Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 36

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

As to his real character, had information been in her power, she had never felt a wish of inquiring. His countenance, voice, and manner, had established him at once in the possession of every virtue. She tried to recollect some instance of goodness, some distinguished trait of integrity or benevolence, that might rescue him from the attacks of Mr. Darcy; or at least, by the predominance of virtue, atone for those casual errors, under which she would endeavour to class what Mr. Darcy had described as the idleness and vice of many years’ continuance. But no such recollection befriended her. She could see him instantly before her, in every charm of air and address, but she could remember no more substantial good than the general approbation of the neighbourhood, and the regard which his social powers had gained him in the mess.

How humiliating is this discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind. But vanity, not love, has been my folly. Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away where either were concerned. Till this moment, I never knew myself.

In the first passage, a long sentence searches for “some instance of goodness” in Wickham, and six words answer it. What does that short answer do that a longer one could not?

For the educator Two passages from the middle of Elizabeth’s two hours on the lane. The first is the narrator’s account of her search for one good thing Wickham has done. It opens on a sentence that sets a condition aside, “had information been in her power”, before the plain admission that she never wished to ask. The second sentence gives three nouns in a row, “countenance, voice, and manner”, and says they settled the question “at once”. The third is the long one: a search in two tries, the first for “some instance of goodness”, restated as “some distinguished trait of integrity or benevolence”, and the second, after a semicolon and “or at least”, for enough virtue to “atone for” what she would call “casual errors”. Here “benevolence” means kindness and good will, “predominance” means being greater in amount, and “atone for” means make up for. The fourth sentence is six words long and answers the third: “But no such recollection befriended her.” A memory is made the friend who does not come. The fifth turns on “but”: what she can see, “every charm of air and address”, against what she can remember, “no more substantial good than the general approbation of the neighbourhood”. “Approbation” means approval, and “the mess” is where the militia officers ate together. The second passage is the end of her cry. It opens on two exclamations that mirror each other, “How humiliating” and “how just a humiliation”. Then a condition that is not true, “Had I been in love”, and its answer, “But vanity, not love”, where the words “not love” repeat the condition to set it aside. The fifth sentence is periodic: two matched phrases, “Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other”, hold back the subject and verb, “I have courted”. “Prepossession” means a judgment made beforehand, and “courted” means invited, as one courts favour. The passage ends on a short sentence. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who hears the short sentence as a door closing: after two tries and a semicolon, the search ends with nothing, and the plain length says so. Another may hear the verb: a memory is asked to befriend her, to come to her side, and none comes. A strong student may notice that the next sentence turns on what she can see, “every charm of air and address”, against what she can remember, and that seeing and remembering are not the same kind of knowing. The first passage gives the evidence and the second the verdict; whether the verdict fits the evidence is the last written question.

Discussion

Narration Tell back Elizabeth’s two hours with the letter, step by step. Start with her first reading on the lane. End when she comes home and hears who called while she was out. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why.

On her first reading we are told, “It was all pride and insolence.” Whose judgment is that, Elizabeth’s or Austen’s? Author's choice
She puts the letter away, promising never to look at it again, and within half a minute it is open. What brings her back to it? Character
When she reaches the part about the will, she decides, “On both sides it was only assertion.” It is one man’s word against another’s. Before the letter, she was sure Darcy had wronged Wickham. Is that tie already a big change for her, or no change yet? Inference
She knew all along that Wickham boasted he would not avoid Darcy. She also knew he stayed away from the Netherfield ball. Why do those two facts only clash in her mind now? Character
Which hurts her more: finding she was wrong about Wickham, or reading what Darcy says about her family? Character

Make a Connection Think of a time, in your own life or in a book, when someone changed their mind about a person they had liked at once. What finally changed it?

Vocabulary

candour: I, who have valued myself on my abilities! who have often disdained the generous candour of my sister, and gratified my vanity in useless or blameless distrust. In Austen’s sense, a habit of seeing the best in others and judging them kindly; today the word usually means frankness. Elizabeth has looked down on Jane’s “generous candour” as too easy. Set against her own “useless or blameless distrust”, it shows her ranking the two habits again: she had thought suspicion the cleverer one.
prepossession: Pleased with the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other, on the very beginning of our acquaintance, I have courted prepossession and ignorance, and driven reason away where either were concerned. A judgment or feeling formed beforehand, before the facts are in (pre-, before, and possess: it takes hold of the mind first). Elizabeth says she “courted” it, invited it in, with both men from their first meeting. It is close to prejudice, a judging before, and it is the word she uses for her own fault.
profligacy: The extravagance and general profligacy which he scrupled not to lay to Mr. Wickham’s charge exceedingly shocked her; the more so, as she could bring no proof of its injustice. Reckless, wasteful living, especially spending and pleasure without restraint (a profligate wastes money, time or himself). Darcy’s letter lays “general profligacy” to Wickham’s charge, and it shocks her “the more so” because she can bring “no proof of its injustice”. The word is Darcy’s charge; what the sentence shows is that she has nothing of her own to set against it.
approbation: She could see him instantly before her, in every charm of air and address, but she could remember no more substantial good than the general approbation of the neighbourhood, and the regard which his social powers had gained him in the mess. Approval, especially the approval of others (related to approve; its opposite, disapprobation, appears later in the chapter for Darcy’s first view of her family). All she can find of Wickham’s goodness is “the general approbation of the neighbourhood”: other people liked him. The word shows how much of her opinion was borrowed from other people.

Critical thinking

She now believes Darcy about Wickham. So she asks how she can refuse to believe him about Jane. Is that a fair way to reason?
Elizabeth decides that “vanity, not love, has been my folly.” Is she right about what blinded her?