Pride & Prejudice Notes: 25 – 30
Ch. 25
Juxtaposition
“I makes me very nervous and poorly, to be thwarted so by my own family, and to have neighbors who think of themselves before anybody else. However, your coming just at this time is the greatest of comforts, and I am very glad to hear what you tell us, of long sleeves.” Mrs. Bennet
we meet Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, the sensible relatives with good judgment and good manners
Ch. 26
Mrs. Gardiner “You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because you are warned against it. . . Seriously I would have you be on your guard. Do not involve yourself, or endeavour to involve him in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against him; he is a most interesting young man . . .” is this another example of superficiality or is Mrs. G right? 98
“a wonderful instance of advice being given on such a point, without being resented”
Jane finally sees the truth in Miss Bingley. Miss Bingley is rude when she visits “there is a strong appearance of duplicity in this” she writes to E. 102
Wickham stops flirting with E, but she is not heartbroken “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.”
Ch. 27
“Pray, my dear aunt, what is the difference in matrimonial affairs, between the mercenary and the prudent motive? Where does discretion end and avarice begin?” re: Wickham and Miss King
Ch. 28
E goes to Kent to visit Charlotte and Mr. Collins
“When Mr. Collins could be forgotten, there was really a great air of comfort throughout, and by Charlotte’s evident enjoyment of it, Elizabeth supposed he must be often forgotten.” Charlotte’s new house . . . has she made a terrible decision or a prudent one?
Mr. Collins on Lady Catherine “She is the sort of woman whom one cannot regard with too much deference.” The central problem here, huh?
Ch. 29
Mr. Collins advises E not too worry about what she wears to see Lady C because “She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved.” She likes everyone else to look poor around her??
112 “nothing was beneath this great Lady’s attention, which could furnish her with an occasion of dictating to others.”
What is Lady Catherine’s questioning of Eliza like? What does it reveal about her character? Why is she so stuck by Elizabeth’s responses “upon my word . . . you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person—Pray what is your age?” what does this reveal about Lady C?
Ch. 30
Lady C visit them every now and then “She examined into their employments, looked at their work, and advised them to do it differently; found fault with the arrangement of the furniture, or detected the housemaid in negligence . . .”
Darcy and Col. Fitzwilliam will visit!