Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 6

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.

But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she had hardly a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.

Read both passages aloud. Charlotte says that knowing a person well does not make a marriage any happier; Darcy looks more closely at Elizabeth and changes his mind. Which passage seems to you truer to life?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences, set side by side: Charlotte’s theory of marriage, which closes her debate with Elizabeth, and the narrator’s account of Darcy’s change of mind, which follows it. Charlotte’s first sentence is a flat maxim in nine words: “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” Her second is built on a pair, “ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand”, and lands on the formal noun “felicity”. Her third runs through a semicolon from a prediction (“grow sufficiently unlike afterwards”) to advice, and ends on the plain “pass your life”. Darcy’s passage opens with a periodic sentence that holds a verdict and its undoing together, joined by “no sooner” and “than”: “hardly a good feature in her face” becomes, before the full stop, “the beautiful expression of her dark eyes”. The second is short and names his feeling about his own feelings: “equally mortifying”. The third has two concessions in a row, “Though he had detected” against “he was forced to acknowledge”, and “in spite of his asserting” against “he was caught”; each sets what he says against what happens to him, and both main verbs are passive. For mechanics, notice the comma before “or ever so similar beforehand”, the semicolons that divide the long sentences, and the paired construction “no sooner ... than”. For the talk prompt, listen for a student who sides with Charlotte because Darcy’s closer look has brought him only discoveries “equally mortifying”, one who sides with the Darcy passage because looking again has overturned a confident verdict, and one who notices that Charlotte speaks of married people while Darcy has hardly spoken to Elizabeth.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from the visits between Longbourn and Netherfield to Miss Bingley’s teasing at the end.

Elizabeth sees that Jane is “in a way to be very much in love”, yet she tells Charlotte that Jane “cannot even be certain” how much she cares. Which does Elizabeth really believe? Inference
Elizabeth laughs at Charlotte’s view of marriage and tells her, “you would never act in this way yourself.” What makes Elizabeth so sure? Character
One by one, Darcy finds more to admire in Elizabeth, and the narrator calls these discoveries “mortifying”. Why would they hurt his pride? Character
Elizabeth tells Charlotte that unless she is “impertinent” first, she “shall soon grow afraid of him.” What is she afraid of? Inference
At the instrument, the narrator tells us Mary has worked so hard because she is “the only plain one in the family”. Is the narrator fair to her? Author's choice
When Darcy tells Sir William that “every savage can dance”, Sir William just smiles and goes on talking. Does he miss the insult, or choose not to take it? Tone
The chapter ends on Darcy’s “composure”, which convinces Miss Bingley “that all was safe”. How far should she trust it? Inference

Make a Connection Think of someone you know, or someone in a story, whose calm made them hard to read. What did it take to learn what they really felt?

Vocabulary

discomposure: And, taking her hand, he would have given it to Mr. Darcy, who, though extremely surprised, was not unwilling to receive it, when she instantly drew back, and said with some discomposure to Sir William,-- A loss of calm; being flustered or put out (dis-, undoing, plus composure, a settled and collected manner). When Sir William tries to hand her to Darcy, Elizabeth draws back “with some discomposure”. The word undoes the one the chapter opened on: Jane’s “composure of temper” is praised as a guard, and here, for one moment, Elizabeth’s own guard slips.
felicity: If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. Happiness, especially a settled and lasting kind (from a Latin word for happy, as in felicitations). Charlotte says that knowing each other well “does not advance their felicity in the least.” The formal word gives her claim the sound of a rule of conduct, and she sets it beside a blunt one: happiness in marriage is “entirely a matter of chance.”
vexation: They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life. Annoyance or irritation, usually from small, repeated troubles (from vex, to bother). Charlotte says married people “always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation”. The word is mild on purpose: she expects not misery but a steady supply of small irritations, and that expectation is the ground of her case against studying a character for “a twelvemonth”.
complaisance: He is, indeed: but considering the inducement, my dear Miss Eliza, we cannot wonder at his complaisance; for who would object to such a partner? A wish to please others by going along with what they want (from a French word for pleasing). Sir William credits Darcy with it: “we cannot wonder at his complaisance”. He uses it of the man who told him, minutes before, that “every savage can dance”, so the word shows Sir William’s hopeful reading of Darcy more than Darcy himself. Do not confuse it with complacency, a few lines later: Darcy is “thinking of her with some complacency”, that is, with quiet pleasure.
propriety: Mr. Darcy, with grave propriety, requested to be allowed the honour of her hand, but in vain. Correct behaviour; doing what good manners require (from a Latin word for one’s own, as in proper and property). Darcy asks for Elizabeth’s hand “with grave propriety”. The phrase describes the outside of his request, correct and serious; the narrator has just told us what it covers, that he was “not unwilling to receive” her hand.

Critical thinking

Charlotte says few of us have “heart enough to be really in love without encouragement”, yet Darcy’s interest grows while Elizabeth teases him and turns him down. Does Darcy prove Charlotte wrong?
Charlotte warns that Jane hides her feelings too well to win Bingley. Is Jane's calm manner a protection for her, or a risk?