P&P Ch. 13-15

1) "My daughter and my nephew are formed for each other...They are destined for each other by the voice of every member of their respective houses; and what is to divide them? The upstart pretensions of a young woman without family, connections, or fortune. Is this to be endured! But it must not, shall not be. If you were sensible of your own good, you would not wish to quit the sphere, in which you have been brought up" (Austen 272).

When Lady Catherine first visits Longbourn, she begins by indirectly insulting the estate, basically. Then, after she walks with Elizabeth, Lady Catherine explodes on her about a supposed marriage between her and her nephew, Mr. Darcy. Obviously, she would be upset, as Mr. Darcy was supposed to marry Miss de Bourgh. In her argument with Elizabeth, twice did Lady Catherine insult her directly, the quote above being the second. This one seemed more important to me, because Lady Catherine mentions the sphere of class Elizabeth was born into. This is a major focal point of her argument, aside from the fact that Darcy and Miss de Bourgh were destined since birth to wed. Lady Catherine ouright threatens Elizabeth to stay away from her nephew, though Elizabeth wittily retorts against Lady Catherine's every word expertly.

2) "Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her feelings appear what they were not. It was necessary to laugh, when she would rather cried. Her father had most cruelly mortified her, by what he said of Mr. Darcy's indifference, and she cold do nothing but wonder at such a want of penetration, or fear that perhaps, instead of his seeing too little, she might have fancied too much" (278).

This made me feel bad for Elizabeth. After receiving the letter from Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennet addresses Elizabeth with the parts that concern her, parts that detail the supposed marriage of Darcy and herself. Ignorance is bliss, as Mr. Bennet clearly demonstrates. He has no clue that Darcy loves Elizabeth, vice-versa, and that Darcy has already proposed to Elizabeth once. Because he does not know about such things, he is able to laugh at the entire situation. He finds it hilarious that Mr. Collins would choose Darcy as opposed to any other gentleman, because as he believes it, Darcy despises Elizabeth. He also thinks Elizabeth reciprocates, when meanwhile she is painfully taking every word her father mentions. He claims he has seen too little of this, but Elizabeth believes that, because of how much his words hurt and how, to her, they seem sensible, that she has been too farfetched in her beliefs of a second proposal from Darcy.