Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 41

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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It is not of peculiar, but of general evils, which I am now complaining. Our importance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia’s character. Excuse me,--for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment.

Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united volubility. In Lydia’s imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw, with the creative eye of fancy, the streets of that gay bathing-place covered with officers. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp: its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and, to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once.

Read the two passages aloud, Elizabeth’s warning and then Lydia’s dream. Which one makes you worry more for Lydia?

For the educator Two passages, two pictures of Lydia: Elizabeth’s warning to her father, and Lydia’s own dream of Brighton, a few paragraphs later. Elizabeth’s passage opens on an antithesis, “not of peculiar, but of general evils”, and then doubles its subject, “Our importance, our respectability in the world”, before naming what threatens it. The third sentence is a short apology that is also a warning: she is about to be blunt. The fourth is built on “If”: two things her father “will not take the trouble” to do (“of checking” and “of teaching”), then the result, held back to the end: “she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment.” Here “peculiar” means belonging to one person, “general” means shared by all, “assurance” means boldness, “exuberant” means overflowing, and “amendment” means correction for the better. The second passage is the narrator’s, told from inside Lydia’s head. Its first sentence, beginning “Had Lydia and her mother known”, imagines the anger Elizabeth’s plea would have caused. The second names the theme in large words, “every possibility of earthly happiness”. Then come three sentences that open “She saw” (anaphora), each larger than the last, and a fourth “she saw” tucked inside the final one, which runs through a colon and a semicolon to a deflating last image: “at least six officers at once.” Here “the substance of her conference” means what was said in her talk, “indignation” means anger at being wronged, “comprised” means held, “fancy” means imagination, “gay bathing-place” means lively seaside town, “beauteous uniformity of lines” means handsome straight rows, and “scarlet” is the red of the officers’ coats. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who worries more after Elizabeth’s passage, since it names the danger outright, “the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint”, and a sister soon “beyond the reach of amendment”, and one who worries more after the dream, since it shows from inside a girl who longs to be “the object of attention to tens and to scores” of officers “at present unknown” and sees no danger at all. A third student may hear the dream as comic, “at least six officers at once”, and so less worrying than Elizabeth’s warning. A sharp student may notice that Elizabeth’s warning is mostly for the family, “Our importance, our respectability in the world”, and ask whether anyone in the chapter is worried for Lydia herself. A strong student may notice that the dream is the opposite of the “insignificance” her father hopes Brighton will teach her.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences. Start with the regiment’s last week in Meryton, and end with Lydia’s noisy goodbye. Then pick the one moment that matters most, and say why.

Kitty says she has “just as much right to be asked” as Lydia, “for I am two years older.” What does Kitty think an invitation to Brighton is? Character
Elizabeth sums up her two youngest sisters as “Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled!” Whose fault does she think that is? Moral reasoning
Mr. Bennet jokes that Lydia must have scared off some of Elizabeth’s admirers, and she answers, “Indeed, you are mistaken.” Is he as wrong as she says? Inference
The narrator tells Lydia’s dream in sentence after sentence that begins “She saw”. Is the narrator mocking her joy, or sharing it? Author's choice
Elizabeth speaks plainly to her father, and nothing changes. Her hint to Wickham leaves him alarmed and silent. Why does the hint work when plain speech did not? Theme

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone in charge said yes just to keep the peace. What made that yes hard to judge?

Vocabulary

dejection: The dejection was almost universal. Low spirits; a sinking of the heart (from Latin, cast down). As the regiment prepares to leave, “The dejection was almost universal” among the young ladies of the neighbourhood. The grand word for a crowd of girls missing their officers is the narrator’s first joke, and it sets the noise of the house going.
peevish: Wholly inattentive to her sister’s feelings, Lydia flew about the house in restless ecstasy, calling for everyone’s congratulations, and laughing and talking with more violence than ever; whilst the luckless Kitty continued in the parlour repining at her fate in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish. Fretful and complaining, in a whining way. Kitty complains “in terms as unreasonable as her accent was peevish”: the narrator judges both what she says and how she sounds. The word makes her grievance sound childish, though her envy is real.
volatility: Our importance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia’s character. A tendency to change suddenly and without warning, like a liquid that flashes into vapour (from Latin volare, to fly). Elizabeth names Lydia’s “wild volatility” as the first mark of her character. The word makes Lydia’s high spirits sound unstable, a danger rather than a charm.
volubility: Had Lydia and her mother known the substance of her conference with her father, their indignation would hardly have found expression in their united volubility. A flood of fast, easy talk (related to voluble; from Latin volvere, to roll). Had Lydia and her mother known of Elizabeth’s plea, their anger “would hardly have found expression in their united volubility”: even their stream of talk could not have held it. The word measures the noise Mr. Bennet hopes to be spared.
vexations: It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them. Troubles and annoyances that wear at the mind (related to vex). Elizabeth will not “increase her vexations by dwelling on them.” The word is small and domestic, and it frames her disappointment as something to be managed rather than fought.
imputed: His fear of her has always operated, I know, when they were together; and a good deal is to be imputed to his wish of forwarding the match with Miss de Bourgh, which I am certain he has very much at heart. Put down to a cause; credited or blamed on (from impute). Wickham says “a good deal is to be imputed to” Darcy’s wish to forward a match with Miss de Bourgh. The word lets him explain away any change in Darcy by giving it a selfish motive, and Elizabeth answers only with a smile.
clamorous: Mrs. Bennet was diffuse in her good wishes for the felicity of her daughter, and impressive in her injunctions that she would not miss the opportunity of enjoying herself as much as possible,--advice which there was every reason to believe would be attended to; and, in the clamorous happiness of Lydia herself in bidding farewell, the more gentle adieus of her sisters were uttered without being heard. Loud and insistent, full of outcry (related to clamour). In “the clamorous happiness of Lydia herself”, her joy is so loud that her sisters’ gentle goodbyes go unheard. The word turns happiness into noise, the last noise of the chapter.

Critical thinking

Once she has spoken to her father, Elizabeth will not “fret over unavoidable evils”. Is that calm a strength, or the same wish for peace as his?
Mr. Bennet lets Lydia go to Brighton partly to keep the house quiet. Is he being sensible or careless?