The engagement settled, Bingley comes to visit often.
Jane learns that he had no idea that she was in London over the
winter, and she realizes that his sisters were attempting to keep
him away from her. Meanwhile, the neighborhood agrees that the Bennets
are extremely fortunate in their daughter’s marriage.
Analysis: Chapters 50–55
Elizabeth’s realization that Darcy is “exactly
the man, who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her” is
ironic, since she not only rejected his marriage proposal earlier
but did so in a manner that made it clear that she despised him.
To Elizabeth, the irony is obvious: “she became jealous of his esteem,
when she could no longer hope to be benefited by it . . . she wanted
to hear of him, when there seemed the least chance of gaining intelligence.”
Her feelings toward Darcy are now what his were toward her earlier;
she assumes that he has changed his mind and that her change of
heart has come too late. For even if Darcy were still interested
in her, Lydia’s elopement seems likely to have destroyed any chance
of his proposing again. The Lydia-Wickham affair serves as a reminder
of Darcy’s original objection to marrying Elizabeth, and Elizabeth
believes that he must certainly consider it a symptom of the poor
breeding of her family and an example of the embarrassment that
association with her family would bring him.
While Elizabeth’s hope of Darcy’s still loving her slowly
grows in these chapters, the reader receives hints all along that
Darcy’s feelings for her have not altered. He has paid for Lydia’s
wedding, and the insightful Mrs. Gardiner, who provides levelheaded
analyses of situations at various points in the novel, can think
of only one reason for him to do so. Elizabeth’s instincts tell
her the same thing: “Her heart did whisper, that he had done it
for her.” Nevertheless, she insists on squashing that whisper, as
her embarrassment about Lydia and her sense of Darcy’s pride compel
her to the assumption that Darcy would never connect himself with
her family, especially now that the odious Wickham is her brother-in-law.
The happy conclusion to Bingley’s courtship of Jane suggests
that Darcy no longer cares about the Bennet sisters’ low social
status. As evidence that Darcy has overcome this important obstacle
at least to some, he now does nothing to dissuade his friend from
tying himself to a disreputable family. Whereas Darcy previously
disrupted the romance between Bingley and Jane in order to protect
his friend’s social status, he now allows their love to triumph
over their class difference, despite Lydia’s elopement scandal,
which he could easily have used as an excuse to distance himself
and his friends from the Bennets. Austen does not allow Elizabeth
to assume anything from Jane’s engagement, but the reader is allowed
to assume that another wedding will follow.
