Pride & Prejudice: Chapters 13-23
Episode 31
Professor Pipes is at it again, and she’s here to tell you all about the crazy Bachelorette episode that is chapters 13-23 of Jane Austen’s satirical romance, Pride and Prejudice. Get ready for a pompous pastor and a mesmerizing military man!
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes, and I am so proud to be telling you all about chapters 13-23 of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I think it’s the best book ever, though I may be a bit prejudiced. SHRUG! Anyways, let’s jump right in.
Previously:
Previously in Pride and Prejudice, we were introduced to the whole BENNET BUNCH the Bennet Bunch, that is right, they are called the Bennet Bunch. Anyways, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their 5 daughters were all riled up because of the recent arrival of the rich and handsome Mr. Bingley, and they whole Bingley bunch. Don’t worry. I won’t sing it again. Mr. Bingley totally has the feels for Jane Bennet, who likewise likes him. Awwww. Meanwhile, his sister has a crush on his best friend, Mr. Darcy, but he only has eyes for Lizzy Bennet, our protagonist. But how does she feel about him? Let’s just say she isn’t a fan. And with that, let’s jump into this satirical romance.
Summary:
In this section we are introduced to two new bachelors! Ooooh! The first is Mr. Collins, who has written a letter asking to come visit. He’s a distant relative of the Bennets, and the Bennet home happens to be entailed to Mr. Collins, meaning he’ll own it once Mr. Bennet dies, but don’t worry, as he’s come prepared to admire the Bennet daughters (and maybe more). Mr. Collins is a pretentious clergyman who is obsessed with his wealthy patroness, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, and speaks of little else. He is easily offended, such as when the girls get bored by his reading, but he’s also ready and willing to compliment everything, and he even sometimes plans out his compliments ahead of time. So sweet. Oh, and he likes Lizzy, but only after he is informed that Jane will likely be engaged soon. Great match, am I right?
The second bachelor is one of the military officers in town, Mr. Wickham, whom the girls meet when walking through Meryton, and whom Lizzy notices is decidedly not friends with Mr. Darcy, given their cold encounter. Mr. Wickham is handsome, charismatic, and always down for a bit of gossip. Oooh and boy does he have some hot goss about Mr. Darcy. According to Mr. Wickham, Mr. Darcy is a huge jerk! What a surprise, right? Mr. Wickham’s father had worked for Mr. Darcy’s father, who happened to favor Mr. Wickham and treated him like his own son. When old Mr. Darcy died, Mr. Wickham was supposed to be given an establishment as a clergyman, but, out of jealousy, young Mr. Darcy ensured that it would never happen. Oooh! Drama! With such charm and such a dislike for Mr. Darcy, Lizzy immediately likes Mr. Wickham, and he seems to have his eye on her, too. Oh! One more bit of inside info from Wickham: Lady Catherine De Bourgh, yes, the one Mr. Collins is obsessed with, is Mr. Darcy’s aunt, and the plan is for Mr. Darcy to marry her daughter. Eww… Brings new meaning to kissing cousins… Lizzy tells Jane all this gossip, but she’s too sweet tempered to believe anything bad about Mr. Darcy. She’s also too sweet to think Mr. Wickham is lying, though, so it all must just be some big misunderstanding. Aww sweet, innocent Jane.
Bingley finally throws the ball he had promised, and Lizzy is looking forward to dancing all night with Mr. Wickham. However, when they arrive, she quickly realizes that her beau is not there! And guess whose fault it is. Darcy’s, of course! Well, not quite. Apparently, Wickham wanted to avoid seeing Darcy, but that’s basically the same thing. Unfortunately, Mr. Collins had asked Lizzy to dance, and he’s got two left feet. Then she gets stuck dancing with Darcy. He tries to make some conversation, but she’s not much in the mood, and neither really is he, once she mentions Mr. Wickham. To make matters worse, Miss Bingley then tells Lizzy that she should stay away from Mr. Wickham because he’s no good and - oh, by the way, did you know he’s the son of Mr. Darcy’s father’s SERVANT! Ewww!! Lizzy basically says, whatevs, she doesn’t care if he’s the son of a servant.
Ok, and then the party really turns into a hot mess because it’s almost as if Lizzy’s whole family (besides Jane) is in competition for Most Embarrassing Relative. Mary keeps trying to show off on the piano. Mr. Bennet loudly tells Mary to stop playing, in front of everyone. Mr. Collins decides he has to awkwardly introduce himself to Mr. Darcy, since he’s Lady Catherine De Bourgh’s nephew, demonstrating his idiocy. And finally, Mrs. Bennet keeps talking about how rich Bingley is and therefore what a great match he is for Jane, and also loudly insulting Darcy, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM! She also insists on being the absolute last people to leave! I mean come ON, Bennet family! Get it together!
The next day, Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth because, 1) he thinks clergymen should all get married if they can, 2) it will add to his happiness, and last but not least, Lady Catherine De Bourgh told him he should. Wowww! So romantic! Lizzy obviously refuses, but apparently no means yes to Mr. Collins because he’s quite sure that she really does want to marry him and is just being oh so coy. Right. Mrs. Bennet gets reeeal annoyed at Lizzy and drags her in to see her father, saying she’ll never speak to Lizzy again if she doesn’t marry Mr. Collins!! However, Mr. Bennet, being a witty man, says that either way she’s losing a parent, because he’ll never speak to her again if she DOES marry Collins. Heck yeah!
Luckily, Charlotte Lucas is nice enough to keep Mr. Collins company, and pull him away from the awkwardness at Longbourn, since he’s starting to think that Lizzy actually did mean no when she said no. WHAT? Preposterous. However, Charlotte has an end game, which we’ll get to soon enough.
Meanwhile, when Lizzy next sees Wickham, he apologizes for missing the ball. She introduces him to her parents, who heartily approve. Unfortunately, this good mood couldn’t last forever, since Jane receives a letter from Miss Bingley explaining that they’re all leaving town and don’t plan on returning any time soon and also hinting that Mr. Bingley is likely to marry Mr. Darcy’s sister, Georgiana, which is just oh so exciting! Lizzy tells Jane not to worry, because Bingley obviously loves her, and Miss Bingley is just trying to prevent their marriage.
Just before he leaves, Mr. Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas, who ACCEPTS him! Gross! But, she ain’t looking for romance, just a husband. Lizzy is shocked, Jane just hopes for the best, and Mrs. Bennet is absolutely livid, and it’s all Lizzy’s fault! This section ends a little sadly, with a letter from Mr. Collins, who went home right after the proposal, but no new news from the Bingleys. Even Lizzy starts to lose hope.
Characterization:
Pride and Prejudice was originally called “First Impressions” and with this section, we really get some interesting first impressions of our newest characters as well as some new insight into ones we’ve met before.
The narrator states that Mr. Collins is not a sensible man, and we see that in his behavior towards everyone around him. While at a party at someone else’s house, he decides he needs to make a speech complimenting himself. When visiting a relative’s HOME, he compares its size to the SMALL breakfast parlor of his patroness. And while proposing, he compliments Lady Catherine De Bourgh much more than his intended wife. He is perhaps the most clearly satirical character in the novel, combining a complete obsession with class and status with total lack of self-awareness to the fact that he is not classy by association. Mr. Bennet says it best when he states that Mr. Collins shows, “a mixture of servility and self-importance.”
Our other newcomer, Mr. Wickham, serves as a kind of foil to Collins. He immediately makes himself a favorite because of his attractive looks and his readiness of conversation, both of which Collins, with all his stiff formality, completely lacks. Wickham is sociable and charming. Unlike Collins’ obsession with Lady Catherine De Bourgh’s status, Wickham points out her flaws, caring not a whit for her class.
In addition to these new characters, we start to learn new information about Mr. Darcy, from the aforementioned Mr. Wickham. Mr. Darcy had said before that he could hold a grudge, but Mr. Wickham sheds new light on this failing, stating that Darcy’s jealousy caused Wickham’s ruin. Darcy could not stand that his father favored his friend, so he made it his goal to ruin Wickham’s financial and occupational prospects, leaving him alone and destitute. Wow. I know Darcy kind of seemed like a jerk, but this is BIG TIME jerk behavior. Even Lizzy states that she “had not thought Mr. Darcy so bad as this.”
Analysis:
Next up, let’s explore some of the themes at play in these chapters.
First, we have to talk Pride. Mr. Collins is the epitome of pride and self-importance. Interestingly, his status as a clergyman is not all that high. Instead, he is an expert at riding coattails, specifically those of Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Are you as tired of that name as I am? He is an elitist without actually being elite, and feels completely comfortable associating with the truly high class, like Darcy, since he views himself as of equal importance because of his patroness. Speaking of Darcy, Wickham talks a lot about his pride. Wickham mentions that, “pride has often been his best friend. It has connected him nearer with virtue than any other feeling.” He says that it has made Darcy give money generously and help his tenants. He says that Darcy’s family pride and filial pride have made him act this way because he doesn’t want to disgrace his family name, and his brotherly pride has made him a kind guardian to his sister. In other words, because he doesn’t want to look bad — out of a sense of pride — Darcy has to at least ACT like he’s a good person (even though Wickham assures us that he is not).
After pride, we obviously have to talk Prejudice. It’s in the title! In general, we see a great deal of connection between class and prejudice, but I’ll come back to that. First, I’d rather discuss our dear Elizabeth Bennet. That’s right, she’s still REAL stuck in her opinions, particularly those about Darcy. In fact, because she dislikes Darcy, she completely accepts Wickham’s story, despite having no other evidence to back it up. Jane tries to tell her that she doesn’t think Darcy could possibly be as bad as all that or could deceive his friends so completely, but Lizzy assures her that Wickham gave such a detailed account that it couldn’t possibly be incorrect. She’s unwilling to accept that, as Jane suggests, they have both been deceived about each other or to accept Caroline Bingley’s statement that Darcy has always been generous to Wickham. Perhaps Lizzy is 100% in the right not to listen to Miss Bingley, but we definitely do see that her prejudice against Darcy is at least partly responsible for her beliefs. After all, when Charlotte Lucas tells her she may find Darcy agreeable, Lizzy replies, “Heaven forbid! — That would be the greatest misfortune of all! — To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate!” She is determined to maintain her prejudicial first impressions. In this case, she is determined to like Mr. Wickham and to hate Mr. Darcy.
As promised, next up is Class, which is very much enmeshed in both the previous themes of pride and prejudice. After all, many of the upper class characters are completely set in their elitist ways and look down on those “below” them. We of course see this in the snobbish behavior of Miss Caroline Bingley, who assumes that Lizzy can’t possibly know that Wickham was the son of a steward, or she obviously wouldn’t be interested in him. This snobbery is made even more clear in her letter to Jane, as it demonstrates a complete disregard for her feelings as she describes the more profitable connection between her brother and Darcy’s sister. The upper classes are not looking so good. Mr. Collins, however, LOVES them, and honestly sees himself as one of them. He is completely obtuse when he fails to recognize that Darcy would not see him as an equal and when he proposes to Lizzy. Not only does he spend the majority of the proposal talking about his patroness, but he also cannot accept Lzzy’s refusal because, “It does not appear to me that my hand is unworthy your acceptance, or that the establishment I can offer would be any other than highly desirable.” He sees himself in such a favorable light, and associates himself so much with the status of Lady Catherine, that he cannot comprehend anyone else seeing him as anything other than a great catch.
Finally, let’s discuss love and Courtship. We of course see Jane’s love for Bingley growing, only to be ripped away when he himself is ripped away from Netherfield. We also see Mr. Darcy’s increasing interest in Elizabeth, particularly at the Netherfield ball, when he asks her to dance. He attempts some conversation, looking to learn more about her, but her anger at his treatment of Wickham disallows any real communication. Afterwards, she hates him more than ever, but he’s still quite interested. Meanwhile, she is infatuated with Mr. Wickham. In fact, she got ready for the ball, “prepared for the conquest of all that remained unsubdued of his heart,” assuming she could completely win him over in one evening. But his absence perhaps only made her heart grow fonder, since she introduced him to her parents on their next encounter. Oooh! Things are moving quickly! On the less romantic and more pragmatic side of things, Charlotte Lucas puts her financial and social needs in front of romance, accepting Mr. Collins’ proposals, “solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment.” And her family is happy for her, not because they think he is a great man or because they believe their daughter to be in love, but because they can’t offer her any fortune. Clearly, Austen is pointing out the problems with a patriarchal society in which a woman has no real place or opportunity in the world beyond marriage. Charlotte, twenty seven and still unmarried, is forced to accept a man whom she knows to be stupid and pompous, ensuring her future, but also her unhappiness. And I thought this was supposed to be a romantic book! Oh well.
Food for Thought:
Finally, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought.
First, what are your “first impressions” of Mr. Wickham? Do they align with Lizzy’s impressions? Why or why not?
Second, what are your thoughts on Mr. Collins? In what ways does he demonstrate the satirical nature of this novel?
Third, what do you think about the information regarding Darcy’s past treatment of Wickham? In what ways does his behavior align with or go against this negative description?
Fourth, what do you think about Charlotte’s decision to accept Mr. Collins? What does it demonstrate about society?
Fourth, how are the different genders portrayed in this section? In what ways do the characters follow or go against gender “norms”?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. No go forth, read a bunch, and be good people.
