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Question about the Crawfords

posted 17 years ago by PinkWeeds
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Is Mr. and Miss. Crawford mulatto?

It says in the first paragraph of chapter 4,

They (the Miss. Bertrams)were too handsome themselves to dislike any woman for being so too, and were almost as much charmed as their brothers, with her lively dark eye, clear brown complextion and general prettiness.

In the second paragraph it says;

Her brother was not handsome; no, when they first saw him, he was absoutely plain, black and plain; but still he was the gentleman, with a pleasing address.

are they black?

[–] randommovies2002 17 years ago

Nope.

That's just the manner of speaking back then. It means that Henry's hair was dark, Mary was dark-complected. The reason these facts are given so explicitly is because fair women were the standard of beauty at that time (so Miss Crawford's beauty isn't standard). Also, Miss Crawford's complexion being dark is in contrast to the complexions of the Bertram sisters, who are described as fair beauties.