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Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
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?
The tension Mrs. Bennet brings her husband in to force the match, and he does it by turning her demand inside out: “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 smiles; her mother, who had “persuaded herself” of his support, is “excessively disappointed.”
The same morning as the proposal, when Elizabeth’s answer has to stand against her mother’s anger, her father’s irony and her suitor’s wounded pride.
Mrs. Bennet, who has waited in the vestibule for the end of the proposal, comes into the breakfast-room as Elizabeth leaves and congratulates Mr. Collins. He tells her that Elizabeth refused him, and that he puts the refusal down to bashful modesty. Mrs. Bennet dares not believe it and says so. She promises to bring Lizzy to reason, calling her a very headstrong, foolish girl. Mr. Collins answers that a headstrong wife might not make him happy, and that perhaps she should not be forced, and Mrs. Bennet hurries to say Lizzy is only headstrong in such matters. She runs to the library and asks her husband to make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins. Mr. Bennet, calm and unconcerned, calls it a hopeless business, and has Elizabeth called down to hear his opinion. He asks her whether she has refused the offer, and his wife whether she insists on the match; Mrs. Bennet says yes, or she will never see Elizabeth again. Mr. Bennet then tells Elizabeth that her mother will never see her again if she does not marry Mr. Collins, and he will never see her again if she does. Elizabeth smiles. Mrs. Bennet, who had persuaded herself he was on her side, protests that he promised to insist, and he asks for the free use of his understanding and of his room. Mrs. Bennet goes on coaxing and threatening Elizabeth, and tries to win Jane to her side, but Jane mildly declines; Elizabeth answers her, sometimes earnestly and sometimes playfully, and never wavers. Mr. Collins, alone, is hurt in his pride and in nothing else; the narrator says his regard for her was imaginary. Charlotte Lucas arrives to spend the day, and Lydia and then Kitty tell her the news. Mrs. Bennet asks Charlotte to persuade Elizabeth, and when Jane and Elizabeth come in, she warns Elizabeth that if she goes on refusing offers she will never get a husband, asks who will maintain her when her father is dead, declares she has done with her, and complains of her nerves. The daughters listen in silence. When Mr. Collins enters, Mrs. Bennet sends the girls away; Lydia stays, and Charlotte goes to the window and pretends not to hear. Mr. Collins asks that the subject be dropped, says he is resigned, the more so since he now doubts he would have been happy, and withdraws his pretensions, apologising for having taken his answer from Elizabeth rather than from her mother and father, and for his manner, if it was at fault.
Start with the sentence the hinge rests on, read aloud: “Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.” Ask who laughs at it and who does not, and leave it there; whether the joke is care or a way of keeping clear is the last written question, and the earlier questions should build toward it. Then let students note, as they read, how each person in the house takes the news, from Mrs. Bennet in the vestibule to Mr. Collins at the end. Keep to the chapter. Mr. Bennet makes one ruling in the library and is not seen again, so no answer may say how he will act in later matters. Mrs. Bennet’s threats are loud, but the narrator calls her outpouring an “effusion” and her daughters wait it out, so no answer may say she truly means to disown Elizabeth. Charlotte is only “detained” by Mr. Collins’s civility and “a little curiosity”; her plans are not shown, and no answer should guess them. Mr. Collins withdraws his “pretensions” and apologises for his manner; no other woman is named. Do not cheer the joke as pure wit and stop there: the request for his room comes in the same breath, and the two belong together. Do not make Mrs. Bennet only ridiculous: her question about who will maintain Elizabeth when her father is dead is a real one in this world. Do not skip Mr. Collins’s last speech, which shows how much he wanted Elizabeth herself. And treat the chapter as a new test, not a repeat of the proposal: this time the refusal has to survive her family.
Retell The student retells the morning in order: Mrs. Bennet in the breakfast-room with Mr. Collins and the word “headstrong”; the library and the ruling; the coaxing and threats that follow, and Jane declining to take part; Mr. Collins alone; Charlotte’s arrival, Mrs. Bennet’s outburst and Mr. Collins’s speech of withdrawal. Then the student picks the one sentence that matters most and says why. Look for a retelling that keeps each person’s response distinct, includes the request for the room as well as the joke, and ends with Mr. Collins’s apology, not with anything beyond the chapter.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two short pieces. The first follows the ruling: a short formal sentence that names a choice and addresses someone by name; a sentence that opens with a time phrase and states a riddle; a compound sentence of two balanced clauses joined by “, and”, the second leaving out words the reader supplies and turning on one stressed word; then a narrator’s sentence with a semicolon and “but”, whose subject is held apart from its verb by a clause set off by commas. The second follows Mr. Collins: a sentence that states a general rule, then after a colon narrows it to the speaker, with a short phrase such as “I trust” between commas; then a sentence that opens with its verb left out, folds an “if” into an inverted “had” clause, and ends after “; for” on a saying of the speaker’s own.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that the joke is an act of care, and gathers the ruling itself, the way it turns Mrs. Bennet’s own threat round, Elizabeth’s smile, and the fact that after it her mother can only coax and threaten. The other argues that it is a way of keeping clear, and gathers “a calm unconcern”, “It seems a hopeless business”, the request for “my room” in the same breath, and the rest of the chapter, where Elizabeth meets her mother without him. Each side must answer the other’s best line. Neither may say how Mr. Bennet will act in later matters.
Purpose Close on the chapter’s shape. Austen passes the refusal from room to room: the breakfast-room, the library, the vestibule, and back to the breakfast-room, with a new listener each time. Ask why the one person who rules on the matter does it in a joke and then asks to be left alone, and why the chapter gives its last words not to Elizabeth, who has already left the room, but to Mr. Collins apologising for his “_manner_”.
Easier Read aloud the library scene, from Mrs. Bennet entering it to Mr. Bennet’s two small favours, then the breakfast-room scene from Charlotte’s arrival to the end. Make a list of each person in the house and what they do when they hear Elizabeth has said no. Talk through the questions on “She shall hear my opinion” and on Lydia’s “fun”, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all four 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 what the household’s handling of the refusal shows about each of its members, weighing Mr. Bennet’s “unhappy alternative”, Mrs. Bennet’s threats and her question about who will maintain Elizabeth, and Mr. Collins’s talk of “resignation”. The essay should meet the objection that Mr. Bennet’s joke is the only response in the chapter that actually helps Elizabeth. It must not say how anyone acts after the chapter.
1. 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
What it asks It asks the student to look at how Mr. Bennet stages his ruling. His wife bursts into the library: “You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins”. He meets her with “a calm unconcern” and asks, “And what am I to do on the occasion? It seems a hopeless business.” She asks him to “Tell her that you insist upon her marrying him.” He answers only, “Let her be called down. She shall hear my opinion.” With Elizabeth in the room he goes over the facts one at a time (“Very well--and this offer of marriage you have refused?”), then turns to his wife: “Your mother insists upon your accepting it. Is it not so, Mrs. Bennet?” She answers, “Yes, or I will never see her again.” Only then does he give his ruling. Mrs. Bennet, who “had persuaded herself that her husband regarded the affair as she wished”, is “excessively disappointed”, and protests that he “promised” to insist; the chapter shows no such promise. The student decides whether he meant his wife to take his answer as a yes, or whether she heard what she wished to hear. The card must not say that Mr. Bennet will protect Elizabeth or his other daughters in later matters.
Yes. He never says he will insist, but every step leans her way. “She shall hear my opinion” sounds like support, and the questions he puts to Elizabeth sound like a judge reaching a verdict. Then he has his wife say her threat aloud, so that his own sentence can turn it round. On this reading her hope is part of the joke: the ending only lands if she expects the other one.
Let her be called down. She shall hear my opinion.
We now come to the point. Your mother insists upon your accepting it. Is it not so, Mrs. Bennet?
No, she did that herself. He says nothing untrue: the business does seem hopeless to him, and Elizabeth does hear his opinion. The narrator places the mistake inside Mrs. Bennet, with “persuaded herself”, and the promise she names is never shown. On this reading she hears what she wishes to hear, as Mr. Collins did in the breakfast-room, and her husband simply lets her.
Mrs. Bennet, who had persuaded herself that her husband regarded the affair as she wished, was excessively disappointed.
And what am I to do on the occasion? It seems a hopeless business.
A strong answer A strong response decides whether the misunderstanding is his doing or hers, and shows it from the library. One reader finds it his: “She shall hear my opinion” leans her way, the questions sound like a verdict coming, and he makes her say her threat aloud so that his sentence can reverse it. Another finds it hers: he says nothing untrue, the narrator puts the mistake in “persuaded herself”, and the promise she names is never shown. The best answers notice what the first reading means for the joke: if her hope was needed for it to work, the joke is aimed at his wife as much as it helps his daughter.
2. 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
What it asks It asks the student to set father and daughter side by side through one word. When his wife bursts into the library, Mr. Bennet “raised his eyes from his book as she entered, and fixed them on her face with a calm unconcern, which was not in the least altered by her communication.” After the library, Mrs. Bennet “talked to Elizabeth again and again; coaxed and threatened her by turns”, and Elizabeth, “sometimes with real earnestness, and sometimes with playful gaiety, replied to her attacks. Though her manner varied, however, her determination never did.” When Elizabeth and Jane come into the breakfast-room, Mrs. Bennet says: “Ay, there she comes,” and goes on, “looking as unconcerned as may be, and caring no more for us than if we were at York, provided she can have her own way.” The first word is the narrator’s; the second is the mother’s, spoken in anger. The student decides whether Elizabeth’s calm is her father’s. The card must not say that Mrs. Bennet truly means to disown Elizabeth.
Much the same. She smiles at his joke, and she meets her mother’s attacks, some of the time, with “playful gaiety”, which is his way of not being moved. Her calm, like his, stands outside the uproar while others shout. On this reading her mother is right about the look, and the look runs in the family.
sometimes with playful gaiety, replied to her attacks.
looking as unconcerned as may be,
Not the same. His calm is that of a man the affair does not touch: it is “not in the least altered”, and soon he asks to be left alone. Hers is a manner laid over something fixed. She answers the attacks herself, again and again, sometimes in “real earnestness”, and her determination never varies. Her mother’s word, “unconcerned”, is an angry name for that firmness. On this reading he is calm because he stays out of it, and she is calm because she means to hold her ground.
fixed them on her face with a calm unconcern, which was not in the least altered by her communication.
Though her manner varied, however, her determination never did.
A strong answer A strong response sets the two calms side by side and judges them from the page. One reader finds them alike: she smiles at his joke and meets her mother with “playful gaiety”, standing outside the uproar as he does. Another finds them different: his calm is untouched by the news and ends in a wish for his room, while hers is a manner over a fixed resolve, kept up through attack after attack. The best answers notice who is speaking: the narrator chose the word for him, while the word for her comes from the person she is refusing to obey.
3. Lydia tells Charlotte, “there is such fun here!” Is she wrong?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the comedy of the chapter. Lydia meets Charlotte Lucas in the vestibule and cries “in a half whisper”: “I am glad you are come, for there is such fun here! What do you think has happened this morning? Mr. Collins has made an offer to Lizzy, and she will not have him.” Kitty comes “to tell the same news”. At the end, when her mother sends the girls away, “Lydia stood her ground, determined to hear all she could”. Earlier, in the library, Mr. Bennet answered the uproar with a joke, and “Elizabeth could not but smile”. Mr. Collins comes in “with an air more stately than usual”. Mrs. Bennet, meanwhile, complains that “nobody feels for my poor nerves.” The student decides whether Lydia is wrong, and for whom the morning is fun. The card must not say what Charlotte means to do: she is only “detained” by Mr. Collins’s civility and then by “a little curiosity”.
Not wrong. Her father answers the uproar with a joke, and Elizabeth smiles at it. The narrator enjoys the morning too: the stately entrance, the nerves, the long complaint about not complaining. Lydia only says out loud what the chapter’s best wits feel. On this reading her “fun” is the chapter’s own tone, spoken by the one person with no manners to hide it.
Elizabeth could not but smile at such a conclusion of such a beginning;
who entered with an air more stately than usual,
Wrong about everyone but herself. For everyone else the morning costs something: Mrs. Bennet’s hopes, Mr. Collins’s pride, Elizabeth’s peace, under attack “again and again”, even Jane’s, who has to decline “with all possible mildness”. Lydia has nothing at stake, so for her it is only news to carry. On this reading her “fun” measures how little it costs her, and that makes everyone else’s cost easier to see.
I am glad you are come, for there is such fun here!
but Jane, with all possible mildness, declined interfering;
A strong answer A strong response decides whether Lydia is wrong and says for whom. One reader finds her right: her father answers the uproar with a joke, Elizabeth smiles at it, and the narrator writes the whole morning as comedy. Another finds her wrong about everyone but herself: everyone else pays something for the morning, and her pleasure comes from having nothing at stake. The best answers ask whether the other laughter in the chapter is more like Lydia’s or less, and leave that question open for Mr. Bennet.
4. 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
What it asks It asks the student to trace what really ends Mr. Collins’s suit. Mrs. Bennet promises him that “Lizzy shall be brought to reason”: “She is a very headstrong, foolish girl, and does not know her own interest; but I will _make_ her know it.” Mr. Collins answers that “if she is really headstrong and foolish, I know not whether she would altogether be a very desirable wife to a man in my situation”, and she hurries to take it back: “Lizzy is only headstrong in such matters as these.” In the library, Mr. Bennet’s joke refuses to add his authority to her mother’s. Mr. Collins is not in the library, and the chapter never shows him told of what was said there; meanwhile he is “meditating in solitude”. The narrator says that “the possibility of her deserving her mother’s reproach prevented his feeling any regret.” In his last speech he withdraws “without having paid yourself and Mr. Bennet the compliment of requesting you to interpose your authority in my behalf.” The student decides which did more to free her. The card must not say that Mr. Collins has chosen another woman: he only withdraws his “pretensions”.
Her father’s joke. A suitor can be refused, but a daughter might not hold out against her mother and father together. The joke takes the father’s authority off the scale, and after it her mother can only coax and threaten. On this reading the library is where Elizabeth is freed, and the rest of the chapter is the household catching up.
Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.
coaxed and threatened her by turns.
Her mother’s word. The chapter never shows Mr. Collins hearing the joke. What lets him go is the doubt Mrs. Bennet planted: a headstrong wife “could not contribute much to my felicity”, and her “reproach” is what spares him regret. On this reading Mrs. Bennet’s own word undid her plan, and the joke settled a quarrel inside the family, not the proposal.
she could not contribute much to my felicity.
and the possibility of her deserving her mother’s reproach prevented his feeling any regret.
A strong answer A strong response weighs both causes and says which counts for more. One reader credits the joke: it takes the father’s authority off the scale and leaves her mother only coaxing and threats. Another credits the word: Mr. Collins balks at “headstrong” at once, the chapter never shows him hearing the joke, and the narrator says her mother’s “reproach” is what spares him regret. The best answers notice that the two did different work, one with the family and one with the suitor, and ask what that means for calling the joke a rescue.
1. 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?
What it asks It asks the student to read Mr. Collins’s speech of withdrawal for what it leaves out. He tells Mrs. Bennet, “let us be for ever silent on this point.” He says he is 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.” He asks her not to think it disrespect that he withdraws “without having paid yourself and Mr. Bennet the compliment of requesting you to interpose your authority in my behalf”, and allows that his conduct “may, I fear, be objectionable in having accepted my dismission from your daughter’s lips instead of your own”. He ends: “I have certainly meant well through the whole affair. My object has been to secure an amiable companion for myself, with due consideration for the advantage of all your family; and if my _manner_ has been at all reprehensible, I here beg leave to apologize.” Elizabeth has already left the room. At the start of the chapter he had put her refusal down to “her bashful modesty and the genuine delicacy of her character”, and the narrator has since said: “He thought too well of himself to comprehend on what motive his cousin could refuse him; and though his pride was hurt, he suffered in no other way. His regard for her was quite imaginary”. The student builds a thesis on what the apology leaves out and whether what he leaves out is the most honest part of the speech, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Mr. Collins has chosen another woman, or what Charlotte means to do.
Yes, the silence is honest. He does not apologise for losing Elizabeth or claim to grieve, because he does not grieve: the narrator says his pride was hurt and he “suffered in no other way.” He names his aim plainly, “an amiable companion for myself”, and admits he now doubts he would have been happy with her. The fine words cover his pride; the gaps tell the truth. On this reading the most honest thing in the speech is the feeling he does not pretend to have.
My object has been to secure an amiable companion for myself,
and though his pride was hurt, he suffered in no other way.
No, the silence hides the most. He apologises for his manner, never for the matter: he took her refusal for modesty, and he still talks as if her answer should have come from her mother and father. The one regret he does voice, taking his “dismission from your daughter’s lips instead of your own”, treats her answer as if it were not hers to give. On this reading what he leaves out is what he cannot see, that Elizabeth meant what she said, and that blindness is self-regard, not honesty.
My conduct may, I fear, be objectionable in having accepted my dismission from your daughter’s lips instead of your own;
He thought too well of himself to comprehend on what motive his cousin could refuse him;
A strong answer A strong thesis names what the apology leaves out and judges the silence. A student might argue that it is the most honest part of the speech: he claims no grief because he feels none, and his plain “an amiable companion for myself” matches the narrator’s “quite imaginary”. The strongest objection is that the silence hides what he still cannot see: he never apologises for taking her refusal as modesty, and he still speaks as if her answer should have come from her mother and father. A good revision might hold both: the silence is honest about his feelings and blind to her right to refuse. The best revisions weigh the one word he stresses, “_manner_”, against everything it leaves out.
2. 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?
What it asks It asks the student to weigh Mrs. Bennet’s speech in the breakfast-room fairly. She tells Elizabeth: “if you take it into your head to go on refusing every offer of marriage in this way, you will never get a husband at all--and I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father is dead. _I_ shall not be able to keep you--and so I warn you. I have done with you from this very day.” She goes on: “Not that I have much pleasure, indeed, in talking to anybody. People who suffer as I do from nervous complaints can have no great inclination for talking. Nobody can tell what I suffer!” The narrator calls it “this effusion”, and her daughters listen in silence, “sensible that any attempt to reason with or soothe her would only increase the irritation.” In the library Mr. Bennet answered with a joke and asked for his room. The student builds a thesis on whether she takes Elizabeth’s future more seriously than anyone else in the house, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Mrs. Bennet truly means to disown Elizabeth, or that Mr. Bennet will protect his daughters later.
Yes. Under the noise is the one fact no one else names. Her father will die one day, Elizabeth has no husband, and her mother says plainly that she cannot keep her. Her father answers with a joke and asks for his library. Jane will not interfere. Lydia calls it fun. Only Mrs. Bennet looks past this morning to the years after it. On this reading she is ridiculous in manner and right in substance.
I am sure I do not know who is to maintain you when your father is dead.
I shall not be able to keep you--and so I warn you.
No. She names the danger, but within a breath the speech is about her own suffering: her nerves, her lack of pleasure in talking, “Nobody can tell what I suffer!” Her answer to the danger is a threat to stop speaking to her daughter, which does nothing for that future. And from the first she has congratulated herself on the match as well as Mr. Collins. On this reading the fear is real, but she uses it as a weapon, and the person she takes most seriously is herself.
Nobody can tell what I suffer!
congratulated both him and herself in warm terms on the happy prospect of their nearer connection.
A strong answer A strong thesis weighs the speech whole. A student might argue that she takes the future most seriously: she alone names what happens when the father is dead, while he jokes, Jane stays mild and Lydia calls it fun. The strongest objection is that she turns at once to her own nerves, answers the danger with a threat, and had congratulated herself on the match from the start. A good revision might hold both: she sees the danger more clearly than anyone, and cannot speak of it without making it about herself. The best revisions notice that seeing a danger and answering it well are not the same, and ask whether anyone in the chapter does both.
3. 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?
What it asks It asks the student to judge Mr. Bennet’s ruling in the library. His wife asks him to “make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins”. He meets her with “a calm unconcern”, calls it “a hopeless business”, and has Elizabeth called down. He sets out the facts like a judge, has his wife say “Yes, or I will never see her again”, and gives his sentence: “An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth.” Then: “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 smiles. When his wife protests, he replies: “I have two small favours to request. First, that you will allow me the free use of my understanding on the present occasion; and, secondly, of my room. I shall be glad to have the library to myself as soon as may be.” He does not appear again in the chapter, while his wife talks to Elizabeth “again and again” and “coaxed and threatened her by turns.” The student builds a thesis on whether the joke is an act of care or a way of keeping clear, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Mr. Bennet will protect Elizabeth or his other daughters in later matters, or that Mrs. Bennet truly means to disown her.
An act of care. A daughter’s refusal might not hold if her mother and father both demanded the match, and with one sentence he takes his side away from her mother’s. He does it in the one form his wife cannot argue with, her own threat turned round, and in a form Elizabeth can enjoy: she smiles. He needs no speech about her freedom, because the joke is the speech. On this reading wit is how a man like him shows love, and here it works.
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;
A way of keeping clear. The ruling takes a minute, and his second request is for his room: he wants the library to himself “as soon as may be.” He gives no reasons, makes no plan, and offers his wife nothing for her fear. Then he is gone, and Elizabeth faces her mother alone, again and again. On this reading the joke frees her from one demand and frees him from all the rest, and his own freedom is the one he asks for out loud.
First, that you will allow me the free use of my understanding on the present occasion; and, secondly, of my room.
I shall be glad to have the library to myself as soon as may be.
A strong answer A strong thesis decides what the joke is and defends it from the library. A student might argue that it is care: it takes his authority away from her mother’s side, in a form his wife cannot answer and his daughter can smile at. The strongest objection is the request that follows at once: he wants his room back “as soon as may be”, and the chapter leaves Elizabeth to meet her mother’s coaxing and threats without him. A good revision might grant that the ruling is real help and still notice that he gives it in the way that costs him least, and then withdraws. It might also ask why Austen puts the joke and the request for the room in the same minute.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.