A new neighbor

 

3. Choose the right item.

 

1. Mr. Collins lived ...

a) in Netherfield;   b) at Longbourn;

c) in London;   d) in the country of Kent. 

2. Mr. Bennet had £ ... a year.

a) 10000; b) 2000; c) 5000; d) 8000. 

3. Mrs. Bennet got the desirable information of what Mr. Bingley was like from ...

a) her husband;   b) her daughters;

c) Lady Lucas;   c) Mrs. Philips. 

4. The public dance in the nearby town of Meryton was very successful for ...

a) Elizabeth;  b) Lydia; c) Jane; d) Charlotte. 

5. At the Lucas’s house Mr. Darcy was always near Elizabeth because he ...

1. wanted to make jokes about her;

2. wanted to show that he was looking down on the society of Meryton;
3. had fallen in love with her;
4. began to change his ideas of her and wanted to know her better.

 

6. When Sir William asked Mr. Darcy to dance with Elizabeth the young gentleman ...

a) was willing to do it;  b) was unwilling to do it;

c) agreed only being polite; d) refused to do it. 

7. Mrs. Bennet was against Elizabeth’s walking to Netherfield because…

a) she thought Eliza might fall ill; 

b) the weather was very nasty;

c) the way to Netherfield was long and dangerous;

d) the people at Netherfield could look down on her for walking across

    muddy fields. 

8. Mr. Collins decided to marry because ...

1. it was required of him socially;

2. he had fallen in love with Elizabeth;
3. Mrs. Bennet talked him into marrying one of her daughters;
4. That was Lady Catherine’s advice.

 

9. At the Philips’ house in Meryton it was ... who introduced the subject of their meeting with Darcy.

a) Elizabeth;  b) Lydia; c) Mr. Collins; d) Mr. Wickham. 

10. Elizabeth dressed carefully for the dance at Netherfield because she wanted ...

1. to win Mr. Wickham’s heart;

2. to win Mr. Darcy’s heart;
3. to win Mr. Collins’s heart;
4. to get as many invitations for dance as possible.

 

4. Say who in Part I is characterized in this way.
1. His looks, his manners, his conversation put him far above the other officers. Here at last ... was a true gentleman.
2. She’s a most charming young lady. She has more real beauty than other girls, because she looks more truly noble. She’s not, however, in good health and her education has suffered. But she’s perfectly polite.
3. He seems an interesting mixture: humble and self-important at the same time.
4. She might not be exactly beautiful, but she had nice eyes. As for her conversation, it was not like fashionable London talk. But there was something very attractive in her easy, laughing manner.
5. She was twenty eight, had little money to expect from her family. Also she was not so pretty. She sometimes felt she was getting too old to find a husband.
6. He was a strange mixture of clever jokes and long silences.
7. She was not as clever or educated as her husband. She was also easily upset. Her pleasures were visiting, talking and clothes.
8. He was good-looking, charming and fond of dancing. He was a rich young man with £ 5000 a year and very friendly. Soon he made himself popular with everybody.
9. She was very pretty and had good sense, but she didn’t seem to see people’s faults. She used to hide her feelings under cheerful friendliness which she showed to everyone.
10. They were fashionable London Ladies who could be charming when they liked. They were proud. They looked down at the country society of Meryton.

 

II. Discussing the Text 

1. Explain why in Part I:
1. Mrs. Bennet was quite excited that Netherfield had been let at last;
2. Mr. Bennet was one of the first to visit Mr. Bingley the next morning after the latter’s arrival;
3. Mrs. Bennet became alarmed when Mr. Bingley had left for London;
4. Mr. Darcy who attracted so much attention at the beginning was less admired later on;
5. Mr. Darcy did not want to invite Elizabeth for a dance in the town of Meryton but was quite willing to do it later;
6. Mrs. Bennet was glad that Jane had to go to Netherfield on horseback;
7. Bingley’s sisters and the gentlemen at Netherfield saw Elizabeth differently when she arrived after walking across the muddy fields;
8. Miss Bingley was friendly when Elizabeth entered the room and invited her to take a walk to the window;

9. Mr. Darcy decided to stay where he sat writing a letter though Miss Bingley invited him to join Elizabeth and herself;

10. Miss Bingley thought Mr. Darcy has no faults. 
 
 

2. Add more details to these:

1. “I hope,” said Mr. Bennet to his wife, “you’ve planned a good dinner today, as I’m expecting a guest.”

2. The Bennets were not rich, but they lived comfortably ... However, the situation was worse than it seemed ...

3. Mr. Bennet was fully satisfied. His cousin was even more foolish than he had hoped.
4. “As I told Lady Catherine myself, the world of fashion has lost of its brightest jewels – I like to make little remarks like this.”
5. This was the subject Mr. Collins was ready to talk about all night.
6. “Nobody could tell you more about Pemberley and the Darcys than me.”
7. Elizabeth smiled: “If pride is no fault, he has no faults.”
8. Mrs. Bennet’s hatred of Longbourn’s future owner suddenly and strongly seemed to disappear.
9. “You may not know that Lady Catherine is Mr. Darcy’s aunt.”
10. Miss Bingley: “Let me warn you, as a friend, Elizabeth, not to believe everything Mr. Wickham says.”

 

3. Say what happened:

1. in the neighborhood of Longbourn that made the ladies of the Bennet family excited;
2. during the public dance in the town of Meryton;
3. during a party at the Lucas’s house;
4. to Jane when she went to Netherfield to have dinner with Miss Bingley and her sister Mrs. Hurst;
5. to Elizabeth during her stay at Netherfield while Jane was ill;
6. while Darcy was writing a letter to his sister;
7. when Mr. Collins arrived at Longbourn;
8. when Elizabeth and her sisters were walking with Mr. Collins to their mother’s sister, Mrs. Philips;
9. during the dance at Netherfield.

 

4. Comment on the following and if possible give your own opinion.
1. It is a well-known fact that a single man with plenty of money must be in need of wife.
2. The situation of the Bennets was worse than it seemed because of a lawyer’s agreement, made years before by Mr. Bennet’s grandfather.
3. “A woman may often want to hide her feelings for a man,” said Charlotte, “to stop people talking. But if she hides them too well, she’ll lose him.”

 

4. If people knew all about person they were going to marry, they wouldn’t do it.
5. A lady’s thought jump straight from admiration to love, and from love to marriage.
6. Pride may be a fault in someone who has nothing to be proud about.
7. At Meryton in the Philips’s house Mr. Collins said the room there was quite like the small summer breakfast room at Rosings.
8. “I’m a disappointed man. I wasn’t brought up for the army but for the church.”
9. Elizabeth had been avoiding her mother all evening so as not to hear her talking.”
10. Mrs. Bennet returned home happily certain that in three months Jane would be settled at Netherfield. She was equally sure that her second daughter would soon be Mrs. Collins. But she didn’t care much about this for Elizabeth was her least favorite child.

 

5.   Give a talk on one of these topics. Mention the indicated points.
1. The Bennet family: the place where they lived, the money the family lived on, interests of all the members of the family, the way they spent their time, their relatives.

 

2. The Bingleys: Mr Bingley and his sisters (Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst), the difference between the sisters and their brother, their attitude to the Bennet family, to Meryton society.

 

3. Mr Collins: the relationships to the Bennet family, the present position, the real and declared aim of his visit to Longbourn, his ideas of life and his attitude to the nobility, his favourite topics of conversation, his little remarks, his wish to “spread peace”, his ability to dance.

 

4. Mr Wickham: his appearance, his way of behaviour, his meeting with the Bennet girls and Mr Darcy, his conversation with Elizabeth, his attitude towards Mr Darcy and his sister, his absence at the dance at Netherfield.

 

5. Elizabeth Bennet: her appearance, her parents’ attitude towards the young lady, her ideas of her own mother, her feelings for Jane, her sense of humour, her manner of leading the conversation, her ideas of Mr Darcy, Mr Bingley, Mr Collins and Mr Wickham.

 

6. Jane Bennet: her appearance, her mother’s plans about her future, her attitude to people, Elizabeth’s opinion of Jane’s affection for Mr Bingley, Elizabeth’s success during the dances.

 

7. Maryton society: people who were of some importance in the neighbourhood, their interests, the way of their living.

 

8. Mr. Darcy: the interests of local people in the gentleman, certain changes in the opinion, his attitude to the local society, to Miss Bingley, to Elizabeth, to Mr. Wickham, his way of leading conversation.

 

6. Compare these characters:

1. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley.
2. Elizabeth and Jane Bennet.
3. Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet.

4. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham.

 

7. Act out the talks between:

1. Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet before the public dance;
2. Elizabeth and Charlotte about Jane and her possible marriage;
3. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet at Netherfield;
4. Mr. Bennet and Mr. Collins on the day of his arrival to Longbourn;
5. Mr. Wickham and Elizabeth Bennet at the Philips’;

 

  Part II 

  Chapter 7

  Mr. Collins makes an offer 

  The next day Mr. Collins asked Elizabeth to marry him. After breakfast he found her with her mother and Catherine at their needlework. “I hope, Madam,” he said to Mrs. Bennet, “that you will not mind my speaking to your daughter Elizabeth in private.”

  “Oh dear – yes, certainly – I’m sure Lizzy will be very happy – come, Catherine, I need you upstairs,” said Mrs. Bennet, picking up her pins and needles.

  “Mother, please don’t go – I’m sure anything Mr. Collins has to say can be heard by anybody,” said Elizabeth.

  “Nonsense, Lizzy. I want you to stay and hear Mr. Collins,” said her mother and left the room.

  “Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth,” Mr. Collins began, “your modesty only adds to your charm. Without this show of unwillingness you would be less attractive to me. But let me put your mind at rest. Your mother has given her permission for this little talk. The subject of it can be no secret to you. Almost as soon as I arrived here, I chose you as the companion of my future life. But before I let my feelings run away with me, let me give my reasons for getting married.”

  He then went on to do this. First he thought it right for a parson to set a good example. Secondly he thought marriage would add to his happiness. Thirdly, and most important of all, Lady Catherine advised it.

  “A gentleman like you, Mr. Collins, should marry,” she had said. “Choose carefully. Choose a lady for my sake – and for your own sake choose an active, useful sort of person. Bring her to Hunsford, and I will visit her.”

  Mr. Collins said he was sure Elizabeth would suit Lady Catherine perfectly. For she would surely treat the great lady with the respect which her high rank deserved.

  “Now,” he said, “it only remains for me to express the full strength of my feelings for you. I care nothing for money, since I know that you have none – except, of course, for the £1000 at four per cent which will be yours when your mother dies. Be sure that I shall never say a word of complaint about this when we’re married ...’

  Elizabeth had to interrupt him at this point. “You forget, Sir, that I haven’t yet given you an answer. Let me do so now. I’m greatly honored by your offer, but I’m afraid it’s impossible for me to accept it.”

  Mr. Collins was not in the least discouraged. “I know young ladies very often refuse offers of marriage which they intend to accept later.”

  “If there really are young ladies like that,” said Elizabeth, “I’m not that kind of young lady. The truth is that we could never make each other happy.”

  “When I next speak to you on this subject,” he said, “I’m sure I shall receive a different answer.”

  “Surely, Mr. Collins, I have made my answer clear enough,” said Elizabeth.

  “I still prefer to think that your refusal, dear cousin, is not serious. My reason is that I have so much to offer: my position in life, my connection with the de Bourgh family. After all, having so little money, you may not receive any other offer of marriage. I cannot really think you will refuse me in the end.”

  Elizabeth could do no more to change Mr. Collins’s beliefs, so she let him. Mrs. Bennet, who had not been far away, now came in to give him her best wishes. Mr. Collins was still sure of his success, but when Mrs. Bennet heard what her daughter had said, she was not so satisfied, and said: “She is a silly girl. She will not listen to other people who know best.”

  “If she is that sort of girl,” said Mr. Collins, “perhaps she would not do for Lady Catherine.”

  “Don’t worry, Mr. Collins. She is only silly sometimes. Leave her to me,” replied Mrs. Bennet, and she went straight to Mr. Bennet’s library.

  “Oh, Mr. Bennet,” she said, “we are all in confusion. You must come and make Lizzy marry Mr. Collins. She says she won’t have him, and he may change his mind and not have her.”

  Mr. Bennet remained calm. He sent for Elizabeth and said: “I understand that Mr. Collins has made you an offer of marriage and you have refuse it.” Elizabeth agreed. “And your mother says you must accept him.”

  “Yes,” cried Mrs. Bennet, “or I’ll never speak to her again.”

  “Well,” said Mr. Bennet, “you have a hard choice. If you refuse Mr. Collins, your mother won’t never speak to you. If you accept him, I shan’t speak to you.”

  Elizabeth smiled. She would not have to marry Mr. Collins. But her mother was disappointed. During the next few days she continued to threaten or persuade. The problem was what to do with Mr. Collins. He was determined not to return to Hunsford before the day planned, and Elizabeth found it uncomfortable to talk to him. However, help was near. Charlotte was kind enough to sit and listen to him, and he seemed glad of her attention. Elizabeth was grateful, but she did not know that Charlotte had her reasons for behaving as she did.

  On the last day of his stay, before anyone else was up, Mr. Collins left Longbourn and walked to the Lucas’s house. Charlotte saw him coming and hurried out to meet him, as if by accident, in the lane. This time there were no long speeches. Charlotte was ready to accept his offer of marriage. Her parents agreed, and Mr. Collins was back at Longbourn before midday.

  The Bennets had noticed his absence, but received no explanation, even when he left for home the next day. However, when Mrs. Bennet said she hoped to see him again at Longbourn, he surprised them. He said he would like to come and stay again very soon. Mr. Bennet, who did not wish for such a quick return, asked if he thought Lady Catherine would let him leave Hunsford again. But Mr. Collins did not seem to think this a difficulty, and after long speeches of thanks, drove off.