Pride and Prejudice

Elizabeth, “[w]ith a strong prejudice against everything he might say” (192), reads the letter with so much interest she can barely absorb each sentence. She dismisses the claim that he did not know Jane was in love with Bingley and is offended by his assessment of her family. When she reads about what transpired between Darcy and Wickham, she is so shocked she dismisses Darcy’s account of these events as false. However, reading the letter again, she slowly realizes that it’s possible Darcy is blameless.

She thinks about how no one had heard of Wickham before he came to Meryton. Though his appearance and charm “had established him at once in the possession of every virtue,” she cannot think of any “instance of goodness” that might prove Darcy’s accusations unfounded (194). She recalls her conversation with Wickham at Mrs. Philips’s house and realizes how inappropriate it was for him to tell such a story to a stranger. Though he’d claimed not to fear Darcy, he’d “avoided the Netherfield ball that very week” (195). She now looks at his attachment to Miss King as “solely and hatefully mercenary” (195).

As Elizabeth remembers all this, “[e]very lingering struggle” to redeem Wickham “[grows] fainter” (195). Of Darcy, she admits that, “proud and repulsive as were his manners,” she had never “seen any thing that betrayed him to be unprincipled or unjust” (195). Had Wickham’s accusations about Darcy been true, the truth would have been widely known, and “such an amiable man as Mr. Bingley” (196) would not have been so friendly with him.

She is “ashamed of herself” for having been “blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd” despite having “always prided [her]self on [her] discernment” (196). It is a “humiliating” but “just” realization (196). She states that “[t]ill this moment, [she] never knew [her]self” (196).

Darcy’s explanation of his intervention in Bingley and Jane’s relationship now appears very different. Elizabeth believes if Darcy was so reasonable in one case, he’s likely to be reasonable in another, and she remembers Charlotte’s warning that Jane didn’t demonstrate enough affection. Darcy’s comments about her family are true, and Elizabeth is “depressed beyond any thing she [has] ever known before” (197) to consider that her own family had caused Jane’s heartbreak.

Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam leave Rosings. Lady Catherine requests the entire Collins party go to Rosings for dinner because she is so sad for their absence. She says that “‘nobody feels the loss of friends so much as I do’” (198),and that her nephews were sad to leave, too. Elizabeth smiles when she thinks that under different circumstances, she “might by this time have been presented to her as her future niece” (198) and wonders what Lady Catherine’s reaction would have been.

Lady Catherine notices that Elizabeth doesn’t seem herself and suggests that if she’s also sad to leave soon, she should ask her mother if she can stay longer because “there can be no occasion for your going so soon” (199). When Elizabeth says she must return home, Lady Catherine insists she and Maria have a servant accompany them, as “[i]t is highly improper” (199) for them to go themselves. Elizabeth says her uncle is sending someone to go with them.

In the following days, Elizabeth walks alone as much as she is able, so she can “indulge in all the delight of unpleasant recollections” (200); these walks are her “greatest relief” (200). She learns Darcy’s letter by heart. When she thinks of how “she had condemned and upbraided him” (200), she feels sympathy for him and gratitude for his affection. She regrets how she’s acted and is ashamed of “the unhappy defects of her family” (200). Her father refuses to “restrain the wild giddiness of his youngest daughters” (200), choosing to laugh at them, instead; her mother not only refuses to “check the imprudence” (201) of Kitty and Lydia but encourages it, thus ensuring it will never change. Most troubling to her is that Bingley’s affection was sincere and that Jane has suffered disappointment through no fault of Bingley himself but because of her family.

Elizabeth dines at Rosings with the Collinses on her final night. Lady Catherine tells Elizabeth and Maria how to pack; back at Hunsford, Maria unpacks and repacks her bag.

On the morning of Elizabeth’s departure, Mr. Collins finds her alone and offers heartfelt thanks for visiting their “humble abode,” which may seem “extremely dull to a young lady like yourself” (202). He knows Charlotte appreciates it, and they are “grateful for the condescension” (202). Elizabeth tells him she enjoyed her visit and that she herself is grateful. Mr. Collins expresses his happiness at her happiness and says he feels fortunate that it was “in our power to introduce you to very superior society” (202). He hopes she will offer a positive report to those in Hertfordshire, having seen “Lady Catherine’s great attentions to Mrs. Collins” (203). He also hopes “it does not appear that your friend has drawn an unfortunate” (203) and that Elizabeth herself finds “equal felicity in marriage” (203). Elizabeth tells him “with equal sincerity […] that she firmly believe[s] and rejoice[s] in his domestic comforts” (203).

Charlotte enters the room, and Elizabeth is sorry to leave her “to such society” (203); however, she knows Charlotte “had chosen it with her eyes open” (203), that she “[does] not seem to ask for compassion” (203), and that she takes pleasure in her home.

After Mr. Collins assures Elizabeth and Maria that he will pass their gratitude along to Rosings, the two women leave and, a few hours later, arrive at Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner’s house. Elizabeth conceals her news from Jane with effort. She decides to wait until they return to Longbourn, for she isn’t sure how much to reveal and is worried that telling what she knows of Bingley’s feelings “might only grieve her sister further” (204).