Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 25

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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Copywork

“But that expression of ‘violently in love’ is so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea. It is as often applied to feelings which arise only from a half hour’s acquaintance, as to a real, strong attachment. Pray, how violent was Mr. Bingley’s love?”

Here, consequently, was an inexhaustible subject of discourse. In comparing her recollection of Pemberley with the minute description which Wickham could give, and in bestowing her tribute of praise on the character of its late possessor, she was delighting both him and herself. On being made acquainted with the present Mr. Darcy’s treatment of him, she tried to remember something of that gentleman’s reputed disposition, when quite a lad, which might agree with it; and was confident, at last, that she recollected having heard Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy formerly spoken of as a very proud, ill-natured boy.

Read both passages aloud. The first is quick and pointed. The last sentence of the second takes a long time to reach its point. Why might Austen make that sentence so slow?

For the educator Mrs. Gardiner’s challenge to Elizabeth, from the middle of the chapter, and the chapter’s last three sentences. The first passage is speech, and the phrase Mrs. Gardiner is weighing, “violently in love”, sits in single quotation marks inside the double ones. Its first sentence builds three matching phrases on the same word, “so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite”, and then lands the result with “that”: a phrase so worn it “gives me very little idea”. The second sentence turns on “as often ... as”, setting “a half hour’s acquaintance” against “a real, strong attachment”, so the phrase is shown to cover both. In the closing question, “Pray” means please, or tell me. Gutenberg’s underscores, “_violent was_”, mark italics, so the voice leans on “was”: she asks what his love actually was, not what it is called. The second passage is the narrator’s. Its phrase “an inexhaustible subject of discourse” means a topic of talk that never ran dry. The next sentence holds back its subject and verb: two matching phrases that begin with “in”, “In comparing” and “in bestowing”, come first, and only then “she was delighting both him and herself”. Here “minute” means detailed, “tribute of praise” means praise given as a due, and “its late possessor” is Pemberley’s dead owner, the late Mr. Darcy. The last sentence opens with “On being made acquainted with”, meaning on being told of. Then two verbs share one subject across a semicolon: she “tried to remember”, and she “was confident”. Here “reputed disposition” is character as people reported it, “when quite a lad” means as a boy, and “it” in “might agree with it” is Wickham’s account. Notice how many layers stand between Mrs. Gardiner and Mr. Darcy at the end: she was confident that she recollected having heard him spoken of. For mechanics, notice the commas around “consequently” and “at last”, the semicolon before “and was confident”, and the hyphen in “ill-natured”. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears the effort in “tried to remember” and “at last”, and the direction of the search in “which might agree with it”. Listen for one who notices that the phrase about being sure, “was confident”, arrives only after the searching, and that the sentence ends on the words she found. A student may argue that the slowness is only Austen’s usual style; ask what the first passage shows she can do instead. No answer may say that Mrs. Gardiner’s memory of Mr. Darcy is true or that it is false: the narrator says only that she became “confident, at last”.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in order, from Mr. Collins leaving Longbourn to what Mrs. Gardiner remembers about Mr. Darcy.

The narrator brings in the Netherfield ladies to introduce Mr. Gardiner, though they are nowhere near Longbourn. Why bring them in at all? Author's choice
Mrs. Gardiner says a young man like Bingley soon forgets a girl when “accident” separates them. Elizabeth says his friends talked him out of it. What would she give up by agreeing it was an accident? Character
Elizabeth’s best sign of Bingley’s love is his rudeness to other young ladies. Her aunt answers, “Oh, yes! of that kind of love which I suppose him to have felt.” What kind is that? Inference
Mrs. Gardiner says Elizabeth would have laughed herself out of a broken heart sooner than Jane. Do Elizabeth’s jokes about Mr. Darcy a few lines later show that her aunt is right? Character
Elizabeth’s warm praise of Wickham makes her aunt “suspicious”. What is she suspicious of? Inference
Wickham had one way of pleasing Mrs. Gardiner that was “unconnected with his general powers.” Why does Austen set that pleasure apart from his usual charm? Author's choice

Make a Connection Think of a time someone told you a story about a person you hardly knew. What made you believe it, or not?

Vocabulary

hackneyed: But that expression of ‘violently in love’ is so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea. Worn out by too much use, so that it no longer says much (from Hackney, a district of London known for hired horses; a hackney was a horse for hire, worked hard by everyone). Mrs. Gardiner calls “violently in love” “so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite” that it tells her little. Her quarrel is with the phrase, not with Elizabeth’s feeling: because everyone uses it for every kind of love, it cannot prove which kind Bingley felt.
inconstancies: so easily forgets her, that these sort of inconstancies are very frequent. Failures to stay steady or faithful in feeling (in-, not, and constant, from Latin constare, to stand firm). Mrs. Gardiner calls quick loves and quick forgettings “very frequent”, which makes Bingley one more ordinary case rather than a man talked out of his love by his friends, as Elizabeth believes.
incivility: Is not general incivility the very essence of love? Rudeness; a failure of ordinary politeness (in-, not, and civil, polite, from Latin civis, citizen). Elizabeth half jokes that Bingley’s rudeness to other young ladies proves his love. The word makes the joke work: bad manners become a symptom of devotion.
re-animated: and sometimes she thought it probable, that his affection might be re-animated, Brought back to life (re-, again, and animate, to give life, from Latin anima, breath or soul). Elizabeth privately thinks Bingley’s love for Jane might be “re-animated”: not newly made, but woken from where, she believes, his friends’ influence has laid it down. The word shows the hope she hides behind her confident jokes.
ill-natured: heard Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy formerly spoken of as a very proud, ill-natured boy. Bad-tempered and unkind by nature, inclined to spite (ill, badly, and natured, having a certain nature). It is the chapter’s last judgment, and it is a judgment of a boy, remembered as hearsay. The same chapter praises Mr. Gardiner as superior “by nature”: the word asks what a person is at bottom, which is exactly what a reputation cannot prove.

Critical thinking

Mrs. Gardiner questions loose words like “violently in love”, yet she lets Wickham’s story shape what she remembers about Darcy. How far should her judgment be trusted?