Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 3

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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Copywork

Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room: he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield. Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves. What a contrast between him and his friend! Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party. His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and everybody hoped that he would never come there again.

Read the passage aloud. Whose voice do you hear in “He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world”?

For the educator One passage, six sentences: the narrator sets Bingley and Darcy side by side and then gives the room’s verdict. It is built as an antithesis. The first sentence and the fourth are a matched pair, each a list of what one man did all evening: Bingley’s runs on through four lively verbs (“made himself acquainted”, “danced”, “was angry”, “talked”), Darcy’s through “danced only once”, “declined” and “walking about”. Between them sit two short sentences that comment instead of report. “Such amiable qualities must speak for themselves” can be heard as plain praise or as a smile at the room, since the qualities are dancing and wanting more balls. “What a contrast between him and his friend!” has the exclamation of a guest at the ball, not the calm of a narrator. Then the passage closes on two sentences of judgment. “His character was decided” is four words in the passive, so no one is named as the decider. The last sentence is all superlative and crowd: “the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world”, “everybody”. For mechanics, notice the colon that opens Bingley’s list and the commas that carry both lists. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears the narrator agreeing with the room; for one who hears the room’s own gossip in its own overheated words; and for one who hears both at once, the narrator reporting the room with a straight face and a raised eyebrow.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from the questions Mr. Bennet will not answer to his wife’s “I quite detest the man.”

Rumour said Bingley would bring “twelve ladies and seven gentlemen”, and the party that walks in is five. How far should the room trust the next report, that Darcy has ten thousand a year? Inference
Elizabeth sits out two dances because of “the scarcity of gentlemen,” but Darcy puts her among the young ladies “slighted by other men.” Who is slighting her? Character
Elizabeth tells the story to her friends as a joke, because she “delighted in anything ridiculous.” Who is the ridiculous one in that story? Character
Darcy found Elizabeth “not handsome enough to tempt” him, and at home Mrs. Bennet makes it “Not handsome enough to dance with!” Which version makes Darcy look worse? Inference

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when a group made up its mind about a newcomer on the first day. What was that first verdict built on?

Vocabulary

acquainted: Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room: he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield. Known to someone, having met and talked enough to be more than strangers (from the same root as acquaintance). The word runs through the chapter and splits the two friends. Bingley “made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room” within an evening. Darcy will not dance “unless I am particularly acquainted with my partner”. One man makes acquaintance as fast as he can; the other asks for it before he will begin. The room judges both men on the difference.
unreserved: Mr. Bingley had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room: he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield. Open and free in manner, holding nothing back (un- plus reserved, as a reserved person keeps to himself). Bingley “was lively and unreserved”, and the word sets him against his friend, who speaks only “occasionally to one of his own party”. The room reads Bingley’s openness as goodness at once. Whether reserve is a fault is the question the chapter leaves standing beside Darcy.
mien: His brother-in-law, Mr. Hurst, merely looked the gentleman; but his friend Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report, which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year. A person’s bearing: the look and manner with which they carry themselves (a literary word, said like “mean”). Darcy draws the room by “his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien”, and the list sets his bearing beside his height, his face and his income, as if all four were things the room could see. Within the evening the same bearing is read as being “above his company”. The word names an outside, which is all the room has to judge by.
humour: “She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt _me_; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. Here, a mood or state of mind, not something funny (an older sense, still heard in “in a good humour” and “to humour someone”, to go along with their mood). Darcy says he is “in no humour at present” to dance with Elizabeth. The phrase makes his refusal sound like a passing mood, and “at present” says it again. A reader can weigh whether the mood excuses the words or only explains them.

Critical thinking

Darcy says he will dance only with a woman he knows well. Is that a fair rule at a ball where he knows almost no one?
Mrs. Bennet detests Darcy, who said Lizzy was not handsome enough. Yet at home she says of Miss Lucas that “nobody can” admire her. How different is she from Darcy?
The whole room decides in a single evening that Darcy is proud and disagreeable. Has he earned that verdict, or has the room judged him too fast?