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Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Darcy decides to give Elizabeth no sign of his admiration and will not even look at her. Is that sensible self-control, or is it pride?
The tension Miss Bingley is “sorry that she had proposed the delay” while Elizabeth stays, then her “civility to Elizabeth increased at last very rapidly” as she departs; Darcy, who finds her attractive, “scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday”.
Departures and homecomings: who is glad, who is sorry, who hides it, and what Longbourn sounds like when the two eldest return.
By agreement with Jane, Elizabeth writes the next morning to ask her mother to send the carriage. Mrs. Bennet, who had counted on their staying till Tuesday to finish Jane’s week, answers that they cannot have it before then, and adds in a postscript that if Mr. Bingley and his sister press them to stay longer, she can spare them very well. Elizabeth, impatient to get home, does not expect to be asked to stay and fears seeming to intrude; she urges Jane to borrow Mr. Bingley’s carriage, and they mention their plan to leave that morning. Their hosts profess concern, and enough is said to work on Jane, so the going is put off a day. Miss Bingley is then sorry she proposed the delay, for her jealousy and dislike of Elizabeth exceed her affection for Jane. Bingley is truly sorry and keeps telling Jane she is not well enough to go, but Jane is firm. To Darcy the news is welcome: Elizabeth attracts him more than he likes, and Miss Bingley is uncivil to her and teases him more than usual. He resolves to let no sign of admiration escape him that might give Elizabeth a hope of influencing his happiness, since, if such an idea had been put into her head, his behaviour on the last day would weigh heavily in confirming or crushing it. Through Saturday he speaks scarcely ten words to her, and when they are left alone for half an hour he keeps to his book and will not even look at her. On Sunday, after morning service, they leave. Miss Bingley grows quickly more civil to Elizabeth and more affectionate to Jane, embraces Jane, and even shakes hands with Elizabeth, who takes leave in the liveliest spirits. At home their mother does not welcome them warmly: she thinks them wrong to give so much trouble, and is sure Jane will have caught cold again. Their father says little but is truly glad; the evening talk had lost much of its life and almost all its sense without them. Mary has new extracts and moral observations to share, and Catherine and Lydia bring news of the regiment: officers have dined with their uncle, a private has been flogged, and it has been hinted that Colonel Forster is going to be married.
Begin with Elizabeth’s letter and her mother’s answer, and ask the student to keep one list through the chapter: each person’s response to the sisters’ leaving or coming home, and what the narrator says lies behind it. Read the Netherfield paragraphs in one stretch, then slow down at Darcy’s paragraph: read it aloud twice, the second time stopping at the italic “now” and at “would not even look at her.” Then read the parting and the homecoming, and end on Catherine and Lydia’s news. Keep to what the chapter gives: it does not say that Elizabeth notices Darcy’s silence or minds it (she leaves “in the liveliest spirits”); it does not say whether his feeling will grow or fade; it ties Miss Bingley’s farewell warmth to the departure without calling it sincere or false; and Jane is “firm where she felt herself to be right”, which says nothing about her feeling for Bingley. Whether Darcy’s silence is sensible self-control or pride belongs to the last written question.
Retell The student retells the chapter in four movements: the letter and Mrs. Bennet’s answer, ending with the request to leave; the delay and how each person at Netherfield takes it; Darcy’s Saturday; and Sunday’s parting and the homecoming, through to Catherine and Lydia’s news. Look for whether the retelling keeps the reasons the narrator gives (Mrs. Bennet’s Tuesday, Miss Bingley’s jealousy, Darcy’s resolution) and gives Mr. Bennet’s quiet gladness its place.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes a paragraph of four sentences about someone hiding a feeling, in the builds of the passage: a sentence that opens on a phrase naming the person (“To Mr. Darcy”) and turns on a colon; a sentence of two clauses joined by a semicolon and “and”, the second setting two people against each other with one word stressed; a long sentence that restates its key phrase after a dash and ends on a pair joined by “or” (“confirming or crushing”); and a sentence that opens on a phrase describing the person (“Steady to his purpose”) and ends on its plainest words. Then, in the build of the second passage, one sentence that sets a “though” phrase between its subject and its verb, and one that names a loss as a rising pair (“much of its animation, and almost all its sense”).
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that Darcy’s silence is sensible self-control, and gathers the narrator’s “wisely”, “She attracted him more than he liked”, Miss Bingley being “uncivil to _her_”, and his care not to raise a hope. The other argues that it is pride, and gathers “elevate her”, the “if” on which the whole plan rests, and his sense that one day of his behaviour must be “confirming or crushing it”. Each side must answer the other’s best line. Neither may say that Elizabeth noticed the silence or was hurt by it, or that Darcy’s feeling will grow or fade.
Purpose Close on the chapter’s shape. Almost everyone’s feeling about the sisters shows in how they meet the leaving, and the narrator tells the reader what lies under each; Darcy alone works to show nothing, and the narrator tells us exactly what he hides. Then the chapter goes home, where Mr. Bennet’s gladness goes nearly unspoken and the evening fills with Mary’s morals and the regiment’s news. Ask what Austen gains by giving the reader all of Darcy’s reasons and giving Elizabeth none of them: she leaves “in the liveliest spirits”.
Easier Read aloud the first paragraph, Darcy’s paragraph and the homecoming. Make a chart of the people at Netherfield and at Longbourn: what each says or does about the sisters’ leaving or coming home, and what the narrator says lies behind it. Talk through the questions on Darcy’s half hour and on Mrs. Bennet’s welcome, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all three discussion questions in order, then write both written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on how the chapter measures feeling by what people show at a parting. Use Mrs. Bennet’s postscript, Miss Bingley’s regret and her farewell, Bingley’s sorrow, Darcy’s Saturday and Mr. Bennet’s welcome as evidence, and decide whose feeling the chapter lets the reader see most clearly. The essay should meet the objection that the narrator names nearly every feeling outright, so that little is hidden from the reader and much from the characters. It must not claim that Elizabeth noticed Darcy’s silence, or that Miss Bingley’s farewell was sincere or false.
1. When Darcy and Elizabeth were left alone for half an hour, he “adhered most conscientiously to his book.” What did that half hour cost him?Character
What it asks It asks the student to judge what the plan costs Darcy at its hardest moment. “Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday: and though they were at one time left by themselves for half an hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.” To adhere is to stick fast. The student decides how much effort the narrator’s words show. The card must not say that Elizabeth notices the silence or minds it, or that his feeling will grow or fade: the chapter shows only that he keeps to his plan.
A great deal, and the sentence shows the strain. He “adhered” to his book, as if he might come loose. He does it “most conscientiously”, like a duty. And he “would not even look at her”: “would not” is a refusal, and a man refuses only what he is tempted to do.
he adhered most conscientiously to his book,
and would not even look at her.
Not much. He has made up his mind, and he is “Steady to his purpose”. The parting is news he welcomes, so he has one day to get through and an end in sight. The comedy belongs to the narrator, who watches a man keep a rule so well that the rule is all we see.
Steady to his purpose,
To Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence:
A strong answer A strong response judges the cost of the half hour from the narrator’s words. One reader hears strain: he “adhered” to his book, “most conscientiously”, and “would not even look at her”, and a refusal implies a temptation. Another hears a plan carried out: he is “Steady to his purpose”, the parting is welcome to him, and the comedy lies in how perfectly the rule is kept. The best answers notice that the sentence is funny either way, and say nothing of what Elizabeth notices.
2. When her daughters come home early, Mrs. Bennet is “sure Jane would have caught cold again.” How much of that is worry for Jane?Character
What it asks It asks the student to weigh Mrs. Bennet’s welcome against her plan. At the start: “But Mrs. Bennet, who had calculated on her daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday, which would exactly finish Jane’s week, could not bring herself to receive them with pleasure before.” Her answer adds “that if Mr. Bingley and his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them very well.” At Netherfield, Bingley “repeatedly tried to persuade Miss Bennet that it would not be safe for her--that she was not enough recovered”. At home: “They were not welcomed home very cordially by their mother. Mrs. Bennet wondered at their coming, and thought them very wrong to give so much trouble, and was sure Jane would have caught cold again.” The student decides how much of her complaint is a mother’s worry and how much is a plan that failed. The card must not make her only a schemer: Jane has been ill, and the chapter does not say that her worry is false.
Very little of it. She had “calculated” on Tuesday, and her cold welcome follows the plan’s failure. A mother who wrote that she “could spare them very well” for longer was not anxious to have Jane home and safe. The cold is the reason she can say aloud.
who had calculated on her daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday,
she could spare them very well.
A real share of it. Jane has been ill, and Bingley worried about the same thing: he told her it “would not be safe for her”. Mrs. Bennet can be scheming and anxious at once. She wanted Jane at Netherfield, and she also fears what the journey has done to her.
and repeatedly tried to persuade Miss Bennet that it would not be safe for her
and was sure Jane would have caught cold again.
A strong answer A strong response weighs Mrs. Bennet’s welcome against her plan. One reader finds little worry in it: she had “calculated” on Tuesday, wrote that she “could spare them very well”, and meets her daughters with complaint when the plan fails. Another finds real worry: Jane has been ill, and Bingley himself warned that leaving “would not be safe for her”. The best answers notice that her feeling about her daughters shows in how she meets their coming, as other people’s does at their going, and allow that a schemer can also be a mother.
3. The chapter ends with Catherine and Lydia’s news that “a private had been flogged; and it had actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married.” Whose voice do you hear in “actually”?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to listen to the last sentence and decide who is speaking in it. “They found Mary, as usual, deep in the study of thorough bass and human nature; and had some new extracts to admire and some new observations of threadbare morality to listen to. Catherine and Lydia had information for them of a different sort. Much had been done, and much had been said in the regiment since the preceding Wednesday; several of the officers had dined lately with their uncle; a private had been flogged; and it had actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married.” Thorough bass is the theory of harmony. The student decides whether “actually” is the girls’ word carried into the narrator’s sentence, the narrator’s own, or both. The card must not make the paragraph only a joke about the girls: the narrator lists a flogging as plainly as a dinner.
The girls’. It is their word, carried into the narrator’s sentence. To them a hinted wedding is the real news, and a flogging is one item on the list. The word “actually” is the stress of someone who can hardly wait to tell it.
Catherine and Lydia had information for them of a different sort.
and it had actually been hinted that Colonel Forster was going to be married.
The narrator’s. The word is placed with care, and it is cold. Set beside a man flogged, a hint of a wedding is a small thing, and “actually” makes us feel how small. The narrator is just as dry about Mary’s “threadbare morality”: the whole paragraph is the evening the two sisters have come home to.
some new observations of threadbare morality to listen to.
a private had been flogged;
A strong answer A strong response hears the last sentence and argues whose voice is in it. One reader hears Catherine and Lydia: the hinted wedding is their real news, and “actually” is their breathless stress. Another hears the narrator, placing the word with care so that a rumour beside a flogging looks as small as it is, in a paragraph that is just as dry about Mary. The best answers notice that the narrator can carry the girls’ word and judge it at once, and that the chapter ends in talk after a day of Darcy’s silence.
1. Darcy hardly speaks to Elizabeth on her last day, while Miss Bingley grows much more polite to her just as she leaves. Which of them shows more of what they feel?
What it asks It asks the student to set two people’s behaviour at the end of the visit side by side. Of Darcy: “he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday: and though they were at one time left by themselves for half an hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.” Of Miss Bingley, the day before: she “was then sorry that she had proposed the delay; for her jealousy and dislike of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other.” On Sunday: “Miss Bingley’s civility to Elizabeth increased at last very rapidly, as well as her affection for Jane; and when they parted, after assuring the latter of the pleasure it would always give her to see her either at Longbourn or Netherfield, and embracing her most tenderly, she even shook hands with the former.” Civility is politeness. The student builds a thesis on which of the two shows more of what they feel, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Miss Bingley’s farewell warmth is sincere or that it is false: the narrator ties it to the departure without saying more.
Miss Bingley shows more. Her civility rises at the very moment Elizabeth leaves, and the narrator has already told us what she felt while Elizabeth stayed. The timing is easy to read. Darcy shows nothing: ten words and a book are what he planned, and the plan works.
Miss Bingley’s civility to Elizabeth increased at last very rapidly,
for her jealousy and dislike of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other.
Darcy shows more. A day of ten words to a guest in the same house is not nothing; it is a silence loud enough to notice. Miss Bingley’s promises and her handshake are what a hostess offers at any parting, and Elizabeth gets the handshake while Jane gets the embrace. Such manners can hide as well as show.
he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday:
and embracing her most tenderly, she even shook hands with the former.
A strong answer A strong thesis says which of the two shows more and argues from the end of the visit. A student might argue that Miss Bingley does: her civility rises “at last very rapidly” just as Elizabeth leaves, and the narrator has already named her “jealousy and dislike”. The strongest objection is that Darcy’s silence is itself a sign: ten words in a whole day are too much silence to be nothing, while a handshake, beside the embrace Jane gets, is what manners ask. A good revision might hold that both manage what they show, one by warming and one by freezing, and that the narrator lets the reader see what each feels without saying what anyone in the room sees.
2. Darcy decides to give Elizabeth no sign of his admiration and will not even look at her. Is that sensible self-control, or is it pride?
What it asks It asks the student to judge Darcy’s plan for the last day. “To Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence: Elizabeth had been at Netherfield long enough. She attracted him more than he liked; and Miss Bingley was uncivil to _her_ and more teasing than usual to himself. He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should _now_ escape him--nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity; sensible that, if such an idea had been suggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight in confirming or crushing it.” Felicity is happiness; to elevate is to raise up. The student builds a thesis on whether his silence is sensible self-control or pride, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Elizabeth notices the silence or is hurt by it (she leaves “in the liveliest spirits”), or that Darcy’s feeling will grow or fade: the chapter shows only his decision to hide it. It must not read the silence as rudeness alone, without the reason the narrator gives.
Sensible self-control. He feels something he did not choose and does not want, and he will not let it raise a hope he is not ready to meet. The narrator’s own word is “wisely”. Miss Bingley is already uncivil to Elizabeth, and a sign of his admiration could only make her stay harder. Keeping quiet is kinder than a hope that comes to nothing.
He wisely resolved to be particularly careful
and Miss Bingley was uncivil to her and more teasing than usual to himself.
Pride. He takes it for granted that his admiration would be a prize: a sign of it would “elevate her”, as if she stood below him, and she would hope to sway his happiness. The whole plan rests on an “if”: he does not know that any such idea has been suggested. And he is sure that his conduct on one day must decide her hope, “confirming or crushing it”.
nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity;
sensible that, if such an idea had been suggested,
A strong answer A strong thesis judges Darcy’s silence and argues from his paragraph. A student might argue that it is sensible self-control: the attraction is “more than he liked”, Miss Bingley is already “uncivil to _her_”, and the narrator calls the resolution wise. The strongest objection is that the plan rests on pride: it assumes a sign of his admiration would “elevate her”, it guards against a hope he only supposes (“if such an idea had been suggested”), and it trusts his conduct on one day to decide her hope, “confirming or crushing it”. A good revision might hold that the plan is prudent in its aim and proud in its assumption, and that the narrator’s “wisely” may be half his own opinion of himself.
The communication excited many professions of concern; and enough was said of wishing them to stay at least till the following day to work on Jane; and till the morrow their going was deferred.Put off to a later time (from Latin differre, to carry apart, to delay). The going is “deferred” by one day. The polite, formal word suits a household that delays a departure with “professions of concern”, here meaning spoken declarations of it.
He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should now escape him--nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity; sensible that, if such an idea had been suggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight in confirming or crushing it.Happiness, especially a settled, deep kind (from Latin felix, happy, lucky). Darcy guards against any hope in Elizabeth of “influencing his felicity”. The grand word for his own happiness shows how seriously he takes it.
But their father, though very laconic in his expressions of pleasure, was really glad to see them; he had felt their importance in the family circle.Using very few words (from Laconia, the region of Sparta, whose people were famous for short replies). Mr. Bennet is “very laconic” about his pleasure. The word lets the narrator say that his gladness is real while he says almost none of it.