Pride and Prejudice

Mrs. Bennet’s brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, visit Longbourn from London. They are “sensible” and “well bred” (134), much loved by the Bennets and particularly by Jane and Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet laments that she almost had two daughters married; she doesn’t blame Jane but is still frustrated with Elizabeth. Also, she feels “[t]he Lucases are very artful people indeed” (135).

Privately, Mrs. Gardiner tells Elizabeth that young men frequently fall in and out of love. Elizabeth responds that in this case, “the interference of friends” (136) hastened his leaving. Mrs. Gardiner suggests that Bingley was not as “violently in love” (136) as they’d thought, though Elizabeth believes she’d never seen “a more promising inclination” (136). Mrs. Gardiner suggests that Jane stay with them for a while, though she worries that Jane will hope to run into Bingley and they “live in so different a part of town” (136). Elizabeth assures her Darcy won’t allow him to visit and that Miss Bingley will probably stop communicating with Jane completely. However, part of her still hopes Bingley will remain in love with Jane and will be able to overcome his sisters’ influence. Jane accepts the Gardiners’ invitation and hopes she’ll be able to see Miss Bingley without running into her brother.

Mrs. Gardiner observes Elizabeth and Wickham together during one of the many get-togethers at Longbourn. She doesn’t believe them to be in love but feels “uneasy” about their obvious “preference of each other” (137). She enjoys talking with Wickham about Derbyshire, where she’d spent time as a child and where Pemberley, Darcy’s estate, is located. Because Wickham’s father had served Darcy’s father, Wickham spent much time there, too, and is able to “give her fresher intelligence of her former friends.” When Mrs. Gardiner is told about Darcy’s ill treatment of Wickham, she “trie[s] to remember something of that gentleman’s reputed disposition” (138) as a child to support these claims; finally she feels sure “that she recollects having heard” (138) that he’d been “a very proud, ill-natured boy” (138).

Mrs. Gardiner tells Elizabeth she is “too sensible […] to fall in love merely because you are warned against it” (139) and that she therefore needs to warn her against a relationship with Wickham. As neither Elizabeth nor Wickham have great fortune, a match between them would be “imprudent.” However, she believes Elizabeth “could not do better” (139) if he had more of a fortune.

Elizabeth says she isn’t in love with Wickham but that he is “the most agreeable man I ever saw” (139). Though she does “see the imprudence of it” (139), many young people fall in love despite lack of fortune, and she can’t “promise to be wiser than so many of my fellow-creatures” (139). She can promise only “not to be in a hurry” (139). Elizabeth agrees to dissuade Mrs. Bennet from inviting him over, and the conversation ends amicably and with mutual respect.

Charlotte and Mr. Collins marry, and before departing for Hunsford, Charlotte says her father and sister are visiting in March and that she’d like Elizabeth to join them. After the wedding, Charlotte and Elizabeth write frequently, but Elizabeth feels that “it [is] for the sake of what had been rather than what [is]” (141). They can no longer be “unreserved,” and their former “intimacy” is gone (141). Charlotte writes “cheerfully” (141) of her home and neighborhood, and Elizabeth feels she’ll know the full situation when she visits.

Jane writes to Elizabeth from London, expressing her surprise that she and Miss Bingley have failed to connect; she believes her letter informing Miss Bingley of her being in town must have been lost. Elizabeth doesn’t agree that the letter was lost and fears Bingley will never know Jane is in London. Finally Jane writes that Miss Bingley visited her, that her coldness makes it impossible for Jane to “deceive herself” (142) further, and that only fear of “judging harshly” prevents her from suspecting “duplicity” (143). She also writes that Miss Bingley told her they likely will not ever return to Netherfield. Elizabeth hopes Bingley marries Miss Darcy “as a punishment” (144), for if Wickham is right and Miss Darcy is proud, she will make Bingley unhappy.

Mrs. Gardiner writes to Elizabeth to ask about Wickham. Elizabeth responds that he is now “the admirer of someone else” (144) who can offer him £10,000. Elizabeth’s easy acceptance of the situation shows her that she wasn’t in love with him, and she doesn’t blame him or Miss King, the young lady in question.

January and February pass, and Elizabeth plans to visit Charlotte in March. She is excited to see Charlotte and doesn’t mind leaving her mother and “uncompanionable sisters” (145). Also, they will spend a night in London, which will give her a chance to see Jane. Her only regret is leaving her father, who asks her to write.

She and Wickham part amiably; he remembers that she’d been “the first to excite and deserve his attention” and also “the first to listen and to pity” (146). Elizabeth feels that no matter what happens, “he must always be her model of the amiable and pleasing” (146).

Elizabeth, Sir William, and Maria Lucas arrive at the Gardiners’ house and are warmly greeted. Elizabeth is glad to see Jane looking well. Elizabeth hears from Mrs. Gardiner that Jane suffers “periods of dejection” but that she has “given up the acquaintance” with Miss Bingley (147).

Mrs. Gardiner worries that Wickham has become attached to Miss King because of her fortune, especially since Wickham seemed not to pay any attention to her until she inherited the money. Elizabeth asks, “If she does not object to it, why should we?” (147). Mrs. Gardiner replies, “Her not objecting does not justify him” (147). Elizabeth says she is “sick” of young men from Derbyshire and Hertfordshire; Mrs. Gardiner warns her that “that speech savours [sic] strongly of disappointment” (148).

Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner ask Elizabeth if she’d like to join them on a tour of the Lakes District in the summer; Elizabeth is overjoyed to accept. She expresses her desire to bid “[a]dieu to disappointment,” asking, “‘What are men to rocks and mountains?’” (148).

The party arrives at Hunsford. Mr. Collins is as profuse and “ostentatious” (148) as always. Mr. Collins shows them around their home, and Elizabeth has the impression that when he describes the comforts of the house, he is speaking specifically to her. Elizabeth is impressed with Charlotte’s endurance: whenever Mr. Collins says something embarrassing, “Charlotte wisely [does] not hear” (150). Mr. Collins takes them to the garden and explains that he finds great pleasure in gardening. Charlotte says she “encourage[s] it as much as possible” (150).

When Mr. Collins and Sir William continue walking in the garden, the women turn back to the house. Charlotte shows them around, and Elizabeth feels that “[w]hen Mr. Collins could be forgotten, there was really a great air of comfort throughout” (151).

Mr. Collins tells Elizabeth that she “will have the honour [sic] of seeing” (151) Lady Catherine on Sunday. He says Lady Catherine, who is “all affability and condescension” (151), treats Charlotte very well and that they eat dinner at Rosings twice a week, and that Lady Catherine always lets them ride home in one of her carriages. Charlotte comments that Lady Catherine is “a most attentive neighbor” (151). In her room that night, Elizabeth considers that Charlotte’s “composure in bearing” Mr. Collins is “all done very well” (151).

The next day, Maria calls Elizabeth downstairs: Miss de Bourgh and her caretaker are in a carriage outside, and Mr. Collins and Charlotte are talking to them. Elizabeth notes that Miss de Bourgh is “thin and small,” and also “abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in all this wind” (152).She thinks Miss de Bourgh, who “looks sickly and cross,” will make Darcy “a very proper wife” (152).

When Mr. Collins and Charlotte return inside, Mr. Collins congratulates the women “on their good fortune” (153), for they have been invited to dine at Rosings the following evening.

The invitation to Rosings is a “triumph” for Mr. Collins, who shows off “the grandeur of his patroness” as well as “her civility towards himself and his wife” (153). He claims that his “knowledge of her affability” (153) led him to expect that they would be invited to tea but not to dinner. Sir William responds that he is not surprised, for his “situation in life” has provided “knowledge of what the manners of the great really are” (153). Mr. Collins spends the day “carefully instructing them in what they [are] to expect” (153) and assures Elizabeth there is no need to make herself “uneasy” over her clothes because Lady Catherine “likes to have the distinction of rank preserved” (154).

As they walk to Rosings, Mr. Collins describes how much the windows cost. Maria Lucas is intimidated. Elizabeth has heard nothing of Lady Catherine having “extraordinary talents or virtues” and is not impressed by “mere stateliness of money and rank” (154).

Charlotte makes the introductions, thereby avoiding Mr. Collins’s “apologies and thanks” (155). Sir William and Maria are awed silent. Elizabeth finds Lady Catherine’s manners not “such as to make her visitors forget their inferior rank” (155). She feels Wickham described her perfectly. Miss de Bough is shockingly frail and says little.

During dinner, Mr. Collins is exceedingly proud to sit at the foot of the table. He and Sir William offer Lady Catherine profuse compliments, and Elizabeth wonders if Lady Catherine will find them insincere. However, Lady Catherine seems pleased by the compliments and by the fact that the dishes are “a novelty to them” (156). After dinner, Lady Catherine monopolizes the conversation, “delivering her opinion on every subject in so decisive a manner, as prove[s] that she [is] not used to have her judgment controverted” (156). She tells Charlotte how to handle all her domestic affairs. She also asks Elizabeth personal questions, and Elizabeth answers them, though she “[feels] all the impertinence of her questions” (157). Many of Lady Catherine’s inquiries come with a reminder of her own superior rank and the Bennets’ lesser fortune. She tells Elizabeth that if she had known her mother, she would have encouraged her to hire a governess. When Lady Catherine asks Elizabeth her age, Elizabeth slyly declines to answer, further shocking her.

They play cards, and Elizabeth’s table is “superlatively stupid” (159). Lady Catherine, at the other table, draws attention to everyone’s mistakes and talks about herself. Mr. Collins apologizes for winning too much.

They return home, and Mr. Collins asks Elizabeth to share her opinion. She exaggerates “for Charlotte’s sake” (160). Mr. Collins, unsatisfied, chimes in with his own praise.