Pride and Prejudice Part 4
vol 3, chapter 7 - the end!
Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at the end of P&P! I’ve found myself, as I always do, wanting to rush to the happy ending and then feeling majorly bummed that it’s over. There’s no book-hangover quite like an Austen one, in my humble opinion.
My husband and I finished watching the miniseries this past week. It was his first time, and I am proud to report that he’s officially on the Jane Austen bandwagon!
I also have to share an amazing used bookstore find from this past week. This one may just have to be added to the list of Our Favorite Austen Things.
I’’ll just share a quick quote from the forward by Harold Bloom before jumping into the chapters for this week:
“The art and passion of reading well and deeply is waning, but Austen still inspires people to become fanatical readers. We read Austen because she seems to know us better than we know ourselves, and she seems to know us so intimately for the simple reason that she helped determine who we are both as readers and as human beings.” (Harold Bloom, Foreword, A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen)
This rings so true as we’re wrapping up Pride and Prejudice. Austen’s characters are so consistently three-dimensional that they stick around in your mind (even if you don’t re-read each of her books each year like some crazy person I know).
Chapters 8-13
Summary:
This section picks right back up with the anticipation building for the wedding of Lydia and Wickham. The couple arrives at Longbourn the day of their wedding, brazenly acting as though nothing untoward has occurred. Lydia lets slip to her sisters that Mr. Darcy was in attendance at the wedding. Elizabeth, full of confusion and curiosity, writes to Mrs. Gardiner for an account of the situation and learns that not only was Darcy the one to discover the whereabouts of the couple, but he also took on all of the (very considerable) financial responsibility.
Wickham, in a brief conversation with Elizabeth, sticks to his guns regarding his version of events regarding his relationship to Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth makes it clear that she is onto him, yet strives to maintain civility. The neighborhood (especially Mrs. Bennet) is all abuzz about the return of Mr. Bingley to Netherfield. Bingley, along with Darcy, visit the Bennet’s soon after their arrival. Elizabeth observes careful to discern whether Darcy shows any continued regard for her, but is convinced that she can find none. After another visit several days later, Bingley arrives one morning, and through some maneuvering by Mrs. Bennet, finds himself alone with Jane. Elizabeth comes on the scene and finds them engaged! (And here I must say congratulations first and foremost to Mrs. Bennet, secondly to the happy couple.)
things to note:
I’ll first draw our attention to a quote from chapter eight:
“She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man, who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance.” (vol 3, ch 8)
I LOVE THIS QUOTE. Austen is so brilliant in the unfolding of Lizzy’s feelings towards Darcy. The slow burn from dislike to disdain to embarrassed indifference to gratitude and then finally to affection and desire is such a beautiful, bumpy journey. By this point, after her time in Derbyshire, Lizzy has already begun daydreaming about what it would be like to be Mrs. Darcy, but she now begins to more closely examine her own feelings, while at this time still only acknowledging what she thinks she has lost.
Another quote which gets right at the heart of this story:
“But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue, she could easily conjecture.” (vol 3, ch 8)
Again, loud and clear, the prudence vs. passion theme rears its head. I’m also reminded of Darcy’s first proposal:
“In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed.” (vol 2, ch 11)
Darcy proposes to Elizabeth only on the strength of his passions against his better judgment and intended to make what he viewed at the time to be a very imprudent match. (Now clearly we see that Darcy’s development and growth allows him to see that his judgments at the time were clouded, but at the time he held them firmly). Maybe this (first) quote gives us a hint into what the state of Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage could have been had she accepted his initial proposal?
In chapter ten we have another example of Mrs. Gardiner’s suspicions of Darcy’s love for Elizabeth adding to the drama. Also just have to shout out the way she ends her letter to Lizzy…very relatable…
“But I must write no more. The children have been wanting me this half hour.” (vol 3, ch 10)
I believe I’ll be signing off all my Substack posts like that from now on.
For the sake of time I won’t say much on then remaining chapters of this section, but I would just like to point out that Austen is an absolute master when it comes to making you feel the mood of a scene. Compared with other writers of her time, she is extremely sparse in physical description, yet still has a way of making you feel like you’re there in the room. When Mrs. Bennet is “winking” at Kitty in chapter thirteen and then calls for Elizabeth to leave the room, I swear I literally blush along with Jane and Lizzy for the sheer awkwardness! But hey, kudos to Mrs. Bennet for achieving her ends!
Chapters 14-19
Summary:
Chapter fourteen opens with a surprising visitor to Longbourn: Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She arrives with all the pomp and circumstance, and after a very few cold civilities to Mrs. Bennet, has a private conversation with Lizzy in which she demands to know whether she is engaged to Mr. Darcy. She has been shocked by rumors to that effect and assures Elizabeth that she would never approve of such a match and that by accepting such a proposal Lizzy would be ruining Mr. Darcy’s life. Elizabeth eventually denies their engagement, but refuses to promise Lady Catherine that she would never accept such a proposal, much to the fine lady’s chagrin. The next day, Mr. Bennet receives a letter from Mr. Collins who writes to express his concern that Elizabeth’s expected engagement to Mr. Darcy, as not sanctioned by his illustrious aunt, would be a grave error. Mr Bennet finds laughable the notion that Elizabeth would marry Darcy, and Elizabeth sadly considers that his aunt’s disapproval will truly put an end to any remaining feelings he may have towards her.
Now we may thank Austen for not leaving us long in suspense…several days later Bingley arrives with Mr. Darcy. In the course of the morning walk, Elizabeth thanks Mr. Darcy for what he did in bringing about Lydia’s marriage. He responds by confessing his continued love for her. The two reflect on how they have changed and grown since his first proposal and return to Longbourn engaged! Both Jane and Mr. Bennet are hesitant - hoping that Lizzy wouldn’t marry just for the financial gain of such a match, but Lizzy assures them of her deep love for him. Mrs. Bennet forgets all of her former dislike of the man and is in raptures at having three daughters married. In the final chapter we hear that they all live happily ever after (except Lydia, whose marriage to Wickham is pretty much what could be expected…and Lady Catherine, though she does eventually become reconciled to the couple and the polluted shades of Pemberley).
things to note:
First of all, my former point remains unaltered…Lady Catherine is still the worst.
The sparring match between Lizzy and that distinguished lady is quite entertaining. My favorite is when Lizzy says, (in response to Lady Catherine demanding to know whether there is any foundation for the rumors of Mr. Darcy’s proposing to Elizabeth):
“I do not pretend to possess equal frankness with your ladyship. You may ask questions, which I shall not choose to answer.” (vol 3, ch 14)
This hearkens back to their first meeting when Elizabeth smilingly refuses to directly answer Lady Catherine’s question as to her age, and yields roughly the same angry reaction.
I’ll admit that I have mixed feelings about the second proposal scene. One one hand, there’s a certain fitting-ness about it happening “off-screen”. It builds the drama and leaves us just satisfied. Then again, after walking with Lizzy through the first agonizing proposal and all the tension that follows between the couple, Austen could have indulged us to see juuuuust a little more, right? But I supposed she knew that
“There was too much to be thought, felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.” (vol 3, ch 16)
One point that I love (and that I’ve noticed more this time re-reading) is the role the Gardiners play in the latter half of the novel. We hear about the Gardiners early on simply as the working-class relatives that live in an unfashionable part of town, then we meet them and they’re immediately endeared to us by their good sense (which stands out in clear contrast to Mrs. Bennet) and Mrs. Gardiners’ friendship with Lizzy and Jane. But what Austen does here (which is also seen often in her other novels) is use some less-respectable (or at least less wealthy) characters as a litmus test for other characters. Think of the way Bingley’s sisters laugh about “the Bennet’s relations in Cheapside” and Bingley’s defense:
“If they had uncles enough to fill all Cheapside,” cried Bingley, “it would not make them one jot less agreeable.” (vol 1, ch 8)
Or consider Darcy’s famous line during his first proposal:
“Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections? To congratulate myself on the hope of relations, whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?” (vol 2, ch 11)
It is Darcy’s extremely kind treatment of the Gardiners later on that most clearly reveals how much he has been reformed, and by ending the novel with a comment about the Gardiners and their “most intimate terms” with Pemberley, Austen further echoes this point.
I have not much to say on the ending, other than, true to comedic form, we get the happy-ever-after, loose ends tied up, virtue rewarded, vice suffered (if not regretted), and all is right with the world!
In closing, I’ll borrow the words from one of the essays in the aforementioned A Truth Universally Acknowledged: 33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen:
“The biggest problem with the ending of Pride and Prejudice is that it means this marvelous book is over.”
(Anna Quindlen, Pride and Prejudice and the Mysteries of Life)
In Case You Missed It:
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It is soooo interesting to consider the ‘what if’ of Lizzie saying yes to Darcy’s first proposal, and how that would have affected their relationship. He would have been overcome by passion, she would have said yes only out of ‘prudence.’ And such unequal reasoning for entering into a marriage could hardly have made them happy with one another. Both have a lot of character growth to go through before they can be truly worthy of one another. And there’s such wisdom when it comes to relationships in that-timing matters as much as personality/suitability
Lady Catherine is THE WORST -- one of my favorite things about this novel is that both Darcy and Elizabeth have to come to terms with annoying in-laws (her mother, his aunt). And, I'd rather spend 3 days with the silliest Bennets than 30 minutes with Lady Catherine -- which is kind of fun, in context with the "inferiority of your connections" comment 🙃