Pride and Prejudice

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1813

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Volume 1, Chapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1

Volume 1, Chapter 11 Summary

That night, in the drawing room, Darcy attempts to read but is interrupted frequently by Miss Bingley, who tries in vain to draw him into conversation. She walks around the room to gain Darcy’s attention; when that fails, she invites Elizabeth to join her. Darcy finally looks up. He declines an invitation to join them and says he can imagine two reasons they are walking. Miss Bingley asks him to explain what he means. Darcy says they either have secrets to discuss or wish to show off their figures. If they have secrets, he’ll leave them alone. If they wish to show off their figures, he can watch them more easily from where he sits.

Miss Bingley expresses shock and asks how they can punish him. Elizabeth replies that they can punish him by laughing at him. Miss Bingley says it’s impossible to laugh at a man of such “calmness of temper and presence of mind” and that they’ll look foolish if they “laugh without a subject” (55). Elizabeth replies that a person who can’t be laughed at has “an uncommon advantage” (55) and an unfortunate one, for she loves to laugh.

Darcy says even the best of men can be laughed at by someone “whose first object in life is a joke” (55). Elizabeth says she never laughs at “what is wise and good” (55). She laughs only at “[f]ollies and nonsense” (55) and supposes he has none. Darcy says he strives “to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule” (56).

Elizabeth playfully states that Darcy has no flaw. Darcy denies this, offering that his greatest flaw is that his “good opinion once lost is lost for ever” (56). Elizabeth agrees that this is a flaw but admits she can’t laugh at it. Darcy suggests every person has “a natural defect,” to which Elizabeth responds that his defect is “a propensity to hate every body” (56). Darcy smiles and tells her that her defect “is willfully [sic] to misunderstand them” (56). Miss Bingley, feeling left out, suggests they play some music.

Volume 1, Chapter 12 Summary

Despite Elizabeth’s pleading, Mrs. Bennet refuses to send the carriage, desiring for Elizabeth and Jane to remain at Netherfield a few days longer. Elizabeth, fearful of staying too long, asks Jane to request the use of Mr. Bingley’s carriage. The Netherfield party urges them to stay at least until the following day, and Elizabeth and Jane agree. Miss Bingley regrets this, for “her jealousy and dislike of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other” (58). Bingley begs them to stay even longer, but Jane feels it’s time for them to go.

Darcy is happy that Elizabeth is leaving, for “[s]he attract[s] him more than he like[s]” (58). He speaks to her as little as possible this final day, lest he reveal his attraction. Even when they are left alone together for a half-hour, he doesn’t speak to or look at her.

Miss Bingley is suddenly warm upon their leaving. Mrs. Bennet, however, is disappointed at their return. Mr. Bennet is happy to see them, for family conversation “had lost much of its animation, and almost all its sense, by the absence of Jane and Elizabeth” (59). Upon Jane and Elizabeth’s return, Kitty and Lydia subject them to frivolous gossip about officers.

Volume 1, Chapter 13 Summary

Mr. Bennet announces that a man is coming to join them for dinner and enjoys the eager questioning of his wife and daughters. He eventually tells them that the guest is Mr. Collins, the cousin to whom the Bennet estate is entailed. Mrs. Bennet laments the unfairness of the system that entails his property away from his daughters.

In a letter, Mr. Collins explains that a disagreement between his late father and Mr. Bennet has troubled him and that since losing his father, he’s desired to “heal the breach” (61). Since being ordained, he’s benefited from the patronage of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and his rectory is located in her parish. Now that he’s a clergyman, it is his “duty to promote and establish the blessing of peace in all families within the reach of my influence” (61). He apologizes for being in the position of “injuring” Mr. Bennet’s “amiable daughters” and states his “readiness to make them every possible amends” (61). He closes by suggesting he “trespass on your hospitality” (61) the following week, adding that Lady Catherine will not object as long as another clergyman can take his place on Sunday.

Elizabeth, who is “chiefly struck with his extraordinary deference for Lady Catherine,” finds “something very pompous in his style” (63). When she asks if he can be “a sensible man,” Mr. Bennet replies that he has “great hopes of finding him quite the reverse” (63).

Mr. Collins arrives and needs no encouragement to talk. He is complimentary of the Bennet girls’ beauty, stating he doesn’t doubt that they will marry well. Mrs. Bennet hopes so, “for else they will be destitute enough” (63). She states he “must confess” that it is “a grievous affair” (63) for her daughters, though she doesn’t find fault with him personally. Mr. Collins assures her that he is “sensible […] of the hardship,” that he has “come prepared to admire them,” and that he will say more on the subject later (63).

At dinner, Mr. Collins admires the house and furniture; Mrs. Bennet would be pleased “but for the mortifying supposition of his viewing it as his own future property” (64).

Volume 1, Chapter 14 Summary

Mr. Bennet brings up the subject of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, correctly assessing that Mr. Collins is eager to discuss her. Mr. Collins praises Lady Catherine, claiming he “ha[s] never in his life witnessed such behaviour in a person of rank” (64) and that she has been extraordinarily gracious to him by asking him to dine at Rosings and visiting him “in his humble parsonage” (65), even bestowing on him some advice on how to furnish it.

When Mrs. Bennet asks about Lady Catherine’s daughter, Mr. Collins replies that according to Lady Catherine, Miss de Bourgh is even more beautiful than other women “because there is that in her features which marks the young woman of distinguished birth” (65). However, as she has “a sickly constitution” (65), she doesn’t possess many accomplishments. Her kindness is demonstrated in the fact that she “often condescends to drive by my humble abode” (66) in her carriage. Mr. Collins describes how he pays Miss de Bourgh little compliments whenever possible, for compliments “are always acceptable to ladies” (66). These many compliments are well regarded by Lady Catherine, and Mr. Collins feels “peculiarly bound to pay” (66). Mr. Bennet is delighted, for Mr. Collins is “as absurd as he had hoped” (66).

After dinner, the family takes to reading. Mr. Collins declares he never reads novels, and after being offered a wide selection of books, he chooses a book of sermons for young women. As he is reading, Lydia chatters to Mrs. Bennet about the officers. Mr. Collins laments that young women so seldom read serious books, even though they are “written solely for their benefit” (67). Mrs. Bennet and her daughters apologize for Lydia, and Mr. Collins says he “bore his young cousin no ill-will” (67). Then he and Mr. Bennet begin a game of backgammon.

Volume 1, Chapter 15 Summary

Austen writes that “Mr. Collins [is] not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society” (68). Though meeting his requirements at his university, he failed to make connections necessary to advance his career. He obtained the patronage of Lady Catherine due to a “fortunate chance.” His exaggerated deference to Lady Catherine, combined with his “very good opinion of himself,” results in his being “a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility” (68). His “excessively generous” (68) plan to atone for his being entailed the Bennet estate is to marry one of the Bennet daughters, as long as they are as beautiful as he has heard.

He poses his plan to Mrs. Bennet. He originally had chosen Jane to take as his wife, but when Mrs. Bennet informs him that Jane will probably soon be engaged, he easily switches to Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet is delighted that soon, two of her daughters will be married.

Lydia and her sisters, save for Mary, decide to walk into Meryton. Mr. Bennet, eager to get rid of Mr. Collins, who ceaselessly talks to him while he’s in his library, suggests he join them. Mr. Collins is happy to put away his book and agrees.

On arriving in Meryton, Kitty and Lydia are distracted by the officers, including their friend, Mr. Denny, and his friend, a handsome, charming stranger. Mr. Denny informs the girls that his friend is Mr. Wickham and that he has just “accepted a commission in their corps” (70). The Bennet daughters pass some time talking with him, pleased by his “happy readiness of conversation” (70), until Bingley and Darcy draw close on their horses. Darcy and Wickham exchange a tense, unpleasant look before Wickham touches his hat and leaves, “a salutation which Mr. Darcy just deign[s] to return” (71). Elizabeth can’t help but wonder what it means.

They arrive at the house of their aunt, Mrs. Philips. Mr. Collins is profuse in his apologies for his intrusion; Mrs. Philips is impressed with his good breeding. She tells the girls that some officers are dining at their house the next night and that she’ll invite Wickham.

They return home. Mr. Collins pleases Mrs. Bennet by telling her that Mrs. Philips is the most “elegant” (72) woman he’s seen in his life, other than Lady Catherine.

Volume 1, Chapters 11-15 Analysis

Mr. Collins’s entrance triggers a series of events that determine the course of characters’ lives. He also serves as a useful vehicle through which readers are offered deeper glimpses into characters’ psyches. Mr. Collins’s personality and his interactions provide a better understanding of central characters.

Comparing Darcy to Mr. Collins reveals Darcy’s sincerity and depth of character. At Netherfield, Elizabeth teases that Darcy lacks “[f]ollies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies” (55)—that he is without “defect” (55). Darcy contradicts her, insisting he has never claimed to be without defect. He is honest in his self-assessment, stating that his flaw is one of “temper”—he “cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself” (56). When Elizabeth suggests his “defect is a propensity to hate every body” (56), he smiles—and gently informs her that her defect “is willfully [sic] to misunderstand” (56) people. In this passage, Darcy not only speaks with humility and self-awareness, but avoids excessive flattery of Elizabeth. He chooses his words carefully and speaks sparingly, and only when he has something important to say.

On the contrary, Mr. Collins’s unctuousness is evident from his first letter to the Bennets, in which he demonstrates overblown self-importance with his verbose descriptions of his position and circumstances. Elizabeth wonders at his excessive “deference” (62) to Lady Catherine, whom Mr. Collins later will praise profusely for deigning to visit him at his “humble parsonage” and for the beauty of her daughter, who is blessed with features of a “young woman of distinguished birth” (65). So engrossed is he in his reverence to his social superior that he fails to recognize Mr. Bennet’s mocking questions, explaining with all seriousness how he relays to Miss de Bourgh the “little elegant compliments” (66) that so please women. His puffed-up effusiveness, as well as his exaggerated praise of the Bennet daughters, of Mrs. Philips, and even of Mrs. Bennet’s furniture—which she suspects he appraises as a future owner—reveal him to be insincere.

The ease with which Mr. Collins moves from Jane to Elizabeth—when Mrs. Bennet tells him Jane will likely soon be engaged, Mr. Collins “[has] only to change” (69) from one sister to the other—further distinguishes him from Darcy, who finds himself attracted to Elizabeth for specific qualities that complement his own. While Darcy recognizes and appreciates Elizabeth’s intellect and honesty, Mr. Collins sees her as another body in line to receive his beneficence.

Interestingly, Elizabeth comments that while Darcy’s “[i]mplacable resentment” is “a failing, indeed” (56), it is a fault that she “cannot laugh at” (56)—as opposed to Mr. Collins’s “absurd” diatribes, which Mr. Bennet, who’d had “great hopes” of Mr. Collins being “an oddity” (62), observes “with the keenest enjoyment” (66). Elizabeth’s assertion that she hopes Darcy’s inability to be laughed at remains “an uncommon advantage” because she “dearly love[s] a laugh” and reiterates her likeness to her father, who shares her quick wit and skeptical nature (55).

Finally, Mr. Collins’s entrance reminds readers that Mrs. Bennet is justified in her fears for her daughters’ futures. Though joking, Mr. Bennet speaks accurately when he declares that after his death, Mr. Collins “may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases” (60). Mr. Bennet frequently demonstrates exasperation for the marriage-obsessed antics of his wife; however, subsequent chapters show the dangerous effects of his lackadaisical approach.