Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 33

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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She felt all the perverseness of the mischance that should bring him where no one else was brought; and, to prevent its ever happening again, took care to inform him, at first, that it was a favourite haunt of hers. How it could occur a second time, therefore, was very odd! Yet it did, and even the third. It seemed like wilful ill-nature, or a voluntary penance; for on these occasions it was not merely a few formal inquiries and an awkward pause and then away, but he actually thought it necessary to turn back and walk with her.

That he had been concerned in the measures taken to separate Mr. Bingley and Jane, she had never doubted; but she had always attributed to Miss Bingley the principal design and arrangement of them. If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him, he was the cause--his pride and caprice were the cause--of all that Jane had suffered, and still continued to suffer.

In the first passage, you can hear the narrator smiling at Elizabeth. Is the narrator still smiling in the second?

For the educator Two passages, each of Elizabeth explaining to herself why Darcy acted as he did. The first, from the opening of the chapter, is comedy. It gives her plan first: to keep him away, she “took care to inform him, at first, that it was a favourite haunt of hers.” Then the narrator gives her surprise in her own voice, with an exclamation mark: “How it could occur a second time, therefore, was very odd!” Here “the perverseness of the mischance” means the contrariness of bad luck, and a “haunt” is a place one goes often. The short sentence “Yet it did, and even the third.” lands the joke. The fourth sentence offers two motives joined by “or”, “wilful ill-nature, or a voluntary penance”, then a long “for” clause that sets what she expected, “a few formal inquiries and an awkward pause and then away”, against what happened: “he actually thought it necessary to turn back and walk with her.” Here a “penance” is a punishment one takes on oneself. The second passage, from her room, is graver. Its first sentence sets an old belief against a new one around a semicolon and “but”: she “had never doubted” Darcy’s part, “but she had always attributed to Miss Bingley the principal design and arrangement of them.” Here “attributed” means gave the credit or blame. The next sentence opens with a condition, “If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him”, and states its claim twice, the second time between double hyphens, the edition’s mark for a dash: “_he_ was the cause--his pride and caprice were the cause”. The second time, the cause grows from the man to his faults. The underscores are the edition’s mark for italics. For the talk prompt, the first passage is the easy half: the narrator gives Elizabeth’s surprise in her own voice, “very odd!”, after telling us her own plan caused it. The real question is the second. Listen for a student who says the smile is gone, since Jane’s suffering is real and the sentence is grave, and one who says it is still there, faintly: the claim is said twice and grows hotter the second time, and it hangs on “If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him”, a condition the sentence then goes on as if it were met. A strong student may notice that how one hears the narrator here decides whether the page itself is taking Elizabeth’s side.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences. Start with Elizabeth’s walks in the park, and end with her staying home from Rosings. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why.

On her walks in the park, Elizabeth hardly listens to Darcy. Yet she still finds a hint in his odd questions. How much attention is she really paying him? Inference
When Fitzwilliam’s look tells Elizabeth she is “pretty near the truth” about Miss Darcy, she drops the subject at once. When Bingley comes up, she keeps pressing. Why does she let one subject go and chase the other? Character
Elizabeth tells Fitzwilliam she supposes there was not “much affection in the case”. Why would she say that, when the lady may be her own sister? Character
When Elizabeth thinks of her mother, “her confidence gave way a little”. Why only a little? Moral reasoning

Make a Connection Think of another book, or a moment in history, where the same news was good news to the one who told it and hard news to the one who heard it. What made the difference?

Vocabulary

wilful: It seemed like wilful ill-nature, or a voluntary penance; Done on purpose, against what others want; also, set on having one’s own way (will plus -ful, full of will). In the park Elizabeth calls Darcy’s turning up again “wilful ill-nature”: unkindness meant on purpose. On the walk she teases that Miss Darcy, with “the true Darcy spirit”, may “like to have her own way”, which is the word’s other sense. Both times she reads a Darcy as wilful, and both times she is guessing.
inured: A younger son, you know, must be inured to self-denial and dependence. Used to something hard, so that it no longer hurts much; hardened by long habit. Fitzwilliam says “A younger son, you know, must be inured to self-denial and dependence.” The word claims a hardship, and Elizabeth at once asks what an earl’s son has ever been denied. He gives way on money and holds firm on marriage: that is where, he says, a younger son truly goes without.
drily: “Oh yes,” said Elizabeth drily--“Mr. Darcy is uncommonly kind to Mr. Bingley, and takes a prodigious deal of care of him.” In a dry way: plainly and without warmth, so that the words mean more, or less, than they say. Elizabeth says “drily” that Darcy “takes a prodigious deal of care” of Bingley. The words are praise; the tone makes them a charge. Fitzwilliam answers the words, not the tone, and his answer gives her the story she will judge Darcy by.
caprice: If his own vanity, however, did not mislead him, he was the cause--his pride and caprice were the cause--of all that Jane had suffered, and still continued to suffer. A sudden change of mind or mood with no good reason behind it; a whim (related to capricious, changeable). Elizabeth decides that “his pride and caprice were the cause” of Jane’s suffering. The pair pulls two ways: pride is fixed and deliberate, caprice is passing and careless. Fitzwilliam’s report named only “some very strong objections against the lady”; “pride and caprice” are Elizabeth’s words for what moved Darcy, and “caprice” makes the harm to Jane look like a whim.

Critical thinking

Fitzwilliam says more than once how little he knows. Then he tells the story anyway. How good a witness is he?
Fitzwilliam calls his story “all conjecture,” yet Elizabeth draws a whole verdict on Darcy from it. Is her anger fair?