Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 19

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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My situation in life, my connections with the family of De Bourgh, and my relationship to your own, are circumstances highly in my favour; and you should take it into further consideration that, in spite of your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you. Your portion is unhappily so small, that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications. As I must, therefore, conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.”

My feelings in every respect forbid it. Can I speak plainer? Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.”

Read both passages aloud. Mr. Collins ends on “the usual practice of elegant females.” Elizabeth takes up his words in her answer. What does she do with them?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences: the end of Mr. Collins’s reasons for not believing Elizabeth, and the end of her answer, the last full speech she makes before she leaves the room. His first sentence opens with three subjects in a list (“My situation in life”, “my connections” and “my relationship to your own”) sharing one verb, “are”. After the semicolon it turns to her, and sets a compliment inside “in spite of”: her “manifold attractions”, many and various, are named only as the thing her prospects outweigh. The phrase “by no means certain” is a cautious way of saying something unwelcome, and the passive “may ever be made you” names no man who might make the offer. The second sentence turns on “so small, that”, a cause and its result; “unhappily” means unfortunately, and the result is that her money will “undo” her looks. The third sounds like logic: “As” means since, “therefore” is set off by commas, and the verb is “conclude”. Yet its main verb is a choice, “I shall choose to attribute”, and it ends on a type, “the usual practice of elegant females.” Elizabeth’s passage moves from short to long. The first sentence is subject, verb, object and nothing else. The second is a question she does not wait to have answered; “plainer” is a comparative used as an adverb, more plainly. The last sets two descriptions against each other with “not” and “but”, “as an elegant female” and “as a rational creature”, each followed by a matching phrase (“intending to plague you”, “speaking the truth”). She takes his plural, “elegant females”, back in the singular, and ends in the third person, “her heart”. For mechanics, notice the semicolon in the first sentence, the commas around “therefore”, the question mark, the closing quotation marks, and the British spelling “favour”. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears her repeat his phrase to show how foolish it sounds; one who hears her grant that such women may exist and set herself apart from them, “now”; and one who notices that she answers his type with another type, and that “rational” answers his “therefore” and “conclude”: he claims logic, and she claims reason. No answer may say how her father will answer, or that Mr. Collins gives up.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the morning in order, from Mr. Collins’s request to Mrs. Bennet to Elizabeth’s silent exit. Keep count of each time she says no.

Her mother orders her to stay. Elizabeth sits down again, thinking it “wisest to get it over as soon and as quietly as possible.” Was she right? Moral reasoning
Mr. Collins praises Elizabeth’s “modesty” before she has given him any answer. When did he decide what her answer would mean? Inference
Lady Catherine told Mr. Collins to find a wife who could make “a small income go a good way.” How much of his proposal is meant for Elizabeth herself? Character
The narrator says, “It was absolutely necessary to interrupt him now.” Why now, and not a minute sooner? Author's choice
Elizabeth’s first no comes wrapped in thanks and “the honour of your proposals”. Did her good manners make it easier for him not to hear her? Tone
Mr. Collins answers “very gravely” only once, when Elizabeth says Lady Catherine would find her “ill qualified for the situation.” How close does that remark come to stopping him? Inference

Make a Connection Think of a time someone was sure they knew what you really meant, and nothing you said could change it. What finally got through, if anything did?

Vocabulary

diffidence: and having no feelings of diffidence to make it distressing to himself even at the moment, Shyness that comes from doubting yourself (from Latin diffidere, to distrust; the opposite of confidence, from confidere, to trust fully). The narrator gives Mr. Collins none of it: a proposal does not make him nervous, and he goes about it as a set of steps.
purport: You can hardly doubt the purport of my discourse, The meaning or intention of something said or written (from Old French porporter, to carry or contain). Mr. Collins means that she must know he is about to propose. He tells her what his speech means before he makes it, as he tells her what her answer means before she gives it.
inevitably: especially when tempered with the silence and respect which her rank will inevitably excite. In a way that cannot be avoided; certainly (from Latin in-, not, and evitare, to avoid). Mr. Collins is sure that Lady Catherine’s rank will soften Elizabeth’s wit with silence and respect. He pictures his wife’s wit kept quiet in his patroness’s company.
hitherto: If what I have hitherto said can appear to you in the form of encouragement, Until now; up to this point (from the old word hither, to this place, with to). Elizabeth looks back over everything she has said so far, every refusal, and finds that none of it has counted.
manifold: in spite of your manifold attractions, Many and of many kinds (from Old English manigfeald, many-fold). Mr. Collins pays Elizabeth a compliment only to set it aside: her attractions are many, and her small portion outweighs them all.
unhappily: Your portion is unhappily so small, Unfortunately; as bad luck would have it. Here the word does not mean sadly, in a mood: Mr. Collins is not unhappy that her portion is small. He calls it a misfortune, and makes it the last of his reasons for thinking she cannot mean her no.

Critical thinking

Mr. Collins warns Elizabeth that with her small portion, “another offer of marriage” may never come. In her reply she says, “My feelings in every respect forbid it.” Is that reason enough to refuse him?
Elizabeth asks, “Can I speak plainer?” Soon after, she makes “no reply” and leaves “in silence”. Is her silence a defeat?
Mr. Collins keeps hearing Elizabeth’s no as a yes. Is the fault in his own vanity, or in the customs he keeps quoting?