Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 46

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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Copywork

Darcy made no answer. He seemed scarcely to hear her, and was walking up and down the room in earnest meditation; his brow contracted, his air gloomy. Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it. Her power was sinking; everything must sink under such a proof of family weakness, such an assurance of the deepest disgrace. She could neither wonder nor condemn; but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress. It was, on the contrary, exactly calculated to make her understand her own wishes; and never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved him, as now, when all love must be vain.

Read the paragraph aloud, slowly. Where does it stop telling you what Darcy does, and start telling you what Elizabeth thinks?

For the educator One passage of six sentences, the centre of the chapter. It opens with four words, “Darcy made no answer.”, and then gives one long sentence of what he does, closing on two short phrases set side by side with no main verb in either: “his brow contracted, his air gloomy”. The third sentence is short again and turns the paragraph: “Elizabeth soon observed, and instantly understood it.” From there the paragraph is inside her mind. “Her power was sinking” is her thought in the narrator’s voice, the italic “_must_” is her certainty, and the next clauses come in pairs: “such a proof” and “such an assurance”; “neither wonder nor condemn”; “brought nothing consolatory” and “afforded no palliation”. The last sentence turns on “on the contrary” and then turns ordinary word order around, “never had she so honestly felt”, so that the weight falls on its closing words, “when all love must be vain.” For the talk prompt, let students find their own point where the paragraph moves from Darcy to Elizabeth. Some will hear it at “Elizabeth soon observed”, some at “Her power was sinking”, and some will argue that “He seemed” is already her view of him. Leave alone whether she reads him rightly; the last written question asks it.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from the two letters at the inn to the carriage on the road to Longbourn. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say what Austen does with it.

Darcy cries out “with more feeling than politeness” when he finds Elizabeth at the door. With her mind full of Lydia, how much of his alarm does she notice? Character
Before they leave Lambton, notes with “false excuses” go out to all their friends there. So why did Elizabeth tell Darcy the truth? Inference
Right after Elizabeth feels she could have loved Darcy, the narrator says “self, though it would intrude, could not engross her.” Does that sentence clear Elizabeth, or catch her out? Tone
Darcy has just gone when the narrator stops the story to defend Elizabeth’s change of heart. Why put that defence here? Author's choice

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone was sure what another person’s silence meant. What made them so sure?

Vocabulary

impetuous: Her pale face and impetuous manner made him start, and before he could recover himself enough to speak, she, in whose mind every idea was superseded by Lydia’s situation, hastily exclaimed, “I beg your pardon, but I must leave you. Rushing into action or speech on a strong feeling, without stopping to think (from Latin impetus, a rush or attack, the word English also keeps as impetus). Elizabeth’s “impetuous manner” at the door makes Darcy start: she is darting out to find her uncle and tells Darcy she must leave before he can say a word. The word fits her all through the first half of the chapter, from seizing the second letter “with the utmost impatience” to pouring out the news to Darcy.
commiseration: On his quitting the room, she sat down, unable to support herself, and looking so miserably ill, that it was impossible for Darcy to leave her, or to refrain from saying, in a tone of gentleness and commiseration, “Let me call your maid. Sorrow felt with someone in their trouble, and shown to them (com-, with, plus Latin miserari, to pity, from miser, wretched, the root of misery). It is close to pity, but pity can look down on the one it pities, while commiseration shares the misery. Darcy speaks “in a tone of gentleness and commiseration” as Elizabeth sits, too weak to stand. The word names the help he gives before he hears the news, which the reader can set beside the silence that comes after it.
self-conquest: She could neither wonder nor condemn; but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress. Mastering one’s own feelings or wishes by force of will; winning a battle against oneself. Elizabeth’s “belief of his self-conquest” is her belief that Darcy, faced with her family’s disgrace, is overcoming whatever regard he had for her. The word turns his walk up and down the room into a private battle that he is winning. The narrator calls it her “belief”, and whether the belief is right is the last written question.
palliation: She could neither wonder nor condemn; but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her distress. Something that eases a pain or makes a trouble easier to bear without curing it (from Latin pallium, a cloak: it covers the hurt rather than healing it; compare palliative care). Darcy’s supposed self-conquest “afforded no palliation of her distress”. Elizabeth can think him right, “neither wonder nor condemn”, and still find no comfort in it, which is what first shows her what she wanted.

Critical thinking

Jane is thankful their father and mother never heard what was said against Wickham, but Elizabeth calls that silence a “Wretched, wretched mistake!” Which sister is right?
Darcy walks up and down in silence, and Elizabeth decides at once that her hold on him is gone. Is she reading his silence rightly?