(This conversation will contain spoilers for the current chapters and possibly for future chapters.)

S: I like Colonel Fitzwilliam; he seems a very amiable man with a kind heart, and he quickly strikes up a friendship with Elizabeth. Lady Catherine, I am sorry to say, is not comic relief to me, though I’m sure she is meant to be; she just annoys me and is too much of a busybody with a rather high opinion of herself. (I do admit, however, that her comments about practicing the piano are amusing!) Mr. Darcy’s embarrassment over her ‘ill-breeding’ reminds me of Elizabeth’s embarrassment over her family’s at the dinner party so many chapters ago.

R: Oh, that’s really interesting! I’d never thought about the parallel between Elizabeth and Darcy’s feelings about their family members’ behavior. They also each have at least one family member who is not an embarrassment – Colonel Fitzwilliam for Darcy, Jane and Aunt Gardiner for Elizabeth.

I’m torn on how I feel about Lady Catherine. She is definitely a high-handed busybody, but I do find her amusing sometimes. That could be the effect of how she’s portrayed in the BBC/A&E mini-series. Sometimes it’s difficult to separate my memories of my favorite adaptation from the book.

S: It is difficult to do that sometimes! As much as I enjoy movie adaptations of books, I’m beginning to like the books better because the reader’s imagination does the work.

I like Mr. Darcy’s summation of Elizabeth’s character and her assertion that he’s no good in large parties of people because he doesn’t practice talking with others. He talks much more than he did before and seems to enjoy bantering with her.

R: It’s a very different Darcy than we’ve seen thus far. Initially, it’s difficult to know whether that’s because he’s more comfortable in his aunt’s house, more at ease with the company, or something else entirely. The conversation at the piano is one of my favorites between him and Elizabeth. For the first time, they seem to be really communicating, even if it is a little snarky and sarcastic. 

S: The moment when he decides to visit Elizabeth while she’s alone made me laugh because he’s so uncomfortable! It’s so cute and Elizabeth seems so confused. I’m guessing he likes her, and certainly Charlotte is convinced of this, and of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s affections toward Elizabeth. Elizabeth remains confused with Mr. Darcy’s visitations, but it’s clear to me as a reader that he is at least interested in getting to know her.

It cracks me up that she thinks Mr. Darcy is finding her on her walks because he is making fun of her. She’s apparently never before had an admirer! The entire situation is absurd. 

R: Darcy doesn’t seem to quite know what he wants, either. He wants to be around Elizabeth, but then doesn’t seem to have any idea how to comport himself once he’s in her presence.

S: Indeed! He’s so funny in these scenes. 

Elizabeth’s talk with Colonel Fitzwilliam is particularly interesting, and also rather sad as suspicions seem to have been confirmed regarding Mr. Bingley’s abrupt departure. Mama Bear comes out as she works herself into a frenzy of indignation and frustration upon her sister’s behalf. Still, she is not seeing things very clearly, in my opinion. She sees her family’s behaviour in an indulgent light rather than practically. This is no surprise, but it is a bit frustrating.

R: It was an interesting way to bring that information to light. Poor Colonel Fitzwilliam has no idea that he’s just destroyed any chance that Darcy might have had with Elizabeth. 

S: I was actually very excited about Mr. Darcy’s visit to inquire about her health in Chapter 34, but was then shocked and offended on her behalf by his odd proposal. I understand why he said the things he did, and that sometimes our words do not come out the way we intend them to, but it was still off-putting.

The rest of the chapter is full of accusations and anger from both parties. Mr. Darcy’s statements about Mr. Wickham are interesting, and I’m wondering how much of the story we’re missing, or if it’s just Mr. Darcy speaking in anger. I’m not quite sure whether to feel indignation with Elizabeth or sadness toward Mr. Darcy, knowing it took a lot for him to speak his mind and feelings.

Elizabeth does admit to herself that it feels good to know that someone wants her so much, yet she doesn’t allow herself to focus on that feeling, which I can understand. She already feels angry about the whole situation, so much so that she ends up with a headache, and is then proposed to by a man she thought disdained her, so that also fueled the argument. It’s never fun to feel gross and then have to have a really difficult conversation with someone when your emotions are all out of whack.

R: I wonder if Colonel Fitzwilliam hadn’t given Elizabeth a heads up about Darcy’s actions with regard to Jane and Bingley if she might have responded differently to Darcy’s proposal? Certainly it would have gone down differently since her reason for not going to dinner that night was because of what the colonel told her, so it likely would have happened at a different time. 

The whole encounter is cringe-inducing. I think Elizabeth has more right to her anger than Darcy does, though it feeds more into her prejudice. Darcy’s own prejudice against the Bennet family is on full display in his proposal. How could he have thought that she’d accept him after enumerating all of the reasons she wasn’t good enough for him? I can’t imagine a man coming to me and saying, ‘Hey, I love you, but you know, your family kind of sucks.’ 

Buh-bye.

S: That is true. He definitely could have handled it with more tact. As much as he says he loves her, the rest of his words seem to betray that statement. I was also thinking, though, that it seems like he trusts her enough to be fully honest with her, which is a trait that is difficult for most people.

R: I wonder if it’s really love at this point, or mere infatuation, but that’s true. He knows that Elizabeth is quite familiar with the issues in her family, so he may have felt ‘safe’ in bringing it up. The problem is, while many of us are aware of our own faults, and those of the people close to us, we rarely want them thrown in our faces.

S: Agreed! The way he responds to her outbursts does suggest that it may be less love and more infatuation, or perhaps the beginnings of a love that hasn’t had time to mature.

The letter in Chapter 35 is very eye-opening and sheds light on so much! Mr. Darcy clearly thought Jane was simply a gold-digger and didn’t want his best friend to end up in a bad situation. I think he does have a kind heart, but we haven’t been given a chance to focus on it. He does acknowledge that Elizabeth knows her sister’s intentions better than he, so he is sorry he made things difficult and caused so much distress, but I think with the information he had his conduct was reasonable. (Remember when Charlotte told Jane to appear more in love with Mr. Bingley than she may have felt? I was thinking this the entire time I read the first part of Mr. Darcy’s letter. I’m not saying I blame Jane, because I’m also the type of person who doesn’t like to show my emotions easily; I just think it’s interesting that, had Charlotte’s warning been heeded, Mr. Darcy may have not interfered, or if he had, Mr. Bingley may have not heeded his advice.)

R: What a good point! I’d never considered the possibility that Charlotte’s advice might have actually been a good suggestion. I’m afraid Bingley also showed a bit of a character flaw here by not holding to his own convictions and allowing himself to be persuaded by Darcy and his sisters that Jane didn’t actually care for him. Who would be better able to tell that than the person who had actually spent time with her?

S: True! 

And then we come to the part in the letter about Mr. Wickham. I’m very much on Mr. Darcy’s side at the moment, and we have reason to believe that his story is true, especially since we as readers have already come to think highly of Colonel Fitzwilliam so as to trust his word, and when we remember that Mrs. Gardiner had suspicions of Mr. Wickham. It all seems to fit together. Mr. Wickham does remind me a lot of Mr. Willoughby. And poor Georgiana! Seduced by a man at fifteen and tricked by the lady who was caring for her, all for getting at her money because her brother had shown his former friend ‘tough love’.

R: Wickham is heinous. I’m sure Elizabeth was relieved that she hadn’t gotten more involved with him, once she got over whatever her initial emotions were after reading Darcy’s letter. 

S: I’m very excited to find out how all this plays out! Will Elizabeth confront Mr. Darcy or ask for Colonel Fitzwilliam’s side of the story in all this? Will there be another chance for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, or for Mr. Bingley and Jane? Is Mr. Darcy now out of the picture and Colonel Fitzwilliam in it? Does the behaviour of the rest of the Bennet family affect all the girls’ chances of marrying, or is Mr. Darcy just being prejudiced and no one else will care about their lack of fortune?