Chapter 19 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

Mr. Collins keeps hearing Elizabeth’s no as a yes. Is the fault in his own vanity, or in the customs he keeps quoting?

The tension Collins reads each refusal as “the established custom of your sex” and “the usual practice of elegant females”, while Elizabeth asks to be taken not “as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart”; the more plainly she speaks, the more surely he hears encouragement.

Today's focus

A morning proposal, delivered like a sermon, in which every refusal Elizabeth gives is turned back into a sign of modesty.

The shape at a glance

The next day, Mr. Collins, whose leave ends on Saturday, sets about his proposal in an orderly way. He asks Mrs. Bennet, not Elizabeth, for a private audience with her daughter, and Mrs. Bennet says Elizabeth can have no objection. Elizabeth begs her mother to stay, but Mrs. Bennet insists that she stay and hear him, and goes out with Kitty. Mr. Collins begins by praising Elizabeth’s modesty and her little unwillingness, and says he singled her out almost as soon as he came. Before he is run away with by his feelings, which nearly makes her laugh, he gives his reasons for marrying: a clergyman should set the example, it will add to his happiness, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh has advised it. He quotes her advice to choose an active, useful gentlewoman, not brought up high, who can make a small income go a good way, and hopes Elizabeth’s wit will please Lady Catherine when tempered by the silence her rank inspires. He explains that, as heir to Longbourn, he chose a wife among the Bennet daughters so that their loss might be as small as possible. He assures her of the violence of his affection, says he is indifferent to fortune, names her thousand pounds in the 4 per cents., and promises never to reproach her for it when they are married. Elizabeth interrupts, thanks him, and declines. He answers that young ladies often refuse the man they mean to accept, a second or even a third time. She says she is perfectly serious, that he could not make her happy nor she him, and that Lady Catherine would find her ill qualified; he answers gravely that he cannot imagine it, and promises to praise her to his patroness. She asks to be believed, wishes him happy and rich, says he may take Longbourn without self-reproach, and rises to go. He calls her refusal the established custom of her sex. She says she does not know how to make her refusal plainer. He gives his reasons for disbelieving her: his position, his connections, and her portion, so small that another offer may never come. She asks to be taken not as an elegant female but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart. He calls her uniformly charming and says the authority of her father and mother will make his proposals acceptable. Elizabeth leaves in silence, resolved, if he persists, to ask her father for a refusal that cannot be mistaken.

A way in

Start with the sentence the hinge rests on, read aloud: “Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” Ask what Elizabeth means by each of the two names, and leave it there; whether the fault is Mr. Collins’s or his customs’ is the last written question, and the earlier questions should build toward it. Then let students count, as they read, each time Elizabeth says no and what Mr. Collins makes of it. Keep to the chapter. Elizabeth only resolves to go to her father; how Mr. and Mrs. Bennet answer is the next chapter, and no answer may say. The chapter ends with Mr. Collins still sure of success, so no answer may say he gives up or turns elsewhere. He claims an affection that his speech does little to show, but the chapter does not say he feels nothing, and a student should not either. Elizabeth gives her reasons in her own words; no other man is named, and Mr. Wickham is no part of her answer. Do not play the scene only for laughs. The comedy is real, but so is what he says about her thousand pounds and her chances of another offer, and that is the pressure under the joke. Do not stop at deciding that Mr. Collins is foolish, which the chapter makes plain; ask why his foolishness takes the form of quoting rules about women. Notice Mrs. Bennet’s first reply, which answers for Elizabeth before the proposal begins. And stay with Austen’s words, “elegant female” and “rational creature”, rather than modern terms the chapter does not use.

Lesson plan

Retell The student retells the morning in four movements: the request to Mrs. Bennet and Elizabeth made to stay; the speech, with its reasons, Lady Catherine’s advice, the entail and the thousand pounds; the refusals, each with Mr. Collins’s reply; and Elizabeth’s silent exit. Look for a retelling that keeps the reasons in his order, counts the refusals, gives his reply to each in his own terms (“usual”, “established custom”, “elegant females”), and ends with her resolve, not with her father’s answer.

Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two short passages. The first follows Mr. Collins in three sentences: one that lists three things in the speaker’s favour as subjects sharing one verb and then, after a semicolon, sets a compliment inside “in spite of”; one built on “so … that”, a cause and its result; and one that opens with “As”, sets “therefore” off with commas, and ends on a general type rather than a person. The second follows Elizabeth in three sentences: one of only subject, verb and object; a short question; and one that sets two descriptions of the speaker against each other with “not” and “but”, each followed by a matching phrase.

Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that the fault is Mr. Collins’s vanity, and gathers “give me leave to flatter myself”, “I shall choose to attribute it”, his reasons that begin with his own worth, the narrator’s word “wilful”, and her four or more refusals against his own rule of “a second or even a third time”. The other argues that the fault is in the customs, and gathers “I am not now to learn”, the growing list of what is “usual” and “established”, Mrs. Bennet answering for Elizabeth before the proposal begins, and Elizabeth’s need, at the end, of a man’s no. Each side must answer the other’s best line. Neither may say how her father and mother answer or that he gives up.

Purpose Close on the chapter’s shape. Austen gives Mr. Collins a speech in numbered order, in which Elizabeth has no part until she interrupts, and gives her a plain answer that he hears as one more pretty speech. Ask why Austen lets him explain her modesty before she has given him any answer, and why the chapter ends not on an argument but on her silence and her plan to borrow her father’s voice. Ask what it means that the chapter’s last words are “an elegant female”: his phrase, which Elizabeth turned back on him, now in the narrator’s voice.

Three levels

Easier Read aloud the first part of the scene, up to Mrs. Bennet and Kitty leaving, then from Elizabeth’s first refusal to the end. Make two columns, one for each way Elizabeth says no and one for what Mr. Collins says it means. Talk through the questions on her “modesty”, on her polite first refusal and on Mr. Collins’s “very gravely”, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.

On level Talk through all six discussion questions in order, then write all three 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 Austen builds a proposal in which the woman has no part to play: the request made to her mother, the numbered reasons, the rules about young ladies that grow as she refuses, and the pairing of “elegant female” and “rational creature”. The essay should meet the objection that Mr. Collins is simply a vain man and the customs are his excuse. It must not say how her father and mother answer or bring in later chapters.

Discussion

1. 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

What it asks It asks the student to weigh the choice Elizabeth makes before the proposal begins. Mr. Collins asks Mrs. Bennet, not Elizabeth, for “the honour of a private audience”, and her mother answers for her at once: “I am sure she can have no objection.” Elizabeth calls out, “Dear ma’am, do not go. I beg you will not go.” When she seems “really, with vexed and embarrassed looks, about to escape,” her mother says, “Lizzy, I _insist_ upon your staying and hearing Mr. Collins.” She “would not oppose such an injunction”; an injunction is an order. Thinking it “wisest to get it over as soon and as quietly as possible, she sat down again”. The student judges her reasoning: whether staying was wiser, and what walking out would have cost her. The card must not say how her father or mother will respond to the refusal: that comes in the next chapter.

A strong answer A strong response judges her reasoning and puts a price on each choice. One reader finds her right: walking out would defy an open order, and the proposal would only come again, so she hears it once and answers it herself. Another finds staying the costlier choice: she sits through the reasons, the patroness and her own small fortune, her wish to leave is read back to her as modesty, and the morning is neither soon nor quiet. The best answers notice that the chapter begins with her mother speaking for her and ends with her leaving without a word, and ask what she learned in between.

2. Mr. Collins praises Elizabeth’s “modesty” before she has given him any answer. When did he decide what her answer would mean?Inference

What it asks It asks the student to find the moment Mr. Collins’s reading of Elizabeth begins. The narrator says he set about the proposal “in a very orderly manner, with all the observances which he supposed a regular part of the business”, and that he had “no feelings of diffidence”; diffidence is shyness. His first words to her, once they are alone, are about her modesty: “You would have been less amiable in my eyes had there _not_ been this little unwillingness”. Her “natural delicacy may lead you to dissemble”; to dissemble is to hide what you feel. The student decides whether he had settled what her answer would mean before he came into the room, or worked it out from what he saw. The card must not say that Mr. Collins feels nothing for her: he claims an affection here, and the chapter does not judge it.

A strong answer A strong response places the moment and shows it. One reader finds it before the scene: the proposal is a set of observances, and his script already has a part for her reluctance, so nothing she does can count against him. Another finds it in the room: her blush and her wish to leave really do look like shyness, and a man who wants to be pleased reads them his own way. The best answers notice that, either way, he has explained her unwillingness before she has said no, so her refusal arrives in a place already prepared for it.

3. 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

What it asks It asks the student to compare the wife Mr. Collins was told to find with the woman in front of him. He quotes his patroness: “Choose properly, choose a gentlewoman for _my_ sake, and for your _own_; let her be an active, useful sort of person, not brought up high, but able to make a small income go a good way.” A patroness is the person who gave him his church post. He hopes Elizabeth’s “wit and vivacity” will please Lady Catherine, “especially when tempered with the silence and respect which her rank will inevitably excite.” He came to Longbourn rather than choosing at home because, as the heir, he resolved “to choose a wife from among his daughters”. Elizabeth later says Lady Catherine “would find me in every respect ill qualified for the situation.” The student decides how much of the proposal is meant for Elizabeth and how much for the post. The card must not say that Mr. Collins feels nothing for Elizabeth, or that she refuses him because of anyone else.

A strong answer A strong response decides how much of the proposal is meant for her, and shows it. One reader finds the post: the reasons, the entail and Lady Catherine’s list come first, and the one picture he has of Elizabeth is of her wit kept quiet before his patroness. Another finds Elizabeth: he singled her out and names her wit, which Lady Catherine’s list did not ask for. The best answers notice that even his praise of her ends in her silence, so a man who pictures her quiet may find it easy not to hear her.

4. The narrator says, “It was absolutely necessary to interrupt him now.” Why now, and not a minute sooner?Author's choice

What it asks It asks the student to explain the timing of Elizabeth’s first words to Mr. Collins. Early in his speech, the idea of him being “run away with by his feelings” made her “so near laughing that she could not use the short pause he allowed in any attempt to stop him farther”. He goes on through his reasons, Lady Catherine’s advice and the entail, and ends on her fortune: “one thousand pounds in the 4 per cents., which will not be yours till after your mother’s decease, is all that you may ever be entitled to. On that head, therefore, I shall be uniformly silent: and you may assure yourself that no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married.” The 4 per cents. were government funds paying four in the hundred a year, so a thousand pounds would bring about forty pounds a year. Then the narrator: “It was absolutely necessary to interrupt him now.” Her first words are “You are too hasty, sir” and “You forget that I have made no answer.” The student decides what made this the moment: something he had just said, or the way his speech was built. The card must not say what Mr. Collins does after the chapter, or that he feels nothing for her.

A strong answer A strong response gives a reason for “now” and a reason for not sooner, and shows both from the page. One reader hears what he has just said: her thousand pounds, her mother’s death, and “when we are married”, as if her answer were given, so the comedy has become pressure she cannot let pass. Another hears the shape of the speech: it allowed one short pause, which laughter took from her, and after that she had to make her own turn. The best answers notice that both readings meet in her first words, “You forget that I have made no answer”: the speech had treated her answer as given before she spoke.

5. 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

What it asks It asks the student to listen to the form of Elizabeth’s first refusal. She says: “Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them.” Mr. Collins answers “with a formal wave of the hand” that “it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept”. Her next answer drops most of the courtesy: “I am perfectly serious in my refusal.” The student decides whether her politeness helped him to mishear. The card must not use modern words about consent as if the chapter used them; stay with the chapter’s own words.

A strong answer A strong response says whether courtesy cost her anything and shows it. One reader finds that it did: thanks and “the honour” are the forms a coy refusal would use, so he hears the form and applies the rule. Another finds that it did not: “impossible” is plain, and her blunt second answer fails just the same. The best answers notice what the second reading implies: if neither courtesy nor bluntness gets through, the trouble is not in her words.

6. 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

What it asks It asks the student to weigh the one refusal Mr. Collins pauses over. Elizabeth says: “Nay, were your friend Lady Catherine to know me, I am persuaded she would find me in every respect ill qualified for the situation.” He answers, “very gravely”: “Were it certain that Lady Catherine would think so,” and breaks off with a dash, “but I cannot imagine that her Ladyship would at all disapprove of you.” He promises to praise her “modesty, economy, and other amiable qualifications” when he next sees Lady Catherine. The student decides how near this remark comes to stopping him, and why this one, of all hers, makes him grave. The card must not say what Lady Catherine would in fact think, or what Mr. Collins does after the chapter.

A strong answer A strong response judges how near this remark comes to stopping him, and why it, of all hers, makes him grave. One reader finds it close: the only grave answer, and a sentence that starts to concede before the dash cuts it off, show that his patroness’s word could count where Elizabeth’s cannot. Another finds it nowhere near, since nothing about Elizabeth reached him: he dismisses the idea at once, and his gravity is respect for Lady Catherine, not attention to Elizabeth. The best answers notice that either way the remark that reaches him is not about what Elizabeth wants; it is about what someone above him would think.

Critical thinking

1. 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?

What it asks It asks the student to weigh Elizabeth’s stated reason against Mr. Collins’s. A portion is the money a woman brings to her marriage. Mr. Collins gives his reasons for not believing her: “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.” In her reply she says, “My feelings in every respect forbid it.” Earlier she has said: “You could not make _me_ happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make _you_ so.” In the same reply she asks to be taken “as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” The student builds a thesis on whether her feelings are reason enough to refuse him, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say what happens to Elizabeth’s prospects later, or that she refuses because of anyone else: she gives her own reasons, and no other man is named.

A strong answer A strong thesis says whether her feelings are reason enough, and why. A student might argue that they are: reason weighs a lifetime, and she has judged that neither of them would be happy, which his figures leave out. The strongest objection is that his figures are true: her fortune is small, it is not yet hers, and another offer may not come, while she answers them only with her feelings. A good revision might grant the risk and still notice that her own words refuse the split the objection depends on. She asks to be heard as “a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart”: reason and heart in one phrase. Mr. Collins, who sets out his reasons before he is “run away with by my feelings”, is the one who keeps them apart.

2. Elizabeth asks, “Can I speak plainer?” Soon after, she makes “no reply” and leaves “in silence”. Is her silence a defeat?

What it asks It asks the student to judge how the chapter ends. Elizabeth has refused Mr. Collins again and again, and her last speech asks, “Can I speak plainer?” He answers that she is “uniformly charming” and that, once they have “the express authority” of her father and mother, his proposals “will not fail of being acceptable.” Then: “To such perseverance in wilful self-deception Elizabeth would make no reply, and immediately and in silence withdrew; determined, that if he persisted in considering her repeated refusals as flattering encouragement, to apply to her father, whose negative might be uttered in such a manner as must be decisive, and whose behaviour at least could not be mistaken for the affectation and coquetry of an elegant female.” Affectation is a false show, and coquetry is flirting. The student builds a thesis on whether her silence is a defeat or her plainest answer, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say how Mr. Bennet or Mrs. Bennet will answer, or that Mr. Collins gives up: the chapter ends with her resolve and his confidence.

A strong answer A strong thesis decides what her silence is and defends it. A student might argue that it is her plainest answer: he turned every word she spoke into a sign, silence gives him nothing to turn, the narrator calls it “no reply” to “wilful self-deception”, and her plan goes to the very authority he named. The strongest objection is that the plan concedes the point: her father’s no will count because he cannot be taken for “an elegant female”, and the chapter that turned on her speaking plainly ends with her silent. A good revision might grant that she is beaten in words and still hold that she is not beaten in fact: she gives up on being believed, not on refusing. The chapter’s last words are the phrase she and Mr. Collins have traded, “an elegant female”, and the chapter leaves it standing.

3. Mr. Collins keeps hearing Elizabeth’s no as a yes. Is the fault in his own vanity, or in the customs he keeps quoting?

What it asks It asks the student to judge where Mr. Collins’s deafness comes from. He says he is “not now to learn” that “it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept”, that the refusal may be “repeated a second or even a third time.” He says it is “the established custom of your sex to reject a man on the first application,” and finally that she must mean to increase his love “by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.” Elizabeth answers that she is not one of those young ladies, “if such young ladies there are”, and asks to be taken not “as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” He says: “You must give me leave to flatter myself, my dear cousin, that your refusal of my addresses are merely words of course.” Then: “I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense”. The narrator calls it “perseverance in wilful self-deception”. The student builds a thesis on whether the fault lies in his vanity or in the customs he quotes, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say how her father and mother will answer, that Mr. Collins gives up, or that he feels nothing for her. Later chapters may not be used as evidence.

A strong answer A strong thesis places the fault and defends it from the page. A student might argue for vanity: he asks leave to flatter himself, says he will choose how to read her, begins his reasons with his own worth, and the narrator calls the self-deception “wilful”. The strongest objection is that the rules come from outside him (“I am not now to learn”), and that a custom which reads any young lady’s no as a possible yes would leave her nothing to say, whoever heard it. A good revision might hold that each needs the other: the custom gives his vanity a reason that sounds like knowledge, and his vanity keeps him from noticing where the custom runs out. By his own rule a lady may refuse “a second or even a third time”. Elizabeth refuses at least four times, and he does not count.

Vocabulary definitions