Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 38

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Elizabeth could safely say that it was a great happiness where that was the case, and with equal sincerity could add, that she firmly believed and rejoiced in his domestic comforts. She was not sorry, however, to have the recital of them interrupted by the entrance of the lady from whom they sprang. Poor Charlotte! it was melancholy to leave her to such society! But she had chosen it with her eyes open; and though evidently regretting that her visitors were to go, she did not seem to ask for compassion. Her home and her housekeeping, her parish and her poultry, and all their dependent concerns, had not yet lost their charms.

It was not without an effort, meanwhile, that she could wait even for Longbourn, before she told her sister of Mr. Darcy’s proposals. To know that she had the power of revealing what would so exceedingly astonish Jane, and must, at the same time, so highly gratify whatever of her own vanity she had not yet been able to reason away, was such a temptation to openness as nothing could have conquered, but the state of indecision in which she remained as to the extent of what she should communicate, and her fear, if she once entered on the subject, of being hurried into repeating something of Bingley, which might only grieve her sister further.

In the chapter’s last sentence, the pull toward telling Jane comes first. What holds Elizabeth back comes only near the end. Why might Austen make us wait so long to learn it?

For the educator Two passages, one from the breakfast at Hunsford and one from London at the chapter’s end. The first opens on a sentence that says less than it seems to. Elizabeth “could safely say” that it is a great happiness “where that was the case”: she praises a marriage of one mind without saying that this is one. Then, “with equal sincerity”, she rejoices in “his domestic comforts”, his and not Charlotte’s. The word “sincerity” means honesty of feeling, and “domestic comforts” means the comforts of home. The next sentence names Charlotte without naming her: “the lady from whom they sprang”, the source of those comforts; “recital” means a long telling. Then the voice changes. “Poor Charlotte!” is Elizabeth’s feeling given in the narrator’s words, and “melancholy” means sad. A short “But” turns it: Charlotte chose “with her eyes open”, and though “evidently” sorry to see her visitors go, she “did not seem to ask for compassion”. Notice the two weights: “evidently” is sure, “seem” is not. The last sentence is a list in pairs, each pair joined by “and” and each alliterating: “Her home and her housekeeping, her parish and her poultry”, and it ends on “not yet”. The second passage has two sentences. The first sets up the wait. The second is periodic: its subject is a long infinitive phrase, “To know that she had the power of revealing”, and its main verb, “was such a temptation to openness”, does not come until after two clauses on what telling would do, astonish Jane and “gratify” Elizabeth’s “vanity”, her pride in herself. Then comes “but”, and two reasons follow: “indecision”, not having made up her mind, and fear of “repeating something of Bingley”. Notice that “not yet” returns here, for the vanity she has “not yet been able to reason away”. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who feels the sentence lean toward telling, the way Elizabeth does, before it is pulled back. Another may notice that what stops her is not a rule against telling but two hesitations, which makes the secret sound less settled. A strong student may notice that the reasons come last, after the temptation has been built up, so the reader weighs the vanity first and the kindness second.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in order. Start with Mr. Collins at breakfast on Saturday morning. End in London, with what Elizabeth holds back from Jane. Then choose the one sentence that matters most, and say what Austen is doing with it.

Mr. Collins says no one living in his house is “an object of compassion,” as long as they are close to the family at Rosings. Nobody at breakfast has said a word about pity. So why does he bring it up? Character
Mr. Collins says that he and Charlotte have “but one mind and one way of thinking.” Elizabeth answers that this is a great happiness “where that was the case.” The narrator says she could say it “safely.” Safe from what? Moral reasoning
Charlotte never speaks in this chapter. Before she comes in, Mr. Collins speaks for her twice: he promises her thanks, and he says they have “one mind.” Does her silence make that claim easier to believe, or harder? Inference
The narrator says Charlotte’s home, parish and poultry “had not yet lost their charms.” What does the small word “yet” add to that sentence? Author's choice
In London, Elizabeth holds back from telling Jane about Darcy’s proposal. She is afraid of “being hurried into repeating something of Bingley.” Is she sparing Jane, or deciding for Jane what Jane can bear? Character

Make a Connection Think of a time, in a book or in your own life, when a friend made a choice you would never make and seemed content with it. What did you owe that friend?

Vocabulary

condescension: Our plain manner of living, our small rooms, and few domestics, and the little we see of the world, must make Hunsford extremely dull to a young lady like yourself; but I hope you will believe us grateful for the condescension, and that we have done everything in our power to prevent you spending your time unpleasantly. In Austen’s sense, a person of high rank treating someone of lower rank with gracious kindness; in her time praise, not an insult. Mr. Collins thanks his young cousin for it, as if she had stooped to visit his house. The word lets him bow to her and make his home sound low in one breath, just before he lifts it up again with Rosings.
felicity: Only let me assure you, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that I can from my heart most cordially wish you equal felicity in marriage. Great happiness, especially happiness in a settled life (related to felicitations, good wishes). Mr. Collins wishes Elizabeth a marriage as happy as his own. A grand word for a grand claim: he offers his marriage as the measure of happiness, and the reader is left to judge the measure.
sprang: She was not sorry, however, to have the recital of them interrupted by the entrance of the lady from whom they sprang. Came from; had their source in (the past of spring, as when a stream springs from a hillside). The narrator calls Charlotte “the lady from whom they sprang”: Mr. Collins’s domestic comforts all come from her. The phrase gives her the credit for his happy home without using her name, just after he has spoken for her.
consternation: He then handed her in, Maria followed, and the door was on the point of being closed, when he suddenly reminded them, with some consternation, that they had hitherto forgotten to leave any message for the ladies of Rosings. Sudden alarm and dismay when something has gone wrong. Mr. Collins feels it over a forgotten message, a small slip that seems large to him. The size of the word against the size of the cause shows how much Rosings fills his mind; he then makes up Elizabeth’s thanks for her.
exceedingly: To know that she had the power of revealing what would so exceedingly astonish Jane, and must, at the same time, so highly gratify whatever of her own vanity she had not yet been able to reason away, was such a temptation to openness as nothing could have conquered, but the state of indecision in which she remained as to the extent of what she should communicate, and her fear, if she once entered on the subject, of being hurried into repeating something of Bingley, which might only grieve her sister further. To a very great degree; far beyond the usual (from exceed, to go beyond). Elizabeth knows her news would “so exceedingly astonish Jane”, and the word measures the size of the secret, and so the size of the temptation. Set beside “so highly gratify”, it puts the two effects of telling side by side: Jane’s astonishment and Elizabeth’s vanity.

Critical thinking

Mr. Collins wants Elizabeth to carry home “a very favourable report.” Maria will talk about nine dinners at Rosings. Elizabeth thinks of how much she will have to conceal. Whose picture of the visit is the truest?
Charlotte chose her life “with her eyes open,” and she does not ask for pity. Is Elizabeth right to pity her anyway?