Yep, there was something more going on... Besides of course branding poor Firth and Darcy as sex symbols there was thankfully a deeper theme of washing, baptism and transformation in Darcy. At least Firth was not undressed for nothing. Although, that wuld also have been ok...P.s - in the movie version in the infamous scene where COlin Firth is soaked and bumps into Jane as she is looking around the grounds - did you not see how ...sexy he looked, or the very subtle way she looked at him up and down? That's where I got my idea from - she changed her mind when she saw his grounds all right! Definitely a metaphor for something else !