Jane forms an attachment to Mr. Bingley and reveals to Elizabeth how much she has been affected by his attention and by what she knows of his character so far. "...just what a young man ought to be..." I love how playful and teasing Elizabeth is towards those she loves in these chapters. I have been battling a sinus infection lately and it's the end of the school year; my kid is in a toddler-aged program and in what-I-call pre-preschool and will attend preschool next year; consequently, I am foreseeing how busy the end-of-the-year is for parents and kids. My voice displays enough continuity where I wanted to post these recordings but you may or may not detect a hint of my mild illness.
Upon reflection, I enjoy thinking about the following quote because I like when people say they can read others well. I think Elizabeth is quite perceptive in her first assessments of Mr. Bingley's sisters:
"'Certainly not—at first. But they are very pleasing awomen when you converse with them. Miss Bingley is to live with her brother, and keep his house; and I am much mistaken if we shall not find a very charming neighbour in her.'
Elizabeth listened in silence, but was not convinced; their behaviour at the assembly had not been calculated to please in general; and with more quickness of observation and less pliancy of temper than her sister...she was very little disposed to approve them. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited."
I will have more reflections for you, I am sure, as I voice how Elizabeth discovers the authenticity of Mr. Darcy. Personally, I tend to be playful as Elizabeth but not as astute in my assessment of others' character; I am much more like Jane and am inclined to think the best of others.
This is such a good quote:
"The manner in which they spoke of the Meryton assembly was sufficiently characteristic. Bingley had never met with more pleasant people or prettier girls in his life...he had soon felt acquainted with all the room; and, as to Miss Bennet, he could not conceive an angel more beautiful. Darcy, on the contrary, had seen a collection of people in whom there was little beauty and no fashion, for none of whom he had felt the smallest interest, and from none received either attention or pleasure. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much."
In chapter 5, I love the gathering of all the ladies and how they interject upon each other about everything that happened.
"That the Miss Lucases and the Miss Bennets should meet to talk over a ball was absolutely necessary..." They reflect much on the perception of prideful Mr. Darcy:
"'I do not believe a word of it, my dear. If he had been so very agreeable, he would have talked to Mrs. Long. But I can guess how it was; everybody says that he is eat up with pride...'
'I do not mind his not talking to Mrs. Long,' said Miss Lucas, 'but I wish he had danced with Eliza.'
'Another time, Lizzy,' said her mother, 'I would not dance with him, if I were you.'
'I believe, ma'am, I may safely promise you never to dance with him.'
'His pride,' said Miss Lucas, “does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud.'
'That is very true,' replied Elizabeth, 'and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.'
'Pride,' observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, 'is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it...Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.'
I find it really interesting how Elizabeth refers to the ball; I wonder how truly mortified she feels and if she would have chosen that word had she not been in the company of her mother and in this particular conversation. Has anybody read or seen Lauren Gunderson's Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley? I'm really looking forward to reading that someday, and am curious how Gunderson has characterized Mary Bennet.On a side note, Gunderson has a different work entitled Book of Will about to go on stage for the summer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She and those producing the play at OSF started an initiative to gather people speaking pieces of Shakespeare and will have some of the pieces involved in their production this summer. Here's a link on my Facebook page to what I recorded: Kirsten's facebook video as Beatrice Additionally, I participated in an interview about this production and initiative and am in a portion of the video/link entitled "People Submit Videos From Across the Interwebs to Help with OSF Play"
Here's Austen's two chapters as I recorded them:
No comments:
Post a Comment