Chapter 56 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to read Lady Catherine’s call at Longbourn before the copse explains it. She makes “no other reply to Elizabeth’s salutation than a slight inclination of the head,” sits down “without saying a word,” and then: “You have a very small park here.” Mrs. Bennet answers, “It is nothing in comparison of Rosings, my Lady, I dare say; but, I assure you, it is much larger than Sir William Lucas’s.” Then: “This must be a most inconvenient sitting-room for the evening in summer: the windows are full west.” She declines refreshment “very resolutely, and not very politely,” asks Elizabeth to walk in “a prettyish kind of a little wilderness,” and on the way out opens the doors into the dining-parlour and drawing-room, “pronouncing them, after a short survey, to be decent-looking rooms.” Elizabeth, expecting a letter from Charlotte, is “completely puzzled.” The card does not say who spread the report; Lady Catherine says only that it “reached me two days ago.”

One reading

Evidence for her case. She has come to stop a marriage on grounds of rank, and the house is part of the proof. She measures the park, faults the room and looks over two more “after a short survey,” as if valuing an estate. When she speaks in the copse of “the sphere in which you have been brought up,” she has just looked it over. On this reading the inspection is the first move of the argument, made before Elizabeth knows there is one.

• “You have a very small park here,” returned Lady Catherine
• pronouncing them, after a short survey, to be decent-looking rooms, walked on.

Another reading

Nothing she needs; this is simply how she moves through the world. The remarks fill a silence until she can get Elizabeth alone, which is the only thing she asks for. On this reading the survey is manner, not method: she takes for granted her right to judge another family’s house. Mrs. Bennet grants it at once, defending the park by Sir William Lucas’s, and that eager reply shows Lady Catherine more about the family than any room could.

• there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn.
• it is much larger than Sir William Lucas’s.”

Listen for

• Notices that the remarks on the park and the windows come before any reason for the visit.
• Sets Mrs. Bennet’s anxious reply (Rosings, Sir William Lucas) beside Lady Catherine’s silence.
• Links the survey to “the sphere in which you have been brought up,” or argues that it is only manner.
• Does not say who spread the report.

If stuck

• What does Lady Catherine say about the park and the sitting-room?
• How does Mrs. Bennet answer her?
• What can a visitor learn about a family by looking at its house?

A strong answer A strong response chooses and grounds the choice in the parlour scene. One reader finds the case already under way: the park, the windows and the “decent-looking rooms” are the sphere Lady Catherine will later tell Elizabeth not to leave. Another finds only habit: a great lady judging a small house while she waits to be alone with Elizabeth, and a mother who answers by comparing her park with a neighbour’s. The best answers notice that both readings show the same thing, that Lady Catherine looks at the Bennets as a rank before she looks at them as people.

What it asks It asks the student to weigh two kinds of honesty. Lady Catherine: “My character has ever been celebrated for its sincerity and frankness; and in a cause of such moment as this, I shall certainly not depart from it.” She says she knows the report “must be a scandalous falsehood” yet has “instantly resolved on setting off for this place.” She says, “Mr. Darcy is engaged to _my daughter_,” and then, after she “hesitated for a moment,” “The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind.” Elizabeth: “I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your Ladyship. _You_ may ask questions which _I_ shall not choose to answer.” To “Has he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?” she answers, “Your Ladyship has declared it to be impossible.” She adds, “If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it,” and “you are not entitled to know _mine_.” To the plain question she says, “I am not.” The card does not say what Darcy feels or who spread the report.

One reading

Elizabeth. She keeps a great deal back, but nothing she says is shown to be false: the narrator’s “unaffected astonishment” backs “I never heard that it was,” and when the plain question comes she answers it, “I am not.” Lady Catherine claims frankness and then overstates: Darcy “is engaged” to her daughter, until a pause shrinks it to an engagement “of a peculiar kind.” She calls the report a falsehood she would not dream of believing, yet travels to Longbourn to stop it. On this reading Elizabeth’s guarded answers are honest, and Lady Catherine’s frankness is only loudness.

• I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your Ladyship.
• The engagement between them is of a peculiar kind.

Another reading

Lady Catherine. Whatever her manners, she puts every reason on the table: the cradle plan, the family, the fortune, the connections, Lydia. Elizabeth says plainly that she will not be frank. She turns the question about an offer back on the asker and gives answers built to reveal nothing (“If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it”). On this reading Lady Catherine is rude but open, and Elizabeth is truthful in every word while hiding the whole.

• Your Ladyship has declared it to be impossible.
• If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.

Listen for

• Separates not lying from telling everything.
• Notices Lady Catherine’s pause before “of a peculiar kind.”
• Weighs Elizabeth’s claim that her own concerns are not Lady Catherine’s to know.
• Does not say what Darcy feels or who spread the report.

If stuck

• What does Lady Catherine say about her own character?
• Which of Lady Catherine’s questions does Elizabeth refuse to answer, and how?
• Is keeping something back the same as lying?

A strong answer A strong response takes a side and tests it against both women’s words. One reader credits Elizabeth: she withholds but never deceives, while Lady Catherine claims an engagement she has to shrink after a pause. Another credits Lady Catherine: she hides none of her reasons, while Elizabeth admits she will not be frank and answers so as to reveal nothing. The best answers ask whether honesty means saying nothing false or keeping nothing back, and notice that Elizabeth gives a plain answer only once, to the one question she chooses to answer.

What it asks It asks the student to explain the one point Lady Catherine concedes. She has said that her daughter and nephew are descended “on the maternal side, from the same noble line; and, on the father’s, from respectable, honourable, and ancient, though untitled, families,” and has set against them “a young woman without family, connections, or fortune.” Earlier she called Elizabeth “a young woman of inferior birth.” Then: “If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up.” Elizabeth: “In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.” Lady Catherine: “True. You _are_ a gentleman’s daughter. But what was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.” Then: “Whatever my connections may be,” said Elizabeth, “if your nephew does not object to them, they can be nothing to _you_.” Elizabeth’s “if your nephew does not object” is a condition; the card does not say what Darcy feels about her family.

One reading

Her own words leave her no choice. Lady Catherine ranks families with care, and she has just granted that Darcy’s father’s side holds no title. Elizabeth claims exactly that ground and no more: a gentleman, and a gentleman’s daughter. “So far” keeps the claim inside Lady Catherine’s own scale, so she must say “True,” giving up the point she denied when she spoke of “inferior birth.” On this reading the concession is a point Elizabeth wins by being exact.

• honourable, and ancient, though untitled, families.
• He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal.

Another reading

It costs her nothing. She grants birth only to move to the ground she cares about, and the “But” comes in the same breath: the mother, the uncles and aunts, “their condition.” Elizabeth’s “so far” has told her where the claim stops, and she goes straight there. Elizabeth denies none of it and moves the question from rank to Darcy’s own choice. On this reading “True” is a tactic, and the argument about rank is not over.

• But what was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts?
• Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition.

Listen for

• Notices that Lady Catherine herself has called the fathers’ families “untitled.”
• Hears “so far” as the limit that makes the claim hard to deny, or as the opening Lady Catherine uses.
• Notices the “But” that follows “True” at once, and where it turns: to Elizabeth’s mother.
• Treats rank as a real argument, and does not say what Darcy thinks of Elizabeth’s family.

If stuck

• What does Lady Catherine say about the families on the fathers’ side?
• What does Elizabeth claim, and what does she leave out?
• Why might a person give up one point in an argument?

A strong answer A strong response decides why Lady Catherine says “True” and grounds the choice in the four short speeches around it. One reader finds her held by her own scale: she has just called the fathers’ families “untitled,” so a gentleman’s daughter stands on the same ground, and Elizabeth claims no more than that. Another finds a tactic: the point costs her nothing, and her “But” moves at once to the mother, uncles and aunts. The best answers notice that Lady Catherine’s own boast split the families into mothers and fathers, with the noble line on the mother’s side, and that her “But what was your mother?” goes straight to the side where her family outranks Elizabeth’s.

What it asks It asks the student to read the one charge Elizabeth does not argue. Lady Catherine: “Not so hasty, if you please. I have by no means done. To all the objections I have already urged I have still another to add. I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister’s infamous elopement. I know it all; that the young man’s marrying her was a patched-up business, at the expense of your father and uncle. And is _such_ a girl to be my nephew’s sister? Is _her_ husband, who is the son of his late father’s steward, to be his brother? Heaven and earth!--of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberley to be thus polluted?” Elizabeth: “You can _now_ have nothing further to say,” she resentfully answered. “You have insulted me, in every possible method. I must beg to return to the house.” Just before, she had already asked “to be importuned no further on the subject.” The card does not say who told Lady Catherine the particulars, or who spread the report.

One reading

It admits nothing; it refuses. Elizabeth had met every argument, about the cradle plan, the threats, her birth, with an argument. This charge is not a reason why she should not marry; it is a sneer at her sister and her family, and the only fitting answer to a sneer is to end the talk. She had already asked to be “importuned no further” before Lydia was named, and her stress on “now” marks this as the point past which nothing more can be said. On this reading the short answer is dignity.

• “You can now have nothing further to say,” she resentfully answered.
• I must beg, therefore, to be importuned no further on the subject.

Another reading

It admits that the charge lands. Elizabeth could turn every other charge by logic or a joke, but not this one, because it rests on a fact she cannot deny: Lydia did elope, and the marriage was “patched-up.” She calls the charge an insult rather than denying it, and the narrator says she answers “resentfully.” On this reading the short answer marks the one place in the copse where Lady Catherine’s case about family carries weight that Elizabeth cannot lift.

• I am no stranger to the particulars of your youngest sister’s infamous elopement.
• You have insulted me, in every possible method.

Listen for

• Notices that Elizabeth argues with every charge but this one.
• Asks whether calling something an insult is the same as denying it.
• Hears the stress on “now” and the narrator’s “resentfully.”
• Does not say who told Lady Catherine about Lydia or who spread the report.

If stuck

• What does Lady Catherine say about Lydia’s marriage?
• What does Elizabeth answer, and what does she do?
• Can a charge be true and still be an insult?

A strong answer A strong response decides and grounds the decision in Elizabeth’s reply. One reader hears a refusal: Lady Catherine has moved from argument to sneer, and Elizabeth will not dignify it, having already asked to hear no more. Another hears a hit: this is the one charge built on a fact she cannot deny, Lydia’s elopement, and Elizabeth answers it with hurt, not with a reason. The best answers notice that the two can both be so, and ask why Austen gives Lady Catherine her strongest point at the very moment she is at her rudest.

What it asks It asks the student to state Lady Catherine’s most practical argument at its strongest and then judge it. Lady Catherine: “Because honour, decorum, prudence--nay, interest--forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by everyone connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.” Elizabeth first answers with a joke: “These are heavy misfortunes,” replied Elizabeth. “But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation, that she could, upon the whole, have no cause to repine.” Later Lady Catherine adds, “If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere in which you have been brought up.” At the end Elizabeth says: “And with regard to the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former _were_ excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment’s concern--and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn.” Elizabeth’s words are conditional; the card does not say what Darcy feels, whether he will propose, or what Lady Catherine will do next.

One reading

Strong. Strip away the rudeness and the warning is concrete, and it is in Lady Catherine’s power to carry out: a wife shut out by her husband’s family loses something real. Lady Catherine also names causes the family could point to, a mother and relations she counts against Elizabeth and a sister’s “patched-up” marriage. Elizabeth meets the warning first with a joke, and later says the family’s resentment “would not give me one moment’s concern,” which waves the cost away rather than weighing it. On this reading “interest” is the best argument Lady Catherine has, and whatever Elizabeth decides, she decides against a real cost.

• your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.
• it would not give me one moment’s concern

Another reading

Weak. The argument counts only what Elizabeth would lose and leaves out what she might gain, which is exactly where her joke aims. It also measures her good by Lady Catherine’s standard, being “noticed” by Darcy’s family, and it needs “everyone connected with him” to share Lady Catherine’s view, though the engagement she relies on is only “tacit.” On this reading the threat is real but the reasoning is not: Lady Catherine has mistaken her own scorn for everyone’s, and Elizabeth is right that “the world in general” need not follow her.

• But the wife of Mr. Darcy must have such extraordinary sources of happiness necessarily attached to her situation
• and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn.

Listen for

• States the “interest” argument at its strongest before judging it.
• Separates the force of the threat from the manners it comes with.
• Weighs Elizabeth’s joke as an answer, or as a way around one.
• Does not say what Darcy feels or whether he will propose.

If stuck

• What does Lady Catherine say will happen to Elizabeth if she marries Darcy?
• Which of those things could Lady Catherine actually make happen?
• Can a rude person still make a good argument?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the argument is stronger than its manners: Lady Catherine names a cost she and the family can impose, and Elizabeth answers it with a joke and a shrug rather than a reason. Key evidence to consider includes the threat that Elizabeth’s “name will never even be mentioned.” The strongest objection is that the argument counts only losses, measures Elizabeth’s good by whether Darcy’s family will notice her, and assumes the whole family thinks as Lady Catherine does. A revised thesis might hold that “interest” is a fair forecast of cost but a poor reason, because it leaves out everything the marriage itself might be worth, and that the chapter leaves the reader to weigh a cost Elizabeth refuses to count.

What it asks It asks the student to explain why the truth is “impossible” at home, when nothing Lady Catherine said in the copse could force Elizabeth’s hand. Mrs. Bennet: “She is a very fine-looking woman! and her calling here was prodigiously civil! for she only came, I suppose, to tell us the Collinses were well. She is on her road somewhere, I dare say; and so, passing through Meryton, thought she might as well call on you. I suppose she had nothing particular to say to you, Lizzy?” The narrator: “Elizabeth was forced to give in to a little falsehood here; for to acknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible.” Earlier Mrs. Bennet told the visitor that Jane was “walking with a young man, who, I believe, will soon become a part of the family,” and was “delighted to speak to a Lady Catherine.” In the copse Lady Catherine asked whether the report had been “industriously circulated by yourselves,” asked “what was your mother?” and at the carriage said, “I send no compliments to your mother.” The card does not say who spread the report, that Elizabeth has decided to accept Darcy, or that she expects a proposal.

One reading

What her mother would do with the truth. Lady Catherine asked whether the report had been “industriously circulated by yourselves,” and Mrs. Bennet is the one person at Longbourn who would circulate it: she tells a stranger about Jane’s young man within a minute of meeting her. To tell her the substance would set the report loose at once, the report Elizabeth said she never heard. On this reading the force is her mother’s tongue, and the lie protects Elizabeth.

• walking with a young man, who, I believe, will soon become a part of the family.
• Has it not been industriously circulated by yourselves?

Another reading

What the truth would do to her mother. The substance includes “what was your mother?”, Lydia’s “patched-up business” and “I send no compliments to your mother.” To report the talk would be to repeat its insults to the woman they were aimed at, who has just called the visitor “a very fine-looking woman.” On this reading the force is kindness: the guarding Elizabeth used in the copse, now turned to shield someone else.

• I send no compliments to your mother.
• “She is a very fine-looking woman!

Listen for

• Collects what the “substance” would include: the report, the demand, the insults to the family.
• Notices that Mrs. Bennet has already told the visitor about Jane’s young man.
• Sets “forced” upstairs beside the copse, where threats could not move Elizabeth.
• Does not say who spread the report or that Elizabeth has decided to accept Darcy.

If stuck

• What does Mrs. Bennet think the visit was for?
• What did Lady Catherine say about Elizabeth’s mother?
• What would Mrs. Bennet do if she knew what was said?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that her mother’s tongue forces the lie: Mrs. Bennet would spread news of a possible match with Darcy, as she boasts of Jane’s to the visitor almost at once. Key evidence to consider includes that boast about the young man who “will soon become a part of the family.” The strongest objection is that the truth would hurt Mrs. Bennet more than her daughter, since much of what was said in the copse was aimed at her. A revised thesis might hold that both press at once, and that the chapter ends on a turn: threats could not move Elizabeth in the copse, but her mother’s easy question forces a falsehood.

What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. Lady Catherine: “Tell me, once for all, are you engaged to him?” The narrator: “Though Elizabeth would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Catherine, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment’s deliberation,--” “I am not.” “Lady Catherine seemed pleased.” “And will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?” “I will make no promise of the kind.” Then: “I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. Your Ladyship wants Mr. Darcy to marry your daughter; but would my giving you the wished-for promise make _their_ marriage at all more probable? Supposing him to be attached to me, would _my_ refusing to accept his hand make him wish to bestow it on his cousin?” And: “you have certainly no right to concern yourself in mine.” Asked “You are then resolved to have him?” she answers, “I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to _you_, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me.” The card does not say that Elizabeth has decided to accept Darcy, that she expects a proposal, what Darcy feels, or what Lady Catherine will do next; she says only, “I shall now know how to act.”

One reading

On principle. A promise forced out by threats would grant Lady Catherine the very right she claims, to govern another family’s daughter. Elizabeth gives her reasons aloud: she will not be “intimidated,” the promise would not make Darcy any likelier to marry his cousin, and Lady Catherine has “no right” to concern herself. On this reading the refusal is about who decides, not about Darcy; Elizabeth would refuse the same demand about any man.

• I am not to be intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable.
• you have certainly no right to concern yourself in mine.

Another reading

For her own sake. Even “I am not” costs her “a moment’s deliberation,” and her rule is to act as will “constitute my happiness.” A promise would close a door that rule keeps open. She is exact with each answer: she is not engaged, she will not promise, and she has “said no such thing” about meaning to have him. On this reading she holds back the promise because she will not sign away a question she has not yet answered for herself, and the chapter never tells us what that answer would be.

• after a moment’s deliberation,--
• I have said no such thing. I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness

Listen for

• Notices how exact Elizabeth’s answers are: “I am not,” “I will make no promise of the kind,” “I have said no such thing.”
• Weighs the reasons Elizabeth gives aloud against anything she leaves unsaid.
• Uses the “moment’s deliberation” before her one plain answer.
• Does not read the refusal as proof that she expects a proposal or has decided to accept one.

If stuck

• What two things does Lady Catherine ask, and how does Elizabeth answer each?
• What reasons does Elizabeth give for refusing the promise?
• Why might someone refuse to promise something they have no plan to do?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that Elizabeth refuses on principle: a promise extracted by threat would hand Lady Catherine a right over her that no one has. Key evidence to consider includes her own reasons, that she will not be “intimidated” and that the promise would not make Darcy any likelier to marry his cousin. The strongest objection is that principle alone does not explain the care in her answers: the “moment’s deliberation,” the rule of her own happiness, and the precise “I have said no such thing,” which refuses to settle a question either way. A revised thesis might hold that principle gives Elizabeth a reason she can say aloud, while it also protects a choice she does not name, and that Austen never tells us which reason weighs more.