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Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Mr. Bennet does the very thing his wife begged for, but he hides it so he can enjoy her surprise. Is the visit a kindness to the family or a joke played on them?
The tension Before the reveal Mrs. Bennet is “sick of Mr. Bingley”; a moment after it she declares “that it was what she had expected all the while” and “I knew I should persuade you at last”, while he leaves the room “fatigued with the raptures of his wife.”
How a secret becomes a show: the hat, the argument about introductions, the teasing of Kitty and Mary, then the surprise and Mrs. Bennet’s turnaround.
The narrator opens by giving away the secret: Mr. Bennet was one of the first to call on Mr. Bingley. He had always meant to go, though he kept telling his wife he would not, and she knew nothing of it until the evening after the visit. Then the chapter shows how he let it out. Seeing Elizabeth trim a hat, he says he hopes Mr. Bingley will like it. Mrs. Bennet answers bitterly that they cannot know what Bingley likes, since they are not to visit. Elizabeth reminds her that they will meet him at the assemblies, where Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him. Mrs. Bennet says Mrs. Long has two nieces of her own and will do no such thing, and calls her selfish and false. Mr. Bennet agrees he has no opinion of Mrs. Long either. Unable to answer him, Mrs. Bennet scolds Kitty for coughing; her father says Kitty times her coughs badly, and Kitty says she does not cough for fun. Kitty asks when the next ball is, and Elizabeth says in a fortnight. Mrs. Bennet points out that Mrs. Long returns only the day before, so she cannot introduce a man she will not yet know. Mr. Bennet suggests his wife introduce Bingley to Mrs. Long instead. She says that is impossible when she does not know him herself, and asks why he must tease. He praises her caution, agrees that one cannot know a man in a fortnight, and says that if they do not venture someone else will, so if she declines, he will do it himself. The girls stare. Mrs. Bennet says only “Nonsense, nonsense!” He asks whether she thinks the forms of introduction nonsense, then turns to Mary as a young lady of deep reflection who reads great books and makes extracts. Mary wants to say something sensible and cannot. While she gathers her thoughts, he returns to Bingley, and his wife cries that she is sick of Bingley. He is sorry to hear it, he says: had he known that morning, he would not have called on him, but now the visit is paid and the acquaintance cannot be escaped. The women are astonished, which is just what he wished. After her first burst of joy, Mrs. Bennet begins to say she expected it all along. She praises his goodness, says she knew she would persuade him in the end, and calls it a good joke that he went that morning and said nothing. He tells Kitty she may now cough as much as she likes, and leaves the room, worn out by his wife’s delight. Once the door is shut, Mrs. Bennet tells the girls what an excellent father they have, and that they will never repay his kindness, or hers. She tells Lydia that Bingley may dance with her at the next ball though she is the youngest; Lydia answers that she is also the tallest. The rest of the evening goes in guessing when Bingley will return the call and when to ask him to dinner.
Read the first paragraph aloud and stop. Ask what the reader now knows that Mrs. Bennet does not, and what is left to find out once the secret is gone. Then read the scene in parts: one reader for Mr. Bennet, one for Mrs. Bennet, and a third for the daughters and the narrator. Mark each place where he says something the reader knows is a pretence, and each place where a daughter takes the weight of a joke: Kitty’s cough, Mary’s silence. Stop again at “I am sick of Mr. Bingley” and ask why this is the moment he tells. Bingley never appears; all the chapter knows of him is that he has been called on. Mrs. Long’s faults are Mrs. Bennet’s words, said in a temper.
Retell The student retells the chapter in four movements: the narrator’s secret; the talk from the hat to “Nonsense, nonsense!”; the turn to Mary and the reveal; and the family after he has gone. Look for the order of his moves and for the moment Mrs. Bennet’s story of the visit changes.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes a short speech in Mr. Bennet’s manner: a character answers someone in a room who does not know a secret the speaker holds. The speech opens with mock praise, grants a point, states a general rule, and ends on one long sentence that strings together “and after all”, “and, therefore” and an “if” before its main clause comes last. Every clause should pass with the listener and ring false to a reader who knows the secret.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues the visit is a kindness told as a joke and gathers “among the earliest”, “always intended”, the “tumult of joy” and Mrs. Bennet’s “such a good joke”. The other argues it is a joke played on the family and gathers “just what he wished”, the jokes at Kitty and Mary, and his exit “fatigued with the raptures of his wife.” Each side must answer the other’s best line. Neither may say why he hid the visit beyond what the narrator says, or what Bingley is like.
Purpose Close on the frame. The chapter gives away its secret in the first paragraph and ends with the family guessing about a man none of them has seen. Ask why a writer would spoil her own surprise, and what the reader watches instead when the news is no longer news: the people who hear it, and the man who chooses how they hear it.
Easier Read the first paragraph and then the scene aloud in parts. Make a short list of each joke Mr. Bennet makes and who it lands on. Talk through the first, fourth and fifth discussion questions, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all six 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 Mr. Bennet’s speech about “circumspection”. Read it as a piece of rhetoric: mock praise, a granted point, a general rule and a long periodic close, each clause passing with his wife and ringing false to the reader. Does the speech show a man doing his duty in the only way he can bear, or a man using his duty as material for wit? The essay should meet the objection that the narrator, by telling the secret first, has made the reader enjoy the speech as much as he does.
1. The narrator tells us about the visit before the family knows. Whose side does that put us on when he says “I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy”?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to notice what the first paragraph does to the reader. The narrator says at once that Mr. Bennet “was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley” and that his wife “had no knowledge of it”, then promises to show how it “was then disclosed in the following manner.” His first spoken line, to Elizabeth as she trims a hat, is “I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy.” The student decides where that knowledge places the reader: beside Mr. Bennet in his game, or somewhere above the whole room. The card must not say why he hid the visit beyond the narrator’s “just what he wished”.
His. We know what he knows, so the hat line reads as his first private joke, and we are the only ones who catch it. Every tease after it, to Kitty, to Mary, to his wife, we enjoy from his chair. The narrator has made us his partners before the scene starts.
I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy.
till the evening after the visit was paid she had no knowledge of it.
Above both. It is the narrator, not Mr. Bennet, who lets us in, and the narrator calls what follows a showing “in the following manner”. We watch him perform as much as we watch them be fooled. By the time the narrator says the astonishment was “just what he wished”, we are judging him too.
It was then disclosed in the following manner.
The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished
A strong answer A strong response places the reader and grounds it in the first paragraph and the hat line. One reader says the narrator makes us Mr. Bennet’s partners: we alone catch the hat joke, and we enjoy every tease that follows from his side. Another says the narrator keeps us above him, framing the scene as a showing “in the following manner” and later naming what he wished, so we watch him perform. The best answers notice that the secret is spoiled on purpose, which moves the interest from the news to the telling.
2. When he offers to introduce Bingley himself, the girls stare at him, but their mother says only “Nonsense, nonsense!” Why do they hear his speech so differently?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to explain two reactions to one speech. Mr. Bennet has praised his wife’s “circumspection”, said “One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight”, and ended, “if you decline the office, I will take it on myself.” Then “The girls stared at their father.” Mrs. Bennet says only “Nonsense, nonsense!” The student decides why the stare and the word differ. The card must not treat the line about a fortnight as a forecast of anything later in the book.
The girls take him at his word, and she does not. Only a man who knows Bingley can introduce him, and the girls hear that. Their mother has heard him tease for years, and she hears one more tease. Her “Nonsense” waves away the very offer that gives the secret away.
if you decline the office, I will take it on myself.
The girls stared at their father.
The girls hear a change of sides; she hears the old game. Until now their father has refused to join the chase. Now he says “if we do not venture, somebody else will”, as if he cared who gets Bingley first. The girls stare at a father talking like their mother. She will not be drawn.
But if we do not venture, somebody else will;
Mrs. Bennet said only, “Nonsense, nonsense!”
A strong answer A strong response explains why the stare and “Nonsense” differ. One reader says the girls take him at his word and catch the clue, since only a man who knows Bingley could introduce him, while their mother, used to his teasing, hears nothing new. Another says the girls stare at a father who suddenly talks of venturing before “somebody else will”, as if he had joined the chase, and that she refuses to be drawn. The best answers notice that the narrator gives the girls no words, so the reader has to read the stare.
3. Mr. Bennet asks Mary what she thinks, then moves on “While Mary is adjusting her ideas.” What was the question to Mary for?Character
What it asks It asks the student to weigh one turn in the talk. Mr. Bennet asks whether his wife thinks “the forms of introduction” nonsense, then turns: “What say you, Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read great books, and make extracts.” The narrator adds, “Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.” He goes on, “While Mary is adjusting her ideas,” and then “let us return to Mr. Bingley.” The student decides what the question was meant to do. The card must not claim he despises Mary or his family: the chapter does not say so.
It was a joke on Mary, and never wanted an answer. “deep reflection” is praise too large to be meant, and “make extracts” means copying out other people’s thoughts. Mary falls silent exactly as the joke expects, and he does not wait for her.
you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read great books, and make extracts.
Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.
It was a pause in his show. He has wandered off into “the forms of introduction”, and he wants the talk back on Bingley before the reveal. Turning to Mary fills a beat and lets him say “let us return to Mr. Bingley” as if she had held things up. She is a prop in his timing more than a target.
While Mary is adjusting her ideas,
let us return to Mr. Bingley.
A strong answer A strong response says what the question was for and grounds it in the exchange. One reader says it was a joke at Mary’s expense: praise too large to be meant, aimed at a girl who copies out extracts, and the silence it expects duly comes. Another says it was a stall in his performance, a beat that lets him turn back to Bingley at the moment he chooses. The best answers notice “I know” and his quick move on, and leave open whether Mary is the target or only in the way.
4. He tells the news as bad luck: “we cannot escape the acquaintance now.” Why make good news sound like a complaint?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to read how he words the reveal. His wife has just cried, “I am sick of Mr. Bingley.” He answers, “I am sorry to hear that; but why did you not tell me so before? If I had known as much this morning, I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now.” The narrator has already told us he “had always intended to visit him”, so the regret is false. The student decides why the good news comes as a complaint. The card must not go past the narrator’s one stated aim, “just what he wished”.
To keep up his part to the very end. Until now he has kept “assuring his wife that he should not go”, and he does not drop the pose even as he tells. The visit is “very unlucky”, a trap they “cannot escape”. He gives her what she asked for without once seeming to give in.
It is very unlucky;
though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go;
To turn her own words on her. She has just said she is “sick of Mr. Bingley”, so he takes her at her word and pretends to be sorry. The blame lands on her for not speaking sooner. Her temper becomes the setup for her surprise, and the news lands harder for coming as a regret.
I am sick of Mr. Bingley,
but why did you not tell me so before?
A strong answer A strong response says what the complaint does and grounds it in his reply. One reader says he keeps up his part to the end: having always said he would not go, he calls the visit “very unlucky” and gives way without seeming to. Another says he turns her own words on her, takes “sick of Mr. Bingley” at face value and blames her for not speaking sooner, so her temper sets up her surprise. The best answers notice that the regret is false, since he “had always intended to visit him”, and that the narrator still names only one aim, “just what he wished”.
5. Near the start, Kitty is scolded for coughing when her mother will not answer Mr. Bennet. Why does he leave the room saying, “Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose”?Character
What it asks It asks the student to weigh his exit line. Early on, Mrs. Bennet “deigned not to make any reply” to him and scolds Kitty for coughing instead, and her father adds, “Kitty has no discretion in her coughs,” and “she times them ill.” Kitty answers, “I do not cough for my own amusement.” After the reveal and his wife’s praise, he says, “Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose”, and leaves the room, “fatigued with the raptures of his wife.” The student decides why he brings the cough back as he goes. The card must not say he loves or scorns his daughters: the chapter states neither.
To release her. Kitty took the scolding meant for him when her mother could not answer him, and now the strain is over. His last words in the room go to the daughter who was blamed, not to the wife who is praising him. It is a small kindness, said as a joke.
Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you choose,
but, unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.
To close his show. His “she times them ill” was about his timing: the coughs broke into a scene he was building. Now the scene is done and her coughs cannot spoil it, so they no longer matter. The line closes his performance and gets him out of the room.
she times them ill.
he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife.
A strong answer A strong response says why the cough comes back and ties it to its first mention. One reader says it is a release, the last word going to the daughter who took her mother’s temper, a kindness wrapped as a joke. Another says it only closes his show: her coughs mattered while they could break into his scene, and “she times them ill” said as much. The best answers notice that he turns from his wife’s praise to Kitty, and that he leaves “fatigued” at the very moment he got his wish.
6. “What an excellent father you have, girls,” she says, but only “when the door was shut.” What does the shut door change about that praise?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to weigh why the praise comes only once he has gone. Mr. Bennet leaves “fatigued with the raptures of his wife.” Once “the door was shut”, she tells the girls, “What an excellent father you have,” and goes on, “I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter.” She adds that “for your sakes we would do anything.” The student decides what the shut door changes about the praise. The card must not settle whether he is an excellent father; that belongs to the last question.
It sets the praise against his exit. The reader has just watched him leave, tired of her joy, and the very next words call him excellent. The narrator lets the gap speak. Her praise is sincere, but it lands on a closed door.
fatigued with the raptures of his wife.
What an excellent father you have, girls,
It turns the praise toward the girls, not him. With him gone she can teach the lesson she wants them to learn, that they owe him “amends”, and claim a share of the debt herself, “or me either”. To his face she had called him “so teasing”; behind the door she can make him the hero of her plan.
I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter.
how can you be so teasing?
A strong answer A strong response says what the shut door changes and grounds it in the lines around it. One reader says the narrator sets her praise against his tired exit, so “excellent father” follows straight on from “fatigued with the raptures of his wife” and the gap does the judging. Another says the praise is for the girls, a lesson in what they owe, and a claim on the debt for herself with “or me either”. The best answers notice that “kindness” is her word, and keep the question of what the visit was for open for the last question.
1. “I knew I should persuade you at last,” Mrs. Bennet tells him. What part, if any, did her begging play in what he did?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh two stories of the same visit. The narrator: “He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go”. Mrs. Bennet, after the reveal: “when the first tumult of joy was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the while.” She tells him, “How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should persuade you at last,” and calls it “such a good joke, too”. The student builds a thesis on what part her begging played, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not read her turnaround as mere foolishness; relief and pride in being right are in it too.
None in the visit. He “always intended” to go and was “among the earliest” to call. Her claim rewrites the past the moment the past turns out well, as “what she had expected all the while” does too. That is more than foolishness: after all her pleading, being right is a relief she will not give up.
He had always intended to visit him,
she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the while.
A large part in the way he did it. Her begging did not make him go, but it made the secret worth keeping. He spent the time “assuring his wife that he should not go”, and her pleas are what the surprise is made of. She is wrong about the visit and right that she shaped what happened in that room.
though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go;
But I knew I should persuade you at last.
A strong answer A strong thesis says what part the begging played and argues it from both accounts. A student might argue it played none: he “always intended” to go, and her claim to have persuaded him rewrites the past, though out of relief and pride as much as foolishness. The strongest objection is that the begging made the secret, since his days of “assuring his wife that he should not go” were answers to her, and the surprise is built from them. A good revision might hold that she did not cause the visit but did cause the show, and ask what that does to her claim that it was “such a good joke”.
2. Mr. Bennet does the very thing his wife begged for, but he hides it so he can enjoy her surprise. Is the visit a kindness to the family or a joke played on them?
What it asks It asks the chapter’s closing question. Mr. Bennet “was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley” and “had always intended to visit him”, so the thing his wife begged for was done early. But he hid it, “to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go”, and told it at a moment of his choosing. The narrator gives one aim: “The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished”. On the way to the reveal he teases Kitty, Mary and his wife, and when the joy comes he leaves the room “fatigued with the raptures of his wife.” She calls it “such a good joke, too” and calls him “an excellent father”, and the evening ends in happy planning. The student builds a thesis on whether the visit is a kindness or a joke played on the family, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not claim contempt for his wife or love for his daughters as the reason, since the chapter states neither.
A kindness, told as a joke. He did what his wife begged for, and did it early, among the first to call. The way he told it gave them a “tumult of joy” plain news would not have, and his wife herself calls it “such a good joke”. The jokes are how he gives; the gift is real.
Mr. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley.
And it is such a good joke, too,
A joke played on them, with a kindness inside it. The one aim the narrator names is their astonishment, “just what he wished”, not their joy. Each step to the reveal costs someone: Kitty’s cough, Mary’s silence, his wife’s temper. And when the joy he caused arrives, he cannot stay for it.
The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished
fatigued with the raptures of his wife.
A strong answer A strong thesis says whether the visit is a kindness or a joke on the family and argues it from the whole chapter. A student might argue it is a kindness told as a joke: he called “among the earliest”, the surprise gave the family a joy plain news would not, and his wife calls it “such a good joke”. The strongest objection is that the narrator names only one aim, “just what he wished”, which is their astonishment, and that on the way he spends jokes on Kitty, Mary and his wife, then leaves “fatigued” when the joy arrives. A good revision might hold that the visit was a kindness and the telling a joke, and weigh which of the two the family will remember.
I honour your circumspection.Caution that looks all round before it acts (from Latin circum, around, and specere, to look, as in inspect and spectator). Mr. Bennet says “I honour your circumspection” when his wife refuses to introduce a man she has never met. The praise is mock: she is careful only because she cannot do otherwise, and he has already thrown caution off himself by calling on Bingley that morning. The long, grave word dresses up a joke.
I honour your circumspection.As a verb, to show formal respect for something, to treat it as worthy of praise (the edition keeps the British spelling). “I honour your circumspection” is the language of a public tribute, and Mr. Bennet uses it to salute a caution his wife has no choice about. The grand verb is half the joke: he speaks as if bowing to her good sense, when he has already done the very thing she calls “impossible”.