In the book, Darcy didn't tell Bingley about Jane until they'd returned to Netherfield and he'd had a chance to see them interact together in person. It does kind of make sense at this point for Darcy to be reluctant about further interfering in his friend's life.
Bing himself is also a factor. Book-wise, in that time period, men and women weren't allowed to correspond with each other unless they were engaged - it would have been seen as evidence of the woman being compromised. (Darcy's letter in the book could have had huge ramifications if anyone had discovered it.)
In modern times, however, there's no such communication barrier, and Bing broke up with Jane through text!!! Which is a sleazy thing to do, no matter how nice you are. Even if he didn't want to see her in person, he could have easily called or emailed, offered some explanation, but he made no effort to do so. He let himself be led by the influence of his friends, which demonstrates a weakness of character which is off-putting as well. In the book it made sense - too much attention or time spent together would have given rise to expectations of marriage, which Bingley would have felt honour-bound to uphold, and for all that it was a sucky thing to do to Jane, Darcy was genuinely looking out for his friend and trying to protect him from a future shackled to a gold-digger.
But we live in very different times, and marriage doesn't have to factor into a relationship at all. A more realistic reaction to the Bing/Jane saga would have been to let the relationship run its course, so he could "get it out of his system." Bing was under no obligation to continue the relationship long-term, and his fortune was safe, so those motivations were pretty weak. The fact that Bing let himself be manipulated like that makes him pretty useless, and then he continued to ignore Jane and never tried to contact her at all.
I can acknowledge that it's a tricky plot point to deal with, and while I think the necessary adherence to strict social mores means that it holds up in the book, in a modern setting it just falls short. Ultimately, Darcy went about it the wrong way, but he was trying to help his friend - Bing should be held responsible for his own part as well.
...
Wow, that was... not meant to be so long. In my defence, I'm a lit major - can you tell?
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Bing himself is also a factor. Book-wise, in that time period, men and women weren't allowed to correspond with each other unless they were engaged - it would have been seen as evidence of the woman being compromised. (Darcy's letter in the book could have had huge ramifications if anyone had discovered it.)
In modern times, however, there's no such communication barrier, and Bing broke up with Jane through text!!! Which is a sleazy thing to do, no matter how nice you are. Even if he didn't want to see her in person, he could have easily called or emailed, offered some explanation, but he made no effort to do so. He let himself be led by the influence of his friends, which demonstrates a weakness of character which is off-putting as well. In the book it made sense - too much attention or time spent together would have given rise to expectations of marriage, which Bingley would have felt honour-bound to uphold, and for all that it was a sucky thing to do to Jane, Darcy was genuinely looking out for his friend and trying to protect him from a future shackled to a gold-digger.
But we live in very different times, and marriage doesn't have to factor into a relationship at all. A more realistic reaction to the Bing/Jane saga would have been to let the relationship run its course, so he could "get it out of his system." Bing was under no obligation to continue the relationship long-term, and his fortune was safe, so those motivations were pretty weak. The fact that Bing let himself be manipulated like that makes him pretty useless, and then he continued to ignore Jane and never tried to contact her at all.
I can acknowledge that it's a tricky plot point to deal with, and while I think the necessary adherence to strict social mores means that it holds up in the book, in a modern setting it just falls short. Ultimately, Darcy went about it the wrong way, but he was trying to help his friend - Bing should be held responsible for his own part as well.
...
Wow, that was... not meant to be so long. In my defence, I'm a lit major - can you tell?