Chapter 61 — Teaching Companion

This chapter's big question

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?

The tension Kitty, "removed from the influence of Lydia's example," becomes "less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid," while Wickham's and Lydia's "characters suffered no revolution" and Mrs. Bennet stays "occasionally nervous and invariably silly."

Today's focus

Notice how briefly the narrator sums up each character, and how many of those short reports carry a sting.

The shape at a glance

The last chapter tells what became of everyone after the two weddings. Mrs. Bennet is happy to have got rid of her two most deserving daughters, and visits Jane and talks of Elizabeth with delighted pride; the narrator wishes the event had made her sensible, but she stays occasionally nervous and invariably silly, which may be lucky for her husband. Mr. Bennet misses Elizabeth and often goes to Pemberley, especially when he is least expected. Jane and Bingley stay at Netherfield only a year, finding her mother and the Meryton relations too near, and buy an estate within thirty miles of Pemberley. Kitty spends most of her time with her two elder sisters and improves greatly: she was not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia, and, away from Lydia’s example, she becomes less irritable, less ignorant and less insipid. Her father never lets her visit Lydia, despite promises of balls and young men. Mary stays at home with her mother, mixes more with the world, still moralizes, and, no longer compared with her sisters’ beauty, seems not to mind. Wickham and Lydia do not change. Lydia writes to Elizabeth asking her to find Wickham a place through Darcy; Elizabeth refuses, but sends them what she can save from her own spending, and she and Jane are often asked to help pay their bills. The Wickhams move from place to place and always spend more than they have; his love soon cools, and hers lasts a little longer. Darcy will never receive Wickham at Pemberley but, for Elizabeth’s sake, helps him in his profession, and the pair stay so long with the Bingleys that even Bingley talks of giving them a hint to go. Miss Bingley, deeply mortified, drops her resentment so that she can keep visiting Pemberley, and pays Elizabeth every civility she owed. Georgiana, now living at Pemberley, loves Elizabeth, and is at first alarmed to hear her tease Darcy, until she learns that a wife may take liberties a brother will not allow a much younger sister. Lady Catherine writes Darcy so abusive a letter that for some time they do not speak; at Elizabeth’s persuasion he seeks a reconciliation, and his aunt, from affection or curiosity, at last comes to Pemberley, in spite of the pollution its woods have suffered from Elizabeth and her uncle and aunt from the city. The book ends with the Gardiners, whom Darcy and Elizabeth truly love, and to whom they are always grateful for bringing her into Derbyshire and so uniting them.

A way in

Begin with Lydia’s letter, from “My dear Lizzy” to “if you had rather not.” Read it aloud in her voice, and ask the student what Lydia wants and how she goes about asking; leave the answer open. Then read the chapter from the start: the family at home, the Wickhams on the move, and Pemberley with its visitors, ending with the Gardiners. Leave whether company or nature shapes these people for the last written question.

Lesson plan

Retell The student retells the chapter in order: Mrs. Bennet’s pride and the narrator’s wish; Mr. Bennet’s surprise visits to Pemberley; Jane and Bingley leaving Netherfield; Kitty’s improvement and her father’s refusal; Mary at home; the Wickhams, Lydia’s letter, Elizabeth’s answer and the money she sends; Darcy’s help to Wickham; Miss Bingley’s new civility; Georgiana’s alarm and what she learns; Lady Catherine’s anger and her visit; the Gardiners. Then the student picks the one ending that is told most briefly and says what that brevity does.

Imitate the author After copying, the student writes two short pieces about an imagined family after a wedding. First, one long sentence in the manner of the opening: it begins “I wish I could say,” lists three good qualities the person did not gain, turns on “though, perhaps,” and ends on a pair of words set against each other, as Austen sets “occasionally” against “invariably.” Second, one sentence in the manner of Kitty’s: it holds back its verb behind two phrases set off by commas, and ends on three words that each begin with “less” or with “more.”

Debate Take sides on the last written question. One side argues that the ending credits company, and gathers “society so superior,” “removed from the influence of Lydia’s example,” “by proper attention and management,” Georgiana’s mind receiving “knowledge which had never before fallen in her way,” and the last sentence’s thanks to the Gardiners. The other side argues for nature, and gathers “not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia,” Mrs. Bennet “invariably silly,” the Wickhams whose “characters suffered no revolution,” and Mary, who “could still moralize.” Each side must answer the other’s strongest line. No side may say that Mrs. Bennet was improved, that Wickham repents or that Darcy has forgiven him, that Lady Catherine has come to approve of Elizabeth, or that the ending states a lesson about marriage.

Purpose The lesson trains the ear for a narrator who judges in a few words. By the end the student should be able to say who in this chapter changes and who does not, and how the narrator lets the reader know: a wish that cannot come true, a debt of civility paid off, a word like “pollution” left in Lady Catherine’s mouth. Close by asking which one-line verdict in the chapter the student would most like to argue with, and why.

Three levels

Easier Read aloud the opening paragraph, the paragraph on Kitty, Lydia’s letter, and the last two paragraphs. Talk about what “felicity,” “invariably,” “insipid” and “heretofore” mean in the chapter. Talk through the questions on the “lucky” joke and on Georgiana, then answer the last written question aloud before writing it.

On level Talk through all five discussion questions in order, then write all three written questions as a thesis, the strongest objection and a revised thesis, each with lines from the chapter.

Harder Ask for one argued essay on the narrator’s irony in this chapter: how phrases such as “I wish I could say,” “got rid of,” “thought it advisable,” “paid off every arrear of civility” and “that pollution” sort the characters into those who change and those who do not. The student meets the strongest objection. The essay must not draw a moral about marriage that the ending never states, and must not say that Mrs. Bennet, Wickham or Lady Catherine has changed more than the chapter shows.

Discussion

1. The narrator says it was “lucky” for Mr. Bennet that his wife stayed “invariably silly.” Who is that joke on?Tone

What it asks It asks the student to hear whom the joke in the opening paragraph lands on. The narrator says: “I wish I could say, for the sake of her family,” that her daughters’ marriages had made 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.” The next paragraph turns to him: “Mr. Bennet missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do. He delighted in going to Pemberley, especially when he was least expected.” The card does not say that Mrs. Bennet was improved by her daughters’ marriages; the narrator says only “I wish I could say” so.

A strong answer A strong response decides whom the joke lands on and grounds it in the opening sentences. One reader hears the joke land on Mr. Bennet: a happy home would be so strange to him that he might not enjoy it, and he would rather turn up at Pemberley unexpected. Another hears it land on Mrs. Bennet: the “luck” is a mock comfort, a way of saying that even her greatest wish changed nothing. The best answers notice that the narrator speaks as “I” only here in the chapter, and ask why the chapter’s first verdict is given as a wish that cannot come true.

2. Wickham soon stops loving Lydia, but her love for him “lasted a little longer.” How sorry are we meant to feel for her?Character

What it asks It asks the student to weigh the one line in which Lydia comes off better than her husband. “As for Wickham and Lydia, their characters suffered no revolution from the marriage of her sisters.” Her letter to Elizabeth opens: “If you love Mr. Darcy half so well as I do my dear Wickham, you must be very happy. It is a great comfort to have you so rich.” Later: “They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought. His affection for her soon sunk into indifference: hers lasted a little longer; and, in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to reputation which her marriage had given her.” She visits Pemberley “when her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath.” The card does not say that Wickham repents or that Darcy has forgiven him.

A strong answer A strong response sets a measure on the pity and grounds it in the Wickhams’ paragraph. One reader feels for Lydia: hers is the love that lasts, and she ends up visiting Pemberley alone. Another hears little to pity: “a little longer” is a small gift, and the letter that calls him “my dear Wickham” turns at once to money. The best answers notice that the narrator could have left this line out, and ask what the chapter gains by giving Lydia one point in her favour.

3. To keep her visits to Pemberley, Miss Bingley “paid off every arrear of civility to Elizabeth.” What, if anything, has changed in her?Inference

What it asks It asks the student to judge a change made for a reason the narrator states. The whole paragraph is one sentence: “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.”

A strong answer A strong response says what has changed in Miss Bingley, or argues that nothing has, and grounds it in her one-sentence paragraph. One reader finds only new manners: the reason is advantage, and she is still attentive to Darcy. Another finds a real change of conduct, if not of heart: she drops her resentment and pays the whole debt of civility. The best answers notice that the narrator gives her motive in plain words, and ask whether the money language makes her politeness look honest or cheap.

4. Georgiana’s respect for her brother “almost overcame her affection.” What does she gain from hearing Elizabeth tease him?Character

What it asks It asks the student to look at Pemberley through Georgiana’s eyes. “Georgiana had the highest opinion in the world of Elizabeth; though at first she often listened with an astonishment bordering on alarm at her lively, sportive manner of talking to her brother. He, who had always inspired in herself a respect which almost overcame her affection, she now saw the object of open pleasantry. Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen in her way. By Elizabeth’s instructions she began to comprehend that a woman may take liberties with her husband, which a brother will not always allow in a sister more than ten years younger than himself.” Just before: the sisters “were able to love each other, even as well as they intended.” The paragraph does not say how Darcy takes the teasing.

A strong answer A strong response names what Georgiana gains and grounds it in her paragraph. One reader says she gains a brother she can love more easily, now that she has seen him teased. Another says she gains only knowledge: the last sentence keeps the liberties for a wife, and a sister more than ten years younger may not take them. The best answers notice that the marriage is shown here only through a third person’s surprise, and ask what Georgiana’s alarm tells the reader about the household before Elizabeth came.

5. Suppose the book ended one paragraph sooner, before its thanks to the Gardiners for “bringing her into Derbyshire.” What would be lost?Plot structure

What it asks It asks the student to weigh the last paragraph against the one before it. Lady Catherine sends Darcy “language so very abusive, especially of Elizabeth, that for some time all intercourse was at an end.” Then: “at length, by Elizabeth’s persuasion, he was prevailed on to overlook the offence, and seek a reconciliation; and, after a little further resistance on the part of his aunt, her resentment gave way, either to her affection for him, or her curiosity to see how his wife conducted herself; and she condescended to wait on them at Pemberley, in spite of that pollution which its woods had received, not merely from the presence of such a mistress, but the visits of her uncle and aunt from the city.” The book ends: “With the Gardiners they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.” In Austen’s sense, “condescended” means a person of high rank stooping graciously, as Lady Catherine thinks she does. The card does not say that Lady Catherine has come to approve of Elizabeth, and it does not name a moral the ending never states.

A strong answer A strong response names what the final paragraph adds and grounds it in the two paragraphs side by side. One reader hears a reply to Lady Catherine: her talk of “pollution” and relations “from the city” is answered by the couple’s love for exactly those relations. Another hears thanks: the marriage is credited to the people who brought Elizabeth into Derbyshire. The best answers notice that Lady Catherine’s visit comes from “either” affection “or” curiosity, and ask why the book gives its last sentence to the Gardiners rather than to her.

Critical thinking

1. 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?

What it asks It asks the student to set Lydia’s request beside what she gets. Lydia writes: “I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much; and I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place would do of about three or four hundred a year; but, however, do not speak to Mr. Darcy about it, if you had rather not.” Then: “As it happened that Elizabeth had much rather not, she endeavoured in her answer to put an end to every entreaty and expectation of the kind. Such relief, however, as it was in her power to afford, by the practice of what might be called economy in her own private expenses, she frequently sent them.” Whenever the Wickhams move, “either Jane or herself were sure of being applied to for some little assistance towards discharging their bills.” They are “always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought.” And: “Though Darcy could never receive _him_ at Pemberley, yet, for Elizabeth’s sake, he assisted him further in his profession.” The card does not say that Wickham repents or that Darcy has forgiven him.

A strong answer A strong response might argue that Lydia gets most of what she wanted anyway, because Elizabeth “frequently sent them” money, the sisters are “applied to” at every move, and Darcy helps Wickham “for Elizabeth’s sake.” Key evidence to consider includes “Such relief, however, as it was in her power to afford” and “he assisted him further in his profession.” The strongest objection is that Lydia asked for a place worth “three or four hundred a year,” and Elizabeth ended “every entreaty and expectation of the kind”: what comes instead is small relief, and the Wickhams still move “in quest of a cheap situation.” A revised thesis might hold that Elizabeth refuses Lydia’s plan but never Lydia, and that help which always arrives gives Lydia no reason to change.

2. 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?

What it asks It asks the student to set two ideas of bad company side by side. Of Kitty: “In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great.” Then: “From the further disadvantage of Lydia’s society she was of course carefully kept; and though Mrs. Wickham frequently invited her to come and stay with her, with the promise of balls and young men, her father would never consent to her going.” Of Lady Catherine: she visits Pemberley “in spite of that pollution which its woods had received, not merely from the presence of such a mistress, but the visits of her uncle and aunt from the city.” The next sentence: “With the Gardiners they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them.” The card does not say that Lady Catherine has come to approve of Elizabeth.

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the two ideas are the same kind, because both rest on the belief that company shapes a person, and the narrator’s “society so superior” uses the language of rank to praise Kitty’s new company. Key evidence to consider includes “removed from the influence of Lydia’s example” and “that pollution which its woods had received.” The strongest objection is that Mr. Bennet minds what Lydia does, “balls and young men,” while Lady Catherine minds where the Gardiners come from, and the book ends by loving exactly the people she scorned. A revised thesis might hold that the chapter agrees with Lady Catherine that company matters and disagrees with her about which company harms.

3. 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?

What it asks It asks the whole question of the chapter. Of Kitty: “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.” Of the Wickhams: “their characters suffered no revolution from the marriage of her sisters.” Of Mrs. Bennet: the narrator wishes the marriages had made her “a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman,” but “she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly.” Of Georgiana, at Pemberley: “Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen in her way.” Of Mary: she “could still moralize over every morning visit.” The book ends by crediting the Gardiners, who, “by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.” The card does not say that Mrs. Bennet was improved, that Wickham repents, or that the ending states a lesson about marriage.

A strong answer A strong response might argue that the ending credits company, because Kitty’s improvement is told as the work of “society so superior” and of being “removed from the influence of Lydia’s example,” and because the book closes by thanking the Gardiners for bringing Elizabeth into Derbyshire. Key evidence to consider includes “less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid” and “Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen in her way.” The strongest objection is that the same paragraph puts Kitty’s temper first, “not of so ungovernable a temper as Lydia,” and that Mrs. Bennet, Lydia and Wickham all live through great changes of circumstance and stay as they were. A revised thesis might hold that the ending gives nature the first word and company the second: good company improves only those whose temper allows it, and the narrator’s quick, ironic reports keep track of who those people are.

Vocabulary definitions