Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 20

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.” Elizabeth could not but smile at such a conclusion of such a beginning; but Mrs. Bennet, who had persuaded herself that her husband regarded the affair as she wished, was excessively disappointed.

Resignation to inevitable evils is the duty of us all: the peculiar duty of a young man who has been so fortunate as I have been, in early preferment; and, I trust, I am resigned. Perhaps not the less so from feeling a doubt of my positive happiness had my fair cousin honoured me with her hand; for I have often observed, that resignation is never so perfect as when the blessing denied begins to lose somewhat of its value in our estimation.

Read both passages aloud. Mr. Bennet speaks to Elizabeth, and Mr. Collins speaks to her mother. Who is each man really speaking to?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences: Mr. Bennet’s ruling in the library with the narrator’s report of how it lands, and the heart of Mr. Collins’s speech of withdrawal at the end of the chapter. The ruling opens on a short, formal statement with the name “Elizabeth” set off by a comma as a direct address; “alternative” has its older sense, a choice between two things where taking one means losing the other. The second sentence fronts its time phrase, “From this day”, and states a riddle before it is solved. The third balances two clauses on “will never see you again if”, joined by “, and”. The second clause leaves out “marry Mr. Collins”, and the underscores mark the two stressed words, “_not_” and “_do_”, on which it turns. In the narrator’s sentence, “could not but smile” means could not help smiling, and after the semicolon a clause set off by commas stands between “Mrs. Bennet” and her verb; its past perfect, “had persuaded”, places her belief before the ruling. Mr. Collins’s first sentence states a general rule, then after the colon narrows it to himself, “the peculiar duty of a young man”, where “peculiar” means particular, belonging to one person. His second opens with its verb left out (“Perhaps not the less so”, that is, perhaps no less resigned), folds an “if” into the inverted “had my fair cousin honoured me”, and ends on a saying softened twice, by “begins to lose” and “somewhat of”. For mechanics, notice the colon, the semicolons, the commas around “I trust”, the closing quotation mark, and the British spelling “honoured”. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears Mr. Bennet speaking to his wife through his daughter, since he turns her own threat round; one who hears him speaking to Elizabeth after all, since she is the one who smiles; one who hears Mr. Collins talking his own loss down until it is small; and one who hears him saving face before the room, with Lydia and Charlotte within hearing. No answer may say that Mr. Bennet will protect Elizabeth later, that Mrs. Bennet truly means to disown her, or what Charlotte means to do.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the morning in order, from Mrs. Bennet waiting in the vestibule to Mr. Collins’s apology. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why.

In the library, Mrs. Bennet wants her husband to make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins. He answers only, “She shall hear my opinion.” His wife takes that as a yes. Did he mean her to? Inference
The narrator gives Mr. Bennet “a calm unconcern”. Later Mrs. Bennet says Elizabeth comes in “looking as unconcerned as may be”. Is Elizabeth’s calm the same as her father’s? Character
Lydia tells Charlotte, “there is such fun here!” Is she wrong? Tone
Mrs. Bennet calls Lizzy “a very headstrong, foolish girl”, and Mr. Collins begins to doubt the match. Which did more to free Elizabeth, her mother’s word or her father’s joke? Plot structure

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time you remember, when one piece of news went through a whole household. What did you learn about someone from the way they took it?

Vocabulary

preferment: the peculiar duty of a young man who has been so fortunate as I have been, in early preferment; Advancement to a better post, especially in the church (from prefer in its old sense, to put forward). Mr. Collins consoles himself with his career: a man so lucky in his post has a special duty to bear a loss well. The comfort he reaches for is his own good fortune.
somewhat: blessing denied begins to lose somewhat of its value in our estimation. Some part, a certain amount (from some and what). Today the word softens an adjective, as in somewhat tired; here it is a noun, and the blessing loses “somewhat of its value”, some part of it. Mr. Collins softens twice: the blessing only “begins” to lose, and loses only somewhat. The hedges let him say how little he has lost without quite saying it.
felicity: she could not contribute much to my felicity. Deep, settled happiness (from Latin felicitas, happiness, good luck). The chapter opens on Mrs. Bennet’s “felicitations”, her congratulations, from the same root. Mr. Collins keeps the grand word for his own happiness: a headstrong wife could not add much to it, so perhaps she should not be forced.
endeavoured: She endeavoured to secure Jane in her interest, Tried hard; made a serious effort (from Old French en deveir, to make it one’s duty). The word makes Mrs. Bennet’s pressure a campaign, with recruits. Jane’s answer is to decline “with all possible mildness”.
undutiful: I have no pleasure in talking to undutiful children. Failing to do what you owe, especially what a son or daughter owes a mother or father (un-, not, with duty). Mrs. Bennet’s word turns the refusal of a suitor into a failure of obedience at home: in her eyes Elizabeth has wronged her mother, not only Mr. Collins.
doleful: In a doleful voice Mrs. Bennet thus began the projected conversation: Mournful, full of grief, often with a touch of show (from Old French doel, grief, from Latin dolere, to grieve). Mrs. Bennet’s planned conversation opens in this voice and gets no further than “Oh, Mr. Collins!” before he cuts it short.
dismission: having accepted my dismission from your daughter’s lips instead of your own; Being sent away; an older form of dismissal (from Latin dimittere, to send away). Mr. Collins speaks of the refusal as if he had been let go from a post, and apologises for taking his notice from Elizabeth instead of from her mother. The word shows whose answer he thinks should have counted.

Critical thinking

Mr. Collins’s last words are an apology, in case his “_manner_” was at fault. What does he not apologise for? Is what he leaves out the most honest part of his speech?
Mrs. Bennet asks who will “maintain you when your father is dead.” A few sentences later she is talking about her nerves. Does she take Elizabeth’s future more seriously than anyone else in the house?
Mr. Bennet rescues Elizabeth from the marriage with a joke. Is his joke an act of care for her or a way of keeping clear of the trouble?