"I am not a great reader": What Jane Austen's characters read (and why), part 2

The Reader by Marguerite Gérard and Jean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1786. Image source: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

In her book What Jane Austen's Characters Read (and Why) (Bloomsbury Academic, 2024), Persuasions editor Susan Allen Ford examines the reading preferences of Austen's characters as a key to understanding them more deeply. The previous post in this series, "So rapturous a delight," discussed Marianne Dashwood's passion for poetry in Sense and Sensibility and Catherine Morland's taste for the "horrid scenes" in Gothic novels in Northanger Abbey. In this post it's the turn of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Quotations below referenced by chapter are from Austen, while those with page numbers are from Ford's study.

Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women

There is a famous scene involving books in Pride and Prejudice. The clergyman Mr. Collins visits his cousins the Bennets, and is invited to read aloud:

Mr. Collins readily assented, and a book was produced; but on beholding it (for everything announced it to be from a circulating library) he started back, and, begging pardon, protested that he never read novels. Kitty stared at him, and Lydia exclaimed. Other books were produced, and after some deliberation he chose "Fordyce’s Sermons." (Ch. XIV)

"Protested that he never read novels." Illustration by Hugh Thomson for the "Peacock edition" of Pride and Prejudice, George Allen, 1894. Image source: Project Gutenberg

James Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women (1766) was a well-known "conduct book," whose essays cover "the attractions and dangers of the witty woman, the definition of the accomplished woman, and the depiction of the virtuous marriage and family" (p. 91). Before Mr. Collins has "with very monotonous solemnity, read three pages," Lydia, bored to tears, interrupts him to regale her mother and sisters with some gossip.

Lydia was bid by her two eldest sisters to hold her tongue; but Mr. Collins, much offended, laid aside his book, and said,—

"I have often observed how little young ladies are interested by books of a serious stamp, though written solely for their benefit. It amazes me, I confess; for certainly there can be nothing so advantageous to them as instruction." (Ch. XIV)

"A certain briskness of air and levity of deportment"

Mr. Collins, whose pomposity is only exceeded by his servility to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, is an object of Austen's sharpest satire. But Ford points out that "Jane Austen doesn't simply accept or reject conduct-book ideals" (p. 116). Instead of mocking Fordyce, Elizabeth echoes him when she warns her insufficiently vigilant father of Lydia's wayward behavior:

Our importance, our respectability in the world, must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia’s character. . .If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character will be fixed; and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous;—a flirt, too, in the worst and meanest degree of flirtation; without any attraction beyond youth and a tolerable person; and, from the ignorance and emptiness of her mind, wholly unable to ward off any portion of that universal contempt which her rage for admiration will excite. In this danger Kitty is also comprehended. She will follow wherever Lydia leads. Vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled! Oh, my dear father, can you suppose it possible that they will not be censured and despised wherever they are known, and that their sisters will not be often involved in the disgrace?” (Ch. XLI)

Events prove Elizabeth's warning to be all too prescient. But Elizabeth herself is not a model of Fordycian docility, thankfully. Fordyce's Sermon III, "On Female Reserve," criticizes young women who have

contracted a certain briskness of air and levity of deportment. . .Such an air and deportment, I well know, are by many esteemed as marks of spirit. It may be so. I am willing at least to believe that no real harm is meant by numbers who affect them. But. . .I had rather a thousand times see a young lady carry her bashfulness too far, than pique herself on the freedom of her manners.

Ford notes that "Fordyce's caution against female wit impinges directly on Austen's construction of Elizabeth Bennet, who diverges from both the conduct-book pattern and Fordyce's criteria of bashful modesty and graceful reticence—a departure that encompasses both her flaws and her virtues" (p. 91).

While Elizabeth is staying at Netherfield to nurse Jane, Caroline Bingley "often tried to provoke Darcy into disliking her guest" by pretending that they are soon to be married. Sounding very much like Fordyce, Miss Bingley urges Darcy to "endeavour to check that little something, bordering on conceit and impertinence, which your lady possesses" (Ch. X). This language reflects that of another well-known conduct-book, Hester Chapone's Letters on the Improvement of the Mind, Addressed to a Young Lady (1773). Her Letter VIII, "On Politeness and Accomplishments," declares that "nothing is so disgusting in youth as pertness and self-conceit."

Elizabeth's "liveliness of mind," though, is what first attracts Darcy: "But there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody, and Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her. He really believed that, were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger" (Ch. X).

Of course, he is in more danger (of happiness) than he realizes. Much later in the novel Elizabeth tries to explain to him how that danger arose, implicitly contrasting herself with Caroline Bingley:

"My beauty you had early withstood, and as for my manners—my behaviour to you was at least always bordering on the uncivil, and I never spoke to you without rather wishing to give you pain than not. Now, be sincere; did you admire me for my impertinence?"

"For the liveliness of your mind I did."

"You may as well call it impertinence at once. It was very little less. The fact is, that you were sick of civility, of deference, of officious attention. You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking, and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone. I roused and interested you, because I was so unlike them." (Ch. LX)

"Be not too hasty in drawing characters"

But of course, mutual interest and attraction is not how their relationship begins, or proceeds. In Sermon XIV, "On Female Meekness," Fordyce admonishes, "Be not too hasty to draw characters, in general companies especially. Whenever you do, be sure to touch on what is praiseworthy: something praiseworthy there is in every character. Over what is culpable throw the veil of charity as often as you can." Ford notes that from their very first meeting at the Meryton Assembly "both Elizabeth and Darcy move hastily towards judgments that they later must retract" (p. 92).

"She is tolerable[: but not handsome enough to tempt me]." Illustration by Hugh Thomson for Pride and Prejudice, 1894. Image source: Project Gutenberg

At the Assembly we witness Darcy early withstanding Elizabeth's beauty when Mr. Bingley urges him to dance with her:

. . .turning round, he looked for a moment at Elizabeth, till, catching her eye, he withdrew his own, and coldly said, "She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."

Mr. Bingley followed his advice. Mr. Darcy walked off; and Elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him. She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends. . . (Ch. III)

We can get the flavor of her remarks to her friends and family from Mrs. Bennet's description of Darcy to her husband after the ball. Since Mrs. Bennet has had no encounter with Darcy herself (he has "declined being introduced to any other lady" than those in his party), her opinions must derive from Elizabeth's, although, without a doubt, characteristically heightened in vehemence and exaggerated in disdain:

"Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited, that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with!. . .I quite detest the man." (Ch. III)

It is Jane Bennet who is a paragon of the qualities of modesty, reserve, dutifulness and forbearance that Fordyce extols in women. After the ball, Elizabeth and Jane are discussing Mr. Bingley:

"Well, he certainly is very agreeable, and I give you leave to like him. You have liked many a stupider person."

"Dear Lizzy!"

"Oh, you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life."

"I would wish not to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think."

"I know you do: and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough; one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design,—to take the good of everybody's character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad,—belongs to you alone." (Ch. IV)

"It is undoubtedly our duty to cultivate the powers intrusted to us"

In Letter VIII of Letters on the Improvement of the Mind Hester Chapone writes that "the attainment of such branches of knowledge and such arts and accomplishments as are proper to your sex, capacity, and station, will prove so valuable to yourself through life, and will make you so desirable a companion, that the neglect of them may reasonably be deemed a neglect of duty." Her list of accomplishments is wide-ranging:

Dancing and the knowledge of the French tongue are now so universal that they cannot be dispensed with in the education of a gentlewoman. . .Italian would be easily learned after French. . .To write a free and legible hand, and to understand common arithmetic, are indispensable requisites.

As to music and drawing, I would only wish you to follow as Genius leads. . .As I look upon taste to be an inestimable fund of innocent delight, I wish you to lose no opportunity of improving it, and of cultivating in yourself the relish of such pleasures as will not interfere with a rational scheme of life. . .

But when it comes to the importance of reading for young women, our authorities diverge. Fordyce, in his Sermon VI, says that "nature appears to have formed the faculties of your sex for the most part with less vigour than those of ours; observing the same distinction here, as in the more delicate frame of your bodies. . .Whatever kinds of reading may contribute to your general improvement and satisfaction, as reasonable beings designed for society, virtue, and religion, will deserve your attentive regard," particularly history, "voyages and travels," and poetry. But, he admonishes young women, "Your business chiefly is to read Men, in order to make yourselves agreeable and useful."

For Mrs. Chapone, however, "With regard to accomplishments, the chief of these is a competent share of reading, well chosen and properly regulated. . .Whatever tends to embellish your fancy, to enlighten your understanding, and furnish you with ideas to reflect upon when alone, or to converse upon in company, is certainly well worth your acquisition."

At Netherfield, Charles Bingley, his sister Caroline, Darcy, and Elizabeth discuss accomplishments in women, and Darcy rather surprisingly concurs with Mrs. Chapone (and even refers to the title of her book):

"It is amazing to me,” said Bingley, “how young ladies can have patience to be so very accomplished as they all are."

"All young ladies accomplished! My dear Charles, what do you mean?"

"Yes, all of them, I think. They all paint tables, cover screens, and net purses. I scarcely know any one who cannot do all this; and I am sure I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished."

"Your list of the common extent of accomplishments," said Darcy, "has too much truth. The word is applied to many a woman who deserves it no otherwise than by netting a purse or covering a screen; but I am very far from agreeing with you in your estimation of ladies in general. I cannot boast of knowing more than half-a-dozen in the whole range of my acquaintance that are really accomplished."

"Nor I, I am sure," said Miss Bingley.

"Then," observed Elizabeth, "you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished woman."

"Yes; I do comprehend a great deal in it."

"Oh, certainly," cried his faithful assistant, "no one can be really esteemed accomplished who does not greatly surpass what is usually met with. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and, besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved."

"All this she must possess," added Darcy; "and to all she must yet add something more substantial in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading."

"I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any." (Ch. VIII)

Alas, by her own admission Elizabeth does not meet Darcy's rather exalted standards for female accomplishment. Although she loves dancing—"You excel so much in the dance, Miss Eliza," Sir William Lucas tells her when she refuses to dance with Darcy at Lucas Lodge, "that it is cruel to deny me the happiness of seeing you" (Ch. VI)—she is deficient in other areas.

We are told that, at the same party, when she is prevailed on by Charlotte Lucas to sing "a song or two" that "her performance was pleasing, though by no means capital" (Ch. VI).

"The entreaties of several [that she would sing again]." Illustration by Hugh Thomson for Pride and Prejudice, 1894. Image source: Project Gutenberg

We learn even more about the accomplishments she lacks when Lady Catherine de Bourgh questions her closely:

"Do you play and sing, Miss Bennet?"

"A little."

". . .Do your sisters play and sing?"

"One of them does."

"Why did not you all learn? You ought all to have learned. . .Do you draw?"

"No, not at all."

"What, none of you?"

"Not one."

"That is very strange. But I suppose you had no opportunity. . .Has your governess left you?"

"We never had any governess."

"No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without a governess! I never heard of such a thing. Your mother must have been quite a slave to your education."

Elizabeth could hardly help smiling, as she assured her that had not been the case. (Ch. XXIX)

No governess, of course, means that Elizabeth does not know French or Italian. As for English prose and verse, she tells the company at Netherfield, "I am not a great reader," although we know that her father has a collection of books and that the Bennet family subscribes to a circulating library from which they borrow novels, such as the one offered to Mr. Collins.

Elizabeth's lack of conventional female accomplishments serves to heighten the contrast between her and Darcy's social circle, and make her a less obvious choice for him as a wife. He is the master of a country home with a "delightful library" for which he is "always buying books" (Ch. VIII), and the picture gallery at Pemberley contains "many good paintings: but Elizabeth knew nothing of the art" (Ch. XLIII).

But Darcy lacks social ease with people he doesn't know. During a gathering at Lady Catherine's, Elizabeth makes a pointed comparison between her keyboard playing and Darcy's reserve in company:

"I certainly have not the talent which some people possess," said Darcy, "of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done."

"My fingers," said Elizabeth, "do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women's do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault—because I would not take the trouble of practising." (Ch. XXXI)

The ideal marriage

Each of them has things to learn from the other, which Elizabeth grows to realize just when the unlikely possibility of marriage to Darcy is seemingly destroyed completely:

She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both: by her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved; and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance. (Ch. L)

In Sermon VII, "On Female Virtue, with Intellectual Accomplishments," Fordyce writes of the impermanence of solely physical attraction:

Nothing can detain affection or fix esteem, but that kind of beauty which depends not on flesh and blood. The least degree of understanding will be disgusted at petulance, caprice, or nonsense, even in the fairest form. External allurements are continually losing; internal attractions are continually gaining. . .The power of a face to please, or indeed to displease, is diminished every time it is seen. When appetite does not predominate, and appetite cannot predominate always, the soul will seek a soul; it will refuse to be satisfied with any thing less. If it find none, in vain shall the brightest eye sparkle. In vain shall the softest smile entice. But if a mind appear, and, wherever it resides, a mind will appear, it is recognized, admired, and embraced; even though the eye should possess no lustre, and smiles should at the moment be banished by sorrow.

As Ford notes, "Both Darcy's attraction to Elizabeth and, in contrast, the Bennets' unequal marriage are captured in this description" (p. 95).

"Mr & Mrs Bennet." Illustration by Hugh Thomson for Pride and Prejudice, 1894. Image source: Project Gutenberg

Perhaps surprisingly for a man of his time, however, Fordyce warns not only against unions based solely on physical attraction, but also against those based on the desire for social or material gain. Instead he insists that marriage must be founded on true affection: "No rules of duty can oblige you to involve yourselves in misery and temptation, by entering into engagements to love and to honour, where your hearts withhold their consent" (Sermon XII, "On Good Works").

It is Jane who first expresses this note of Fordycian caution when told by Elizabeth of her engagement to Darcy:

"Good heaven! can it be really so? Yet now I must believe you," cried Jane. "My dear, dear Lizzy, I would, I do congratulate you; but are you certain—forgive the question—are you quite certain that you can be happy with him?"

"There can be no doubt of that. It is settled between us already that we are to be the happiest couple in the world. . ."

". . .And do you really love him quite well enough? Oh, Lizzy! do anything rather than marry without affection. Are you quite sure that you feel what you ought to do?"

"Oh, yes! You will only think I feel more than I ought to do when I tell you all." (Ch. LIX)

Her father also follows Fordyce's precepts. After mentioning his first suspicion, that she is marrying for money—"you may have more fine clothes and fine carriages than Jane. But will they make you happy?"—he warns her of the unhappiness of a partnership not based on mutual love and esteem:

"Lizzy," said her father, "I have given him my consent. . .I now give it to you, if you are resolved on having him. But let me advise you to think better of it. I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband, unless you looked up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about."

Elizabeth, still more affected, was earnest and solemn in her reply; and, at length, by repeated assurances that Mr. Darcy was really the object of her choice, by explaining the gradual change which her estimation of him had undergone, relating her absolute certainty that his affection was not the work of a day, but had stood the test of many months' suspense, and enumerating with energy all his good qualities, she did conquer her father's incredulity, and reconcile him to the match.

"Well, my dear," said he, when she ceased speaking, "I have no more to say. If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you, my Lizzy, to anyone less worthy." (Ch. LIX)

As Ford writes, "the intertextual play generated" by the conduct books Austen references "draws particular attention. . .to the model of virtue and romance that Elizabeth and Darcy represent. In effect, in Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen writes a different kind of conduct book—in which her readers, her heroine and her hero might all be said to collaborate" (pp. 116–17).

The wedding parties leaving the church. Illustration by Hugh Thomson for Pride and Prejudice, 1894. Image source: Project Gutenberg

Next time: "To be a renter, a chuser of books!": Mansfield Park