Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 49

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

She was now in an irritation as violent from delight as she had ever been fidgety from alarm and vexation. To know that her daughter would be married was enough. She was disturbed by no fear for her felicity, nor humbled by any remembrance of her misconduct.

Poor Lydia’s situation must, at best, be bad enough; but that it was no worse, she had need to be thankful. She felt it so; and though, in looking forward, neither rational happiness, nor worldly prosperity could be justly expected for her sister, in looking back to what they had feared, only two hours ago, she felt all the advantages of what they had gained.

Read both passages aloud. Most of these sentences are built in two balanced halves. In each passage, what is set against what?

For the educator Two short passages, five sentences in all: the narrator on Mrs. Bennet as the letter is read to her, and the chapter’s last paragraph, Elizabeth alone in her room. Both are built on balance, and the balance is the lesson. The first passage opens with a comparison that runs both ways: she is “in an irritation as violent from delight as she had ever been fidgety from alarm and vexation.” Delight and alarm get the same weight, so the joy reads as the old fidget turned inside out. The short middle sentence, “To know that her daughter would be married was enough,” is the plainest in the chapter, and “enough” carries the narrator’s judgment without raising its voice. The third sentence pairs two absences: “disturbed by no fear for her felicity, nor humbled by any remembrance of her misconduct.” Two participles, two “by” phrases, two things she does not feel, one about the future and one about the past. The second passage repeats that shape for Elizabeth and comes out differently. Its first sentence turns on a semicolon and “but”: Lydia’s situation is “bad enough”, “but that it was no worse, she had need to be thankful.” Its last sentence is periodic: the main clause, “she felt all the advantages of what they had gained,” waits until “in looking forward” and “in looking back” have both been heard. Mrs. Bennet looks neither way; Elizabeth looks both. For the talk prompt, let students name the halves in their own words: delight and alarm, the future and the past, what is bad and what is no worse, what cannot be expected and what has been gained. Leave whether the marriage deserves thanks alone here; the last written question asks it.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from Hill’s question in the shrubbery to Elizabeth alone in her room. Then pick the one sentence that matters most, and say why the chapter needs it.

The letter came half an hour ago, yet Mr. Bennet asks his daughters to read it aloud, “for I hardly know myself what it is about.” Why doesn’t he tell them the news himself? Character
Mr. Gardiner writes that he sees no sign the pair ever meant to marry. At the end of the letter, Jane says, “Wickham is not so undeserving, then, as we have thought him.” What in the letter makes her think better of him? Inference
Mr. Bennet hears the terms and says, “I am only ashamed of his asking so little.” What is he ashamed of? Inference
Jane says the family must try “to forget all that has passed on either side.” Elizabeth answers that nobody “can ever forget.” What is Jane asking the family to do? Moral reasoning
When Jane reminds her mother what the family owes Mr. Gardiner, Mrs. Bennet cries, “it is all very right; who should do it but her own uncle?” Does she have a point? Moral reasoning

Make a Connection Think of a time, in a story or in your own life, when everyone around someone was celebrating and that person could not quite join in. What kept them apart from the others?

Vocabulary

felicity: She was disturbed by no fear for her felicity, nor humbled by any remembrance of her misconduct. Deep and lasting happiness (from Latin felix, happy, the root of felicitations). The narrator says Mrs. Bennet feels “no fear for her felicity”: she is glad Lydia will be married and never asks whether Lydia will be happy. The grand word makes the missing question louder.
vexation: She was now in an irritation as violent from delight as she had ever been fidgety from alarm and vexation. Annoyance and worry that keep a person stirred up (from Latin vexare, to shake or harass; the verb is vex). Mrs. Bennet’s days of “alarm and vexation” over Lydia turn into delight with the same violence. The sentence sets the two side by side, as if her joy were only her vexation turned inside out.
requited: The kindness of my uncle and aunt can never be requited. Paid back or returned in kind (re-, back, and quit, settled; its opposite is unrequited, as in love that is not returned). Elizabeth says her uncle’s kindness “can never be requited”: the family cannot repay it in money or in thanks. The word turns a kindness into a debt that stays open.
endeavour: “We must endeavour to forget all that has passed on either side,” said Jane: “I hope and trust they will yet be happy. To try hard; to make a real effort (from the Old French phrase se mettre en devoir, to make something one’s duty). Jane does not say the family will forget; she says it “must endeavour to forget,” as if forgetting were a task. Elizabeth answers that nobody “can ever forget,” and the word marks how much work Jane’s hope will take.

Critical thinking

Elizabeth leaves her mother, “sick of this folly.” Alone in her room, she finds that she is thankful too. Is her thankfulness better than her mother’s joy, or only quieter?
Elizabeth finds it strange that the family must be thankful Lydia will marry Wickham. Is this marriage something to be thankful for?