Print at 100% scale on letter paper, with no added margins.
Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
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?
The tension Mrs. Gardiner refuses the phrase “violently in love” as “so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite” and watches Elizabeth and Wickham “narrowly”; but on hearing Wickham’s account she “tried to remember something” that “might agree with it” and was “confident, at last” that Darcy had been called “a very proud, ill-natured boy.”
Christmas at Longbourn with Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife, a frank talk about Bingley, and a week of dinners where Wickham charms a new listener.
Mr. Collins leaves Longbourn after a week with Charlotte, hoping the wedding day will be fixed on his next visit. On Monday Mrs. Bennet’s brother and his wife arrive for Christmas. Mr. Gardiner is sensible and gentlemanlike, far above his sister, and the narrator remarks that the Netherfield ladies would hardly believe a man in trade could be so well-bred. Mrs. Gardiner is younger, intelligent and elegant, and very close to Jane and Elizabeth, who often stay with her in town. After giving out presents and the newest fashions, she listens to Mrs. Bennet’s grievances: Jane has lost Bingley, Elizabeth refused Mr. Collins, Lady Lucas will have a daughter married first, and the Lucases think only of themselves. Mrs. Bennet ends by saying she is glad to hear about long sleeves. Mrs. Gardiner, who knew the news from her nieces’ letters, answers lightly and changes the subject. Alone with Elizabeth, she calls such young men’s loves frequent and easily forgotten when accident parts them. Elizabeth answers that Jane suffers by the interference of friends, not by accident. Her aunt objects that “violently in love” is a worn and vague phrase, and asks how violent Bingley’s love was. Elizabeth lists his signs, ending with his rudeness to other young ladies at his ball. Her aunt grants “that kind of love”, pities Jane, says Elizabeth would have laughed herself out of it sooner, and invites Jane to London. She hopes no thought of Bingley will sway Jane, and thinks a meeting in London very unlikely, since they live in so different a part of town. Elizabeth jokes that Mr. Darcy would never let Bingley call in Gracechurch Street, and says Jane will drop his sister entirely; privately she still hopes. Jane accepts, hoping to see Caroline without meeting her brother. The Gardiners stay a week of constant engagements. Wickham is at every dinner at home, and Mrs. Gardiner, made suspicious by Elizabeth’s praise of him, watches them both. She sees a preference, not serious love, but enough to make her uneasy, and resolves to warn Elizabeth before she leaves. She also enjoys Wickham, who can give her news of the part of Derbyshire where she lived before her marriage. They talk of Pemberley and the late Mr. Darcy. Told of the present Mr. Darcy’s treatment of Wickham, she tries to remember something that would agree with it, and at last feels sure she once heard him called a very proud, ill-natured boy.
Start with Mrs. Gardiner’s question, read aloud: “Pray, how violent was Mr. Bingley’s love?” Ask why she leans on the word “was”. Leave it there; how far her judgment should be trusted is the written question at the end, and the discussion questions build toward it. As they read, have students mark every place where someone judges a person, and note what the judgment rests on: evidence asked for, something seen, a story heard, or a memory. Keep to the chapter. The narrator says only that Mrs. Gardiner became “confident, at last” about Mr. Darcy as a boy, so no answer may say the memory is true or that it is false. She resolves to speak to Elizabeth about Wickham, but the talk itself comes in the next chapter; no answer may say what she tells her. She thinks it “very improbable” that Jane and Bingley will meet in London, and the chapter does not say whether they do. She sees a “preference” between Elizabeth and Wickham, plain enough to make her “a little uneasy”, and no more; no answer may say they are in love. Do not treat the Gardiners as simply the sensible relatives: the chapter’s point is that sense does not protect anyone from a well-told story. Do not skip the narrator’s sentence about trade and warehouses, which judges the Netherfield ladies before Mrs. Gardiner says a word. Do not take Elizabeth’s confident jokes about Mr. Darcy and Gracechurch Street at face value; the narrator says she only “affected” that certainty. And treat the talk about Bingley as an argument about what a word like “violently” can prove, not as plot.
Retell The student retells the chapter in order: Mr. Collins’s leave-taking; the Gardiners’ arrival and the narrator’s remark about trade; Mrs. Bennet’s grievances and Mrs. Gardiner’s slight answer; the talk with Elizabeth about accident, “violently in love” and Bingley’s signs; the invitation to London and the Gracechurch Street joke; Elizabeth’s private hope; the week of dinners and Mrs. Gardiner’s watch on Elizabeth and Wickham; and the talks about Derbyshire that end in her memory of Mr. Darcy. Look for a retelling that keeps the memory as something she “recollected having heard”, not as a fact.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two sentences about an invented argument over a word or a rumour. First, one sentence on the model of the first passage’s opening: a phrase in single quotation marks inside a speech, then three matching phrases that begin with the same word (“so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite”), then a “that” clause giving the result. Second, one long sentence on the model of the last: an opening phrase (“On being made acquainted with ...”), a verb of effort (“tried to remember”) with a “which” clause that shows what the search was for, a semicolon, and a second verb for the result, held back by “at last”, that ends on the words the person found.
Debate Take sides on the written question. One side argues that Mrs. Gardiner’s judgment deserves trust, and gathers “so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite”, “Pray, how _violent was_ Mr. Bingley’s love?”, “narrowly observed them both”, and her careful measure of a “preference”. The other argues that it bends, and gathers “unconnected with his general powers”, “delighting both him and herself”, “which might agree with it” and “confident, at last”. Each side must answer the other’s best line. Neither may say that her memory is true or false, what she will tell Elizabeth, that Jane will meet Bingley, or that Elizabeth and Wickham are in love.
Purpose Close on the chapter’s shape. It opens with a new judge arriving, praised by the narrator over the heads of the Netherfield ladies, gives her a sharp test of a word at its centre, and ends in a single long sentence in which the same judge searches her memory for something to fit a story. Ask why Austen ends the chapter there, on a memory of a boy, rather than on Mrs. Gardiner’s plan to warn Elizabeth, which comes just before it.
Easier Read aloud from “But that expression of ‘violently in love’” to “Poor Jane!”, then the chapter’s last three paragraphs. Make two columns, one for what Mrs. Gardiner asks or watches for, and one for what she believes without asking. Talk through the questions on “that kind of love” and on the pleasure “unconnected with his general powers”, then answer the written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all six discussion questions in order, then write the written question as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on what Austen shows about good sense through Mrs. Gardiner, weighing her challenge to “violently in love”, her watch over Elizabeth and Wickham, and the memory she becomes “confident” of at the end. The essay should meet the objection that she had no way to test Wickham’s story and did the sensible thing with what she had, and must not say whether her memory is true.
1. 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
What it asks It asks the student to notice how the narrator introduces the Gardiners. “Mr. Gardiner was a sensible, gentlemanlike man, greatly superior to his sister, as well by nature as education. The Netherfield ladies would have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could have been so well-bred and agreeable.” Mrs. Gardiner is “an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman, and a great favourite with her Longbourn nieces.” The ladies are not at Longbourn; the sentence imagines what they would find hard to believe. The student decides why the narrator measures Mr. Gardiner against people who are absent. The card claims nothing about what the Netherfield ladies have said elsewhere; the chapter gives only what they “would have had difficulty in believing”.
To judge the Netherfield ladies. The sentence before has already settled Mr. Gardiner’s manners. This one is aimed at a belief that trade and good breeding cannot go together, and it lets the reader see the proof the ladies would refuse. On this reading the narrator has taken a side before Mrs. Gardiner says a word.
The Netherfield ladies would have had difficulty in believing
a man who lived by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could have been so well-bred and agreeable.
To set the Gardiners up as judges worth trusting. The family’s most sensible relatives come from the part of the world the Netherfield ladies look down on, and the narrator grounds their worth in “nature” and “education”, not in rank. On this reading the sentence builds Mrs. Gardiner’s authority for the scenes to come, which makes the way the chapter ends matter more.
Mr. Gardiner was a sensible, gentlemanlike man, greatly superior to his sister, as well by nature as education.
was an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman,
A strong answer A strong response says why the absent ladies are brought in and stays with the sentence. One reader finds a judgment: the narrator mocks the belief that trade and good breeding cannot go together, and shows the reader the proof the ladies would refuse. Another finds a setup: the sentence grounds the Gardiners’ worth in “nature” and “education”, so the reader trusts them before they speak. The best answers notice that the reader is being handed a new judge, and carry that trust forward to the judgments Mrs. Gardiner makes later in the chapter.
2. 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
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the first thing aunt and niece disagree about. Mrs. Gardiner: “A young man, such as you describe Mr. Bingley, so easily falls in love with a pretty girl for a few weeks, and, when accident separates them, so easily forgets her, that these sort of inconstancies are very frequent.” “An excellent consolation in its way,” said Elizabeth; “but it will not do for _us_. We do not suffer by accident. It does not often happen that the interference of friends will persuade a young man of independent fortune to think no more of a girl whom he was violently in love with only a few days before.” The student decides what accepting the word “accident” would cost Elizabeth. The card treats the friends’ interference as Elizabeth’s claim; the chapter does not confirm it.
The worth of what Jane lost. If any chance parting could end Bingley’s love, it was the passing kind her aunt describes, “for a few weeks”, and Jane was one pretty girl among many. The word “interference” keeps his love real: something had to be done to stop it. On this reading Elizabeth is defending the size of Jane’s loss.
so easily falls in love with a pretty girl for a few weeks,
whom he was violently in love with only a few days before.
Someone to blame. An accident has no author, but “the interference of friends” does. The stress on “_us_” makes it personal: her family has been wronged, not merely unlucky. On this reading the word would take away a target for her anger, and her aunt’s next question tests whether the case is as strong as the anger.
but it will not do for us.
It does not often happen that the interference of friends will persuade a young man of independent fortune
A strong answer A strong response explains what accepting the word “accident” would cost Elizabeth. One reader finds that it would shrink Bingley’s love to the passing kind, and with it the worth of Jane’s loss. Another finds that Elizabeth wants an author for the harm, and “interference” gives her one. The best answers notice that this is the very claim her aunt is about to test, and that the chapter never shows what the friends did.
3. 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
What it asks It asks the student to read Mrs. Gardiner’s answer to Elizabeth’s evidence. She has called “violently in love” “so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea”, and asked, “Pray, how _violent was_ Mr. Bingley’s love?” Elizabeth answers: “I never saw a more promising inclination; he was growing quite inattentive to other people, and wholly engrossed by her. Every time they met, it was more decided and remarkable. At his own ball he offended two or three young ladies by not asking them to dance; and I spoke to him twice myself without receiving an answer. Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?” Her aunt: “Oh, yes! of that kind of love which I suppose him to have felt. Poor Jane! I am sorry for her, because, with her disposition, she may not get over it immediately.” The student decides what “that kind” of love is, and so what Mrs. Gardiner has concluded. The card claims nothing about what Bingley really felt; the chapter gives only Elizabeth’s account.
The quick, absorbing kind she described at first. Elizabeth’s proof is of attention, not of steadiness, and “that kind” points back to feelings “which arise only from a half hour’s acquaintance”. Her “Oh, yes!” plays along with Elizabeth’s joke while holding her ground. On this reading the aunt has heard the evidence and kept her view.
Oh, yes! of that kind of love which I suppose him to have felt.
It is as often applied to feelings which arise only from a half hour’s acquaintance,
A strong feeling, granted, but not a lasting one. Elizabeth has shown more than a half hour’s fancy: Bingley grew more taken with Jane “Every time they met”, until he was “wholly engrossed”. “Oh, yes!” grants that much. What the aunt still holds back is “a real, strong attachment”, the kind that would survive a parting. On this reading the evidence moved her part of the way, and no further than it reached.
Every time they met, it was more decided and remarkable.
wholly engrossed by her.
A strong answer A strong response names “that kind” and says what Mrs. Gardiner has concluded. One reader hears her keeping her view: Elizabeth proves attention, not constancy, and the aunt files it with feelings of “a half hour’s acquaintance”. Another hears her granting part of the case: a feeling that grew “Every time they met” is more than a half hour’s fancy, though it is still not proof of “a real, strong attachment”. The best answers notice how she reaches a view here, by asking and weighing, and keep that in mind when the chapter ends.
4. 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
What it asks It asks the student to test Mrs. Gardiner’s reading of the niece she knows best. “It had better have happened to _you_, Lizzy; you would have laughed yourself out of it sooner.” A few lines later Elizabeth says that Mr. Darcy “may, perhaps, have _heard_ of such a place as Gracechurch Street, but he would hardly think a month’s ablution enough to cleanse him from its impurities, were he once to enter it”, and that Jane “will drop the acquaintance entirely.” Then the narrator: “But, in spite of the certainty in which Elizabeth affected to place this point, as well as the still more interesting one of Bingley’s being withheld from seeing Jane, she felt a solicitude on the subject which convinced her, on examination, that she did not consider it entirely hopeless.” Here “affected” means put on, and “solicitude” means anxious care. The student decides whether the aunt reads her niece rightly. The card does not take Elizabeth’s certainty at face value, and does not say that Elizabeth and Wickham are in love.
Yes. Elizabeth meets hurt with wit, and her jokes about Mr. Darcy and Gracechurch Street are quick and sure. She can turn Jane’s loss into a comic picture of a man who needs a month of washing. On this reading the aunt knows her niece: laughter is how Elizabeth keeps a blow from landing.
you would have laughed yourself out of it sooner.
he would hardly think a month’s ablution enough to cleanse him from its impurities,
Not quite. The narrator shows that the laughter is a surface. Elizabeth “affected” her certainty, and under it she still hopes. Laughing may hide a feeling without ending it. On this reading the aunt sees the laugh and not what lies under it, which Elizabeth herself finds only “on examination”.
in spite of the certainty in which Elizabeth affected to place this point,
that she did not consider it entirely hopeless.
A strong answer A strong response judges the aunt’s reading of her niece and rests on the word “affected”. One reader agrees with the aunt: Elizabeth meets hurt with wit, and the Gracechurch Street joke shows it working. Another finds that the laughter covers a hope it does not end, one Elizabeth herself finds only on examination. The best answers notice that this is the person Mrs. Gardiner knows best, and ask what that says about how well she reads people.
5. Elizabeth’s warm praise of Wickham makes her aunt “suspicious”. What is she suspicious of?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to say where Mrs. Gardiner’s watchfulness points. At the week’s dinners, “some of the officers always made part of it, of which officers Mr. Wickham was sure to be one; and on these occasions Mrs. Gardiner, rendered suspicious by Elizabeth’s warm commendation of him, narrowly observed them both. Without supposing them, from what she saw, to be very seriously in love, their preference of each other was plain enough to make her a little uneasy; and she resolved to speak to Elizabeth on the subject before she left Hertfordshire, and represent to her the imprudence of encouraging such an attachment.” Here “commendation” means praise, and “narrowly” means closely. The student decides what she is suspicious of. The card does not say what Mrs. Gardiner will tell Elizabeth, which comes in the next chapter, or why the attachment would be imprudent; the chapter does not say. It does not say that Elizabeth and Wickham are in love.
Of the attachment. The praise tells the aunt that her niece may care for him, and what she then watches for is a “preference”, which she measures with care: not “very seriously in love”, but plain enough to worry her. On this reading her suspicion is aimed at the attachment, and nothing here is said against Wickham himself, whose company she goes on to enjoy.
Without supposing them, from what she saw, to be very seriously in love,
their preference of each other was plain enough to make her a little uneasy;
Of Wickham too, at least a little. She watches “them both”, not only Elizabeth, and what she means to warn against is “the imprudence of encouraging such an attachment”, so something about the match strikes her as unwise. On this reading her caution reaches the man, though the chapter does not say what the imprudence is.
narrowly observed them both.
the imprudence of encouraging such an attachment.
A strong answer A strong response names what she is suspicious of and rests on the paragraph’s careful words. One reader finds it aimed at the attachment: she weighs a “preference” against being “very seriously in love”, and nothing is said against Wickham. Another finds that watching “them both”, and calling the attachment imprudent, reaches the man too, though the chapter does not say why. The best answers notice that her measuring here is as careful as her challenge to “violently in love”, and ask what that care is turned on.
6. 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
What it asks It asks the student to read the narrator’s note on what Wickham gives Mrs. Gardiner. “To Mrs. Gardiner, Wickham had one means of affording pleasure, unconnected with his general powers. About ten or a dozen years ago, before her marriage, she had spent a considerable time in that very part of Derbyshire to which he belonged. They had, therefore, many acquaintance in common; and, though Wickham had been little there since the death of Darcy’s father, five years before, it was yet in his power to give her fresher intelligence of her former friends than she had been in the way of procuring.” Here “intelligence” means news, and “his general powers” are his usual gifts for pleasing people. In comparing memories of Pemberley and praising the late Mr. Darcy, “she was delighting both him and herself.” Then she is told of “the present Mr. Darcy’s treatment of him”. The student decides why the narrator keeps this pleasure apart from Wickham’s charm, and what that says about how he wins her over. The card does not say whether Wickham’s account of Mr. Darcy is true, or that he chose the subject in order to win her.
To show that what reaches her is real. Mrs. Gardiner is not being flattered. She is given news of “her former friends” that she could not get elsewhere, from someone who knows the same place. On this reading the narrator guards her good sense: the pleasure is honest, shared, and her own.
Wickham had one means of affording pleasure, unconnected with his general powers.
fresher intelligence of her former friends
To show that it is a power all the same. The narrator calls it a “means of affording pleasure”, and two sentences later says “it was yet in his power” to give her news. On this reading the line is dry: she is pleased by something other than his charm, but she is still pleased by him, and his account of the present Mr. Darcy comes inside talk she already enjoys.
it was yet in his power
On being made acquainted with the present Mr. Darcy’s treatment of him,
A strong answer A strong response says why the narrator keeps this pleasure apart from Wickham’s charm and rests on the paragraph’s words. One reader finds the narrator guarding Mrs. Gardiner’s good sense: she is not flattered, she is given real news of old friends, and the pleasure is honest. Another hears a dry note: it is still a “means of affording pleasure”, still “in his power”, and his story of Mr. Darcy arrives inside it. The best answers ask whether a pleasure that owes nothing to charm is easier or harder to guard against, and leave open whether his account is true.
1. 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?
What it asks It asks the student to judge Mrs. Gardiner as a judge, using both ends of her week at Longbourn. With Elizabeth she will not accept a loose phrase: “But that expression of ‘violently in love’ is so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite, that it gives me very little idea.” She asks, “Pray, how _violent was_ Mr. Bingley’s love?” At the dinners she “narrowly observed them both” and measured what she saw: not “very seriously in love”, but a “preference” plain enough to make her “a little uneasy”. With Wickham, talk of Derbyshire was “delighting both him and herself”, and on hearing of “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 had heard him called “a very proud, ill-natured boy.” Here “it” is Wickham’s account. The student builds a thesis on how far her judgment should be trusted, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that her memory is true or false, what she will say to Elizabeth, that Jane will meet Bingley in London, or that Elizabeth and Wickham are in love.
Far, with one blind spot. With Elizabeth she asks for evidence and measures feelings with care. Her lapse, if it is one, comes where she is pleased: Wickham brings her old friends and Pemberley, and his story arrives inside that pleasure. On this reading her judgment is sound where she is on guard and bends where she is delighted, and the chapter ends by showing the difference.
so hackneyed, so doubtful, so indefinite,
she was delighting both him and herself.
Further than the ending suggests. She tests what she can test: Elizabeth’s evidence about Bingley is in front of her, and Mr. Darcy is not. A remembered reputation is the best she has, and she still watches Elizabeth and Wickham closely and resolves to speak to her niece. On this reading the chapter shows a sensible judge using what she has, and only the reader is shown how she came by her memory.
Pray, how violent was Mr. Bingley’s love?
she resolved to speak to Elizabeth on the subject before she left Hertfordshire,
A strong answer A strong thesis says how far her judgment should be trusted and argues from both ends of the chapter. A student might argue that it deserves trust with care: she tests Elizabeth’s “violently in love” and watches Elizabeth and Wickham closely, but searches her memory for something to “agree” with his story. The strongest objection is that she could test Elizabeth’s evidence and has none of her own about Mr. Darcy beyond a reputation, so she does what she can. A good revision might hold that her judgment is sound when she is on guard and bends when she is pleased. The best revisions leave open whether her memory is right, as the chapter does.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.