Chapter 41

Pride and Prejudice

Mountaineers · 10th–12th

Copywork

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.

1. 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

2. Elizabeth sums up her two youngest sisters as “Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled!” Whose fault does she think that is?Moral reasoning

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

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.

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.

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.

vexations It was not in her nature, however, to increase her vexations by dwelling on them.

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.

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.

Critical thinking

1. 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?

Thesis

Objection

Revision

2. Mr. Bennet lets Lydia go to Brighton partly to keep the house quiet. Is he being sensible or careless?

Thesis

Objection

Revision