Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 34

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. Nor am I ashamed of the feelings I related. They were natural and just.

From the very beginning, from the first moment, I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that groundwork of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry.

Darcy’s passage ends in three short sentences, and Elizabeth’s is one long one. Which is harder to argue with?

For the educator Two speeches from the quarrel, one from each side. The first is Darcy’s defence of how he proposed. Its first sentence gives the result first, “These bitter accusations might have been suppressed”, and then the condition, turned round to open on “had I” instead of on if. Between commas, “with greater policy” means with more worldly prudence, even craft, not a rule. Two verbs follow, “concealed” and “flattered”, and the pair “unqualified, unalloyed” chimes on its first sounds. After the semicolon comes a run of three with “by”, ending on the widest word, “everything”. Then come three short sentences, each a flat statement; the second opens on “Nor”, which turns the order round: “Nor am I ashamed”. Here “unalloyed” means pure, with nothing mixed in, and “abhorrence” means deep hatred. The second passage is Elizabeth’s last long answer, a single sentence. It opens on two phrases with “from”, corrects itself, “I may almost say”, and only then reaches its subject, “your manners”. A phrase describing those manners names three faults, each with “your”, the last the longest, and only then comes the verb, “were”. Her dislike is a building: a “groundwork of disapprobation”, meaning disapproval, “on which succeeding events have built”. After the semicolon the sentence climbs to “the last man in the world”, and “prevailed on” means persuaded. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who finds Darcy’s short sentences harder to argue with: each states a principle and gives nothing to push against, and Elizabeth, answering, never disputes that his feelings were “natural and just”; she turns to his manner instead. Listen too for one who finds Elizabeth’s harder: it piles up its case to the last words, and Darcy does not try to answer it. A strong student may notice that both speakers are certain, and that certainty sounds different in each.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences. Start with Elizabeth rereading Jane’s letters, and end with her hurrying to her room. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why.

Jane’s letters make no complaint, but Elizabeth finds unease in almost every line. How much of that unease is Jane’s, and how much is Elizabeth’s? Inference
Austen gives Darcy’s first four sentences in his own words, then sums up the rest herself. Why might she keep his words about her family from us? Author's choice
Darcy says she hardly tried to be civil when she refused him. Where in her first answer, if anywhere, is he right? Character
When Elizabeth speaks of Jane, Darcy changes colour. Then she sees no remorse in him. What might the change of colour have meant? Inference
Darcy says he is not ashamed of the feelings he told her about. As he leaves, he says he is now ashamed of what his feelings have been. Has he taken anything back? Character
As soon as Darcy has gone, Elizabeth sits down and cries for half an hour. What is she crying for? Character

Make a Connection Think of another book, or a time in history, when someone heard plainly, for the first time, what another person thought of them. What did hearing it change?

Vocabulary

imputing: In a hurried manner he immediately began an inquiry after her health, imputing his visit to a wish of hearing that she were better. Giving something as the cause or reason; to impute is to lay a cause or a motive at someone’s door (compare the noun imputation). Darcy comes in “imputing his visit to a wish of hearing that she were better”: that is the reason he gives for calling. The narrator’s word marks it as his stated reason, and minutes later his real errand is out. Set it beside his later claim that “disguise of every sort is my abhorrence”.
consequence: His sense of her inferiority, of its being a degradation, of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit. Social importance or standing, as when someone is called a person of consequence; in Austen’s English, not a result. The narrator says Darcy spoke of her inferiority “with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding”. The standing hurt is most likely his own, which the match would lower, and his heat seems to come from that wound. The same sentence adds that it “was very unlikely to recommend his suit.”
tranquillity: With assumed tranquillity he then replied, “I have no wish of denying that I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success. Calm; a settled quiet of mind or manner (the noun of tranquil). When Elizabeth demands whether he can deny parting Jane and Bingley, Darcy answers “With assumed tranquillity”. Assumed means put on, so the phrase describes a calm worn on the outside, and leaves open what lies under it. The British spelling doubles the l.
unalloyed: These bitter accusations might have been suppressed, had I, with greater policy, concealed my struggles, and flattered you into the belief of my being impelled by unqualified, unalloyed inclination; by reason, by reflection, by everything. Pure, with nothing else mixed in; an alloy is a metal mixed with another, so the unalloyed metal is the pure one. Darcy says he could have flattered her into believing in an “unqualified, unalloyed inclination”: a liking with no doubts mixed in. The metal picture fits his point: his love was real, and it came mixed with the scruples he chose to confess.
abhorrence: But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence. A deep, shuddering hatred of something; what we abhor we shrink from (Latin ab-, away, and horrere, to bristle or shudder; horror is a cousin). Darcy says “disguise of every sort is my abhorrence.” He does not say he dislikes disguise; he names it as the thing he recoils from, which makes his frankness sound like part of who he is. The last written question asks whether that frankness was a virtue here.

Critical thinking

Darcy is sure she will say yes, and Elizabeth is sure she knows his character. Which of them is more blind in this scene?
Darcy says that “disguise of every sort is my abhorrence.” Was his honesty about her family a virtue in this proposal, or a cruelty?