Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 61

Jane Austen · Mountaineers 10th–12th

Teaching Companion Print Adapt for your student

Copywork

Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley, and talked of Mrs. Darcy, may be guessed. I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though, perhaps, it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly.

Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great. She was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia; and, removed from the influence of Lydia’s example, she became, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid.

Read both passages aloud. Each tells what became of one Bennet after the weddings. Is the narrator kinder to Mrs. Bennet or to Kitty?

For the educator Two passages, six sentences, both the narrator’s. The first opens the chapter; the second comes three paragraphs later. The first passage begins upside down: “Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day,” the adjective first and the subject held back. Its second sentence is periodic: the whole scene of visiting and boasting comes before the plain verb at the end, “may be guessed.” Its third sentence is the second longest in the chapter, after Lady Catherine’s reconciliation. The narrator steps forward as “I” for the only time in the chapter, builds a wish across three adjectives (“sensible, amiable, well-informed”), turns on a semicolon and “though, perhaps,” and lands on a pair set against each other: “occasionally nervous and invariably silly.” Notice also the plain phrase “got rid of” inside the formal first sentence. The second passage is built on comparison: “so superior to what she had generally known,” “not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia.” Its last sentence holds its verb back behind two phrases set off by commas (“removed from the influence of Lydia’s example” and “by proper attention and management”) and ends on three words that each begin with “less.” For mechanics, students practise commas around an interrupting phrase, the semicolon that joins two long clauses, the hyphen in “well-informed,” the abbreviations “Mrs.,” and the possessive “Lydia’s.” For the talk prompt, some students find the narrator kinder to Kitty: “her improvement was great” is praise with no sting in it. Others hear the three “less” words keeping Kitty’s faults in view, and find more warmth in a narrator who at least wishes Mrs. Bennet better. Either way the student is listening for where praise turns. Leave it open. The words “felicity,” “invariably” and “insipid” are taught in the vocabulary. Keep who the “lucky” joke is on for the first discussion question, and Kitty’s “ungovernable” temper for the last written question.

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in a few sentences, from Mrs. Bennet’s pride in her married daughters to the Gardiners.

The narrator says it was “lucky” for Mr. Bennet that his wife stayed “invariably silly.” Who is that joke on? Tone
Wickham soon stops loving Lydia, but her love for him “lasted a little longer.” How sorry are we meant to feel for her? Character
To keep her visits to Pemberley, Miss Bingley “paid off every arrear of civility to Elizabeth.” What, if anything, has changed in her? Inference
Georgiana’s respect for her brother “almost overcame her affection.” What does she gain from hearing Elizabeth tease him? Character
Suppose the book ended one paragraph sooner, before its thanks to the Gardiners for “bringing her into Derbyshire.” What would be lost? Plot structure

Make a Connection Think of another story that ends by telling what became of each person. Which of those endings felt fair to you, and which did not?

Vocabulary

felicity: I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though, perhaps, it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly. Great happiness, especially the settled kind (Latin felicitas, happiness). “Domestic felicity” is happiness at home, in a marriage. The narrator imagines it coming to Mr. Bennet “in so unusual a form” as a sensible wife.
insipid: She was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia; and, removed from the influence of Lydia’s example, she became, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. Dull and lacking flavour or interest (Latin insipidus, tasteless). Said of a person, it means tiresome company with nothing of their own to offer. The narrator says Kitty became “less insipid,” the last of her three improvements.
invariably: I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though, perhaps, it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly. Always, without any exception (in-, not, and vary, change). The narrator pairs it with its opposite: Mrs. Bennet stays “occasionally nervous and invariably silly,” so her nerves come and go and her silliness never does.
heretofore: Miss Bingley was very deeply mortified by Darcy’s marriage; but as she thought it advisable to retain the right of visiting at Pemberley, she dropped all her resentment; was fonder than ever of Georgiana, almost as attentive to Darcy as heretofore, and paid off every arrear of civility to Elizabeth. Until now; before this time (here and tofore, before). A formal word even in Austen’s day. Miss Bingley stays “almost as attentive to Darcy as heretofore,” so her manners after the marriage are measured against her manners before it.

Critical thinking

Lydia asks Elizabeth to get Darcy to find Wickham a place with money enough to live on. Elizabeth had “much rather not.” By the end of that paragraph, has Lydia got what she wanted anyway?
Mr. Bennet keeps Kitty away from Lydia, and Lady Catherine thinks Elizabeth and her relations have brought “pollution” to Pemberley. Is his idea of bad company the same as hers?
Kitty improves once she is kept away from Lydia, but Lydia herself never changes. Does the ending suggest that character is shaped more by company or by nature?