"her heart did whisper, that he had done it for her"
Pride & Prejudice | Week 9: Vol. 3, chapters 7-14 | on being in the fidgets, saving all the best covies, and a teazing, teazing man!
Welcome to the Closely Reading book club: a space where we closely read classic literature together and discuss assigned chapters each week.
This week, we’re discussing Pride & Prejudice volume 3, chapters 7 through 14. Ya’ll: we’re in the home stretch with this novel and I could not be more excited about our timing.
Pride & Prejudice in the news…
For the 20th anniversary of the 2005 film, Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice is returning to theaters! You know I’ve got the theater bookmarked and am ready to buy tickets the moment they’re available. I can’t wait to see it in theaters again!
Now…to see if they’ll do some showings of the 1995 series at my local indie theater! I would absolutely attend a marathon.
Here’s what’s on my radar for our final weeks with this amazing novel:
Next week, we’re finishing the novel (squee!) and the final reading guide will release.
During that week, I’ll also be sharing an incredible guest essay from my amazing friend and graduate school colleague, Dr. Hannah Korell, with whom I first read the novel back in 2017!
Finally, paid subscribers will receive a bonus post that provides scholarly frameworks for studying the novel, a handful of “deeper themes” to keep in mind for your next read, Austen resources and links, as well as a bibliography of books (including academic works!) you can dive into yourself.
Welcome to week 9 of our Pride & Prejudice read-a-long
If you have not completed our chapters for this week yet, I encourage you to do so before reading today’s guide. Please avoid spoilers in the comments.
This week, we learn the consequences of Lydia’s choice to run away, Wickham joins the Bennet family, and Bingley finally proposes to Jane.
In chronological order, here are some highlights from this week’s reading (with new characters in bold):
An express letter from Mr. Gardiner arrives, informing the Bennets that Lydia and Wickham have been discovered — and they are totally not married yet, YIKES
The family begins to panic even more as Lydia and Wickham’s behavior continues to baffle with its lack of even the pretense of propriety (If a young lady is going to run off with a soldier, it better be because they’re getting married and not just shacking up in the countryside!)
Mr. Gardiner and Mr. Bennet are working on a financial deal to secure Wickham as a husband—and Mr. Bennet clarifies that Wickham would be a fool to accept anything less than ten-thousand pounds (Are you reading this the same way that I am? I read this as a wildly out-of-pocket sum for this family, which has even lower negotiating power thanks to Lydia running away…they’re in dire straits and it almost has the feeling of blackmail, as if Wickham is essentially holding the love-stricken Lydia as an unknowing hostage in order to secure a living…)
Mrs. Bennet cannot handle her joy at the prospect of finally having a daughter married, no matter what the cost of the arrangement may be. She even goes so far as to suggest that her brother should pay more money into the arrangement, because he doesn’t have any children of his own to pay for. (Mrs. Bennet truly shows the depths of her cognitive dissonance in these chapters, doesn’t she!?)
Elizabeth is in pure agony as all of this drama unfolds, as she realizes the depths to which this will permanently separate her from Darcy — and makes impossible her hopes of reconciliation and a renewal of feeling.
Lydia and Wickham officially marry and visit Longbourn (despite Mr. Bennet’s clear wishes for them to eff off to the North without stopping by), and Lydia reveals that Mr. Darcy was at their wedding.
Lydia and Wickham depart to the North, where Lydia assumes she’ll be too busy to do things like write letters to her family but tells her sisters they’re more than welcome to write to her. (Lydia kinda deserves Wickham, no?)
Elizabeth is desperate for the full story, but plays coy and asks her aunt for the details. And Aunt Gardiner comes through with the details. Her letter is by far my favorite one in the entire novel because of the way she hints, at the very end, that Darcy still obviously has feelings for Lizzy. She has been gently urging this connection all along and I love the subtleties of her approach, especially compared to Mrs. Bennet’s neurotic mismanagement of the “business” of marrying these girls off.
Darcy and Bingley come to Longbourn. Darcy doesn’t pay attention to Elizabeth.
Bingley proposes to Jane in a chapter where the words “happy” and “happiness” repeat basically every sentence for two pages straight. We’re HAPPY about this, are we not? Finally!
This week, I was really paying attention to the way contrasts are at work in this novel. These chapters set up some really fantastic comparisons for us to think through:
Lydia’s behavior compared to the other sisters’
“Good gracious! When I went away,I am sure I had no more idea of being married till I came back again! Though I thought it would be very good fun if I was.”
“I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck. They must all go to Brighton. That is the place to get husbands.”
Mrs. Bennet’s reaction to Lydia’s marriage compared to literally everyone else’s reaction to that scandalously messy affair
“She was now in an irritation as violent from delight, as she had ever been fidgetty (sic) from alarm and vexation. To know that her daughter would be married was enough.”
Mr. Bennet’s feelings about Lydia compared to his feelings for his other daughters
“I will not encourage the impudence of either, by receiving them at Longbourn.”
Mrs. Gardiner’s deep understanding of Mr. Darcy’s character compared to Kitty’s remembrance of him as Mr. What’s-His-Name?
“Will you be very angry with me, my dear Lizzy, if I take this opportunity of saying (what I was never bold enough to say before) how much I like him. [Darcy’s] behavior to us has, in every respect, been as pleasing as when we were in Derbyshire. His understanding and opinions all please me; he wants nothing but a little more liveliness…”
Lydia and Wickham’s marital connection compared to what Lizzy hopes to have in her own romantic connection
“Wickham’s affection for Lydia, was just what Elizabeth had expected to find it; not equal to Lydia’s for him….their passions were stronger than their virtue”
Jane’s happiness about Bingley compared to Lizzy’s ongoing anxiety about Darcy
“If I could but see you as happy! If there were but such another man for you!”
I could dig into the individual comparisons here—and would do so with a lot of intellectual delight. It’s a feast of observations and social tensions.
But as I take a step back, I’m realizing I’m perhaps more interested in the concept of contrasts, themselves, as a gateway to understanding in the novel. I was reminded of a passage I recently read in Keith Oatley’s Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction:
“Questions of understanding what others think and feel, either in the immediacy of an encounter (theory-of-mind), or over the longer term of a relationship (character), are among the most central issues of human life. And, although we humans are good at both of these kinds of understanding, we are not that good.
Pride & Prejudice can be thought of as about the problems of coming to know other minds, coming to know them in order to love them, coming to love them because one knows them.”
As we enter the final slopes of the narrative arc, I’m really seeing how knowledge of others is forming our final reading of Elizabeth herself.
Put more simply: The more Elizabeth has gotten to know the men in her life, the more she has been able to make informed choices not just about her potential future marriage but also about what she is willing to accept from a partner and what she is unwilling to tolerate.
In other words: as Lizzy’s knowledge of others has grown, so too has her knowledge of herself.
This is a beautiful interchange—and evolution happening on the intimate character level—that helps me understand why Elizabeth deserves to have the literary standing she does, culturally. She is such a fully and authentically formed individual. She is far from the same girl we met in chapter one, and yet she is not so much changed that we cannot believe her evolution.
In fact, watching her growth, especially as she changes in comparison to those closest to her in proximity and in family, is one of the greatest pleasures of the novel (even if, at a few moments, I wondered why it was taking her so long!). From her early arrogance and bruised ego, to the long night she spends with Darcy’s letter, to these final chapters as she seems to know what she wants as well as she now knows Darcy’s character, we have watched her go through a truly humbling and deeply emotional journey.
We also have had a front row seat to seeing not just how knowing someone better can help you love them better. But knowing someone better can also, like Lizzy says of a poorly timed sonnet, kill love stone dead. Case in point: Mr. Wickham. As Lizzy has unfolded his layers of deceit and dishonesty (and downright nasty-not-niceness!), she has been able to free herself of the burden of loving a narcissist. And whew, isn’t that a gorgeous lesson to watch a young lady learn?
My heart aches for poor, foolish Lydia who was too young to know any better and who, in another obvious comparison, this time to Miss Darcy, lacks a focused and leaned-in patriarchal figure to protect her from the wickedness of dishonest men.
Lydia is critically not saved by her own father, who has failed to step in and stop her from making this mistake—despite repeated warnings from Jane and Elizabeth. She is marginally saved by her wealthy uncle, Mr. Gardiner, with whom Darcy has a ready rapport and connection. Together, these two men work to protect the reputation of the Bennet family. But even then, Darcy plays the leading role. With his status, and his guilt at having known Wickham's history of past abuse and shameless social climbing, he steps in to make reparative steps. Lydia’s situation is ultimately salvaged—as best it can be—by Darcy who, just as he did for his sister, saves a young woman who did not know how to tell the difference between false flattery and true affection.
This is another comparison these chapters make: as Elizabeth herself contemplates the sad difference between Lydia’s adoration of Wickham and his general indifference to her. Elizabeth so clearly longs for a relationship in which equality—of affection, as well as of decision-making power—forms the foundation of love.
Okay: I have a fun free write for you to try this week!
In his aforementioned book, Keith Oatley writes: “An important premise of any love story is that to start with, one doesn’t know much about the other person.” Freewrite for 15-20 minutes about how Pride & Prejudice grapples with this premise.
What other love stories can you think of that abide this premise?
Can you think of any exceptions? (For me, When Harry Met Sally feels like a really fun play on this concept!)
Every week, I share my favorite sentence. And I invite you to do the same in the comments.
“He had done all this for a girl whom he could neither regard nor esteem. Her heart did whisper, that he had done it for her.”
Here, Lydia is a the girl Darcy cannot “regard nor esteem,” because she will never be able to comprehend the depth of the favor he has done her—and by extension, her family. It’s the moment Elizabeth realizes that Darcy did the right thing because of who he is, and perhaps also because he still loves her.
What better realization could there be: that the person you love would’ve done the right thing, no matter what. And that his goodness is also a sign of his deep love for you? Swoon!!!!!! Swoon swoon swoon swoon SWOON.
There were once again no questions this week. Get them in for next time! Next week is the last time I’ll be answering readerly questions on this novel.
Here’s the form.
WEEK 10 | Monday, March 24
Finish the novel!
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See you in the comments! I cant’ wait to hear your thoughts this week.
‘Til next time…happy reading!
Another contrast I noticed in these chapters was that of time; the more fickle and passionate union between Lydia and Wickham forms surprisingly quickly. In contrast, Jane and Bingley’s relationship, which is more characterized by a similar temperament and understanding, takes more time to become realized. But most of all, at least we hope, Lizzy and Darcy coming together is long! This is likely due to their more striking differences, which Elizabeth later points out as a complementarity which would be to their advantage (though they still share many common values and traits). These contrasts seem to say, anything valuable takes time. And so I hope our patience will be rewarded…
I'm sad for Lydia, flirty yet naive, spoiled by her mother, overshadowed by older sisters, ignored by her father. In the words of Cyndi Lauper "I wanna be the one to walk in the sun...Girls just wanna have fun." The new Mrs. Wickham's return to Longbourne is embarrassing to almost the whole family, but she is triumphant. As the only married sister, she even says to Jane, the oldest, "sister I take your place now." I fear at best poverty and neglect if not outright abuse are in her future.
Her mother is also triumphant. A daughter married. And at only 16! Mrs. Bennet pivots rapidly from taking to her room in nervous collapse to planning for Lydia's wedding clothes as though this was a normal marriage. I'm not sure if Austen wants me to sympathize with Mrs. Bennet or just cringe at her melodramatic and clueless responses. Living for years with a husband who has shut her out and ridicules her to her children can't have been easy.
And what of Mr. Bennet? He had run after Lydia in such a state of anger that his wife feared he would be killed in a duel. (Was he truly recklessly angry or is that Mrs. Bennet's perception based on her truest fear, that his death will result in Collins taking over Longbourne and throwing them all out?) After his unsuccessful search for Lydia, Mr. Bennet retreats to his study with an apparent "what's done is done" attitude. His sole response to his brother-in-law finding Lydia appears to be concern for this new indebtedness to him. He wants to know how much Mr. Gardiner had to pay Wickham to arrange the marriage and mulls how he can pay him back. (In truth he knows he will never repay the debt but needs to know how beholden he now is to his brother-in-law.) He rues that he has not saved more so that he could settle this debt and also to better support the futures of his wife and daughters, but then seems to shrug this off too. Even indolence seems too active a word for him. I think he is in the midst of a major depression that has seriously impacted his entire family.
Three sad lives.
Even without reading ahead I know there is a happier ending in store for Elizabeth. The big bombshell in these chapters is what Lydia lets slip - Darcy had attended her wedding! A letter in reply to Elizabeth's query to her aunt confirms it was actually DARCY who found Lydia and Wickham and it was DARCY who made the arrangements and DARCY who made the payments that assured a marriage took place. Her aunt and uncle assume he did this for Elizabeth. DARCY has also has apparently urged Bingley to return to wooing Jane. Thus he has shown he's all in, and has delivered to Lizzy his bouquet of roses, so to speak. We're ready for the big finish unless Austen has more obstacles in these last few chapters.