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Pride and Prejudice
Mountaineers · 10th–12th
Elizabeth decides that what she feels most for Darcy is gratitude for his forgiving her. Is gratitude a good ground for love, or a weak one?
The tension Lambton talk had called Miss Darcy “exceedingly proud,” but a few minutes show Elizabeth “she was only exceedingly shy”; lying awake, Elizabeth finds respect, esteem and above all gratitude in herself, yet cannot say “how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself.”
What the visit to the inn shows Elizabeth about Miss Darcy and Darcy, and what she finds when she sorts out her own feelings at night.
Elizabeth had expected Mr. Darcy to bring his sister the day after Miss Darcy reached Pemberley, but on the very morning after the travellers reach Lambton, a curricle drives up the street. Elizabeth knows the livery and tells her uncle and aunt who is coming, and her embarrassment, joined to the visit itself, gives the Gardiners a new idea: that Darcy is partial to their niece. Elizabeth, more anxious to please than ever, walks the room trying to compose herself. Miss Darcy proves at least as embarrassed as she is. Lambton had called her exceedingly proud; a few minutes show she is only exceedingly shy, and hardly says more than a word at a time. Bingley follows, as cordial and easy as ever. Elizabeth, thinking of Jane, sees no particular regard between him and Miss Darcy, and in what the narrator calls her anxious interpretation, a few small things suggest he remembers Jane: he says they last met on the 26th of November, and later, when no one else is listening, asks whether all her sisters are at Longbourn. The Gardiners watch closely and become sure that Darcy is in love; of Elizabeth they are less certain. Darcy is civil to everyone, even the relations he once disdained, and Elizabeth has never seen him so eager to please. On leaving, he has his sister invite the party to dinner at Pemberley. Elizabeth turns her head away, and Mrs. Gardiner accepts for her. Elizabeth hurries off to dress, fearing questions, but the Gardiners do not press her. That evening they weigh Darcy’s character: they want to think well of him, find his housekeeper’s word not lightly set aside, and hear in Lambton nothing against him but pride, which a small town would charge to a family that does not visit. He is known to be generous to the poor, and it is well known that Wickham left debts there which Darcy paid. Elizabeth lies awake two hours over her feelings. She does not hate Darcy, and is ashamed of ever disliking him. She respects and esteems him, and above all she is grateful that he loves her still well enough to forgive the petulance and unjust accusations of her refusal. She puts his change down to love, finds its effect on her not unpleasing, and wants only to know how far she wishes his happiness to depend on her. She and her aunt agree to return Miss Darcy’s call the next morning, and Elizabeth is pleased, though she can hardly say why. Mr. Gardiner leaves after breakfast to fish at Pemberley.
Start with the introduction, from “Miss Darcy and her brother appeared” to “beyond a monosyllable.”: in four sentences Elizabeth corrects a town’s report by a few minutes of watching, and it is the easiest moment in the chapter to skim. Before reading, ask students to note every judgment of a person they meet in the chapter, and beside each one, whether it comes from report or from watching, and what the judge wants to be true. Afterward, ask which judgments held and which were shaped by wishes; leave it there, because the last written question asks whether Elizabeth’s gratitude to Darcy is a good ground for love, and the discussion builds toward it. Read aloud the Gardiners’ evening, from “Of Mr. Darcy it was now a matter of anxiety” to “which Mr. Darcy afterwards discharged.”, and Elizabeth’s night, from “As for Elizabeth, her thoughts were at Pemberley” to “the renewal of his addresses.” Keep to the chapter. No answer may say that Bingley still loves Jane; Elizabeth reads it only through her anxious interpretation. No answer may say that Elizabeth has decided to marry Darcy or wants him to propose again; she wonders only how far she wishes it. No answer may say that Darcy has told anyone of his proposal; the Gardiners guess his feeling from what they see. And no answer may say that Miss Darcy knows of the proposal. Watch for four traps: calling this the chapter where Elizabeth falls in love, when it carefully names respect, esteem and gratitude and stops short; passing over Miss Darcy’s shyness, which repeats in small the book’s lesson about mistaking reserve for pride; treating the Gardiners as background, when they watch the visit closely and reach their own conclusions; and skipping the Lambton report of Wickham’s debts, which reaches the travellers from people with no stake in Darcy.
Retell The student retells the chapter in order: the curricle in the street and the Gardiners’ new idea; Elizabeth pacing the room; Miss Darcy, proud by report and shy in fact; Bingley, his exact memory of November and his question about her sisters; the Gardiners watching; Darcy’s civility to the relations he once disdained; the invitation to dinner and Mrs. Gardiner’s acceptance; the Gardiners’ evening judgment and the Lambton report of Wickham’s debts; Elizabeth’s two sleepless hours; the plan to call at Pemberley and Mr. Gardiner’s fishing. Then the student picks the sentence that matters most and says what it shows about Austen’s purpose. Look for a retelling that gives the Gardiners’ evening its weight, and that names Elizabeth’s feelings as the chapter names them, without calling them love.
Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two short pieces about an invented person known first by report, such as a neighbour the whole street thinks rude. First, on the model of the first passage, two sentences in which the writer watches that neighbour behave well: one balanced on “but” that ends in a dry understatement, as “had at least outlived one day” does; and one long sentence that holds back its main clause behind two clauses beginning with the same words, as “When she saw him thus” does. Second, on the model of the second passage, five sentences in which the writer, later that night, sorts out what they now feel: a short denial; a sentence that answers it, beginning “No;”; a long sentence in which a feeling stops being resisted rather than arrives; a sentence that repeats one word to lift a last feeling above the rest, as “above all, above” does; and a sentence that names that feeling, repeats it after a dash, and enlarges it with “not merely” and “but”. The student then says which sentence was hardest to keep honest.
Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that gratitude for being forgiven is a good ground for love, and gathers Elizabeth’s naming of her own “petulance and acrimony” and “unjust accusations”, her placing gratitude “above respect and esteem,” and the change she has watched “in a man of so much pride”. The other side argues it is a weak ground, and gathers “by no means unpleasing,” “the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed,” “could not be exactly defined”, and her not knowing how far she wishes his happiness to depend on her. Each side must answer the other’s best line. Neither may call Elizabeth’s feeling love, say she means to marry him, or judge by anything later in the book.
Purpose Close on how the chapter is built. It opens on a conclusion Elizabeth had “settled” that proves “false”, and it closes on something “settled in the evening” that pleases her for reasons she cannot give. In between, Austen moves from watching (the visit), to weighing (the Gardiners’ evening, given in full before Elizabeth’s), to self-examination (the two sleepless hours). Ask why the Gardiners’ judgment, with its admitted “interest,” comes just before Elizabeth’s own, and what a reader is meant to carry from one to the other. Then ask why Austen lets Elizabeth name respect, esteem, gratitude and interest, and give the word love only to Darcy.
Easier Read aloud the introduction, from “Miss Darcy and her brother appeared” to “beyond a monosyllable.”, and the night passage. Make two lists together: what Elizabeth heard about Miss Darcy and what she saw; and the feelings Elizabeth names for Darcy, in the order the chapter names them. Talk about what “diffidence”, “discomposure” and “acrimony” mean. Talk through the questions on Miss Darcy’s shyness and the word “only”, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.
On level Talk through all four discussion questions in order, then write both written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.
Harder Ask for one argued essay on the chapter’s two ways of knowing a person, by report and by watching, tracing Lambton’s word on Miss Darcy, Elizabeth’s reading of Bingley, the Gardiners’ “interest” in the housekeeper, and Elizabeth’s own night of sorting. The essay should ask whether her feelings for Darcy rest on what she has seen of him or on what he feels for her, meet the objection that every reading in the chapter is coloured by what the reader wants, and must not judge by anything that happens later in the book.
1. Lambton calls Miss Darcy proud, but a few minutes show Elizabeth that she is “only exceedingly shy.” How much of what people call her brother’s pride might be shyness too?Character
What it asks It asks the student to carry a correction about the sister over to the brother, and to decide how far it goes. “Since her being at Lambton, she had heard that Miss Darcy was exceedingly proud; but the observation of a very few minutes convinced her that she was only exceedingly shy. She found it difficult to obtain even a word from her beyond a monosyllable.” Elizabeth had expected “to find in her as acute and unembarrassed an observer as ever Mr. Darcy had been,” and is “much relieved by discerning such different feelings.” That evening the Gardiners weigh the same town’s word on him: “They had nothing to accuse him of but pride; pride he probably had, and if not, it would certainly be imputed by the inhabitants of a small market town where the family did not visit.” During the visit Elizabeth has never seen him “so free from self-consequence or unbending reserve”. Here “acute” means sharp-eyed, “unembarrassed” means at ease, “self-consequence” means a sense of one’s own importance (consequence in Austen’s sense: social standing), and “reserve” means holding oneself back. The student decides how much of the pride people saw in Darcy might be shyness too, or the reserve that shyness can look like. The card does not settle it: the chapter gives evidence that the siblings are alike and evidence that they are not.
A good deal of it. The town that called a shy girl proud is the same town that calls her brother proud, and the Gardiners themselves reason that pride would be laid at the family’s door “if not” deserved, simply because the Darcys “did not visit.” What Elizabeth sees fall away from him this morning is not only self-importance but “unbending reserve,” and reserve is how shyness looks from across a room. On this reading Miss Darcy is a small copy of the mistake the world, and Elizabeth, may have made about her brother.
it would certainly be imputed by the inhabitants of a small market town where the family did not visit
so free from self-consequence or unbending reserve
Very little of it. Elizabeth, who has watched Darcy closely, draws the line herself: she expected his sister to be “as acute and unembarrassed an observer as ever Mr. Darcy had been,” and is relieved to find “such different feelings.” A shy girl hides behind monosyllables; the brother Elizabeth remembers watched. The Gardiners, who want to think well of him, still grant that “pride he probably had,” and “self-consequence” names a real pride, not a shy one. On this reading the sister’s case shows how wrong report can be, but it clears her, not him.
as acute and unembarrassed an observer as ever Mr. Darcy had been
pride he probably had
A strong answer A strong response weighs the sister’s case against the brother’s. One reader says a good deal of his pride may be the same thing: the town that misread her also judges him, the Gardiners grant that pride would be “imputed” to a family that “did not visit”, and what Elizabeth sees fall away is “unbending reserve” as well as self-importance. Another says very little: Elizabeth herself contrasts the two, expecting the sister to be “as acute and unembarrassed an observer as ever Mr. Darcy had been,” and even the friendly Gardiners allow that “pride he probably had”. The best answers notice that the chapter teaches Elizabeth to trust a few minutes of watching over a town’s report, and then ask whether her watching of Darcy has always been as careful as her watching of his sister.
2. When Bingley asks whether all her sisters are at Longbourn, Austen prints the word “all” in italics. Who is putting the weight on that word?Author's choice
What it asks It asks the student to decide whose meaning the italics carry. Seeing Bingley, Elizabeth’s “thoughts naturally flew to her sister”. She “could fancy that he talked less than on former occasions,” but grants “this might be imaginary”. Then “two or three little circumstances occurred ere they parted, which, in her anxious interpretation, denoted a recollection of Jane, not untinctured by tenderness”. He says, “It is above eight months. We have not met since the 26th of November, when we were all dancing together at Netherfield.” Later, “when unattended to by any of the rest,” he asks “whether _all_ her sisters were at Longbourn. There was not much in the question, nor in the preceding remark; but there was a look and a manner which gave them meaning.” Here “anxious interpretation” means a reading shaped by worry and hope, “denoted” means showed, “untinctured” means untouched, and “unattended to” means not overheard. The student decides whether the stress belongs to Bingley’s voice or to Elizabeth’s hopeful ear. The card does not say that Bingley still loves Jane: the chapter gives only what Elizabeth reads, and how anxiously she reads it.
Bingley. He waits until no one else is listening to ask it, and a question that needs privacy is not a casual one. He speaks “in a tone which had something of real regret”, and he has the date by heart, “the 26th of November.” The narrator, not only Elizabeth, grants “a look and a manner which gave them meaning.” On this reading the italics print his voice: he means one sister by “all,” and dares not name her. What he feels for her the chapter does not say.
when unattended to by any of the rest
but there was a look and a manner which gave them meaning
Elizabeth’s ear. The narrator warns twice that she is reading in hope: “this might be imaginary,” and it is “in her anxious interpretation” that the little circumstances recall Jane. “There was not much in the question”: any guest asks after a family. Her thoughts had flown to Jane the moment he came in, and a listener who wants to hear a name will hear it. On this reading the italics print what Elizabeth hears, and Austen lets us watch a wish shape a reading in the very chapter where Elizabeth is learning to read people well.
which, in her anxious interpretation, denoted a recollection of Jane
There was not much in the question
A strong answer A strong response decides whose stress it is and shows where the chapter leans. One reader hears Bingley: he waits until he is “unattended to by any of the rest,” he knows the date to the day, and the narrator grants “a look and a manner which gave them meaning.” Another hears Elizabeth: the narrator calls her reading “anxious” and allows that it “might be imaginary,” and “There was not much in the question”. The best answers notice that Austen leaves both open, and that this matters for the last written question: in the same morning that Elizabeth learns to read Miss Darcy by watching, her watching of Bingley is coloured by what she wants, which is worth remembering when she sorts her own feelings that night.
3. Elizabeth has never seen Darcy try so hard to please. Is she right that his efforts can gain him nothing?Character
What it asks It asks the student to test Elizabeth’s reading of the visit against her own reading of it that night. During the visit she sees him “civil, not only to herself, but to the very relations whom he had openly disdained,” and “Never, even in the company of his dear friends at Netherfield, or his dignified relations at Rosings, had she seen him so desirous to please, so free from self-consequence or unbending reserve, as now, when no importance could result from the success of his endeavours, and when even the acquaintance of those to whom his attentions were addressed, would draw down the ridicule and censure of the ladies both of Netherfield and Rosings.” She allows that the change may be “temporary”. Lying awake, she sees him “soliciting the good opinion of her friends, and bent on making her known to his sister”, and concludes: “Such a change in a man of so much pride excited not only astonishment but gratitude--for to love, ardent love, it must be attributed”. Here “desirous” means eager, “self-consequence” means a sense of one’s own importance (consequence in Austen’s sense: social standing), “endeavours” means efforts, “censure” means blame, and “soliciting” means seeking. The student decides whether Elizabeth is right that his efforts can gain him nothing, and if not, what they could gain him. The card does not say that Darcy has told anyone of his proposal: the love is Elizabeth’s conclusion, and the Gardiners’ guess from what they see.
Not right, and the chapter lets the reader see it before she does. The importance that could result is Elizabeth herself. A man does not court the good opinion of a woman’s aunt and uncle for nothing, and that night she says as much: the change “must be attributed” to “ardent love.” That morning she knew of “the partiality of the brother”, yet she watches his efforts as if nothing could come of them. On this reading his courtesy is courtship, and her night is partly the catching up.
for to love, ardent love, it must be attributed
soliciting the good opinion of her friends
Right, in the sense she means. Nothing worldly can come of it: the Gardiners can add nothing to his standing, and knowing them would “draw down the ridicule and censure” of Netherfield and Rosings. Nor can he count on Elizabeth, who has refused him once. He courts her friends “without any indelicate display of regard” toward her, as a man would who asks for nothing back. On this reading his efforts can gain him nothing he can be sure of, and that is just why they tell her so much: courtesy with no promise of return shows what a man is.
draw down the ridicule and censure
without any indelicate display of regard
A strong answer A strong response tests Elizabeth’s reading of the visit against her own reading of it that night. One reader says she is wrong: the importance that could result is Elizabeth herself, and by night she puts the change down to “ardent love,” which makes his courtesy to her relations a kind of courtship. Another says she is right in the sense she means: the Gardiners can add nothing to his standing, knowing them will “draw down the ridicule and censure” of Netherfield and Rosings, and a man she has refused cannot count on her, so he courts her friends “without any indelicate display of regard”. The best answers notice that both readings end in the same place: Elizabeth answers his change with gratitude, and the last written question asks what kind of ground for love that is.
4. After sorting out her respect, esteem and gratitude, Elizabeth “only wanted to know” how far she wished his happiness to depend on her. Is that “only” as small as it sounds?Tone
What it asks It asks the student to hear one small word at the end of a long night. The evening “was not long enough to determine her feelings towards _one_ in that mansion; and she lay awake two whole hours, endeavouring to make them out.” At the end she has a list: “She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real interest in his welfare; and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself, and how far it would be for the happiness of both that she should employ the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed, of bringing on the renewal of his addresses.” The next day she is pleased to be going to Pemberley, “though when she asked herself the reason, she had very little to say in reply.” Here “welfare” means happiness and good, “fancy” means imagination, and “the renewal of his addresses” means his asking her to marry him again. The student decides whether the one thing Elizabeth does not yet know is small, as “only” claims, or the whole question. The card does not say that Elizabeth has decided to marry Darcy or wants him to propose again; she wonders only how far she wishes it.
Not small at all. After four clauses of settled feeling, “only” makes the last question sound like a detail, the way a person says they just need to know one thing. But the one thing is everything: whether she wants his happiness bound to hers. Austen lets Elizabeth sort every feeling but the one that matters, and the chapter ends on the same note, with Elizabeth pleased and unable to say why. On this reading the “only” is Austen smiling at her heroine.
and she only wanted to know how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself
though when she asked herself the reason, she had very little to say in reply
Truly small, or at least separate. The list is real work: two hours have settled what she feels, and the feelings are clear. What is left is not a feeling but a choice, whether to use a power she may or may not still have, and whether it would be “for the happiness of both”. Feeling and choosing are different things, and Elizabeth is right to keep them apart, especially after a refusal she now calls full of “petulance and acrimony”. On this reading the “only” is honest: she knows her heart well enough, and is wise not to rush the rest.
She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real interest in his welfare
how far it would be for the happiness of both
A strong answer A strong response decides how much weight “only” carries. One reader says it is Austen’s irony: after a settled list, the one question left is the whole question, whether she wants his happiness to depend on her, and the chapter ends with Elizabeth pleased and with “very little to say in reply.” Another says the “only” is honest: she has done the work of naming her feelings, and what remains is a choice about using “the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed,” which she is wise not to rush. The best answers notice that her list names respect, esteem, gratitude and interest, and stops; whether that list could add up to love is the last written question.
1. Once the Gardiners guess that Darcy loves their niece, they have “an interest” in believing the housekeeper. How far should that weaken their good opinion of him?
What it asks It asks the student to test the chapter’s outside witnesses against their own motive. During the visit the Gardiners watch “with an earnest, though guarded, inquiry” and draw “the full conviction that one of them at least knew what it was to love.” That evening: “Of Mr. Darcy it was now a matter of anxiety to think well; and, as far as their acquaintance reached, there was no fault to find.” Had they drawn his character “from their own feelings and his servant’s report, without any reference to any other account, the circle in Hertfordshire to which he was known would not have recognized it for Mr. Darcy. There was now an interest, however, in believing the housekeeper; and they soon became sensible that the authority of a servant, who had known him since he was four years old, and whose own manners indicated respectability, was not to be hastily rejected.” Their Lambton friends add nothing against him but pride, grant “that he was a liberal man, and did much good among the poor”, and know as “a well-known fact” that Wickham left debts “which Mr. Darcy afterwards discharged.” Here “a matter of anxiety” means something they cared about, “sensible” means aware, “liberal” means generous, and “discharged” means paid off. The student builds a thesis on how far the Gardiners’ wish to think well of Darcy should weaken their judgment, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card does not say that Darcy has told the Gardiners anything of his proposal; they guess his feeling from what they see, and the card draws nothing about Wickham from outside this chapter.
A good deal. The narrator says plainly that thinking well of him is now “a matter of anxiety” to them, and that they have “an interest” in believing the housekeeper. Their portrait of him leaves out “any other account,” including Hertfordshire’s, which would not recognize it. Even the charge of pride is explained away: if he lacks it, the town would impute it anyway. People who want a conclusion find reasons for it. On this reading their good opinion tells us more about their hopes for their niece than about Darcy.
Of Mr. Darcy it was now a matter of anxiety to think well
without any reference to any other account
Very little. Wanting to believe something is not the same as believing it without cause, and the Gardiners test what they want. They weigh the housekeeper by her long knowledge and her “respectability,” and check her against their Lambton friends, who have no stake in Darcy and still grant that he is liberal to the poor. The strongest fact of all, that he paid Wickham’s debts, is “a well-known fact” in a town that thinks little of Wickham and that the family does not visit. On this reading their interest makes them look harder, not see less, and the evidence they find is the kind no wish could invent.
was not to be hastily rejected
he had left many debts behind him, which Mr. Darcy afterwards discharged
A strong answer A strong response might argue that the Gardiners’ wish weakens their opinion a good deal, because the narrator admits that thinking well of Darcy is now “a matter of anxiety” to them, and their picture of him sets aside “any other account,” including Hertfordshire’s. The strongest objection is that they test what they want: they weigh a servant who has known him since he was four, check her against Lambton friends with no stake in him, and find a fact no wish could invent, the debts Wickham left “which Mr. Darcy afterwards discharged.” A revised thesis might hold that their interest is a reason to weigh their impressions lightly but their facts fully: the feeling that he is in love and the charm of his manners are theirs to want, the paid debts are not. The best answers notice that the last written question asks the same of Elizabeth: whether a feeling that begins in what she wants to believe can rest on what she has seen.
2. Elizabeth decides that what she feels most for Darcy is gratitude for his forgiving her. Is gratitude a good ground for love, or a weak one?
What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. Lying awake “two whole hours,” Elizabeth sorts her feelings for Darcy. “She certainly did not hate him. No; hatred had vanished long ago”. Respect, “at first unwillingly admitted,” has been “heightened into somewhat of a friendlier nature” by yesterday’s testimony in his favour. “But above all, above respect and esteem, there was a motive within her of good-will which could not be overlooked. It was gratitude;--gratitude, not merely for having once loved her, but for loving her still well enough to forgive all the petulance and acrimony of her manner in rejecting him, and all the unjust accusations accompanying her rejection.” She is grateful too that the man she thought would avoid her “as his greatest enemy” seems “most eager to preserve the acquaintance”, and the change, which she puts down to “ardent love,” makes an impression “of a sort to be encouraged, as by no means unpleasing, though it could not be exactly defined.” Her list ends: “She respected, she esteemed, she was grateful to him, she felt a real interest in his welfare”, and she only wants to know “how far she wished that welfare to depend upon herself”. Here “esteem” means high regard, “good-will” means kindly feeling toward someone, “petulance” means childish ill temper, and “acrimony” means bitterness. The student builds a thesis on whether gratitude for being forgiven is a good ground for love or a weak one, meets the strongest objection, and revises. The card must not say that Elizabeth loves Darcy, has decided to marry him, or wants him to propose again: the chapter names respect, esteem, gratitude and interest, and stops. It must not say that Bingley still loves Jane, that Darcy has told anyone of his proposal, or that Miss Darcy knows of it.
A good ground. This is not gratitude for a favour or for flattery. It is gratitude for being forgiven, and that asks Elizabeth to see herself truly: she names her own “petulance and acrimony” and her “unjust accusations”. A feeling that begins in honesty about one’s own faults is a sound beginning. And what she is grateful for is something she has watched, “Such a change in a man of so much pride”, shown toward the very people he once disdained. It sits “above respect and esteem” because it includes them. On this reading gratitude for forgiveness is the most clear-eyed thing Elizabeth feels, built on what she has seen in him and admitted in herself.
for loving her still well enough to forgive all the petulance and acrimony of her manner in rejecting him
Such a change in a man of so much pride excited not only astonishment but gratitude
A weak one. Gratitude answers what he feels for her, not what she feels for him. It is a debt, and debts can be paid without love. Its pleasure is partly the pleasure of being loved: the impression is “by no means unpleasing,” and she thinks of “the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed”. A woman can be grateful to a man, and pleased to be loved by him, and still not love him. After two hours she cannot say how far she wants his happiness bound to hers. On this reading gratitude is the feeling that comes most easily to someone who has been forgiven, and it may be standing in for a feeling Elizabeth cannot yet find.
as by no means unpleasing, though it could not be exactly defined
the power, which her fancy told her she still possessed
A strong answer A strong response might argue that gratitude is a good ground for love here, because it is gratitude for forgiveness: it asks Elizabeth to own her “petulance and acrimony” and her “unjust accusations”, and it answers a change she has watched with her own eyes: “Such a change in a man of so much pride”. Key evidence includes her placing it “above respect and esteem,” which suggests it gathers them up rather than replacing them. The strongest objection is that gratitude answers his feeling, not hers: the impression is “by no means unpleasing,” she thinks of the “power” she may still hold, and after two hours she still cannot say how far she wants his happiness to depend on her. A revised thesis might hold that gratitude for being forgiven is a sound ground but not yet a building: it shows Elizabeth seeing both him and herself truly, which the chapter values, but the chapter itself stops at feelings that “could not be exactly defined.” The best answers keep that stopping point in view and do not call her feeling love.
She was quite amazed at her own discomposure; but, amongst other causes of disquiet, she dreaded lest the partiality of the brother should have said too much in her favour; and, more than commonly anxious to please, she naturally suspected that every power of pleasing would fail her.The loss of one’s calm; being flustered and unsettled (dis-, undoing, plus composure, from Latin componere, to put together). Elizabeth, so often the most self-possessed person in a room, “was quite amazed at her own discomposure”, and a moment later is walking the floor “endeavouring to compose herself”. The word measures how much the visit matters to her before she can say why.
It was not often that she could turn her eyes on Mr. Darcy himself; but whenever she did catch a glimpse she saw an expression of general complaisance, and in all that he said, she heard an accent so far removed from hauteur or disdain of his companions, as convinced her that the improvement of manners which she had yesterday witnessed, however temporary its existence might prove, had at least outlived one day.A wish to please others and a readiness to be agreeable to them (from French complaire, from Latin complacere, to please). Austen sets Darcy’s “general complaisance” against “_hauteur_ or disdain”, the haughtiness Elizabeth once saw in him. The word can be praise or a mild fault, since complaisance can shade into mere obligingness; whether his is warmth or effort is one of the chapter’s open questions.
Miss Darcy, though with a diffidence which marked her little in the habit of giving invitations, readily obeyed.Shyness that comes from a lack of trust in oneself (from Latin diffidere, to distrust, the opposite of confidere, to trust, which gives us confidence). Miss Darcy gives her first invitation with a diffidence that marks her as “little in the habit of giving invitations”. The word names exactly what Lambton mistook for pride, and its opposite is the “self-consequence” Elizabeth no longer sees in her brother.
They had nothing to accuse him of but pride; pride he probably had, and if not, it would certainly be imputed by the inhabitants of a small market town where the family did not visit.Laid to someone’s account; said to belong to them, often without proof (from Latin imputare, to reckon in, to put down to someone). The Gardiners reason that pride would be imputed to the Darcys by a town “where the family did not visit”, whether or not they had it. The word marks the gap between a quality a person has and one others assign to them, the same gap that lies between Miss Darcy’s reputation and the shy girl Elizabeth meets.
It was gratitude;--gratitude, not merely for having once loved her, but for loving her still well enough to forgive all the petulance and acrimony of her manner in rejecting him, and all the unjust accusations accompanying her rejection.Bitterness and sharpness in speech or manner, meant to wound (from Latin acer, sharp, as in acrid). Elizabeth now names her own manner in refusing Darcy as “petulance and acrimony”: petulance is childish temper, acrimony is bitterness. That she can use so harsh a word about herself is what makes this gratitude possible, since one is grateful to be forgiven only for something one admits was wrong.