PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Volume Two VOLUME TWO Revises

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Volume Two

VOLUME TWO • Revises the first impressions of Volume 1 • About external journeys – Jane and Lizzy travel away from Longbourn • Beginning of Elizabeth’s transformation • Turning point: Darcy’s proposal • Elizabeth begins to realise her prejudice… • Chapters 1 -3: changing impressions • Chapters 4 -14: Lizzy visits the Collinses and meets Lady Catherine • Chapters 15 -19: Jane and Lizzy return home

REVISING IMPRESSIONS (CHAP. 24 -26) • JANE AND BINGLEY: • Jane realises that Bingley won’t return - “He may live in my memory as the most amiable man of my acquaintance, but that is all…” (Chap. 24, p. 132) • Jane still thinks Caroline meant to warn her. ‘Let me take it in the best light…’ (p. 135) • Lizzy becomes more cynical: “The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters…” (p. 133) • WICKHAM: • Impressions of Wickham remain strongly positive. He spreads his story about Darcy throughout Hertfordshire. • Jane ‘was the only creature who could suppose there might be any extenuating circumstances in the case, unknown to the society of Hertfordshire’ • By all others, ‘Mr Darcy was condemned as the worst of men. ’ (p. 136)

• NEW IMPRESSIONS: MR AND MRS GARDINER ARRIVE (Chapter 25) • The Gardiners come for Christmas: • Mr Gardiner ‘was a sensible man, greatly superior to his sister as well by nature as education. ’ • Mrs Gardiner ‘was an amiable, intelligent, elegant woman, and a great favourite with all her Longbourn nieces. ’ (p. 137) • Lizzy tells her aunt the sad story about Jane and Bingley. Mrs Gardiner invites Jane to go back with them to London for some distraction. • Later Mrs Gardiner meets Wickham and feels that she should warn Lizzy about being so encouraging (Wickham is not the best match in terms of wealth): ‘Without supposing them, from what she saw, to be very seriously in love, their preference of each other was plain enough to make her a little uneasy…’ (p. 140) • Mrs Gardiner had spent some time in Derbyshire before and therefore knew Darcy and Wickham. She hears Wickham’s stories about Darcy and thinks she remembers that Darcy was a ‘very proud, ill-natured boy. ’ (p. 141)

• LIZZY AND WICKHAM: • Lizzy’s aunt talks to her about Wickham – Lizzy says she is not in love with Wickham, but he is ‘the most agreeable man’ she knows. (Chapter 26, p. 142) • LIZZY AND CHARLOTTE: • Charlotte and Collins get married and leave for Hunsford. Lizzy and Charlotte stay in touch, but Lizzy doesn’t feel as close to her anymore. • ‘Elizabeth could never address her without feeling that all the comfort of intimacy was over, and, though determined not too slacken as a correspondent, it was for the sake of what had been, rather than what was. ’ (p. 144) • JANE AND CAROLINE: • Lizzy receives some letters from Jane (from London): • Jane has not seen Bingley yet, even though she’s been in London for 4 weeks. • Jane realises that she has been deceived in Caroline’s regard for her (Caroline was very cold when she visited Jane), and decides she should forget about Bingley (p. 145 -146)

• Wickham’s attentions have shifted from Lizzy to Miss King (we learn in Chap. 27 that Miss King has just inherited a fortune from her grandfather) (p. 151): • ‘…his attentions were over, he was the admirer of some one else. Elizabeth was watchful enough to see it all, but she could see it and write of it without material pain. Her heart had been but slightly touched, and her vanity was satisfied with believing that she would have been his only choice had fortune permitted it. ’ (p. 147) • What important insight into Mr. Wickham’s character can be inferred based upon his shift in affections from Elizabeth to Miss King?

EXTERNAL JOURNEYS

EXTERNAL JOURNEYS: CHAPTERS 27 -37 1. Jane is in London with the Gardiners. 2. Elizabeth’s journey in March, with Sir Lucas and Maria Lucas: LONGBOURN LONDON HUNSFORD PASRONAGE (KENT) • ‘Absence had increased her desire of seeing Charlotte again, and weakened her disgust of Mr Collins. ’ (p. 149) • Lizzy says goodbye to Wickham – ‘The farewell…was perfectly friendly; on his side even more. ’ (p. 149) • ‘she parted from him convinced…he must always be the model of amiable and pleasing’ (p. 150) * BUT this is the last time they will meet on equal terms… • In London, Lizzy catches up with Jane and her aunt. 3. Lizzy is invited to join her aunt and uncle Gardiner in touring the Lakes in the summer (p. 152)

LIZZY’S STAY AT HUNSFORD, KENT • EVENTS LEADING UP TO DARCY’S PROPOSAL… • Lizzy finds her cousin just the same – ‘she instantly saw that her cousin’s manners were not altered by his marriage…’ (28. 153) • They are invited to dine at Rosings Park, much to Collins’ excitement (29. 156) • ‘Lady Catherine was a tall, large woman, with strongly-marked features…’ • ‘Miss De Bourgh was pale and sickly…’ (p. 159) • After dinner, Lady Catherine dominates the conversation: • ‘delivering her opinion on every subject in so decisive a manner as proved that she was not used to have her judgment controverted. ’ (p. 160) • She asks Lizzy a series of invasive questions about her family, property and upbringing (p. 160 -162) • She is surprised that Lizzy answers so pointedly (concisely, confidently) – she is not used to people offering her their own opinions. • She clearly disapproves of Lizzy’s upbringing – she is not the accomplished lady that Lady Catherine would approve of. • Lady Catherine has more pride than any other character. She only interacts by commanding people.

CHAPTER 30 • Sir William leaves Hunsford after a week. Dinners at Rosings continue twice a week. • Lizzy hears the Mr Darcy himself will be arriving after Easter. Lizzy looks forward to seeing how he acts with his cousin, ‘for whom he was evidently destined by Lady Catherine; who talked of his coming with the greatest satisfaction. ’ (p. 166) • Collins goes to ‘pay his respects’ at Rosings, and returns to the parsonage with Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam (Darcy’s cousin) (p. 166) • Colonel Fitzwilliam: ‘was about thirty, not handsome, but in person and address most truly the gentleman. ’ • Darcy acts with his usual reserve and ‘Elizabeth merely curtseyed to him, without saying a word. ’ (p. 166) • Colonel Fitzwilliam converses with ease. Darcy hardly says anything. He enquires after Elizabeth’s family, and she asks him if he saw Jane in London (knowing the answer. . ). ‘he answered that he had never been so fortunate as to meet Miss Bennet. The subject was pursued no further, and the gentlemen soon afterwards went away. ’

DARCY AND LIZZY…BUILDING UP TO THE PROPOSAL Dinner at Rosings • Elizabeth plays the piano – Mr Darcy draws closer to listen to her play (p. 170 -172). • Elizabeth and Darcy have a conversation about performing to strangers. • What metaphor do Elizabeth and Darcy use to discuss their personal inadequacies and characteristics? Darcy visits Lizzy alone • Elizabeth and Charlotte can’t understand why Darcy comes by himself to visit. • ‘But why Mr Darcy came so often to the Parsonage, it was more difficult to understand…’ • Charlotte thinks he must be in love with Lizzy: ‘He certainly looked at her friend a great deal, but the expression of that look was disputable…’ (p. 177) • However, Lizzy just laughs at this idea. • We find that Mr Darcy is very hard to read, he is a very private person.

LIZZY LEARNS THE TRUTH ABOUT BINGLEY • When walking in the Park, Lizzy meets Colonel Fiztwilliam (Chapter 33). • He tells Lizzy that “younger sons cannot marry where they like, ” and that “there are not many in my rank of life who can afford to marry without some attention to money” (p. 179) • He tells Lizzy that Darcy ‘congratulated himself on having lately saved a friend from the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage’ (p. 181) • Lizzy of course knows he’s talking about Bingley and Jane! • Darcy had some ‘strong objections’ to the lady and saw fit to intervene. • Lizzy’s opinion of Darcy only gets worse here – this creates more of a climax for Chapter 34… • ‘He had ruined for a while every hope of happiness for the most affectionate, generous heart in the world; and no one could say how lasting an evil he might have inflicted. ’ (p. 182)

DARCY’S PROPOSAL • Darcy visits Lizzy at the parsonage – she does not feel like seeing him. ‘She answered him with cold civility’ (p. 185) • “In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. ” (p. 185) • He is clearly confident that Lizzy will accept him (just like Mr Collins) • He also mentions the inferiority of her connections – ‘of its being a degradation’ • He says that the strength of his attachment to her has been impossible to conquer • His affection outgrew his concerns about her inferiority – he may love her, but his pride is still strong. • Here we see the height of Darcy’s PRIDE

LIZZY’S REFUSAL • It is no surprise to the reader, although it is a shock to Mr Darcy, that Lizzy refuses him. • However, she is aware of the great compliment that he is paying her: • ‘she could not be insensible to the compliment of such a man’s affection, and though her intentions did not vary for an instant, she was at first sorry for the pain he was to receive…’ (p. 185) • WHY DOES LIZZY REFUSE DARCY: - She never desired his good opinion (p. 186) (– Mr Darcy suddenly looks pale and ‘the disturbance of his mind visible in every feature’) 1. She asks him why he told her that he liked her against his will, reason, and character (he insulted her family and connections terribly). 2. She could never consider to marry the man who had ruined the happiness of a most beloved sister. 3. Her opinion of him was decided when she heard Wickham’s story. She blames Darcy fully for Wickham’s fate – “You have done all this!” (p. 187)

4. She cannot bear his arrogance, conceit, and ‘selfish-disdain of the feelings of others’ (p. 188) • “You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it. ” (p. 188) • “I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry. ” (p. 188) NB: Here we see Lizzy at the height of her PREJUDICE. Her rejection of Darcy is the climax of her prejudice against him. • Darcy leaves her and Lizzy is completely astonished. Her last thoughts are about his ‘abominable pride’ (p. 189)

DARCY’S LETTER OF EXPLANATION • Darcy writes a letter to Lizzy, explaining and defending himself on the various points that Lizzy has against him. • This is a letter of reason and it acts as a turning point in the novel. 1. He interfered with Jane and Bingley because he could see that Bingley was seriously in love with Jane, but he couldn’t detect any real affection in Jane’s behaviour towards Bingley. • This is exactly what Charlotte warned Lizzy about! (in chapter 6) • Darcy believed that Jane’s ‘heart was not likely to be easily touched, . ’ (p. 192) • Darcy also felt that Jane’s low connections were ‘an evil’ to his friend. • The situation of Mrs Bennet’s family • The ‘total want of propriety’ displayed so frequently by their younger sisters, as well as their father. • Darcy wanted to ‘preserve my friend from what I esteemed a most unhappy connection. ’ (p. 193) So Darcy kept it from Bingley that Jane is in London… (p. 194)

2. His treatment of Wickham • ‘I can only refute it by laying before you the whole of his connection with my family…’ (p. 194197) • Darcy’s father supported Wickham at Cambridge and hoped that the church would be Wickham’s profession. Darcy started to notice Wickham’s questionable behaviour. • Darcy’s father died 5 years ago, and asked Darcy to ‘promote [Wickham’s] advancement in the best manner, ’ and that if a living became vacant, it would be Wickham’s. (p. 195) • There was also a legacy of one thousand pounds. • When Wickham’s father died, he asked Darcy is he could have the money instead of the living. ‘He resigned all claim to assistance in the church’ (p. 195) • Darcy gave Wickham three thousand pounds instead of the church living. • All contact was over between Darcy and Wickham for three years, until Wickham ran out of money and applied to Darcy again, but Darcy refused. Wickham resented Darcy for this. • Last Summer, their paths crossed again when Darcy intervened in Wickham’s plans to elope with Georgiana (so he could get her fortune of 30 000 pounds)

LIZZY’S TURNING POINT • Darcy’s letter reveals Darcy as a character of integrity. The fact that Darcy opens up to Elizabeth and tells her about his deepest secret concerning his sister and Mr Wickham suggests that Darcy believes she has integrity. • It tells Mr Darcy’s story and exposes Wickham’s true character. • Lizzy reads Darcy’s letter with ‘a strong prejudice against everything he might say…’ (p. 198) • She found his justification for his interference with Bingley to be ‘all pride and insolence’. • But when it came to his story about Wickham, she realises that if his version is true, then she ‘must overthrow every cherished opinion of his worth’ (p. 198) • ‘Astonishment, apprehension, and even horror, oppressed her. ’ • She carefully compares their stories and finds them to be the same, except for the will…she realises that Darcy must be entirely blameless since Wickham gave up the living willingly!

LIZZY’S REALISATIONS ABOUT WICKHAM: She realises that she knew nothing about Wickham’s former life • She had never wished to ask about his real character… • ‘His countenance, voice, and manner, had established him at once in the possession of every virtue’ (p. 200) • ‘She was now struck with the impropriety of such communications to a stranger, and wondered it had escaped her before’ (p. 200) • She thinks about the fact that Wickham said he wouldn’t avoid Darcy but then didn’t come to the Netherfield ball • ‘She remembered also, that till the Netherfield family had quitted the country, he had told his story to no one but herself…’ (p. 201)

LIZZY’S REALISATIONS ABOUT DARCY: • She realises that she had never seen anything that proved Darcy to be unprincipled or unjust – ‘any thing that spoke him of irreligious or immoral habits’ (p. 201) • He was respected and valued by all his connections. • Even Wickham had said he was a good brother. LIZZY’S REALISATIONS ABOUT HERSELF: • ‘She grew absolutely ashamed of herself. – Of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd. ’ (p. 201) ‘How despicably have I acted!. . . I, who have prided myself on my discernment!. . . ’ (p. 201 -202) • Lizzy realises that vanity has been her folly, not love. She was pleased with Wickham’s attentions, and offended by Darcy’s neglect, and she ignored reason. • “Till this moment, I never knew myself. ” (p. 202)

WRAPPING UP VOLUME II • Elizabeth keeps thinking about Darcy’s letter (Chapter 37) • ‘Mr Darcy’s letter, she was in a fair way of soon knowing by heart. She studied every sentence: and her feelings towards its writer were at times widely different…. ’ • ‘His attachment excited gratitude, his general character respect…’ • Elizabeth reflects on her family and what Darcy said about them. • Lizzy leaves Hunsford (she was there for over five weeks) and stops in London for a few days (chapter 38). • Lizzy and Jane meet Kitty and Lydia on their journey home. They give them the latest news: • The Militia have left Meryton to go to Brighton – Lydia wants to go to Brighton for the summer but Mr Bennet says no. • Wickham will no longer be marrying Miss King – “She is gone down to her uncle at Liverpool; gone to stay. Wickham is safe. ” (p. 212) • They arrive at Longbourn. Lizzy doesn’t want to walk to Meryton because she dreads seeing Wickham She dreaded seeing Wickham again, and was resolved to avoid it as long as possible. ’ (p. 214)

• Lizzy learns of the Brighton Scheme: • ‘Elizabeth saw directly that her father had not the smallest intention of yielding; but his answers were at the same time so vague and equivocal, that her mother, though often disheartened, had never yet despaired of succeeding at last. ’ (p. 215) • Elizabeth tells Jane about Darcy’s proposal and letter. Jane is shocked to hear the truth about Wickham (Chapter 40). • ‘…poor Jane! Who would willingly have gone through the world without believing that so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind, as was here collected in one individual. ’ (p. 217) • Lizzy: “One has got all the goodness [Darcy], and the other all the appearance of it. ” (p. 217) • Lizzy’s opinion of Darcy is changing. • Lizzy asks Jane’s advice as to whether they should let others know the truth about Wickham. They agree not to – especially for the sake of Darcy and his sister’s reputation. • IRONY: It is ironic that their silence about this scandal will lead to more scandal in the future.

• Lydia receives a letter from Colonel Forster’s wife inviting Lydia to join her at Brighton (chapter 41) • Elizabeth is very concerned – if Lydia goes she will probably ruin her reputation and thus damage her sisters’. Lydia is a flirt and there will be no one there to keep her behaviour in check. • She consults her father: “If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of an amendment. Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous. ” (p. 223) • Mr Bennet is not as concerned (disconnected father) – “We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her go then…and she is luckily too poor to be an object of prey to any body. ” (p. 224)

• Lizzy then sees Wickham for the last time (p. 224 -227) • • ‘She lost all concern for him’ She tells Wickham that she saw Darcy and that she thinks that “Mr Darcy improves on acquaintance. ” (p. 225) “…from knowing him better, his disposition was better understood. ” (p. 226) Wickham is quite shocked at Lizzy’s change and at the end of the evening ‘they parted at last with mutual civility, and possibly a mutual desire of never meeting again. ’ (p. 226) • Lydia leaves with Mrs Forster. • We then learn more about Mr Bennet in Chapter 42: • ‘Her father captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour, which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind, had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence, had vanished for ever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. ’ • ‘To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement’ • ‘Elizabeth, however, had never been blind to the impropriety of her father’s behaviour as a husband. She had always seen it with pain. ’ • Elizabeth feels that her father has misused his talents and could have done more for his daughters and wife.

• Lizzy goes on her tour with her aunt and uncle Gardiner. • They could not do the Lake District as originally planned so they agree to tour DERBYSHIRE • Lizzy immediately connects Derbyshire to Pemberley and Mr Darcy… • After touring most of Derbyshire her aunt suggests they visit Pemberley • ‘Elizabeth was distressed. She felt that she had no business at Pemberley…’ (p. 232) • They learn that the family are not at home and so Lizzy agrees that they will visit Pemberley the next day…