Chapter 45 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

Darcy stays silent through Miss Bingley's list of Elizabeth's faults, then answers at last. Is his reply more a defence of Elizabeth or a rebuke to Miss Bingley?

The tension Miss Bingley's jab about the militia was meant to make Elizabeth betray her feeling for Wickham; instead it pains Georgiana, and the very hint “designed to turn his thoughts from Elizabeth” seems to fix them on her “more and more cheerfully.”

Today's focus

How a morning visit at Pemberley turns on one barbed question, and on what only some of the people in the room know.

The shape at a glance

Elizabeth, now sure that Miss Bingley dislikes her from jealousy, goes with Mrs. Gardiner to call on Miss Darcy at Pemberley. They are received in a cool saloon by Georgiana, Mrs. Hurst, Miss Bingley and Mrs. Annesley, the lady Georgiana lives with in London. Georgiana’s welcome is so shy that it could pass for pride, but her visitors pity her. Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley give them only a curtsey, and it is Mrs. Annesley who starts the talk. Miss Bingley watches Elizabeth closely and, after a quarter of an hour, asks coldly after her family. Elizabeth cannot tell whether she wishes or fears that Darcy will come in. When fruit is brought and he does come, she begins to regret it, because every eye in the room is on the two of them. Darcy helps his sister and Elizabeth to talk. Miss Bingley, angry, asks with “sneering civility” whether the militia have not left Meryton, a great loss to Elizabeth’s family. She means Wickham without naming him, hoping Elizabeth will show a feeling that will lower her in Darcy’s eyes. Elizabeth answers calmly, but sees Darcy flushed and watching her and Georgiana unable to lift her eyes. The narrator explains that Miss Bingley knows nothing of Georgiana’s planned elopement: the secret was kept from all of Bingley’s family, partly because Darcy hoped Georgiana might one day marry Bingley. Elizabeth’s composure quiets Darcy, and his thoughts seem to settle on her more cheerfully. After the guests leave, Miss Bingley criticizes Elizabeth to Georgiana, who will not join her, and then to Darcy: Elizabeth is brown and coarse, her face, nose, teeth and eyes are poor, and her air has “a self-sufficiency without fashion”. Darcy answers coolly that she is only tanned, then stays silent until Miss Bingley reminds him that he once mocked her looks. He replies that for many months he has thought her one of the handsomest women he knows, and leaves. Driving home, Elizabeth and her aunt talk of everything but Darcy, though Elizabeth longs to know what her aunt thinks of him, and her aunt would gladly hear her niece begin.

A way in

Start with the militia question, from “Pray, Miss Eliza” to “unable to lift up her eyes”: in a few lines one question lands on three people, and only Elizabeth, the Darcys and the reader know why it lands where it does. Before reading, ask students to keep a note, for each person in the saloon, of what that person knows and what that person wants. Afterward, ask who in the room understood the question and who only heard it. Leave Darcy’s last answer to Miss Bingley alone, because the last written question asks whether it is more a defence of Elizabeth or a rebuke to Miss Bingley.

Lesson plan

Retell The student retells the chapter in order: Elizabeth’s curiosity about Miss Bingley’s welcome; the saloon and Georgiana’s shy reception; Mrs. Annesley breaking the silence; Miss Bingley’s watching and her cold inquiry; Elizabeth’s wish and fear, and the fruit; Darcy’s entrance and the room’s suspicion; the militia question and what it does to Elizabeth, Darcy and Georgiana; the narrator’s account of the secret; Darcy’s thoughts fixed on Elizabeth; Miss Bingley’s criticisms, Georgiana’s refusal to join them, and Darcy’s two replies; the ride home, where neither aunt nor niece names Darcy. Then the student picks the sentence that matters most and says what it shows about Austen’s purpose.

Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two short pieces about an invented scene, such as one classmate trying to embarrass another in front of a teacher. First, on the model of the first passage, one long sentence that opens with “Had” where plain speech would use if, turns on “but”, and lists the plotter’s aims in a row of three, hedging the last with “perhaps”; then one short sentence, twelve words or fewer, that tells what the plotter did not know. Second, on the model of the second passage, four sentences in the plotter’s own voice, running the rival down feature by feature: each sentence turning on a semicolon, one aside that lets slip what someone else has said in the rival’s favour, and a last verdict harsher than all the rest.

Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that Darcy’s reply is more a defence of Elizabeth, and gathers his first, cool correction (“no other alteration than her being rather tanned”), his “Yes” that owns his old words, and the praise itself, spoken where she cannot hear it. The other side argues that it is more a rebuke to Miss Bingley, and gathers his “resolutely silent” through the list, the fact that he speaks only when she quotes him, “of my acquaintance”, his walking away, and the narrator’s “no one any pain but herself.” Each side must answer the other’s strongest line, and neither may say that Darcy loves Elizabeth or means to propose, since the chapter shows only a look, a silence and one sentence about her looks.

Purpose Close on how the chapter is built. It holds two attacks, the militia question in company and the list of faults behind Elizabeth’s back, and in each the narrator lets the reader know what Miss Bingley does not know or cannot see. Ask why Austen gives the secret in the middle of the first scene, in the narrator’s own voice, rather than leaving the reader to remember it, and why the chapter ends not on Darcy’s reply but in a carriage where nobody names him. Then ask what the chapter suggests about spite that works without knowledge, and about the people in it who choose to stay silent.

Three levels

Easier Read aloud the militia question, from “Pray, Miss Eliza” to “unable to lift up her eyes.”, and the last scene in the saloon, from “How very ill Eliza Bennet looks” to Darcy’s leaving. Make two lists together: what Miss Bingley meant her question to do, and what it did. Talk about what “discompose” and “well-bred” mean. Talk through the questions on Elizabeth’s fear and on Georgiana, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.

On level Talk through all five 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 what each person in the saloon knows and does not know, tracing Miss Bingley’s two attacks, Georgiana’s confusion, Darcy’s silences and his one reply, Elizabeth’s composure and the ride home where nobody names Darcy. The essay should judge whether Miss Bingley fails more from what she does not know or from what she cannot see, meet the objection that she watches the room more closely than anyone in it, and must not judge by anything that happens later in the book.

Discussion

1. Elizabeth thinks she wants Darcy to come more than she fears it, until he walks in and she begins “to regret that he came.” What is she afraid of, now that he is here?Character

What it asks It asks the student to name the fear that wins in one sentence. Waiting in the saloon, “she wished, she feared, that the master of the house might be amongst them; and whether she wished or feared it most, she could scarcely determine.” Then Darcy enters, and the question is settled “by the feelings which prevailed on his entering the room; and then, though but a moment before she had believed her wishes to predominate, she began to regret that he came.” At once she resolves “to be perfectly easy and unembarrassed;--a resolution the more necessary to be made, but perhaps not the more easily kept, because she saw that the suspicions of the whole party were awakened against them, and that there was scarcely an eye which did not watch his behaviour when he first came into the room.” The card does not name what Elizabeth feels for Darcy; the chapter gives her only wish, fear and regret.

A strong answer A strong response names the fear that turned the wish into regret and points to the page. One reader says it is the fear of being watched: once Darcy enters, “the suspicions of the whole party were awakened against them,” so what Elizabeth regrets is the audience. Another says it is the fear of herself: a wish is easy at a distance, and his presence asks her for a calm the narrator doubts she can keep. The best answers notice that the chapter tests that calm within minutes, when Miss Bingley asks about the militia.

2. The narrator says Miss Bingley “merely intended” to unsettle Elizabeth. How much does that “merely” excuse her?Tone

What it asks It asks the student to weigh one word in the narrator’s account of the militia question: “Had Miss Bingley known what pain she was then giving her beloved friend, she undoubtedly would have refrained from the hint; but she had merely intended to discompose Elizabeth, by bringing forward the idea of a man to whom she believed her partial, to make her betray a sensibility which might injure her in Darcy’s opinion, and, perhaps, to remind the latter of all the follies and absurdities by which some part of her family were connected with that corps.” The “beloved friend” is Georgiana, Darcy’s sister, who cannot lift her eyes. The word “merely” sets the pain Miss Bingley did not mean against what she did mean, and what she meant is a row of three aims, all against Elizabeth. The card does not say that Miss Bingley knew of the elopement: “Not a syllable had ever reached her”.

A strong answer A strong response decides how far the word lets Miss Bingley off, and points to what follows it. One reader takes it as a real excuse: beside the pain to her “beloved friend”, which the narrator is sure she would have spared, a jab at a rival is small, and it was all she meant. Another hears Austen’s dry voice: the aims after “merely” are three attacks on a guest’s good name, made in front of Darcy, and only Miss Bingley could call that small. The best answers notice that the word measures by two scales at once, the harm she would never do to a friend and the harm she means to do to a rival, and ask which scale the narrator wants the reader to use.

3. Georgiana is afraid to meet her brother’s eye, yet his thoughts seem fixed on Elizabeth “more and more cheerfully.” Should we think less of him for that?Moral reasoning

What it asks It asks the student to judge Darcy in the minute after the militia question. “Elizabeth’s collected behaviour, however, soon quieted his emotion; and as Miss Bingley, vexed and disappointed, dared not approach nearer to Wickham, Georgiana also recovered in time, though not enough to be able to speak any more. Her brother, whose eye she feared to meet, scarcely recollected her interest in the affair; and the very circumstance which had been designed to turn his thoughts from Elizabeth, seemed to have fixed them on her more and more cheerfully.” A moment before, his sister sat “overcome with confusion, and unable to lift up her eyes”, hurt by a question that came close to her secret. One sentence holds both of them, the sister who cannot speak and the brother whose thoughts grow cheerful. The narrator says “seemed”, so Darcy’s mind is seen only from outside. The card does not say that Darcy loves Elizabeth.

A strong answer A strong response takes a side on Darcy and grounds it in the one sentence that holds both him and his sister. One reader thinks a little less of him: Georgiana cannot speak or meet his eye, and he “scarcely recollected her interest in the affair” while his thoughts turn to Elizabeth with growing cheer. Another clears him: what cheers him is Elizabeth’s “collected behaviour”, which kept his sister’s secret safe, so his cheer comes from what was done for Georgiana, not from forgetting her. The best answers weigh the narrator’s “seemed”, and notice that Georgiana fears an eye that, as far as the chapter shows, is not turned on her in blame at all.

4. Georgiana, who once planned to elope, now lets her brother’s word settle what she thinks of Elizabeth. What has she learned from that mistake?Character

What it asks It asks the student to read Georgiana’s loyalty in the light of her past. While Darcy sees the guests to their carriage, Miss Bingley criticizes Elizabeth to his sister. “But Georgiana would not join her. Her brother’s recommendation was enough to insure her favour: his judgment could not err; and he had spoken in such terms of Elizabeth, as to leave Georgiana without the power of finding her otherwise than lovely and amiable.” Earlier the narrator has named “Miss Darcy’s meditated elopement”, a secret kept from everyone but Elizabeth, and has described Georgiana as shy from “the fear of doing wrong,” a girl who cannot meet her brother’s eye after the militia question. The card does not name the man; the chapter never does.

A strong answer A strong response decides what Georgiana’s trust shows about her and grounds the answer in the narrator’s wording. One reader sees humility: after a near disaster she leans on a judge who has earned it, and it keeps her out of Miss Bingley’s spite. Another sees dependence: she is left “without the power” of seeing for herself, and “his judgment could not err” is a little sister’s creed. The best answers notice that her refusal is quiet but real, the one small stand anyone in the room takes against Miss Bingley until Darcy speaks.

5. Miss Bingley pushes Darcy until he speaks, but Mrs. Gardiner waits all the way home for Elizabeth to raise the subject. Who comes away knowing more, Miss Bingley or Mrs. Gardiner?Theme

What it asks It asks the student to set two ways of finding out side by side. Miss Bingley, “from a determination of making him speak,” goes on until Darcy answers; then “Miss Bingley was left to all the satisfaction of having forced him to say what gave no one any pain but herself.” In the carriage, aunt and niece “talked of all that had occurred during their visit, as they returned, except what had particularly interested them both. … They talked of his sister, his friends, his house, his fruit, of everything but himself; yet Elizabeth was longing to know what Mrs. Gardiner thought of him, and Mrs. Gardiner would have been highly gratified by her niece’s beginning the subject.” The card does not say what Mrs. Gardiner concludes; the chapter gives only her wish to hear.

A strong answer A strong response decides who learns more and says what kind of knowing counts. One reader says Miss Bingley: she forced a plain answer from the one person who could give it, and now she cannot doubt it. Another says Mrs. Gardiner: Miss Bingley only confirmed what she already believed, while the aunt reads a whole conversation in what her niece will not say. The best answers notice that Elizabeth, the one person both scenes are about, learns least of all: she never hears Darcy’s reply, and her aunt never tells her what she thinks.

Critical thinking

1. Miss Bingley’s last charge against Elizabeth is “a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable.” How fair is it?

What it asks It asks the student to judge Miss Bingley’s reading of Elizabeth, and the reader has more to judge with than she does. Miss Bingley ends her list: “and in her air altogether, there is a self-sufficiency without fashion, which is intolerable.” She had watched Elizabeth “closely” through the visit. What she saw: a “cold inquiry” answered “with equal indifference and brevity,” and the militia question answered “in a tolerably disengaged tone.” What the narrator shows besides: Elizabeth could not tell whether she “wished or feared” Darcy’s coming, “began to regret that he came”, made a resolution to be easy that was “perhaps not the more easily kept,” and felt “a moment’s distress” at the question, which she had to exert herself “vigorously” to repel.

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the charge is fair as a description and false as a verdict: Elizabeth does seem to need nothing from the room, answering a “cold inquiry” “with equal indifference and brevity” and the militia question “in a tolerably disengaged tone”, and that is a strength, not a fault. Key evidence to consider includes Miss Bingley’s close watching, which shows how much she saw and how little she understood. The strongest objection is that the inside view proves the calm was effort, not ease: Elizabeth “wished” and “feared,” “began to regret that he came”, and had to exert herself “vigorously” against “a moment’s distress”. A revised thesis might hold that Miss Bingley rightly sees a woman who will not ask for her approval, but wrongly takes it for a woman who feels nothing, and that this is why her attacks keep missing.

2. Darcy stays silent through Miss Bingley's list of Elizabeth's faults, then answers at last. Is his reply more a defence of Elizabeth or a rebuke to Miss Bingley?

What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. Miss Bingley tells Darcy that Elizabeth is “so brown and coarse”; he answers “coolly” that he sees “no other alteration than her being rather tanned”. She goes on through face, complexion, nose, teeth and eyes, “a sharp, shrewish look,” and “a self-sufficiency without fashion”. The narrator says “angry people are not always wise”, and Darcy is “resolutely silent”. Then, “from a determination of making him speak,” she reminds him that he once said, “_She_ a beauty! I should as soon call her mother a wit.” “‘Yes,’ replied Darcy, who could contain himself no longer, ‘but _that_ was only when I first knew her; for it is many months since I have considered her as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.’ He then went away, and Miss Bingley was left to all the satisfaction of having forced him to say what gave no one any pain but herself.” Elizabeth has already left and never hears it. The card does not say that Darcy loves Elizabeth or means to propose; his one spoken line is about her looks.

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the reply is more a defence of Elizabeth, because Darcy answers the very charge, her looks, and says far more than the charge requires, where Elizabeth cannot hear it to be flattered. Key evidence includes his first, cool correction, “no other alteration than her being rather tanned,” and his “Yes,” which owns his old words before setting them aside. The strongest objection is that he sat “resolutely silent” through the attack on Elizabeth and spoke only when Miss Bingley quoted him, then walked away, and that the narrator weighs the reply only by the pain it gives “herself.” A revised thesis might hold that the reply is a defence in its words and a rebuke in its timing: what he says is about Elizabeth, but when and to whom he says it is aimed at Miss Bingley.

Vocabulary definitions