Chapter 59 — Teaching Companion

What it asks It asks the student to weigh a joke made at the worst possible moment. Elizabeth has begun badly: “This is a wretched beginning, indeed! My sole dependence was on you; and I am sure nobody else will believe me, if you do not.” Jane has only just been persuaded (“Yet now I must believe you”), and she asks, “Will you tell me how long you have loved him?” Elizabeth answers: “It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began; but I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.” Then: “Another entreaty that she would be serious, however, produced the desired effect; and she soon satisfied Jane by her solemn assurances of attachment.” Earlier she has said, “in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.” The card does not take the joke as a confession that she loves him for his estate: she says it in jest, and Jane is satisfied only by what follows.

One reading

Because she is happy and safe with Jane. Joking is how Elizabeth talks when she is at ease, and Jane is the one person she can laugh with about her own change of heart. The joke is the old Lizzy coming back after a hard start in which Jane would not believe her. Jane hears it the right way: she does not take offence, she simply asks again for seriousness, and gets it. On this reading the joke costs a little time and shows a great deal of trust.

• I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley.
• Another entreaty that she would be serious, however, produced the desired effect

Another reading

Because the true answer is hard to give. She says, “I hardly know when it began,” and the honest account would mean going back over every hard thing she once thought of him, which she has just vowed never to remember. The joke turns the question aside. On this reading it is a shield, and it makes her harder to believe: Jane, who has just said “we talked of it as impossible,” must ask twice before she gets a straight answer.

• It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began
• in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.

Listen for

• Notices that Jane has to ask her to be serious a second time.
• Weighs how Jane receives the joke, not only what it says.
• Connects the joke to “a good memory is unpardonable” or to “so gradually.”
• Does not take the line as proof that she loves him for his estate.

If stuck

• What has Jane just asked her?
• What does Jane do when she hears the answer?
• Why might someone laugh about the thing that matters most to them?

A strong answer A strong response decides what the joke is doing and grounds it in how Jane takes it. One reader hears ease: with the one listener she trusts, Elizabeth can laugh at her own reversal, and Jane, unoffended, simply asks again. Another hears evasion: the real answer runs back through her old dislike, which she has just sworn to forget, so she reaches for a joke and makes herself harder to believe. The best answers notice that the joke is followed at once by “solemn assurances of attachment,” and ask why she needed both.

What it asks It asks the student to split Elizabeth’s two feelings about one speech. At the window Mrs. Bennet cries, “if that disagreeable Mr. Darcy is not coming here again with our dear Bingley!” and decides, “Lizzy, you must walk out with him again, that he may not be in Bingley’s way.” Then: “Elizabeth could hardly help laughing at so convenient a proposal; yet was really vexed that her mother should be always giving him such an epithet.” Upstairs her mother adds, “I am quite sorry, Lizzy, that you should be forced to have that disagreeable man all to yourself; but I hope you will not mind it. It is all for Jane’s sake, you know.” Bingley, who plainly knows, asks for “more lanes hereabouts in which Lizzy may lose her way again to-day.” The night before, Jane said, “I know how much you dislike him”; that evening her father will ask, “Have not you always hated him?”

One reading

Because the plan is a joke on her mother, and the word is not a joke at all. Mrs. Bennet is arranging the very walks she would forbid if she knew, “all for Jane’s sake,” and Elizabeth can enjoy that as Bingley does. But “disagreeable” is the family’s verdict on the man she loves, used twice in one morning, and she will soon have to overturn it aloud. On this reading the vexation is the truer feeling: it shows she already stands with Darcy before anyone at Longbourn but Jane knows it.

• Elizabeth could hardly help laughing at so convenient a proposal; yet was really vexed that her mother should be always giving him such an epithet.
• that you should be forced to have that disagreeable man all to yourself

Another reading

Because the word is partly hers. The family knows her old dislike: Jane says she knows “how much you dislike him,” and her father will ask whether she has not “always hated him.” Her mother’s “disagreeable” may be that dislike handed back to her. She can laugh at the plan because her mother cannot see what it does; she cannot laugh at the word, because she can see too well where some of it came from. On this reading the morning is a small rehearsal for the library.

• I know how much you dislike him.
• Have not you always hated him?

Listen for

• Separates the plan from the word before explaining either feeling.
• Notices that Mrs. Bennet arranges the walks without the least suspicion, “all for Jane’s sake.”
• Asks whose dislike “disagreeable” carries: her mother’s own, or Elizabeth’s handed back.
• Does not simply mock Mrs. Bennet.

If stuck

• Why does Mrs. Bennet want Elizabeth to take Darcy for a walk?
• What word does her mother keep using for him?
• Is it easier to laugh at a mistake when you know something the other person does not?

A strong answer A strong response separates the plan from the word and explains each feeling from the morning scene. One reader hears loyalty: the plan is comic because her mother is helping the match without knowing it, but “disagreeable” is a verdict on the man Elizabeth loves, and she will have to overturn it. Another hears an uneasy conscience: the family knows her old dislike, so the word may be partly her own coming back to her. The best answers notice that her mother uses the word twice in one morning, and that Elizabeth says nothing to correct it.

What it asks It asks the student to look at what Elizabeth fears in her mother before she has said a word. On the walk, “Elizabeth reserved to herself the application for her mother’s. She could not determine how her mother would take it; sometimes doubting whether all his wealth and grandeur would be enough to overcome her abhorrence of the man; but whether she were violently set against the match, or violently delighted with it, it was certain that her manner would be equally ill adapted to do credit to her sense; and she could no more bear that Mr. Darcy should hear the first raptures of her joy, than the first vehemence of her disapprobation.” That morning Mrs. Bennet has twice called him “disagreeable.” When she hears the news at night: “What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have!” and “Ten thousand a year!” and later, “tell me what dish Mr. Darcy is particularly fond of, that I may have it to-morrow.” Elizabeth is “rejoicing that such an effusion was heard only by herself.” The card does not say her mother’s awe of Darcy will last beyond “the morrow.”

One reading

Because her mother’s joy would be about money. Elizabeth already guesses that “wealth and grandeur” will decide it, and the outburst proves her right: pin-money, jewels, carriages, ten thousand a year. Darcy would hear himself priced, and Elizabeth’s love would sound, in her mother’s mouth, like a good bargain. On this reading the joy is worse than anger, because anger at least would not make the match look mercenary.

• What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have!
• rejoicing that such an effusion was heard only by herself

Another reading

Because it is the manner, not the matter. The narrator says either feeling would be “equally ill adapted to do credit to her sense.” Elizabeth is not ashamed of what her mother feels so much as of how loudly she feels it: the fidgeting, the “Lord bless me!”, the question about his favourite dish. On this reading Elizabeth is guarding her mother’s dignity as well as Darcy’s ears, and the next day goes “much better than she expected” because her mother is too awed to speak to him except to offer him some attention.

• it was certain that her manner would be equally ill adapted to do credit to her sense
• tell me what dish Mr. Darcy is particularly fond of, that I may have it to-morrow.

Listen for

• Notices that Elizabeth fears joy and anger alike, before she knows which it will be.
• Uses the outburst as evidence for what she feared.
• Weighs “do credit to her sense” as a worry for her mother, not only for Darcy.
• Does not simply mock Mrs. Bennet, and does not say her awe will last.

If stuck

• What does Mrs. Bennet talk about when she finally hears the news?
• Who does Elizabeth make sure is not in the room?
• Can someone’s happiness for you ever embarrass you?

A strong answer A strong response names what would hurt in the joy and grounds it in the outburst. One reader hears money: her mother’s raptures are all pin-money and carriages, and Darcy would hear his fortune praised where his worth should be. Another hears manner: the narrator says either feeling would fail to “do credit to her sense,” so Elizabeth is protecting her mother as much as him. The best answers notice that Elizabeth is glad the effusion was “heard only by herself,” and that she arranged it so.

What it asks It asks the student to separate two regrets the narrator puts in one breath. Mr. Bennet, “grave and anxious,” asks: “what are you doing? Are you out of your senses to be accepting this man? Have not you always hated him?” Then: “How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, her expressions more moderate! It would have spared her from explanations and professions which it was exceedingly awkward to give; but they were now necessary, and she assured him, with some confusion, of her attachment to Mr. Darcy.” Her father adds, “We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man.” To convince him she must explain “the gradual change which her estimation of him had undergone.” Earlier, Jane: “I know how much you dislike him.”

One reading

Her words. Opinions are private and can change in silence; words are public, and her family remembers them. Jane says she knows “how much you dislike him,” and her father asks, “Have not you always hated him?” She must now make “explanations and professions” to undo what she once said aloud. On this reading, had she spoken moderately, her change of heart would need far less explaining.

• It would have spared her from explanations and professions which it was exceedingly awkward to give
• I know how much you dislike him.

Another reading

Her opinions. A wrong judgment, however quietly put, would still have misled her family. The work she has to do with her father is to explain “the gradual change which her estimation of him had undergone”: she is undoing a judgment, not a tone. Her father’s “We all know him” shows the opinion has become the family’s own. On this reading moderate words would only have spread a mistaken opinion more politely.

• by explaining the gradual change which her estimation of him had undergone
• We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man

Listen for

• Tells “opinions” from “expressions” before choosing between them.
• Notices that Jane and her father both hand her own dislike back to her.
• Weighs what she has to do in the library: explain her change, not just apologize for words.
• Notices what the scene costs her: “exceedingly awkward,” “with some confusion,” and later tears.

If stuck

• What does her father ask her first?
• What does she have to explain to win him round?
• Is it worse to have thought something unfair, or to have said it?

A strong answer A strong response chooses one regret and defends it from the library scene. One reader says the words: her family can only know what she said, and both Jane and her father hand her old dislike back to her. Another says the opinions: what she has to explain is “the gradual change” in her estimation, and moderate words would have carried the same mistake. The best answers notice that the narrator joins the two regrets in one sentence, and ask whether they can be pulled apart at all.

What it asks It asks the student to weigh one word in Elizabeth’s defence of Darcy. “I do, I do like him,” she replied, with tears in her eyes; “I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable. You do not know what he really is; then pray do not pain me by speaking of him in such terms.” Her father has said: “We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man,” and “He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he condescended to ask” (in Austen’s sense, to condescend is for a person of high rank to stoop kindly to someone below, and it is praise). Later she tells him “what Mr. Darcy had voluntarily done for Lydia,” and her father expects that when he offers to repay him, Darcy “will rant and storm about his love for you.” At dinner, “Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth.”

One reading

The pride of a man who does good and wants no credit. What Darcy did for Lydia he did “voluntarily,” and her father guesses he will refuse to be paid back. That is pride of a kind: a sense of what he owes to himself and to the woman he loves. On this reading proper pride is self-respect that acts quietly, and the family has mistaken it for the other kind.

• she then told him what Mr. Darcy had voluntarily done for Lydia
• I shall offer to pay him to-morrow, he will rant and storm about his love for you, and there will be an end of the matter.

Another reading

The pride of reserve. Darcy is silent at the dinner table; he is not a man whose happiness “overflows in mirth.” Even her father feels his height: he would “never dare refuse anything” Darcy asked. Elizabeth does not deny the dignity; she denies only that it looks down on anyone. On this reading the line admits that Darcy is still a proud man, and asks the family to tell one pride from another, which is just what they have not done.

• Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth
• He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he condescended to ask.

Listen for

• Notices the word “improper” and what it leaves standing.
• Gives a concrete picture of the pride Elizabeth would allow, from this chapter.
• Reads “condescended” in Austen’s sense, as gracious, not as an insult.
• Hears the tears in the speech: this is Elizabeth pleading, not laughing.

If stuck

• What word does Elizabeth put in front of “pride”?
• What has Darcy done for Lydia, and does he want thanks for it?
• Can pride ever be a good thing?

A strong answer A strong response names a proper pride and finds it in the chapter. One reader finds it in Lydia’s rescue: a man who acts “voluntarily” and will not be repaid has a pride that is really self-respect. Another finds it in his reserve: Darcy’s silence and dignity remain, and Elizabeth asks only that they not be called contempt. The best answers notice that “improper” quietly concedes something, and that even her father speaks of Darcy as a man above him.

What it asks It asks the student to judge the standard Mr. Bennet sets in the library. “I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband, unless you looked up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery.” Earlier he asked of fine clothes and fine carriages, “But will they make you happy?” and Jane begged, “do anything rather than marry without affection.” Elizabeth answers him, “I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable,” and goes on, “enumerating with energy all his good qualities,” until he says, “If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy.” The card does not say whether his fears will prove right or wrong in the marriage itself.

One reading

Fair. His fear is not of rank or money, which he waves aside (“But will they make you happy?”), but of a woman of “lively talents” bound to a man she cannot respect, which could end only in “discredit and misery.” Elizabeth does not dispute the test; she meets it, listing Darcy’s good qualities until he is convinced. On this reading the test is the right one, and the chapter shows her passing it.

• Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage.
• enumerating with energy all his good qualities

Another reading

Only half fair. Respect, yes; “superior,” no. Elizabeth’s case is not that Darcy is above her but that her father has him wrong: “You do not know what he really is.” She speaks of love and of his true character. And when Mr. Bennet is won, he puts it the other way round: “he deserves you.” On this reading the father’s own verdict corrects his test: what persuades him is that the two are worthy of each other, not that she can look up.

• You do not know what he really is
• If this be the case, he deserves you.

Listen for

• States the test in his words before judging it.
• Notices that he sets wealth aside: “But will they make you happy?”
• Weighs “looked up to him as a superior” against “he deserves you.”
• Does not say whether the marriage will prove his fears right or wrong.

If stuck

• What does Mr. Bennet say she needs to feel for a husband?
• What does Elizabeth say to answer him?
• Is respecting someone the same as looking up to them?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the test is fair: Mr. Bennet waves away fine clothes and carriages and asks only whether she can respect the man, and Elizabeth answers by proving that she can. Key evidence to consider includes “Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage” and her “enumerating with energy all his good qualities.” The strongest objection is that “superior” asks for more than respect, and that his own verdict, “he deserves you,” weighs Darcy against her rather than above her. A revised thesis might hold that the father is right about respect and wrong about rank, and that the chapter lets his last words quietly amend his first.

What it asks It asks the student to weigh the order of Elizabeth’s proof. First she argues for her own feeling: “by repeated assurances that Mr. Darcy was really the object of her choice, by explaining the gradual change which her estimation of him had undergone, relating her absolute certainty that his affection was not the work of a day, but had stood the test of many months’ suspense, and enumerating with energy all his good qualities, she did conquer her father’s incredulity, and reconcile him to the match.” Only then: “To complete the favourable impression, she then told him what Mr. Darcy had voluntarily done for Lydia. He heard her with astonishment.” He answers, “And so, Darcy did everything; made up the match, gave the money, paid the fellow’s debts, and got him his commission! So much the better. It will save me a world of trouble and economy.” Earlier: “Have you any other objection,” said Elizabeth, “than your belief of my indifference?” “None at all.”

One reading

Yes. Deeds prove a character faster than a daughter’s word. Her father thinks Darcy “a proud, unpleasant sort of man,” and the Lydia story answers that at a stroke: Darcy “did everything” for a family he had no need to help. He hears it “with astonishment,” which none of her own assurances caused. On this reading, beginning with Lydia would have spared her the tears and the long, awkward pleading.

• And so, Darcy did everything; made up the match, gave the money, paid the fellow’s debts, and got him his commission!
• He heard her with astonishment.

Another reading

No. Her father’s only objection is “your belief of my indifference”; he has said so himself. The Lydia story proves Darcy good, but it cannot prove that Elizabeth loves him, and told first it might make the match look like gratitude, a debt being repaid. It also turns her father straight to money and jokes. On this reading she had to win the question of her own heart first, and the order she chose was the only one that could work.

• Have you any other objection,” said Elizabeth, “than your belief of my indifference?
• she did conquer her father’s incredulity, and reconcile him to the match.

Listen for

• Notices that the narrator says she had already won him before the Lydia story.
• Uses Mr. Bennet’s “None at all” to name what he actually doubted.
• Weighs whether gratitude could be mistaken for love.
• Notices how the money turns him back toward jokes.

If stuck

• What is Mr. Bennet’s one objection, in his own words?
• What changes in him when he hears about Lydia?
• Does knowing a man did a good deed prove that someone loves him?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that beginning with Lydia would have been stronger, since Darcy’s deeds astonish her father in a way her assurances never do. Key evidence to consider includes “He heard her with astonishment” and “Darcy did everything.” The strongest objection is that Mr. Bennet doubted her feeling, not Darcy’s goodness (“None at all,” he says of any other objection), so the Lydia story could not answer him and might have made her choice look like gratitude. A revised thesis might hold that she had to prove her own heart first, and that the Lydia story could only “complete” an impression her own words had made.

What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. At dinner, “she was aware that no one liked him but Jane; and even feared that with the others it was a _dislike_ which not all his fortune and consequence might do away” (consequence here is social standing). Jane: “No, no, you shall not deceive me: I know it to be impossible,” and “I know how much you dislike him.” Mrs. Bennet that morning: “that disagreeable Mr. Darcy.” Mr. Bennet: “Are you out of your senses to be accepting this man? Have not you always hated him?” and “We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man.” Then: “How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, her expressions more moderate!” She answers in tears: “You do not know what he really is.” At dinner, “Darcy was not of a disposition in which happiness overflows in mirth.” Jane, once persuaded: “I always had a value for him,” and “you have been very sly, very reserved with me.” Mrs. Bennet, though “not in general backward to credit what was for the advantage of her family,” needs “many, many minutes” to comprehend. The card does not say whether Mr. Bennet’s fears will prove right, how long Mrs. Bennet’s awe will last, or when the wedding will be.

One reading

Her own doing. What every listener throws back at her is her own dislike: “I know how much you dislike him,” “Have not you always hated him?” Jane, the one person who “always had a value for him,” doubts the news only because of what Elizabeth has said. Elizabeth’s secrecy adds to it (“very sly, very reserved”), and so does her joking. The narrator gives her the regret, not Darcy: she wishes her opinions “more reasonable, her expressions more moderate.” On this reading the chapter makes her pay for her own words.

• I know how much you dislike him.
• How earnestly did she then wish that her former opinions had been more reasonable, her expressions more moderate!

Another reading

His. The family’s dislike is their own, not only an echo of hers: “no one liked him but Jane,” and Elizabeth fears it is a dislike “not all his fortune and consequence might do away.” Her father’s “We all know him” speaks for everyone, and her mother has her own name for him, “disagreeable.” Even now Darcy gives them little to revise it by: he sits silent at dinner, a man whose happiness does not overflow “in mirth,” and what he did for Lydia the family learns only now. On this reading Elizabeth’s words only echoed what Darcy’s manner had taught the whole house.

• she was aware that no one liked him but Jane
• We all know him to be a proud, unpleasant sort of man

Listen for

• Separates disbelief that she loves him from dislike of the man.
• Notices that Jane, who liked Darcy, doubts the news because of Elizabeth’s words.
• Weighs Mr. Bennet’s “We all know him” and Mrs. Bennet’s “disagreeable” as the family’s own view.
• Does not say whether Mr. Bennet’s fears will prove right, and does not claim she loves Darcy for Pemberley.

If stuck

• What does each listener say when they first hear the news?
• Whose dislike of Darcy do they mention: Elizabeth’s or their own?
• Can people doubt you now because of what you said before?

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the disbelief is Elizabeth’s own doing: Jane, who always valued Darcy, doubts only because “I know how much you dislike him,” and the narrator gives Elizabeth, not Darcy, the wish that her former opinions had been “more reasonable.” Key evidence to consider includes “Have not you always hated him?” and her secrecy with Jane. The strongest objection is that the family disliked Darcy on their own account (“no one liked him but Jane,” “We all know him”) and that his silence and his secret kindness to Lydia gave them nothing new to judge him by. A revised thesis might hold that they disbelieve her love because of her, but doubt the match because of him, and that the chapter makes her answer for both.