Chapter 31

Pride and Prejudice

Mountaineers · 10th–12th

Copywork

Elizabeth laughed heartily at this picture of herself, and said to Colonel Fitzwilliam, “Your cousin will give you a very pretty notion of me, and teach you not to believe a word I say. I am particularly unlucky in meeting with a person so well able to expose my real character, in a part of the world where I had hoped to pass myself off with some degree of credit. Indeed, Mr. Darcy, it is very ungenerous in you to mention all that you knew to my disadvantage in Hertfordshire--and, give me leave to say, very impolitic too--for it is provoking me to retaliate, and such things may come out as will shock your relations to hear.”

Lady Catherine continued her remarks on Elizabeth’s performance, mixing with them many instructions on execution and taste. Elizabeth received them with all the forbearance of civility; and at the request of the gentlemen remained at the instrument till her Ladyship’s carriage was ready to take them all home.

Read both passages aloud. In which one is Elizabeth working harder?

For the educator Two pictures of Elizabeth from one evening: answering Darcy in front of his cousin, and bearing Lady Catherine’s lessons. The first passage opens in narration and turns to her speech, three sentences that grow longer as they go. She talks like an impostor found out: Darcy will give his cousin “a very pretty notion” of her (“pretty” is ironic, meaning poor), he is able to “expose my real character”, and she had hoped to “pass myself off with some degree of credit”, that is, with a better name than she has earned, as she tells it. The third sentence moves from a moral charge, “ungenerous”, to a tactical one, “impolitic”, set off by a pair of double dashes (the edition’s mark for a dash), and inside them the polite formula “give me leave to say” sits between commas. It ends on a threat. The second passage is two sentences. The first hangs a participial phrase, “mixing with them many instructions on execution and taste”, on its main clause; here “execution” means skill in playing. In the second, a semicolon divides what Elizabeth bears from what she does, and “at the request of the gentlemen” comes before its verb, “remained”, so the reader learns why she stays before learning that she does. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who finds the work in the speech, where every phrase is timed and aimed, and one who finds it in the second passage, where bearing a rude great lady’s lessons with civility takes more effort than saying something clever to Darcy.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences. Start with the week of waiting at the Parsonage, and end with the carriage that takes them home. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why.

1. Lady Catherine tells young ladies they must practise, but says that if she had ever learnt, she “should have been a great proficient.” How do those two beliefs fit together in her mind?Character

2. When Lady Catherine says Elizabeth would be “in nobody’s way” in Mrs. Jenkinson’s room, Darcy looks “a little ashamed” and says nothing. Who does his silence protect?Moral reasoning

3. Elizabeth tells Darcy, “My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.” How much of that does she mean?Inference

4. After the story of the four dances, Elizabeth turns back to the music and asks what to play next. Why does Darcy bring the ball up again?Character

5. Elizabeth answers Darcy by saying her own fingers play worse than many women’s. What does she gain by using herself as the example?Tone

Make a Connection Think of a story, or something you have seen, where someone was ashamed of how a member of their own family treated a guest. What could they do about it, right there in the room?

Vocabulary

ill-breeding Mr. Darcy looked a little ashamed of his aunt’s ill-breeding, and made no answer.

impolitic give me leave to say, very impolitic too

forbearance Elizabeth received them with all the forbearance of civility;

Critical thinking

1. When Darcy says “We neither of us perform to strangers”, Elizabeth is at the piano, where she has been playing for his cousin. Is he right that the two of them are alike?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

2. Darcy says he lacks “the talent” of easy conversation, and Fitzwilliam says he “will not give himself the trouble.” Which of them is closer to the truth?

Thesis

Objection

Revision