Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 48

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

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Copywork

The whole party were in hopes of a letter from Mr. Bennet the next morning, but the post came in without bringing a single line from him. His family knew him to be, on all common occasions, a most negligent and dilatory correspondent; but at such a time they had hoped for exertion.

Their other aunt also visited them frequently, and always, as she said, with the design of cheering and heartening them up--though, as she never came without reporting some fresh instance of Wickham’s extravagance or irregularity, she seldom went away without leaving them more dispirited than she found them.

Read both passages aloud and listen for the turn in each, at “but” and at “though”. What does each turn take away from the family?

For the educator Two short passages from the opening of the chapter, three sentences in all, each built on a turn. The first passage opens on hope and closes on nothing: the family “were in hopes of a letter”, “but the post came in without bringing a single line from him.” Its second sentence balances two times against each other across a semicolon. Mr. Bennet, “on all common occasions,” is “a most negligent and dilatory correspondent”, a pair of near-synonyms that make the habit sound settled; “but at such a time they had hoped for exertion.” The habit gets the long, heavy half of the sentence, and the hope gets the short half. The second passage is one long sentence about aunt Philips. Its first half gives her stated aim, set off by “as she said”, with a doubled verb, “cheering and heartening them up”. Then the dash and “though” turn it, and a double negative does the work: “as she never came without reporting some fresh instance” leads to “she seldom went away without leaving them more dispirited than she found them.” Never and seldom, without and without: the sentence repeats its own shape, as her visits do. In both passages the narrator sets what a person usually does, or says she means, against what the moment needed. For the talk prompt, let students say in their own words what each turn takes away: the hope of news in the first, the comfort of a visit in the second. Some will hear the narrator’s dry humour in “as she said”; some will hear only the family’s disappointment. Leave Mr. Bennet’s regret alone here; the last written question asks it.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from the empty morning post to Kitty in tears at tea. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why the chapter needs it.

Three months ago, Meryton thought Wickham was “almost an angel of light.” Why does everyone now say they had “always distrusted” him? Theme
Mr. Collins offers a thought “for the consolation of yourself and Mrs. Bennet”: perhaps Lydia was simply born bad. What kind of comfort is that? Moral reasoning
Mrs. Bennet wanted her husband home, safe from a duel, but when she hears he is coming, she asks who is “to fight Wickham” if he leaves London. How can she want both? Character
Elizabeth is sure that if she had never known Darcy, she could face the fear of Lydia’s disgrace “somewhat better.” Why does knowing him make it worse? Inference
Elizabeth’s advice last May proved right, yet she is the one who tells her father, “You must not be too severe upon yourself.” What does she want from him? Character

Make a Connection Think of a time, in a story or in your own life, when bad news came by letter or message rather than face to face. What changes when you cannot see the person who sends it?

Vocabulary

dilatory: His family knew him to be, on all common occasions, a most negligent and dilatory correspondent; but at such a time they had hoped for exertion. Slow to act; given to putting things off (from Latin differre, to put off or delay). Mr. Bennet is known as “a most negligent and dilatory correspondent”, a man who never hurries to write. The word names a settled habit, and the sentence tests it at once: “at such a time they had hoped for exertion”, and the post brings nothing.
dispirited: Their other aunt also visited them frequently, and always, as she said, with the design of cheering and heartening them up--though, as she never came without reporting some fresh instance of Wickham’s extravagance or irregularity, she seldom went away without leaving them more dispirited than she found them. Low in spirits; discouraged (dis-, taking away, and spirit). Aunt Philips comes “with the design of cheering” her nieces and leaves them more dispirited than before, because she cannot keep back the latest story about Wickham. The word sets her stated aim against what her visits actually do.
gamester: “A gamester!” she cried. A person who gambles as a habit, at cards or dice, for money (from game). Wickham has left “gaming debts behind him to a very considerable amount”, and his “debts of honour”, gambling debts a gentleman was bound to pay, are the heaviest of all. To Jane the word names a vice she never suspected: “This is wholly unexpected; I had not an idea of it.”
voluntarily: His name had never been voluntarily mentioned before them by her niece; and the kind of half-expectation which Mrs. Gardiner had formed, of their being followed by a letter from him, had ended in nothing. Of one’s own free will, without being asked or made to (from Latin voluntas, will). Elizabeth has never named Darcy “voluntarily” before her aunt: she speaks of him only when she must. Her silence is a choice, and it is that choice that leaves Mrs. Gardiner in “perplexity”.
tolerably: The present unhappy state of the family rendered any other excuse for the lowness of her spirits unnecessary; nothing, therefore, could be fairly conjectured from that,--though Elizabeth, who was by this time tolerably well acquainted with her own feelings, was perfectly aware that, had she known nothing of Darcy, she could have borne the dread of Lydia’s infamy somewhat better. Fairly; reasonably (from tolerable, able to be borne). In Austen “tolerably well acquainted” means fairly well, not barely: by now Elizabeth knows her own feelings clearly. The word is an understatement, and it fits a sentence that measures her feeling just as carefully, “somewhat better”.

Critical thinking

Mr. Gardiner thinks the hotel search will fail, yet he is the one who stays in London when Mr. Bennet goes home. Which man does more for Lydia?
Mr. Bennet says the fault is his own, then jokes that he may wait till Kitty runs away. Is his regret real?