Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 54

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore to invite him to sit by herself. On entering the room, he seemed to hesitate; but Jane happened to look round, and happened to smile: it was decided. He placed himself by her.

When the tea things were removed, and the card tables placed, the ladies all rose; and Elizabeth was then hoping to be soon joined by him, when all her views were overthrown, by seeing him fall a victim to her mother’s rapacity for whist players, and in a few moments after seated with the rest of the party. She now lost every expectation of pleasure. They were confined for the evening at different tables; and she had nothing to hope, but that his eyes were so often turned towards her side of the room, as to make him play as unsuccessfully as herself.

Read the second passage aloud. What do big words like “victim” and “rapacity” do to a scene about a card game?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences, one from the start of the dinner and one from the end of the evening. Both are about where people end up sitting, and both are told through Elizabeth’s eyes. The first passage runs from long to short. The opening sentence is quietly ironic: “prudent” and “forbore” are words of restraint, given to a mother whose restraint is itself a plan. The second sentence turns on its semicolon: before it, Bingley’s hesitation; after it, Jane’s two small acts in matching phrases, “happened to look round, and happened to smile”. The colon then drops the verdict in three words, “it was decided”, in the passive, so no one is named as deciding. The last sentence is five plain words: a seat the whole table has been watching is settled without fuss. The second passage is a periodic sentence followed by a blunt one and a wry one. The first sentence holds back its blow through four clauses (the tea things, the card tables, the ladies rising, Elizabeth’s hope) and then delivers it: “all her views were overthrown”. The mock-heroic words that follow, “victim” and “rapacity”, belong to battles and beasts of prey, not to a card table. “She now lost every expectation of pleasure” is flat on purpose. The last sentence turns on another semicolon and ends on a joke at Elizabeth’s own expense: she hopes he plays badly, and admits she does too. For mechanics, students practise the semicolon between balanced clauses, the colon before a verdict, and commas around a long run of clauses held before the main verb. For the talk prompt, students may hear the big words as comedy, a narrator smiling at how much a small household habit costs Elizabeth. They may hear them as Elizabeth’s own feeling, since to her the loss is real and the words fit how it feels. Or they may hear both at once, the narrator lending her grand words to show how large a small thing can seem. Leave Jane’s claim about Bingley alone here; the last written question asks it.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from Elizabeth’s walk to Jane’s last protest. Then pick the one moment that matters most, and say what Austen uses it to show.

Bingley seems to hesitate at the door, and then Jane “happened to look round, and happened to smile.” How much of an accident was that smile? Inference
At the tea table a girl whispers, “We want none of them; do we?” We never learn her name. Why does Austen give that line to her? Author's choice
After Darcy walks away, Elizabeth tells herself that no man would ever propose twice to the same woman. Who is she arguing with? Character
After two questions about his sister, Elizabeth “could think of nothing more to say; but if he wished to converse with her, he might have better success.” He stands by her for some minutes in silence. Which of them lets the talk die? Character
Mrs. Bennet sums up the day by the venison, the soup and what Mrs. Long said about Jane. Is she any worse at reading the evening than her daughters are? Inference

Make a Connection Think of a time you could see what a friend felt more clearly than they could. Could they have done the same for you?

Vocabulary

forbore: Her prudent mother, occupied by the same ideas, forbore to invite him to sit by herself. Held back from doing something one could have done (past tense of forbear: for-, away, and bear). Mrs. Bennet, who seldom holds back, “forbore” to ask Bingley to sit by her, which leaves him free to take his old place by Jane. The narrator calls this “prudent”, and the joke is that her restraint is itself a scheme.
ungraciousness: Her mother’s ungraciousness made the sense of what they owed him more painful to Elizabeth’s mind; and she would, at times, have given anything to be privileged to tell him, that his kindness was neither unknown nor unfelt by the whole of the family. A cold, grudging manner; a lack of kindness in how one treats someone (un-, not, and gracious, from Latin gratia, favour or thanks). Gratitude grows from the same root, which sharpens the word here: Mrs. Bennet is ungracious to the one guest to whom, in Elizabeth’s mind, the family owes thanks.
rapacity: When the tea things were removed, and the card tables placed, the ladies all rose; and Elizabeth was then hoping to be soon joined by him, when all her views were overthrown, by seeing him fall a victim to her mother’s rapacity for whist players, and in a few moments after seated with the rest of the party. Grasping greed; a hunger to seize and keep (from Latin rapax, grasping, from rapere, to seize, the root of raptor). The word belongs to wolves and robbers, and Austen spends it on a hostess filling her card tables. It makes Darcy her “victim”, and shows a small household habit taking him from Elizabeth for the rest of the night.

Critical thinking

The words “indifferent” and “indifference” come up five times in this chapter, for Darcy and for Jane. Does anyone in the chapter fit that word?
Elizabeth answers Jane with a rule: “We all love to instruct, though we can teach only what is not worth knowing.” Does this chapter prove her right?
Jane insists she now enjoys Bingley's conversation "without having a wish beyond it." Is she deceiving herself, or protecting herself?