by Jane Austen
All this does not mean, however, that Jane Austen endorses Charlotte's decision. In the letter quoted above, Jane Austen's ultimate advice is that her niece, since she has significant reservations about the man himself, should not marry him. In an earlier letter, relating to another man, she told her niece, “nothing can be compared to the misery of being bound [i.e. married] without love” (Nov. 30, 1814). Similarly in The Watsons the heroine declares, “I would rather be Teacher at a school (and I can think of nothing worse) than marry a Man I did not like.” In her own life Jane Austen, only two weeks before turning the same age as Charlotte, accepted a proposal in marriage, and then changed her mind the next day due to her objections to the man—who seems to have been a little uncouth, but not nearly as bad as Mr. Collins. Her own words and conduct thus suggest that she does not consider Charlotte's move a wise one, even if it may be understandable in certain respects.
Charlotte's decision also reveals the pressures on Elizabeth, who will likely inherit even less than Charlotte, to make a financially advantageous marriage. It thus highlights Elizabeth's daring in twice rejecting men who have ample fortunes but whom she finds personally unsuitable.
22. publish: make publicly or generally known.
23. prosperous: successful.
24. moved for the night: this may mean that they moved to their rooms to prepare for bed—hence they must say goodbye to Mr. Collins now. I have not been able to find any other example of or reference to such an expression.
25. raised: aroused.
26. meditated: planned, intended.
27. She naturally thinks highly of Mr. Collins's reflections, for they contain just the sort of standard cliches that hers do.
28. The first case, soon to be followed by others, in which Elizabeth will be forced to confront a mistake in her estimation of someone around her.
29. Had she been more attentive, she could have seen that Charlotte, in addition to having a more cynical view of marriage, has consistently been more concerned with worldly advantage than Elizabeth.
Chapter Twenty-Three
E lizabeth was sitting with her mother and sisters, reflecting on what she had heard, and doubting whether she were authorised to mention it, when Sir William Lucas himself appeared, sent by his daughter to announce her engagement to the family. With many compliments to them, and much self-gratulation1 on the prospect of a connection between the houses,2 he unfolded the matter, —to an audience not merely wondering, but incredulous; for Mrs. Bennet, with more perseverance than politeness, protested he must be entirely mistaken, and Lydia, always unguarded and often uncivil, boisterously exclaimed,
“Good Lord! Sir William, how can you tell such a story? —Do not you know that Mr. Collins wants to marry Lizzy?”
Nothing less than the complaisance3 of a courtier4 could have borne without anger such treatment; but Sir William's good breeding5 carried him through it all; and though he begged leave to be positive as to the truth of his information, he listened to all their impertinence with the most forbearing courtesy.
Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sisters, by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William, in which she was readily joined by Jane, and by making a variety of remarks on the happiness that might be expected from the match, the excellent character of Mr. Collins, and the convenient distance of Hunsford from London.6
Mrs. Bennet was in fact too much overpowered to say a great deal while Sir William remained; but no sooner had he left them than her feelings found a rapid vent. In the first place, she persisted in disbelieving the whole of the matter; secondly, she was very sure that Mr. Collins had been taken in; thirdly, she trusted that they would never be happy together; and fourthly, that the match might be broken off.7 Two inferences, however, were plainly deduced from the whole; one, that Elizabeth was the real cause of all the mischief;8 and the other, that she herself had been barbarously used by them all; and on these two points she principally dwelt during the rest of the day. Nothing could console and nothing appease her.—Nor did that day wear out her resentment. A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her, a month passed away before she could speak to Sir William or Lady Lucas without being rude, and many months were gone before she could at all forgive their daughter.
Mr. Bennet's emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion, and such as he did experience he pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort; for it gratified him, he said, to discover that Charlotte Lucas, whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible, was as foolish as his wife, and more foolish than his daughter!9
Jane confessed herself a little surprised at the match; but she said less of her astonishment than of her earnest desire for their happiness; nor could Elizabeth persuade her to consider it as improbable.10 Kitty and Lydia were far from envying Miss Lucas, for Mr. Collins was only a clergyman; and it affected them in no other way than as a piece of news to spread at Meryton.
Lady Lucas could not be insensible11 of triumph on being able to retort on12 Mrs. Bennet the comfort13 of having a daughter well married; and she called at Longbourn rather oftener than usual to say how happy she was, though Mrs. Bennet's sour looks and ill-natured remarks might have been enough to drive happiness away.14
Between Elizabeth and Charlotte there was a restraint which kept them mutually silent on the subject; and Elizabeth felt persuaded that no real confidence15 could ever subsist between them again. Her disappointment in Charlotte made her turn with fonder regard to her sister, of whose rectitude and delicacy16 she was sure her opinion could never be shaken, and for whose happiness she grew daily more anxious, as Bingley had now been gone a week, and nothing was heard of his return.
Jane had sent Caroline an early answer to her letter, and was counting the days till she might reasonably hope to hear again.17 The promised letter of thanks from Mr. Collins arrived on Tuesday, addressed to their father, and written with all the solemnity of gratitude which a twelvemonth's abode in the family might have prompted. After discharging his conscience on that head, he proceeded to inform them, with many rapturous expressions, of his happiness in having obtained the affection of their amiable neighbour, Miss Lucas, and then explained that it was merely with the view of enjoying her society that he had been so ready to close with18 their kind wish of seeing him again at Longbourn, whither he hoped to be able to return on Monday fortnight;19 for Lady Catherine, he added, so heartily approved his marriage, that she wished it to take place as soon as possible, which he trusted would be an unanswerable argument with his amiable Charlotte to name an early day for making him the happiest of men.
Mr. Collins's return into Hertfordshire was no longer a matter of pleasure to Mrs. Bennet. On the contrary she was as much disposed to complain of it as her husband.—It was very strange that he should come to Longbourn instead of to Lucas Lodge; it was also very inconvenient and exceedingly troublesome.—She hated having visitors in the house while her health was so indifferent,20 and lovers were of all people the most disagreeable. Such were the gentle murmurs of Mrs. Bennet, and they gave way only to the greater distress of Mr. Bingley's continued absence.
Neither Jane nor Elizabeth were comfortable on this subject. Day after day passed away without bringing any other tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in Meryton of his coming no more to Netherfield the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.
Even Elizabeth began to fear —not that Bingley was indifferent—but that his sisters would be successful in keeping him away. Unwilling as she was to admit an idea so destructive of Jane's happiness, and so dishonourable to the stability21 of her lover, she could not prevent its frequently recurring. The united efforts of his two unfeeling sisters and of his overpowe
ring friend, assisted by the attractions of Miss Darcy and the amusements of London, might be too much, she feared, for the strength of his attachment.
As for Jane, her anxiety under this suspence was, of course, more painful than Elizabeth's; but whatever she felt she was desirous of concealing, and between herself and Elizabeth, therefore, the subject was never alluded to. But as no such delicacy restrained her mother, an hour seldom passed in which she did not talk of Bingley, express her impatience for his arrival, or even require Jane to confess that if he did not come back, she should think herself very ill used. It needed all Jane's steady mildness to bear these attacks with tolerable tranquillity.
Mr. Collins returned most punctually on the Monday fortnight, but his reception at Longbourn was not quite so gracious as it had been on his first introduction. He was too happy, however, to need much attention; and luckily for the others, the business of love-making22 relieved them from a great deal of his company. The chief of every day was spent by him at Lucas Lodge, and he sometimes returned to Longbourn only in time to make an apology for his absence before the family went to bed.
Mrs. Bennet was really in a most pitiable state. The very mention of any thing concerning the match threw her into an agony of ill humour, and wherever she went she was sure of hearing it talked of. The sight of Miss Lucas was odious to her. As her successor in that house, she regarded her with jealous abhorrence. Whenever Charlotte came to see them she concluded her to be anticipating the hour of possession; and whenever she spoke in a low voice to Mr. Collins, was convinced that they were talking of the Longbourn estate, and resolving to turn herself and her daughters out of the house, as soon as Mr. Bennet were dead. She complained bitterly of all this to her husband.
“Indeed, Mr. Bennet,” said she, “it is very hard to think that Charlotte Lucas should ever be mistress of this house, that I should be forced to make way for her, and live to see her take my place in it!”
“My dear, do not give way to such gloomy thoughts. Let us hope for better things. Let us flatter ourselves that I may be the survivor.”23
This was not very consoling to Mrs. Bennet, and, therefore, instead of making any answer, she went on as before,
“I cannot bear to think that they should have all this estate. If it was not for the entail I should not mind it.”
“What should not you mind?”
“I should not mind any thing at all.”
“Let us be thankful that you are preserved from a state of such insensibility.”24
“I never can be thankful, Mr. Bennet, for any thing about the entail. How any one could have the conscience to entail away an estate from one's own daughters I cannot understand; and all for the sake of Mr. Collins too!25—Why should he have it more than anybody else?”
“I leave it to yourself to determine,” said Mr. Bennet.
1. self-gratulation: self-congratulation.
2. Their houses, or families, would now be connected because of Mr. Collins's being a cousin of the Bennets. Establishing such connections was an important aspect of marriage then.
3. complaisance: desire of pleasing, politeness.
4. courtier: person attending a court. It could also connote someone who possessed certain courtly virtues, such as courtesy. It is meant ironically in the case of Sir William, for though he has only appeared at court once to be knighted, he fancies himself a courtier and has cultivated exaggerated courtesy in his own behavior and demeanor.
5. good breeding: good manners.
6. It is only around twenty miles. Such a distance would take a few hours at the most, and from Hertfordshire it would be less than a day. Later Elizabeth will describe the overall distance as fifty miles, and Darcy will say that this takes little more than half a day's journey on good roads.
7. Mrs. Bennet's contradictory utterances are similar to the joke about the man who, upon being accused of breaking something he has borrowed, responds that in the first place he never borrowed the item, in the second place he returned it intact, and in the third place it was already broken when he received it.
8. mischief: trouble, evil.
9. In other words, he is happy to be able to think someone else foolish and to laugh at them, an example of his particular type of enjoyment.
10. To consider their happiness improbable (not the match).
11. insensible: without a sense.
12. retort on: throw back at (in retaliation).
13. comfort: pleasure.
14. Since Mrs. Bennet was earlier crowing to Lady Lucas about her presumed success in getting a daughter married, Lady Lucas is now turning the tables.
15. confidence: intimacy or trust (i.e. willingness to confide in one another).
16. delicacy: moral sensitivity and taste, fineness of feeling. These would ensure that she would never marry someone as crude and repugnant as Mr. Collins.
17. Jane has to depend on a correspondence with Miss Bingley, for it would be improper for her to correspond with Bingley himself, an unmarried man who is not a relation and with whom she has no engagement.
18. close with: agree to, accept.
19. This letter is a good symbol of Mr. Collins's character. After first ostentatiously thanking the Bennets, he proceeds to inform them directly that he is only visiting them because he wishes to see someone else—not the most polite of messages to send to one's hosts.
20. indifferent: mediocre.
21. stability: steadiness, firmness.
22. love-making: wooing, talking to one's beloved.
23. Which would mean that Mrs. Bennet, having died before her husband, would never experience being turned out of their house.
24. insensibility: inability to feel or be affected by anything.
25. Since in fact it would not be Mr. Bennet, but the man from whom he inherited (probably his father), who would have framed the entail then in force, such a framer would not have been entailing the property away from his own daughters (but only, possibly, from his granddaughters). This framer also could not have known that Mr. Collins would be the ultimate beneficiary of the entail.
VOLUME TWO1
1. Jane Austen divides her novel into three volumes, a standard practice at the time. The division is somewhat arbitrary; this break between the first and second volumes does not occur at any special point in the story. One could argue that a more logical break would be just prior to Elizabeth's journey to visit Charlotte, which leads to the next major development in the action, though such a break would also make the three volumes very unequal in length. The strongest case for this break would be that what has just happened, Mr. Collins's engagement to Charlotte, marked the conclusion of the first stage of the action. For the next several chapters the existing situation will be reviewed and the ground laid for more dramatic future developments.
Chapter One
M iss Bingley's letter arrived, and put an end to doubt. The very first sentence conveyed the assurance of their being all settled in London for the winter, and concluded with her brother's regret at not having had time to pay his respects to his friends in Hertfordshire before he left the country.
Hope was over, entirely over; and when Jane could attend to the rest of the letter, she found little, except the professed affection of the writer, that could give her any comfort. Miss Darcy's praise occupied the chief of it. Her many attractions were again dwelt on, and Caroline boasted joyfully of their increasing intimacy, and ventured to predict the accomplishment of the wishes which had been unfolded in her former letter. She wrote also with great pleasure of her brother's being an inmate2 of Mr. Darcy's house, and mentioned with raptures, some plans of the latter with regard to new furniture.
Elizabeth, to whom Jane very soon communicated the chief3 of all this, heard it in silent indignation. Her heart was divided between concern for her sister, and resentment against all the others. To Caroline's assertion of her brother's being partial to Miss Darcy she paid no credit. That he was really fond of Jane, she doubted no more than
she had ever done; and much as she had always been disposed to like him, she could not think without anger, hardly without contempt, on that easiness of temper, that want of proper resolution which now made him the slave of his designing friends, and led him to sacrifice his own happiness to the caprice of their inclinations.4 Had his own happiness, however, been the only sacrifice, he might have been allowed to sport5 with it in what ever manner he thought best; but her sister's was involved in it, as she thought he must be sensible6 himself. It was a subject, in short, on which reflection would be long indulged, and must be unavailing. She could think of nothing else, and yet whether Bingley's regard had really died away, or were suppressed by his friends' interference; whether he had been aware of Jane's attachment, or whether it had escaped his observation; whichever were the case, though her opinion of him must be materially affected by the difference, her sister's situation remained the same, her peace equally wounded.
A day or two passed before Jane had courage to speak of her feelings to Elizabeth; but at last on Mrs. Bennet's leaving them together, after a longer irritation7 than usual about Netherfield and its master, she could not help saying,
