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Chapter 24
‘There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well.’
This quote, spoken by Elizabeth to Jane in Chapter 24, comes after the sisters receive a mean-spirited letter from Miss Bingley implying her brother may soon be engaged to Darcy’s sister. When Jane refuses to say a bad word about Bingley despite the circumstances, Elizabeth comments on Jane’s goodness and says the above. Jane, she says, is one of the few people she both loves and respects. It can be inferred that their mother and Charlotte Lucas, whose decision to marry Mr. Collins has disappointed Elizabeth and left her reeling, are two people she loves but does not hold in high regard.
‘They may wish many things besides his happiness; they may wish his increase of wealth and consequence; they may wish him to marry a girl who has all the importance of money, great connections, and pride.’
In Chapter 24, Jane is surprised that Elizabeth thinks Darcy and Bingley’s sisters likely convinced him not to marry Jane. Unable to imagine anything but the best in others, Jane insists they must just want Bingley to be happy. Elizabeth responds with the above, demonstrating that, despite her romantic ideals, she is not blind to reality.
Chapter 26
‘Kitty and Lydia take his defection much more to heart than I do. They are young in the ways of the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have something to live on as well as the plain.’
In Chapter 26, Elizabeth relates to her aunt, Mrs. Gardiner, that she must not have really loved Mr. Wickham if she isn’t too distressed to learn he’s romantically attached to someone else now, a woman who just inherited a small fortune. It’s notable that Elizabeth extends to Mr. Wickham a kindness and understanding she did not grant Charlotte Lucas when she was the one marrying for stability instead of love. This quote also foreshadows events surrounding Wickham’s return later in the novel, referencing both Lydia’s disappointment that Wickham is apparently spoken for and Wickham’s pursuit of wealth.
