Chapter 10

Pride and Prejudice

Mountaineers · 10th–12th

Copywork

Allowing the case, however, to stand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet, that the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house, and the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering one argument in favour of its propriety.” “To yield readily--easily--to the persuasion of a friend is no merit with you.” “To yield without conviction is no compliment to the understanding of either.” “You appear to me, Mr. Darcy, to allow nothing for the influence of friendship and affection.

Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody, and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed that, were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger.

Read both passages aloud. In the first, Elizabeth says Darcy leaves no room for affection. What does the second passage say to that?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences: the heart of the drawing-room debate, and the narrator’s sentence after the reel that tells the reader what Elizabeth cannot see. The first passage opens on Darcy’s long sentence, which begins with a concession (“Allowing the case, however,”), names the person he is answering, and saves its point for the very end: the friend asked “without offering one argument in favour of its propriety.” Then the debate turns on one verb. Elizabeth makes an infinitive her subject (“To yield readily--easily--”), correcting herself between the dashes as she speaks, and stresses _persuasion_. Darcy keeps her opening words and changes what follows (“To yield without conviction”), so his answer is her sentence turned, and his “no compliment” answers her “no merit”. Elizabeth replies with a hedge (“You appear to me”) and a charge (“to allow nothing for”), ending on the pair “friendship and affection”. The second passage is one long sentence and one short one. The long sentence sets a participle phrase right after its subject (“having rather expected to affront him”), turns on a semicolon and “but”, repeats “affront”, and then, at “and Darcy”, crosses from her mind to his without a break, ending on “by her”. The short sentence holds its verdict back behind a conditional set off by commas (“were it not for”) and closes on an understatement, “some danger”. For mechanics, notice the edition’s double hyphens for dashes and the underscores that mark the italic _persuasion_. The first sentence closes a speech that began before it, so it has a closing mark and no opening one; the fourth opens a speech that runs on past the passage, so it has an opening mark and no closing one. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears the second passage refute Elizabeth, since Darcy is plainly moved, and one who hears it bear her out, since his feeling gives way at once to a reason about her connections.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in order, from Miss Bingley watching Darcy write to Elizabeth running off in the shrubbery.

1. Darcy brushes off Miss Bingley’s praise. By his own rule about humility, what is he doing?Character

2. Bingley says Darcy would think better of him for “a flat denial” and a fast ride away. How well does Bingley know his friend?Inference

3. Elizabeth has already said the request is a small one, made between friends. Why does Darcy still want “more precision”?Character

4. Elizabeth turns down the reel and dares Darcy to despise her, and he says, “Indeed I do not dare.” Is that a joke, a compliment, or the plain truth?Tone

5. “You are charmingly grouped,” Elizabeth tells the three of them, and runs off. Which of the three is she aiming at?Tone

Make a Connection Think of a time, in a book or in life, when praise pushed someone away instead of winning them over. Why might praise do that?

Vocabulary

precipitance and yet what is there so very laudable in a precipitance which must leave very necessary business undone, and can be of no real advantage to yourself or anyone else?

celerity I daresay you believed it; but I am by no means convinced that you would be gone with such celerity.

propriety Allowing the case, however, to stand according to your representation, you must remember, Miss Bennet, that the friend who is supposed to desire his return to the house, and the delay of his plan, has merely desired it, asked it without offering one argument in favour of its propriety.

expostulation Miss Bingley warmly resented the indignity he had received, in an expostulation with her brother for talking such nonsense.

alacrity Miss Bingley moved with alacrity to the pianoforte, and after a polite request that Elizabeth would lead the way, which the other as politely and more earnestly negatived, she seated herself.

approbation She liked him too little to care for his approbation.

archness Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody, and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her.

Critical thinking

1. Bingley asks them to stop, because “Arguments are too much like disputes.” Were Darcy and Elizabeth quarrelling, or only arguing?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

2. Elizabeth can hardly believe Darcy looks at her out of admiration, and dislike seems “still more strange.” Then she decides he finds something “wrong and reprehensible” in her. Why can she believe that, when she could not believe the dislike?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

3. Darcy says that giving way to a friend without being convinced is no compliment to either of them, and Elizabeth says friendship should count for something. Which of them describes the better friend?

Thesis

Objection

Revision