Chapters XXIV–XXXIV: In which hearts are broken in several different ways, Lizzy visits Charlotte, and she receives another proposal.
The Bingley/Jane romance is definitely shattered, and Jane is heartbroken. Lizzy’s aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, arrive for a visit, and Mrs. Gardiner warns Lizzy not to encourage Wickham in flirtation, because his income is too low for him to marry Lizzy. Jane goes to London to stay with the Gardiners, and she has hopes of seeing her friend, Caroline Bingley (the Mean Girl, remember?). Lizzy had warned Jane that Caroline was insincere in her friendship, but Jane truly believed that she and Caroline were BFFs. So when poor Jane is horribly snubbed by Caroline, she realizes that not only has she lost a potential fiancé (Caroline’s brother is Mr. Bingley, as you no doubt recall) but also a supposed friend.
Meanwhile, Wickham suddenly stops courting Lizzy and turns his attentions instead to a young woman of considerable fortune. Lizzy realizes that she was not in love with Wickham, but she is still a bit downcast by the end of their flirtation, and she has a bit of “perhaps I am incapable of real love” ennui to boot. Lizzy is also very worried about Jane, who did love Bingley and who is truly devastated.
Lizzy goes to visit Charlotte, who is living a more or less contented life with Mr. Collins, largely by encouraging him to stay out of the house (he likes gardening, thank goodness). While Charlotte’s marriage is not an especially affectionate one, she does seem to like having her own home, which is pretty much the sum total of what she had expected and hoped for from the marriage. Lizzy finally meets the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, at the Bourgh estate (Rosings). And who should be staying at Rosings but…Darcy! My God, that man is everywhere!
Lizzy pays several visits to Rosings, and Darcy pays several visits to the parsonage (where Mr. Collins lives). Charlotte suggests to Lizzy that perhaps all these visits are happening because Darcy likes her, but Lizzy refuses to entertain the notion. Thus Lizzy is absolutely astonished when Darcy, who has yet to manage a prolonged conversation with her that did not involve either an exchange of barbs or an exchange of awkward pleasantries, proposes to her. She is especially astonished because this proposal ends up being even more unpleasant than the one she got from Mr. Collins. It starts off well, “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” (483). Um, okay—tell on, handsome, rich, single man! But alas it immediately nosedives as Darcy proceeds to list all of the unsuitable and unpleasant things about Lizzy and her family, and adds that darn it all, he cannot fight his feelings for her, as unsuitable and degrading as they are.
The timing of Darcy’s proposal could not be worse, for Lizzy just learned from Darcy’s friend, Colonel Fitzwilliam, that Darcy is the one who broke up Jane and Bingley! That scumbucket! Lizzy proceeds to bawl him out for the following:
1. Insulting her family and herself during a marriage proposal, of all things.
2. Breaking up Bingley and Jane.
3. Reducing Wickham to poverty.
4. Being a selfish, conceited snob.
So, that would be a no to the proposal.
Chapters XXXV–XXXVIII: Lizzy gets a letter and questions all of her assumptions.
Darcy gives Lizzy a letter in which he explains his previous actions.
1. Lizzy’s family is awful. It’s the truth, and Darcy cannot tell a lie. Not only are they below his social station, but with the exception of Jane and Lizzy, their behavior is atrocious. Sadly, we (the readers and poor, mortified Lizzy) know this to be true, especially after the many disastrous faux pas of the Meryton Ball.
2. When Darcy watched Jane with Bingley, he could not detect any particular signs of love on Jane’s part (point to Charlotte, who saw that coming due to Jane’s reserved nature). This, combined with the comments of Mrs. Bennet about how Jane was going to marry Mr. Bingley and get loads of money, led Darcy to believe that Jane was only interested in Bingley for his money, and so he warned Bingley against pursuing the relationship. Because he thought Jane did not truly care for Bingley, he did not think he was causing her pain. He was attempting to be a good friend to Bingley.
3. Mr. Wickham had actually told Darcy that he did not want the church living allotted to him and asked for money instead. Darcy gave him the money, but when Wickham ran out of money due to living “a life of idleness and dissipation,” he asked for the living, and Darcy refused. Wickham then attempted to persuade Darcy’s younger sister to elope with him so that he could get her fortune. This sister, Georgiana, was only fifteen at the time. Luckily, at the last minute, Georgiana confessed to her brother that she was planning to run off with Wickham and the elopement was prevented.
4. Darcy doesn’t specifically attempt to counter the overall assertion that he is a snobbish jerk, but his letter reveals great consideration for his family and his friends, and a lack of malice toward Lizzy and Jane.
Lizzy returns home with her perception of herself much changed:
How despicably I have acted! I who prided myself on my abilities…How humiliating is this discovery! Yet, how just a humiliation! Had I been in love, I could not have been more wretchedly blind! But vanity, not love, has been my folly…Till this moment I never knew myself” (521).
At this point Lizzy does not think herself to be in love with Darcy, but she is terribly embarrassed to have so severely misjudged him. Lizzy’s sense of herself is of someone who can judge others accurately, and sadly this seems not to be the case, as she has in some way misjudged everyone around her. She misjudged Darcy and Wickham, and even Jane and Bingley, who she thought could read each other’s feelings while in fact they couldn’t. Meanwhile, though Lizzy initially assumed that Darcy was a selfish, malicious jerk, he actually seems to be a responsible, caring person whose biggest flaws are that he’s genuinely stuck-up (I’m sorry, but Darcy is not getting out of that one—he really is kind of a snob), somewhat insensitive and finds it hard to communicate unless he uses paper.
Chapters XXXIX–XLV: In which Lydia Goes to Brighton, and Lizzy goes to Pemberley.
The Bennet family is reunited when Jane comes home from London. Lizzy tells Jane about Wickham, but not about Bingley. The sisters decide that they need not share the information they have about Wickham’s character with their family because it is confidential and because the regiment is about to leave Meryton for Brighton so Wickham will probably never enter the family’s story again anyway. Yeah, ladies, that’s a foolproof plan. Good luck with that.
Lydia is invited to go to Brighton with her ditzy teenaged friends. Lizzy begs her father to forbid it since the town is full of cute boys with bad intentions, Lydia’s friend is an irresponsible idiot, and they know virtually nothing about the “supervising adults,” but Mr. Bennet lets Lydia go so as to have some peace in the house. Mr. Bennet doesn’t parent. It cuts into his alone time.
Meanwhile Lizzy is to go on a sightseeing trip with Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner. Much to Lizzy’s embarrassment, her aunt and uncle are determined to see Pemberley, Darcy’s estate (it was customary for many of the great estates to be open to the public for tours during certain times). Lizzy is assured that Darcy will not be there, but, of course, he shows up. By the time he appears, Lizzy has had a good look at the splendor of Pemberley and has reflected pensively on the fact that she could have been the mistress of such a place. She has also heard all kinds of wonderful things from the housekeeper about how kind and generous Darcy is. By now Lizzy has gone from thinking that maybe Darcy is okay to thinking that Darcy is a gem of a guy and she was an idiot for ruining her chance of marrying him. When Darcy shows up, all traces of his former stiff, standoffish manner are gone. He is very welcoming to the Gardiners, and asks Lizzy if he can introduce her to his sister. Lizzy feels a glimmer of hope that maybe he still likes her! Everything is going well when…
Chapters XLVI–LV: Disaster…and rescue!
Lizzy receives a frantic letter from Jane relating that Lydia has run off with Wickham. At first they were assumed to have eloped, which was bad enou
gh, but now there is no sign that they married at all. Scandal! Ruin! Drama! Lizzy has to tell this story to Darcy, which causes her intense shame. She is overcome with emotion, and he seems to become withdrawn again. Lizzy has to rush home, with the surety that not only is Lydia ruined, but the other Bennet sisters are also ruined by association. Lizzy is convinced that Darcy will certainly have no regard for her after this. Now that she can’t have him, she realizes that she wants him, but too bad for her.
The men of the family run around England looking for Lydia, while the women are trapped at home, nursing Mrs. Bennet, who is busy making everything about her: “I am frightened out of my wits—and have such trembling, such flutterings, all over me—such spasms in my side and pains in my head, and such beatings at heart, that I can get no rest by night or by day” (684).
At last Mr. Gardiner writes to say that he has found Lydia and Wickham, and they are not married yet but they are willing to become married if allotted a relatively small yearly sum from Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet is convinced that Mr. Gardiner surely paid Wickham a great deal more than is being admitted to. Mrs. Bennet is elated to have a daughter married off—she seems to have completely forgotten the scandalous circumstances surrounding the marriage. Lizzy and Jane are both thrilled at the family’s salvation, but sad that Lydia is entering what will surely be an unhappy marriage.
Lydia and Wickham come home for a visit before heading out to Wickham’s new post. Lydia is completely unconcerned about the drama she caused and lords it over her unmarried sisters. More importantly, she lets slip to Lizzy that Darcy was at the wedding. Lizzy writes to the Gardiners to find out what happened. It turns out that Darcy has saved the Bennet family from disgrace. He located Wickham and Lydia, paid off Wickham’s debts, purchased a new military commission for Wickham and settled a generous sum on Lydia, with the condition that Wickham marry her. Wickham had no plans to marry Lydia. If not for Darcy’s intervention, Lydia would have been abandoned and the entire family would have been shunned by all of society—especially by suitors for the other sisters.
As if that were not enough to redeem Darcy in Lizzy’s eyes, Darcy and the Bingleys return to Netherfield, and as soon as Bingley and Jane see each other again, it is clear that the romance is back on. Sure enough, Bingley proposes to Jane, and she, of course, accepts. The only sad note is that Darcy and Lizzy have returned to their former state of awkwardness, and Lizzy pensively realizes that just as she has learned to appreciate Darcy, the bad behavior of her family, combined with her previous treatment of him, means that he is lost to her forever.
Chapters LVI: In which all ends well due to the marvels of reverse psychology.
About one week after Jane’s engagement, Lady Catherine de Bourgh appears at the Bennet home and demands to speak to Lizzy. Lady Catherine has heard that Lizzy is in the brink of becoming engaged to Darcy, and she is sure that this cannot be true, and insists on hearing from Lizzy that there is no engagement. Lizzy basically tells Lady Catherine to mind her own business. Lady Catherine announces that Darcy is supposed to marry her daughter, due to informal plans that she (Lady Catherine) has always had. Lizzy points out that this does not constitute a binding arrangement, and therefore she would most certainly accept a proposal from Darcy if she were to receive one. Lady Catherine says that all of Darcy’s family and friends will shun them. Lizzy says somewhat acerbically that she can live with that just fine, thank you very much. She states that there is, at present, no engagement between them, but she refuses to promise that she would reject Darcy should he propose to her. They part on what might most tactfully be called “ill terms.”
Then Lizzy is called into her father’s study. He informs her that Mr. Collins has written to him to say that Lizzy should not marry Darcy, because Lady Catherine does not approve. Mr. Bennet has no idea that Darcy saved the Bennets from disgrace. And, last he heard, Lizzy loathed Darcy. So he thinks this letter is hilarious, and can’t imagine where Mr. Collins could possibly have gotten the idea that Darcy and Lizzy would have anything to do with one another. Lizzy is hard-pressed to pretend to laugh.
Finally, Darcy himself appears. Lizzy thanks him for saving her sister from ruin. Darcy says the following (be prepared to swoon a little here):
You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject forever (851).
Lizzy rushes to assure him that her feelings have changed, and they say many loving and enthusiastic things that Jane Austen does not quote (drat!). It turns out that Lady Catherine is responsible for Darcy’s show of affection because she told Darcy about her meeting with Lizzy. Darcy figured that if Lizzy had no interest in him, she would have told Lady Catherine. This gave him enough hope to ask Lizzy if her feelings toward him had changed.
From this point on, everybody’s actions and motivations are explained and everyone is happy. Darcy and Lizzy marry, and Kitty spends a lot of time with them and stops being so silly. Mary grows slightly less pompous, while Lydia stays silly forever. Jane and Bingley, and, of course, Lizzy and Darcy, live happily every after. The end.
The Big Picture
Almost all of the many, many adaptations of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights have stayed firmly rooted in the Victorian Era. On the other hand, Pride and Prejudice appears to be endlessly adaptable. Despite changes in class and gender roles, parents still seem to anxious to see their kids happily married, preferably to a well-off spouse. People still make false first impressions and have misunderstandings based on pride. And people still struggle to find a place in society, and to determine how much to rebel and how much to conform to society’s expectations and images of them. So even though the specific challenges Lizzy and her sisters face are obsolete, the big picture remains much the same, whether you are an English girl in Regency England, a young woman in India or an American graduate student with a vlog.
Here are the points that are most important for a film adaptation to touch on:
1. Pride and prejudices are bad—some of the time. Austen points out that pride can be earned and constructive. Lizzy’s sense of pride, in the sense of self-respect, keeps her from what would surely have been a miserable marriage to Mr. Collins and from bowing to the wishes of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. But snobbery, or “overweening pride,” is destructive, and so is making snap judgments about others and being unwilling to reconsider them. Flexibility is key.
2. The members of Lizzy’s family love and exasperate each other and feel a strong sense of responsibility toward each other. Lydia’s great sin is not so much that she runs away with Wickham, but that she fails to grasp, or care about, the effect her actions will have on her family. Although different adaptations can interpret the text quite differently with regard to, say, how Mr. and Mrs. Bennet feel about each other, it is clear that the family has a tight, if dysfunctional, bond and that Austen feels that you owe your family members some responsibilities.
3. As in Jane Eyre, responsibility and service are important, but so is one’s own happiness. Lizzy is expected to care about her sisters and try to take care of them when they need help. She is not expected (by the reader, her father or her sisters) to marry someone she loathes to keep the family out of debt (her mother is all for it, but we are clearly supposed to side with Lizzy on this issue).
4. A revisionist version will necessarily take all kinds of liberties with the characters’ dress and behavior, but the core values of Austen should remain. Lizzy is admired (by the reader) for walking through mud to help her sister, and for being a fairly forthright and outspoken person and a loyal, if often misguided, friend. But although a certain amount of what we might call “liberated” behavior is appreciated, the outright rebellion that involves ignoring the consequences that fall on others is most certainly not tolerated. Intelligence, restraint, tact and politeness tempered with authenticity are good things. How these values are expressed will depend on th
e setting of the adaptation, but they must be expressed in some form.
5. Why is Darcy the ultimate romantic hero? There are many elements of Darcy that make him interesting and magnetic. His standoffish, brooding behavior gives him an air of mystery, which is augmented by the fact that his demeanor suggests that he is one kind of person: a snob. But the words of his friends and servants suggest that he is kind, generous and friendly. Meanwhile, Wickham’s tales suggest that Darcy is a villain. Who is this man of mystery? Darcy also has the glow that comes with being unattainable. His very lack of interest in Lizzy is interesting. And, of course, Darcy has many qualities one might look for in a mate—he is healthy, good-looking, has high social status and loads and loads of money.
These are all qualities that make Darcy interesting—qualities that pose the question: might this person, who seems to be a jerk, actually be the ultimate hero? And what ultimately answers this question is Darcy’s actions during the Lydia disaster. Darcy undergoes physical discomfort, monetary loss and incredible amounts of awkwardness to save Lydia, and thereby the Bennet family, from ruin, and he does it without seeking credit. He tells Lizzy that he did it for her, but only after she tells him that she knows what he did. At this point it becomes clear that, while Darcy is a man of many flaws, he is what today would be called a stand-up guy. He is always there for his friends and his family.
Lizzy is impressed by Pemberley not just because it speaks of large amounts of money and status, but because it demonstrates that Darcy is aware of his privilege and, like Spider-Man, he knows that “with great power comes great responsibility.” He looks after his tenants. He is kind to his servants. He virtually raises his young sister. If anything, he is protective to a fault, as when he takes charge of Bingley’s love life.
Lizzy can trust Darcy to support her, period. He respects her as a person, he is willing to examine his behavior and grow, and he helps Lizzy grow. Although Darcy may say tactless things, when the chips are down, he will never, ever fail to support Lizzy if he can help it. And that, my friends, is romantic.
Pride, Prejudice and Popcorn Page 5