Chapter 23 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to read the timeline of Mrs. Bennet’s anger. On the day of the news she decides “that Elizabeth was the real cause of all the mischief”, and that “she herself had been barbarously used by them all”. Then: “A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her: a month passed away before she could speak to Sir William or Lady Lucas without being rude; and many months were gone before she could at all forgive their daughter.” Soon Lady Lucas calls at Longbourn “rather oftener than usual”, unable to hide her “triumph” at “having a daughter well married”. Near the end the chapter names what Charlotte will become: “As her successor in that house, she regarded her with jealous abhorrence.” The student decides why Charlotte waits longest. The card must not say that Charlotte and Mr. Collins are plotting against the Bennets.

One reading

Because Charlotte will have her house. Elizabeth only failed to take Mr. Collins. Charlotte took him, and with him the place Mrs. Bennet holds now. The chapter names that place in so many words: Charlotte is “her successor in that house”. On this reading the order of forgiving follows the entail, and the woman who will move in is the last forgiven.

• As her successor in that house, she regarded her with jealous abhorrence.
• and many months were gone before she could at all forgive their daughter.

Another reading

Because Charlotte’s match is a win for another mother. Mrs. Bennet’s first thought is that she has been wronged, “barbarously used by them all”. Then Lady Lucas keeps calling to enjoy her “triumph”, and “retort” means she pays back a boast in kind. On this reading Charlotte is hardest to forgive because her success is the Lucases’ victory, carried into Mrs. Bennet’s own drawing room.

• she herself had been barbarously used by them all;
• Lady Lucas could not be insensible of triumph on being able to retort on Mrs. Bennet the comfort of having a daughter well married;

Listen for

• Notices that the sentence measures three different things: scolding, rudeness and forgiving.
• Notices that Elizabeth, named “the real cause”, is the first to be spared.
• Links Charlotte’s long wait to the word “successor” near the end of the chapter, or to Lady Lucas’s visits, and says which weighs more.
• Keeps to the chapter: it does not say Charlotte and Mr. Collins are plotting.

If stuck

• Whom does Mrs. Bennet blame on the first day?
• How long does each person wait before she is civil to them?
• What will Charlotte one day have that Mrs. Bennet has now?

A strong answer A strong response explains the order from the page. One reader finds that Charlotte waits longest because she will one day take Mrs. Bennet’s place: the chapter calls her “her successor in that house”. Another finds that the hurt is a neighbour’s victory: Lady Lucas calls oftener to “retort” a boast, and Mrs. Bennet has been “barbarously used by them all”. The best answers notice that Elizabeth, the one she calls “the real cause”, is spared first, so whatever Mrs. Bennet says, her anger follows something other than blame. That is worth keeping for the last written question.

What it asks It asks the student to read Mr. Bennet’s one comment on the match for what it leaves out. “Mr. Bennet’s emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion, and such as he did experience he pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort; for it gratified him, he said, to discover that Charlotte Lucas, whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible, was as foolish as his wife, and more foolish than his daughter!” Here “tolerably” means fairly, and “gratified” means pleased. Under the entail the match makes Charlotte the future mistress of Longbourn, the woman who will live in his house after he dies, and his comment is about good sense alone. The student decides why the joke leaves the house out.

One reading

Because he will not look at the loss. Few feelings reach him: the news leaves him “much more tranquil”, and what he does feel he turns into a pleasure. The house changes hands only after his death, so the loss is not his to feel, and a joke about three women’s sense is easier than a thought about where his wife and daughters will live. On this reading the joke is a way of not looking.

• Mr. Bennet’s emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion, and such as he did experience he pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort;
• was as foolish as his wife,

Another reading

Because, to him, sense matters more than the house. The joke’s best mark goes to “his daughter”, the one Mr. Collins wanted first, as Lydia blurts out to Sir William. Had she taken him, a Bennet would one day have been mistress of Longbourn. On this reading the joke leaves the house out on purpose: he is proud of the very choice that will put a Lucas in his wife’s place.

• whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible,
• more foolish than his daughter!

Listen for

• Notices that the comment is a ranking by good sense, with his wife as the measure of folly.
• Notices what the ranking leaves out: the match will one day put Charlotte in his wife’s place.
• Weighs whether the silence is a way of not looking or a choice of what to value, and points to the words that show it.

If stuck

• Whom does he compare Charlotte with?
• What will Charlotte one day have, now that she is to marry Mr. Collins?
• Why might a joke about good sense be easier for him than a word about the house?

A strong answer A strong response names what the joke leaves out and argues why. One reader finds that he will not look at the loss: few feelings reach him, the house passes only after his death, and a joke about sense is easier than a thought about where his family will live. Another finds a choice of values: the ranking puts “his daughter” on top for the very sense that kept her from Mr. Collins, so he prizes her judgment over the house. The best answers notice that, either way, the joke turns a question of where the family will live into a question of who is sensible. His wife meets that habit at the end of the chapter.

What it asks It asks the student whether Elizabeth, after Charlotte’s news, has anyone she can confide in. “Between Elizabeth and Charlotte there was a restraint which kept them mutually silent on the subject; and Elizabeth felt persuaded that no real confidence could ever subsist between them again. Her disappointment in Charlotte made her turn with fonder regard to her sister, of whose rectitude and delicacy she was sure her opinion could never be shaken, and for whose happiness she grew daily more anxious”. Here “confidence” means trust, the kind that lets you tell someone what you really think. Later: “As for Jane, _her_ anxiety under this suspense was, of course, more painful than Elizabeth’s: but whatever she felt she was desirous of concealing; and between herself and Elizabeth, therefore, the subject was never alluded to.” Then: “But as no such delicacy restrained her mother, an hour seldom passed in which she did not talk of Bingley”. The student decides whether Jane gives Elizabeth the trust and talk she feels she has lost with Charlotte. The card must not say that the friendship with Charlotte is over, or why Bingley has not come back.

One reading

No. Both doors are shut, in different ways. With Charlotte the silence is shared, and Elizabeth believes the old trust cannot come back. With Jane the trust is whole, but Jane keeps her worry to herself, so the subject that fills Elizabeth’s mind is the one they never touch. And the person she turns to is the person she is anxious for. On this reading Elizabeth ends up like the rest of Longbourn, alone with her worry.

• and Elizabeth felt persuaded that no real confidence could ever subsist between them again.
• but whatever she felt she was desirous of concealing;

Another reading

Yes, though not in words. Her opinion of Jane “could never be shaken”, and Jane’s silence is not a break but a kindness. The narrator calls it “delicacy”, the very thing their mother lacks. The sisters carry the same worry and spare each other from saying it. On this reading the two silences are opposites: the one with Charlotte marks lost trust, and the one with Jane is a form of trust.

• of whose rectitude and delicacy she was sure her opinion could never be shaken,
• But as no such delicacy restrained her mother,

Listen for

• Notices that the two silences begin differently: Elizabeth and Charlotte keep one “mutually”, and the other follows from Jane’s wish to hide what she feels.
• Notices that Elizabeth turns to Jane just as she grows “daily more anxious” for her, so the person she turns to is the person she worries about.
• Hears “delicacy” twice: once as part of Jane’s goodness, once as what does not hold back her mother.
• Keeps to the chapter: it does not say the friendship with Charlotte is over, or why Bingley stays away.

If stuck

• What does Elizabeth now believe about trusting Charlotte?
• Why do Elizabeth and Jane never speak of Bingley?
• Who in the family never stops talking about him?

A strong answer A strong response decides whether Jane can give Elizabeth what she feels she has lost, and shows how the two silences differ. One reader finds that she cannot: the trust is there, but the worry Elizabeth most needs to share is the one Jane will not speak of, and it is a worry about Jane herself. Another finds that she can, without words: the sisters’ silence is a shared kindness, where the silence with Charlotte is a loss of trust. The best answers notice who keeps quiet in this household and who does not. The daughters hide their worries, the mother talks of Bingley every hour, and at the end of the chapter she brings her other fear to her husband.

What it asks It asks the student to compare how mother and daughter meet the news about Bingley. Meryton hears “of his coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.” Then: “Even Elizabeth began to fear--not that Bingley was indifferent--but that his sisters would be successful in keeping him away. Unwilling as she was to admit an idea so destructive to Jane’s happiness, and so dishonourable to the stability of her lover, she could not prevent its frequently recurring. The united efforts of his two unfeeling sisters, and of his overpowering friend, assisted by the attractions of Miss Darcy and the amusements of London, might be too much, she feared, for the strength of his attachment.” The student decides whether Elizabeth handles bad news better. The card must not say why Bingley has not come back, or that Darcy has kept him away.

One reading

Yes. Her mother only denies the report. Elizabeth lets the fear in, though she does not want it, and she cannot stop it “frequently recurring”. She weighs the forces against Bingley one by one and asks whether they “might be too much”. On this reading she faces the bad news, and her mother shouts it down.

• she could not prevent its frequently recurring.
• might be too much, she feared, for the strength of his attachment.

Another reading

Less than she seems. She too shuts out the worst idea, set off between dashes: “not that Bingley was indifferent”. She also puts the blame on other people, the sisters and the friend, much as her mother blames Elizabeth and the Lucases. On this reading mother and daughter both keep one hope safe by refusing to look at it, and only the manners differ.

• Even Elizabeth began to fear--not that Bingley was indifferent--but that his sisters would be successful in keeping him away.
• The united efforts of his two unfeeling sisters, and of his overpowering friend,

Listen for

• Notices the idea Elizabeth will not consider, set off by dashes.
• Notices that both mother and daughter put the blame somewhere outside Bingley, and asks whether that is the same move.
• Hears “Even Elizabeth”: the narrator expects her to be the last to fear.
• Keeps to the chapter: it does not say why Bingley stays away, or that Darcy is behind it.

If stuck

• What does Mrs. Bennet do when she hears the report?
• What does Elizabeth fear, and what will she not think?
• Whom does each of them blame?

A strong answer A strong response sets the two side by side and decides. One reader finds Elizabeth wiser: she admits a fear she would rather not have and weighs it, where her mother only calls the report a lie. Another finds her closer to her mother than she would like: she rules out the worst idea before she starts and lays the blame on others. The best answers notice how the chapter keeps showing this family meeting a threat by denying it, hiding it or joking about it. That prepares the last question, about the one threat Mrs. Bennet will not deny.

What it asks It asks the student to judge between the two culprits Mrs. Bennet names. An entail is a legal settlement that fixes who inherits an estate; here, as Mrs. Bennet says, it takes Longbourn away from the Bennet daughters “for the sake of Mr. Collins”. At the start Lydia cries, “Do not you know that Mr. Collins wants to marry Lizzy?”, and once Sir William leaves, two “inferences” are “plainly deduced”: “one, that Elizabeth was the real cause of all the mischief; and the other, that she herself had been barbarously used by them all”. At the end she tells her husband: “I cannot bear to think that they should have all this estate. If it was not for the entail, I should not mind it.” And: “How anyone could have the conscience to entail away an estate from one’s own daughters I cannot understand; and all for the sake of Mr. Collins, too! Why should _he_ have it more than anybody else?” The student builds a thesis on which culprit is nearer the truth, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Charlotte and Mr. Collins are plotting against the Bennets.

One reading

Elizabeth, in a narrow sense. The entail was always there; what is new this week is who will be mistress of Longbourn. Lydia’s cry shows that Mr. Collins wanted Elizabeth, and he is now to marry her friend instead. Mrs. Bennet’s grief at the end is not only that he will have the house, but that Charlotte Lucas should be “mistress of this house”. Had his wife been a Bennet daughter, the house would have stayed with the family. On this reading “mischief” names the change, and Elizabeth’s not taking him made it.

• Do not you know that Mr. Collins wants to marry Lizzy?
• it is very hard to think that Charlotte Lucas should ever be mistress of this house,

Another reading

The entail. Mr. Collins will have the estate whoever he marries, and only the entail makes his choice of wife matter to Mrs. Bennet at all. She says so herself: “If it was not for the entail, I should not mind it.” Her first verdict on Elizabeth comes in the same breath as being “barbarously used by them all”, a search for someone to blame. On this reading the mischief is a rule that takes the house from the daughters, and Elizabeth is simply the nearest person to scold.

• If it was not for the entail, I should not mind it.
• How anyone could have the conscience to entail away an estate from one’s own daughters I cannot understand;

Listen for

• Notices that Mrs. Bennet names two different culprits, one on the first day and one on the last page.
• Separates the entail, which gives Mr. Collins the house, from the marriage, which decides who will run it with him.
• Hears the narrator’s mock logic in “plainly deduced”, and asks whether a mocked argument can still be right.
• Keeps to the chapter: it does not say Charlotte and Mr. Collins are plotting.

If stuck

• Whom does Mrs. Bennet blame on the first day?
• What does she blame at the end?
• Who gets the house in either case?

A strong answer A strong thesis chooses a culprit and keeps the entail and the marriage apart. A student might argue for Elizabeth: the entail is old, the loss of a Bennet mistress for Longbourn is new, and Lydia’s cry shows whom Mr. Collins wanted first. The strongest objection is that he inherits whoever he marries, and that Mrs. Bennet herself says she “should not mind” but for the entail. A good revision might hold that the entail is the cause of her danger and Elizabeth only the cause of its face, the friend who will now stand in her place. The best revisions notice that her first verdict is mocked by the narrator, and ask whether her last one is.

What it asks It asks the student to judge Mrs. Bennet’s fear against the chapter’s picture of it and of everyone else. “Mrs. Bennet was really in a most pitiable state. The very mention of anything concerning the match threw her into an agony of ill-humour”. Charlotte is “odious” to her, and she regards her “As her successor in that house” with “jealous abhorrence”. Whenever Charlotte speaks low to Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet is “convinced that they were talking of the Longbourn estate, and resolving to turn herself and her daughters out of the house as soon as Mr. Bennet was dead.” To her plea, “it is very hard to think that Charlotte Lucas should ever be mistress of this house”, her husband answers, “Let us flatter ourselves that _I_ may be the survivor.” When she says that but for the entail she “should not mind anything at all”, he says they should be thankful she is “preserved from a state of such insensibility”. Her last question, “Why should _he_ have it more than anybody else?”, gets only “I leave it to yourself to determine”. Elsewhere in the chapter, Mr. Bennet enjoys the news, Kitty and Lydia want only “a piece of news to spread at Meryton”, and Elizabeth’s thoughts are of Charlotte and Jane. The student builds a thesis on whether her fear is foolish or serious, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Charlotte and Mr. Collins are plotting against the Bennets, why Bingley has not come back, or that the friendship between Elizabeth and Charlotte is over.

One reading

Foolish, or at least foolishly spent. Her fear runs past the facts: every low word between Charlotte and Mr. Collins is, to her, a plot about the estate, and a neighbour who has done nothing to her is “odious”. The narrator lets the complaints pile up and smiles at them. Nothing she says can move the entail, and she aims her anger at Charlotte, who did not make it. On this reading Mr. Bennet’s jokes answer a fear that has turned into a grudge.

• whenever she spoke in a low voice to Mr. Collins, was convinced that they were talking of the Longbourn estate,
• The sight of Miss Lucas was odious to her.

Another reading

Serious, and alone in it. The danger she names is real: under the entail the house goes to Mr. Collins and his wife, and she and her daughters will lose it when her husband dies. No one else in the chapter speaks of it except to joke. Mr. Bennet offers the hope that he may be “the survivor”, and meets her plain question with “I leave it to yourself to determine”. On this reading she is the only one at Longbourn looking straight at the threat, however badly she goes about it.

• Why should he have it more than anybody else?
• “I leave it to yourself to determine,” said Mr. Bennet.

Listen for

• Separates what is real in her fear, the house passing to Mr. Collins, from what she adds to it, the plot in every low word.
• Weighs Mr. Bennet’s replies as answers: whether “the survivor” and “I leave it to yourself to determine” meet her fear or step around it.
• Tests whether she is really the only one, against the others at Longbourn: Mr. Bennet, Elizabeth, Jane, Kitty and Lydia.
• Keeps to the chapter: it does not say Charlotte and Mr. Collins are plotting.

If stuck

• What does Mrs. Bennet fear will happen when Mr. Bennet dies?
• Which part of her fear is true, and which part does she add?
• Who else at Longbourn talks about the entail, and how?

A strong answer A strong thesis takes a side and argues from the chapter’s last pages. A student might argue that her fear is serious: the entail will take the house from her and her daughters, and every other voice at Longbourn, above all her husband’s, turns the matter into a joke or leaves it alone. The strongest objection is that her fear has swollen past the facts into suspicion of every low voice and hatred of a neighbour, and that it does nothing to help anyone. A good revision might hold that she is right about the danger and wrong about the enemy: she fixes on Charlotte, who did not make the entail. The best revisions notice that Mr. Bennet’s wit, however sharp, leaves her question exactly where it was.