Who sent Lady Catherine on her wild ride to Longbourn? I always say that Jane Austen never plants a question in our heads without giving us the answer, and she continues to prove me right.
Tag: Pride and Prejudice
“Is this,” thought Elizabeth, “meant for me?” – Rereading the Turning Point Conversation between Elizabeth Bennet and Colonel Fitzwilliam
Elizabeth’s blush when she says that distance isn’t a problem if money is no object. Even her feigned coolness when she tells Col Fitzwilliam that she’s surprised Darcy doesn’t marry for the convenience of a built-in travel buddy, all take on new shape.
Jane Austen: Mockingbird
Austen took the skills of an expert impersonator and moved them to the written page.
Virginia Woolf on Jane Austen
“…even if the pangs of outraged vanity, or the heat of moral wrath, urged us to improve away a world so full of spite, pettiness, and folly, the task is beyond our powers. … No touch of pettiness, no hint of spite, rouse us from our contemplation. Delight strangely mingles with our amusement. Beauty illumines these fools.”
CALL IT “CONSPIRACY”: the plot against Georgiana Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)
Mrs. Younge was able to buy “a large house” in a nice part of London immediately after her plot with Wickham was foiled. And since we know that she didn’t take advantage of a low-interest rate deal at her local lender, that means that she had the money to buy it while she was working as Georgiana’s governess.
The Miss Bates Traveling, Talking Circus: Chapter by chapter
It wasn’t until later—once the unmistakable pattern was clear—that I went, “OH MY GOD, THE LETTER! Of course! That little minx has been toying with us all along!”
Austen’s Insidious Poisoners – Mr. Collins: the spider
Can anyone believe that he meant the nice things wrapped up in knives early in the book, but not the ones later in it? That his cruelty is a new affliction?
Jane, Jane! What’s in a name? Mrs. Elton’s most unpardonable sin.
What Mr. Knightley cannot fathom is that anyone—even Mrs. Elton—could address someone with the dignity and pride of Jane Fairfax like an inferior to her face. And by calling Miss Fairfax “Jane,” Mrs. Elton is indeed “continually insulting” her.
Regency Dinner Parties and Mrs. Bennet’s “two full courses”
WTF does Mrs. Bennet mean by “courses”? Your intrepid reporter went in search of answers.
“…she had the consolation of thinking that Mr. Bingley would be soon down again, and soon dining at Longbourn; and the conclusion of all was the comfortable declaration, that, though he had been invited only to a family dinner, she would take care to have two full courses.”
Exact Words 