacy between their two families – his delightful sister only recommending him to her all the more as the perfect choice – Caroline’s hopes soared, allowing her to continue to work relentlessly towards being everything that a man of his station could desire. She did all that she could to recommend herself to him – making a fine study of all that truly accomplished women did – and when Fitzwilliam Darcy consented to accompany the family to Hertfordshire to help her Charles set up home in the country as the last vestige of their ascent before a prompt return to the centre of things in London, Caroline was certain that the fulfillment of everything she could desire was right before her fingertips.
YOUR NAME: Mdme Butterfly
YOUR AGE: 24
YOUR RP EXPERIENCE: 9 Years
YOUR SAMPLE:
What an appalling waste of time and effort.
While Caroline naturally expected Charles to make the acquaintance of those in the neighbourhood, asserting himself as a resident there, it seemed entirely too eccentric to want to dance with them as well. She could be sure that no real society was to be found amongst the rough, country folk of Hertfordshire and to do more than receive guests once the Park was let seemed an exercise in futility. Caroline hated to spoil a minute and the fact that they must waste an entire evening in the pretense of remaining at Netherfield for the remainder of the Summer was quite beyond her patience. She had invitations – five already – to superior events in London and to be absent from them - no doubt to the great disappointment of the hosts - in favour of this rabble, was unconscionable.
That Charles had near demanded it of them all had been most inconvenient, for to deny him outright was incredibly ill-bred. When Darcy had assented to the plan, naturally there was no way that it could be refused and since this suggested that he was willing to suffer the discomfort for his friend’s benefit, Caroline would strive to do the same for a beloved brother.
Once it was decided that they would attend the small gathering – at a very common-looking set of assembly rooms that seemed more suited to housing horses than dancing – the sisters had set about at once ensuring that their arrival would be well-noted. Caroline imagined it would require little effort on account of it being unlikely that the girls of Meryton should have pretty features enough between them to rival her and Louisa’s easy grace, and on account of her suspecting that Hertfordshire had never seen the likes of a true gentleman before, of which Darcy and her brother must prove to be the most humbling examples.
She only hoped they were not overrun.
What was to say that where there was a lack of fine feature, there was not also a lack of manner? She expected that every eligible girl in the county would be falling over herself for the first. It was a disgusting thought and she all but sneered at it as the carriage finally pulled to a stop a their destination. From that moment, the world was a flurry of activity through which she seemed to move like a fly caught in a honey trap. Whatever her imaginings, the reality was ever so much worse and as they party followed after her brother’s enthusiasm, she glanced over to see what she assumed was Darcy expressing much the same displeasure as she felt. She smirked to herself, grateful at least that she had an ally in the room. Before long they were making the acquaintance of farmer this-that-or-the-other and he, in turn, introduced them to a throng of young women.
She smiled graciously at her introduction, happy to grant them at least an object lesson and refused to speak since Charles seemed eager to do most of it himself. With any luck, he would, and she could escape this nightmare having her circle of friends remain relatively untainted!
