Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 47

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

When they were all in the drawing-room, the questions which Elizabeth had already asked were of course repeated by the others, and they soon found that Jane had no intelligence to give. The sanguine hope of good, however, which the benevolence of her heart suggested, had not yet deserted her; she still expected that it would all end well, and that every morning would bring some letter, either from Lydia or her father, to explain their proceedings, and, perhaps, announce the marriage. Mrs. Bennet, to whose apartment they all repaired, after a few minutes’ conversation together, received them exactly as might be expected; with tears and lamentations of regret, invectives against the villainous conduct of Wickham, and complaints of her own sufferings and ill-usage; blaming everybody but the person to whose ill-judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must be principally owing.

Read the passage aloud. How kind is the narrator to Jane, and to her mother?

For the educator One passage of three sentences, where the travellers reach Longbourn and meet first Jane and then Mrs. Bennet. The first sentence is plain and sets the ground: Jane “had no intelligence to give”, where intelligence means news. The second makes Jane’s hope the subject of its own sentence: “The sanguine hope of good” is what “had not yet deserted her”, and the narrator says where it comes from, “the benevolence of her heart”, not from any news. Its second half runs on through “and that” and a string of commas to its quiet close, “and, perhaps, announce the marriage”, where the commas around “perhaps” slow the voice just as the hope reaches furthest. The third sentence opens with a dry clause, “received them exactly as might be expected”, then gives Mrs. Bennet’s reception as a list of three after a semicolon (“tears and lamentations”, “invectives”, “complaints”), and after a second semicolon it saves its judgment for the end. “blaming everybody but the person to whose ill-judging indulgence the errors of her daughter must be principally owing” is the narrator’s plainest verdict in the chapter; it never names the person, and it says “principally”, not wholly. For the talk prompt, let students decide for themselves how kind the narrator is. Some will hear warmth for Jane and none for her mother. Some will hear a smile at Jane too, in “not yet” and “perhaps”. Some will hear restraint even in the verdict, since it never names the person and stops at “principally”. Leave alone whose account of the fault is most just; the last written question asks it.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from the carriage leaving Lambton to Jane’s account of their father’s search. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say what Austen does with it.

In the carriage Elizabeth tells her uncle and aunt about her father’s faults, but not her mother’s. Why does she leave her mother out? Character
Both of Mrs. Bennet’s messages for Lydia are about wedding clothes. What does she think a wedding would put right? Moral reasoning
At dinner Mary whispers a lesson on lost virtue, and the narrator says she went on “to console herself” with such lessons. What comfort does she find in them? Tone
Lydia plans to surprise her family when she writes and signs her name “Lydia Wickham.” How does she imagine they will feel? Inference
When Jane tells of Lady Lucas’s kind visit, Elizabeth says, “Let them triumph over us at a distance, and be satisfied.” What makes her so sure they will triumph? Character

Make a Connection Think of a story, or a time in your own life, when someone did something wrong and the people around them felt more shame than the one who did it. Why might that happen?

Vocabulary

sanguine: The sanguine hope of good, however, which the benevolence of her heart suggested, had not yet deserted her; she still expected that it would all end well, and that every morning would bring some letter, either from Lydia or her father, to explain their proceedings, and, perhaps, announce the marriage. Hopeful and confident that things will turn out well, often more hopeful than the facts allow (from Latin sanguis, blood: a person ruled by the blood was thought cheerful and warm). Jane’s “sanguine hope of good” has nothing to feed on, since she “had no intelligence to give”, and the narrator says it comes from her heart. The word marks her hope as a matter of temper, not of evidence.
benevolence: The sanguine hope of good, however, which the benevolence of her heart suggested, had not yet deserted her; she still expected that it would all end well, and that every morning would bring some letter, either from Lydia or her father, to explain their proceedings, and, perhaps, announce the marriage. Goodwill; a settled wish for good to others (from Latin bene, well, and volens, wishing; compare benefit and malevolence, its opposite). Here the narrator names it as the source of Jane’s hope: “the benevolence of her heart suggested” it. Jane hopes well because she wishes well, and Elizabeth’s question, “Of whom does Jane ever think ill?”, leaves the reader to decide whether that is a virtue or a blindness.
exceptionable: “Well, then,--supposing them to be in London--they may be there, though for the purpose of concealment, for no more exceptionable purpose. Open to objection; that a decent person would take exception to. It is not the same as exceptional, which means unusual. Mr. Gardiner hopes the pair are in London only to hide until they can marry, “for no more exceptionable purpose”: a polite way of not naming the worse purpose everyone fears. The word lets him reason about disgrace without saying the word.
profligate: We both know that he has been profligate in every sense of the word; that he has neither integrity nor honour; that he is as false and deceitful as he is insinuating. Wildly wasteful, or shamelessly immoral, or both (from Latin profligare, to ruin). Elizabeth says Wickham is profligate “in every sense of the word”, so she means both: he wastes money and he has no morals. The chapter bears out the first sense when Jane reports that he is said to have left Meryton “greatly in debt”, and the second is what the family fears.
solicitude: Though her brother and sister were persuaded that there was no real occasion for such a seclusion from the family, they did not attempt to oppose it; for they knew that she had not prudence enough to hold her tongue before the servants, while they waited at table, and judged it better that one only of the household, and the one whom they could most trust, should comprehend all her fears and solicitude on the subject. Anxious care or concern for someone or something (related to solicitous, anxious to help). Mrs. Bennet’s “fears and solicitude” about Lydia are real, but they are kept upstairs, poured out to the housekeeper, because she cannot keep quiet before the servants. The word gives her worry its due even as the family hides it.
condole: she walked here on Wednesday morning to condole with us, and offered her services, or any of her daughters, if they could be of use to us. To express sympathy to someone in grief or trouble (from Latin con-, with, and dolere, to grieve; the noun is condolence). Lady Lucas walks over “to condole with us”, and Elizabeth answers with the noun: “condolence, insufferable.” The same act is kindness in Jane’s report and an exposure in Elizabeth’s.

Critical thinking

Mr. Gardiner and Elizabeth both judge Wickham by his own interest, yet they disagree about whether he means to marry Lydia. Who makes the stronger case?
Nearly everyone in this chapter finds someone to blame for Lydia's flight. Whose account of the fault seems most just to you?