Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 22

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. She had gained her point, and had time to consider of it. Her reflections were in general satisfactory. Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable: his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object: it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and, however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.

Read the passage aloud. Which sentences sound like Charlotte thinking, and which sound like the narrator talking about her?

For the educator One passage, six sentences: Charlotte’s reflections on the day of her engagement. The first three sentences are short and plain. “Charlotte herself” turns from her family’s noisy joy to her; “tolerably” means fairly, to a limited degree, and “in general” holds the judgment back. The phrase “consider of it” is an older form of consider it. The fourth names Mr. Collins, grants a point with “to be sure” set off by commas, and after a colon gives two clauses joined by “and”. Here “irksome” means tiresome and wearing, and “must be imaginary” uses “must” for what can only be so. The fifth, “But still he would be her husband”, is short and turns the passage on “But still”. The sixth is long. It opens on a phrase built from “Without” and a verb in -ing, “Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony”, which belongs to Charlotte but is attached to the subject “marriage”: a dangling opener. A colon sets up a general claim, and a “however” phrase between commas holds back its close. The word “provision” means a means of support, and a “preservative” keeps a thing from spoiling, so “pleasantest preservative from want” makes marriage a guard against poverty; hear the run of p sounds. For mechanics, notice the hyphen in “well-educated”, the British spelling “honourable”, the full stop after “Mr.” inside a sentence, and the two colons, each opening an explanation. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears Charlotte’s own voice in “to be sure” and “But still”, as if she were talking herself round; one who hears the narrator in the summing sentences, “tolerably composed” and “in general satisfactory”, judging from outside; and one who notices that the last sentence could be either, a general rule or Charlotte’s private creed. No answer may say whether Charlotte will be happy.

Discussion

Narration Tell back the chapter in order, from Charlotte’s long day of listening to Mr. Collins to Elizabeth left alone with her thoughts.

The narrator calls Charlotte’s plan a “kindness”, and in the next breath calls it “Miss Lucas’s scheme”. Who is that kindness for? Character
All through the courtship the narrator is joking, right up to the “so much love and eloquence” waiting for Charlotte in the lane. Is the joke on Charlotte too, or is she in on it? Tone
Lady Lucas begins “to calculate” how long Mr. Bennet is likely to live. How close is Charlotte’s own sum to her mother’s? Inference
Charlotte lists the faults of the man she has just accepted, then thinks, “But still he would be her husband.” How do you hear her say that line to herself? Tone
When Elizabeth cries “impossible!”, Charlotte asks if that is only because Mr. Collins failed with Elizabeth herself. Is Charlotte right about what lies behind the shock? Character

Make a Connection Think of someone, in a story or in your own life, who made a choice you could never make yourself. What would you need to know before you could judge it?

Vocabulary

alacrity: it was bestowed with a most joyful alacrity. Cheerful eagerness; quickness in doing something gladly (from Latin alacer, lively, brisk). Sir William and Lady Lucas give their consent the moment they are asked, and “joyful alacrity” shows how welcome the asking was. The speed tells as much as the joy: the match is news Lucas Lodge is more than ready for.
tolerably: Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. Fairly; to a reasonable but limited degree (from tolerable, able to be borne, Latin tolerare, to bear). Austen leans on the word in this chapter: Charlotte had been “tolerably encouraging”, is “tolerably composed”, Elizabeth answers with “tolerable firmness”, and she is sure Charlotte cannot be “tolerably happy”. Each time it measures something that is enough, and only just.
honourable: it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, Bringing respect, not shame, in the eyes of others; creditable (from honour, Latin honor). Charlotte calls marriage “the only honourable provision” for a woman like her: the one way of being provided for that costs her no standing. Here the word is about the world’s regard more than about right and wrong, and at the end Elizabeth answers it with its opposite, a friend “disgracing herself”.
decorum: her astonishment was consequently so great as to overcome at first the bounds of decorum, Proper, polite behaviour; what good manners require at a given moment (from Latin decorus, fitting). Elizabeth’s shock breaks “the bounds of decorum”: she cries out “impossible!” at a friend’s news, which manners forbid. Then she recovers and says the right things, so the scene shows the feeling and the manners closing over it.

Critical thinking

Charlotte believes marriage is “the only honourable provision” for a woman in her place. How much of this chapter supports that “only”?
Alone afterwards, Elizabeth decides that Charlotte has “sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage”. In the talk just before, who shows more good feeling, Charlotte or Elizabeth?
Charlotte calls her engagement a sensible step, and Elizabeth thinks it a disgrace. Is Charlotte’s choice a defeat or a fair bargain?