WHO BETRAYS ELIZABETH BENNET to Lady Catherine de Bourgh? | Jane Austen PRIDE AND PREJUDICE analysis

hello and welcome to close reading class literature with me dr octavia cox today i'm going to be talking about jane austen's wonderful novel pride and prejudice in particular who tells lady catherine about the rumors going on in meriton now i've had requests to answer this question and i think that many readers of the novel are unhappy with some of the proposed suggestions discontented about the proposed answers to it so today i'm going to unpick this little puzzle in a little bit more detail the question has been phrased who betrays elizabeth bennett and this is the question that john sutherland asks in his book of the same name so what's the answer who does tell lady catherine about a likely possible engagement between mr darcy and elizabeth bennett towards the end of the novel pride and prejudice sutherland squarely lays the blame or betrayal on charlotte lucas he writes over the years charlotte has had to put up with many slights from the bennetts what we may assume is that an embittered charlotte is determined to settle accounts with elizabeth she will poison elizabeth's prospects with a preemptive strike it is a stroke of well-conceived malice it fails but only just now many have bought at this account however and do not find it satisfactory sutherland's charlotte is embittered poisonous and malicious but this does not tally at all for me and i think probably for other readers too with the character as we encounter her in the novel so today i want to exonerate charlotte or at least unpick and examine and interrogate a little bit more her culpability other suspects have been identified as being the snitch including colonel fitzwilliam georgiana darcy caroline bingley and mr wickham but i don't think that any of these are likely colonel fitzwilliam and georgiana darcy they are relatives obviously of miss darcy and lady catherine de berg but they have no motive although they may perhaps have let something slip accidentally of course but nothing about this is remotely hinted at within the novel itself now caroline bingley has the motive and readers are told in relation to her that angry people are not always wise in chapter 45 which is very good advice by the way but caroline bingley and lady catherine are not known to each other as far as we know we are told earlier in the novel of caroline that jealousy had not yet made her desperate now it may be that perhaps later she becomes desperate so desperate that she takes matters into her own hands and writes to lady catherine introducing herself and warning her of darcy's interest in lizzie of which she caroline is very well aware and is very annoyed about but again there's just no evidence in the text to support this idea mr wickham might take pleasure in revenging himself on mr darcy by breaking up the prospect of a future marriage but it is in fact now that mr wickham is married to elizabeth's sister now that he is married to lydia it is in mr wickham's interest for mr darcy to marry his wife's sister mr darcy being married to his wife's sister would give mr wickham greater leverage over mr darcy indefinitely because mr darcy would be a closer relation to him and so he could extort money out of him more easily because he would know that mr darcy would want to protect the reputation of his wife and lydia and indeed that is what happens in the final chapter we are told though darcy could never receive him mr wickham at pemberley yet for elizabeth's sake he assisted him further in his profession lydia was occasionally a visitor there so it's in mr wickham's interest not to break up a match between mr darcy and elizabeth so i cannot see the culprit being mr wickham either in fact the text itself is very clear the line of gossip passes from the lucases to the collins's but i think sutherland gets the wrong collins i lay the blame or betrayal to use sutherland's words at the feet of mr collins so today first i'm going to go chronologically through the text to show why i think that mr collins is the answer to the question and outline why i think mr collins is the culprit and then i'm going to consider charlotte's role in events and defend her to some extent against sutherland's charges that she wants to poison elizabeth's prospects of marrying mr darcy so to get on to the analysis then i'm going to start by going through the text chronologically of the relevant section so the first that anyone hears about this is when lady catherine visits longbourne and when they're inside and they're sort of having their polite introductory chit chat she is asked by mrs bennett may i take the liberty of asking your leadership whether you lift left mr and mrs collins well to which lady catherine responds yes very well i saw them the night before last that is two nights ago when she and lizzy then move into the garden and they have their standoff in longborne's little wilderness lady catherine declares a report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago the implication from this is that she received the alarming report from the collins's two days ago and lizzie when she is pondering this surprise visit from lady catherine berg later perhaps subliminally picks up on this as she decides that the source of the report must have been via the lucas's and the collins is too this is lizzie's kind of reflections on events that have just happened lady catherine it appeared had actually taken the trouble of this journey from rosings for the sole purpose of breaking off her supposed engagement with mr darcy it was a rational scheme to be sure but from what the report of their engagement could originate elizabeth was at a loss to imagine and we have to remember that at this point in the novel darcy and lizzie are not engaged and they're not necessarily at this point close to being engaged either bingley has come back to netherfield bingley and jane have been getting to know each other again and lizzie has seen darcy twice and both times she's not been able to make the head no tale of his behavior and in fact has noticed that darcy is watching jane and bingley much more than he's paying any attention to her so they are not anywhere near at this point being engaged which is why it's odd that lady catherine turns up with this report that they are on the verge of becoming engaged if you're interested in unpicking that little puzzle a little bit more and then i can do a video on that so do leave your comments below if you'd like to uh have a video explaining the what's actually in the room a little bit more um but today i'm just going to be talking about who i think spreads the rumor so from what the report of their engagement could originate elizabeth was at a loss to imagine till she recollected that his being the intimate friend of bingley and her being the sister of jane was enough at a time when the expectation of one wedding made everybody eager for another to supply the idea she had not herself forgotten to feel the marriage of her sister must bring them more frequently together and her neighbors at lucas lodge lucas's therefore for through their communication with the collins's the report she concluded had reached lady catherine had only set that down as almost certain and immediate which she had looked forward to as possible at some future time so for lizzie the chain of gossip is quite clear her neighbours at lucas lodge but through their communication with the collins's the report she concluded had reached lady catherine the next morning after lynn catherine's surprise visit mr bennett receives a letter from mr collins we're now in chapter 57. so mr bennett calls in lizzie and he says this letter is from mr collins and lizzy said from mr collins what can he have to say mr bennett says something very much to the purpose of course he begins with congratulations on the approaching nuptials of my eldest daughter of which it seems he has been told by some of the good-natured gossiping lucas's i shall not sport with your impatience by reading what he says on that point what relates to yourself is as follows having thus offered you the sincere congratulations of mrs collins and myself on this happy event let me now add a short hint on the subject of another of which we have been advertised by the same authority i.e good-natured gossiping lucas's your daughter elizabeth it is presumed will not long bear the name of bennett after her elder sister has resigned it so lizzy's surname is soon going to change to darcy so who spreads the report to lady catherine well in this same letter to mr bennett mr collins admits triumphantly that it was he who told lady catherine after mentioning the likelihood of this marriage to her ladyship last night she immediately with her usual condescension expressed what she felt on the occasion john sutherland argues as we follow the line of clues lady lucas has written to her daughter charlotte now mrs collins and she has passed the news of jane and bingley's engagement onto her husband and his patroness over dinner at rosings so sutherland assumes that only lady lucas writes only to charlotte who then blabs but might not sir william lucas and mr collins for example keep up a correspondence we know after all that mr collins is an active correspondent we can tell that from his frequent letters to mr bennett and it is clear that when sir william lucas visits hansford parsonage the the house of the collins is that he and his son-in-law have struck up a firm friendship for example we're told sir william stayed only a week at huntsford but his visit was long enough to convince him of his daughter's being most comfortably settled and of her possessing such a husband and such a neighbor as we're not often met with while sir william was with them mr collins devoted his morning to driving him out in his gig and showing him the country essentially they're friends because mr collins can show off to sir william and there are similarities i think between the two characters especially in their delight at fawningly describing the elegant manners of their social superiors at rosing's park and st james's palace when they are dining at rosings for example we are told that sir william was now recovered enough this is just from meeting lady catherine de berg to echo whatever his son-in-law said i can imagine a correspondence between the two men in which sir william writes to mr collins describing the wonders of st james's palace to which mr collins responds detailing the wonders of rosing's park we might note i think that austin gives them both the same full name william in some sense charlotte seems to have married a man who is not dissimilar to her father and perhaps that's why charlotte is so adept generally speaking at managing mr collins so some of the lucas's might write to charlotte or to mr collins or indeed to both of them we might note that all the language about the communication between the two households during this episode is couched in the plural so in lizzie's thinking she thinks and her neighbors plural at lucas lodge therefore for through their communication with the collins's plural the report she included had reached lady catherine and mr bennett in reference to mr collins's letter says he and this might suggest that he has been written to that is he mr collins has been written to he has been told by some of the good-natured gossiping lucas's again this is the plural and we note that it seems that he has been written to by some of the good natured gossiping lucas's that suggests more than one mr collins then writes in the letter itself let me now add a short hint on the subject of another of which we have been advertised by the same authority we the plural pronoun so mr collins includes himself in the communication from the lucas's and i think that that is a very important point sutherland assumes that charlotte is the only one who is receiving any communications from lucas lodge but i think the tech suggests that that isn't necessarily the case i think we can imagine with what spiteful relish mr collins would have told lady catherine deberg of the rumors running through meriton after all he had earlier spitefully told lady catherine of lydia's heinous offense as he calls it in her running off with mr wickham it seems that the lucases had written to the collins's to gossip about the bennetts on that occasion too in that earlier letter to mr bennett mr collins also triumphantly reveals that it was him who told lady catherine all the juicy details he writes my dear sir i feel myself called upon by our relationship and my situation in life to condole with you on the grievous affliction you are now suffering under of which we were yesterday informed by a letter from hertfordshire that is the lucas's meriton the village in which they live is in the county of hertfordshire you are grievously to be pitied in which opinion i am not only joined by mrs collins but likewise by lady catherine and her daughter to whom i have related the affair we are told furthermore how mr collins often tells lady catherine of gossip which she takes it upon herself to act upon when lizzie is in huntsford staying with the collins's the text reads elizabeth soon perceived that though this great lady was not in the commission of the peace of the county so lady catherine is not officially called on to be a keeper of the peace she was a most active magistrate in her own parish the minutest concerns of which were carried to her by mr collins and you can imagine how gleefully they would be carried to her by mr collins and whenever any of the cottagers were disposed to be quarrelsome discontented or too poor she sallied forth into the village to settle their differences silenced their complaints and scold them into harmony and plenty i love that quotation um but i think there are sort of three important things that we can take from this quotation so first that if mr collins relates to lady catherine the minutest concerns then he would no doubt delight in carrying to her large concerns particularly as they relate to her favorite nephew also lady catherine is clearly used to sallying forth into other people's concerns and silencing those other people and clearly she expects the same to happen when she goes to longboard she even says directly to lizzie when they're at longborne i will not be interrupted hear me in silence so she expects to silence lizzie but lady catherine miscalculates she imagines that she can treat lizzy as she does everyone else and expect the same results that is she imagines that she can bulldoze lizzie into acquiescence and submission i now want to think about charlotte john sutherland's depiction of an embittered charlotte joyfully thwarting lizzie's prospects does not fit with what we know of her character and i think this is why people have looked for an alternative answer to the conundrum who betrayed elizabeth bennett and as i hope to show now i don't think charlotte betrays lizzie if we can accept that it is mr collins who actually communicates the merit and gossip to lady catherine the question then becomes why does charlotte allow him to do so or perhaps why does charlotte not try to prevent him i say why does charlotte allow mr collins to report the gossip to lady catherine because i rule out the possibility that it came as a surprise to her charlotte is a practical and shrewd observer of character we know that charlotte for example manages mr collins with dexterous expertise much of the time so when lizzy is staying with the collins's at huntsville parsonage for instance readers hear of charlotte's management skills elizabeth in the solitude of her chamber had to meditate upon charlotte's degree of contentment to understand her address in guiding and composure in bearing with her husband and to acknowledge that it was all done very well and i think we can apply charlotte's composure in bearing with her husband and doing it very well to this episode too i think it unlikely that charlotte could imagine that mr collins would not tell lady catherine about it if he had heard even the merest whiff of gossip concerning her nephew surely charlotte knows well enough exactly what lizzie also perceived when she was at huntsford which is that it was mr collins's practice to report virtually all gossip in the parish to lady catherine who then presumed that it was her business to get herself involved in it which is what i quoted earlier given that lady catherine considers it her business to sally forth and interfere in the minutist you might say private concerns of local villages one can imagine that she would very much consider it her business to involve herself in mr darcy's affairs indeed she says explicitly to lizzie during that conversation at longborne i am almost the nearest relation he has in the world and am entitled to know all his dearest concerns she sees herself as entitled to get involved in mr darcy's business and no doubt mr collins also would think that lady catherine was entitled to get herself involved in mr darcy's affairs we know that when it comes to mr collins and pleasing lady catherine even charlotte and her dextrous management of him cannot stop mr collins so just after the first proposal scene when lizzie doesn't want to go to dinner at rosie's because she doesn't want to see mr darcy the text reads mrs collins seeing that she was really unwell so lizzy does actually have a headache at this point did not press her to go and as much as possible prevented her husband from pressing her but mr collins could not conceal his apprehension of lady catherine's being rather displeased by her staying at home charlotte tries to manage mr collins's response as much as possible but mr collins can't bear the idea of upsetting lady catherine if one or more of the lucas's had indeed written to mr collins with the information from meriton what can charlotte reasonably do to stop mr collins passing it on nothing i would suggest so from this point when mr collins learns that there is some rumor about mr darcy and elizabeth bennett charlotte might make two calculations the first is that it might be in her and her husband's interest once they know about the rumors to fill lady catherine in on them we know that mr collins is hoping for further preferment that is promotion in terms of the living that he is assigned within the church as indeed charlotte seems to be two so when lizzie is staying with them she observes very few days past in which mr collins did not walk to rosings and not many in which his wife charlotte did not think it necessary to go likewise until elizabeth recollected that there might be other family livings to be disposed of she could not unders understand the sacrifice of so many hours charlotte and indeed mr collins might imagine that lady catherine would reward him with another living if he alerted lady catherine to the maritime rumors now i realize that this doesn't particularly exonerate charlotte but what if charlotte also wonders so what if lady catherine knows in this sense charlotte might calculate that she has everything to gain and nothing to lose by lady catherine finding out about these rumors from meriton so let me explain the second calculation that charlotte might make concerns the effects of mr collins telling lady catherine about the rumors and here i think is where sutherland's account gets it wrong sutherland's account implies that charlotte's aim is to break up any future engagement between her friend lizzie and mr darcy but what if charlotte has an alternative scheme in mind and we remember that throughout the text charlotte is seen as a schemer and if you want to know any more about charlotte's schemes then you might find illuminating an article by sinjin damstra the case against charlotte lucas charlotte had earlier been seen to scheme in arranging her own marriage to mr collins she aims to transfer mr collins's addresses away from lizzie by engaging them towards herself such we are told was miss lucas's scheme and in the section i quoted earlier lizzie had thought that lady catherine it appeared had actually taken the trouble of this journey from rosings for the sole purpose of breaking off her supposed engagement with mr darcy it was a rational scheme to be sure and i think the word scheme here is worth paying attention to what if charlotte's rational scheme paradoxically and ironically is to know is to be aware that lady catherine actually taking the trouble of going to longborne for the sole purpose of attempting to bully lizzie into breaking off her supposed engagement with mr darcy is the last thing that is actually going to make lizzie break off an engagement with mr darcy so to unpick charlotte's scheme then in a little more detail charlotte has been aware from much much much earlier in the novel that there is a connection between mr darcy and lizzie when for instance mr darcy and colonel fitzwilliam come to visit huntsville parsonage the morning after they arrive for their stay with their aunt at rosings charlotte observes and this is not when mr collins is within hearing i may thank you eliza for this piece of civility mr darcy would never have come so soon to wait upon me and later when mr darcy pops by the parsonage for a casual visit charlotte says my dear eliza he must be in love with you or he would never have called on us in this familiar way but when elizabeth told of his silence it did not seem very likely even to charlotte's wishes charlotte wishes then for mr darcy to be in love with elizabeth and why does charlotte wish this well let us consider charlotte's thinking about the potential match between her friend and mr darcy so this is from chapter 32 and the narrative voice through free indirect discourse enters into charlotte's thinking why mr darcy came so often to the parsonage it was more difficult to understand than why colonel fitzwilliam comes to visit at the parsonage mrs collins knew not what to make of him as she would have liked to have believed this changed the effect of love and the object of that love her friend eliza she set herself seriously to work to find it out she watched him whenever they were at rosings and whenever he came to huntsford but without much success he certainly looked at her friend a good deal but the expression of that look was disputable it was an earnest steadfast gaze but she often doubted whether there was much admiration in it and sometimes it seemed nothing but absence of mind she had once or twice suggested to elizabeth the possibility of his being partial to her but elizabeth always laughed at the idea and mrs collins did not think it right to press the subject from the danger of raising expectations which might only end in disappointment for in her opinion it admitted not of a doubt that all her friends dislike would vanish if she could suppose him to be in her power in her kind schemes for elizabeth she sometimes planned her marrying colonel fitzwilliam he was beyond comparison the most pleasant man he certainly admired her and his situation in life was most eligible but to counterbalance these advantages mr darcy had considerable patronage in the church and his cousin could have none at all charlotte has noticed the possibility of mr darcy being partial to lizzie and even that he might be in love with her friend charlotte has also deduced that lizzie's view of mr darcy might easily change all her friends dislike would vanish if she could suppose him to be in her power of course charlotte doesn't know anything about elizabeth's anger at darcy for breaking up jane and bingley but charlotte was present at the first meeting of mr darcy and lizzie at the meriton assembly where mr darcy had said she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me to dance with which lizzie had overheard and we are told elizabeth remained with no very cordial feelings towards him she told the story however with great spirit among her friends for she had a lively playful disposition which delighted in anything ridiculous so charlotte is is present when the relationship is established between darcy and lizzie which involves this kind of antagonism in which charlotte has probably perceived that main dislike of darcy or at least initial foundational dislike of darcy comes from the fact that darcy slighted elizabeth and that seems to be what charlotte is referring to here in her thinking when charlotte imagines that all her friends dislike would vanish if she lizzie could suppose him darcy to be in her power and crucially i think in this section charlotte also notes that it might be useful to her and her husband's career progression to have a close friend of hers married to a man that has within his gift considerable patronage in the church we might remember the most valuable living which would apparently have provided for mr wickham amply we're told earlier in chapter 16 and charlotte's thoughts might echo mr bennett's later advice to mr collins console lady catherine as well as you can but if i were you i would stand by the nephew he has more to give and charlotte presumably knows too that the nephew has more to give i mentioned sutherland's account of charlotte earlier what we may assume is that an embittered charlotte is determined to settle accounts with elizabeth she will poison elizabeth's prospect with a pre-emptive strike but what this assumes is that charlotte imagines that lady catherine sticking her or in would actually stop any relationship that was developing between lizzie and darcy and that she wants lady catherine to stop any relationship developing between lizzie and darcy lady catherine clearly assumes that she can prevent a marriage if she wants to simply because she doesn't want them to get married she is very used to badgering and overpowering other people into submission particularly those who are in a position of inferiority social inferiority or economic inferiority etc to her and mr collins also i think assumes that lady catherine will get her way but it does not follow that charlotte thinks this too charlotte is perhaps shrewd enough to perceive that prompting lady catherine to interfere in the affairs of lizzie and darcy might be the very catalyst they need to unite them as indeed is revealed to be what happens it is a great irony of course within the text that it is lady catherine's visit to longborne that encourages and galvanizes mr darcy into proposing to lizzie as mr darcy later says it taught me to hope said he as i had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before i knew enough of your disposition to be certain that had you absolutely irrevocably decided against me you would have acknowledged it to lady catherine frankly and openly remember that charlotte has observed both mr darcy and lizzie in the presence of lady catherine as i quoted earlier she watched him whenever they were at rosings mr darcy is independently wealthy he is not reliant on lady catherine's approval and when charlotte and lizzie are speculating on why mr darcy comes to huntsford parsonage so often one of their conclusions is that within doors there was lady catherine this is very subtly phrased but in other words charlotte is aware that mr darcy wants to escape from lady catherine's presence as much as possible and besides charlotte must know her old friend well enough to realize that lizzie would not be cowed by lady catherine during a conversation between the ladies at rosings for instance charlotte is present when elizabeth repeatedly defies lady catherine the text reads lady catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer and elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who would ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence so charlotte has seen that lizzie dares to trifle with lady catherine i said earlier that lady catherine has miscalculated miscalculated her own importance her own power her own influence over elizabeth bennett and mr darcy but i think charlotte has not i think charlotte has calculated accurately and shrewdly that even if lady catherine knows there's nothing very much that she can do about it when mr darcy and lizzie do actually become engaged we learn from the narrative voice that charlotte was really rejoicing in the match not embittered not upset that her plan to break up lizzie and darcy hadn't come to be but that charlotte was really rejoicing in the match rejoicing perhaps for two reasons first because she has actually perceived signs of love between her old friend and mr darcy and second because she and mr collins of course might be closer to getting their hands on the excellent parsonage house in the village of kinton once promised to the less worthy hands of mr wickham thank you very much indeed for watching remember if you like what i do here on my channel where i analyze classic literature then do subscribe and if you've liked the video then do press the like button it does help me out as i've said before in youtube's algorithm and i'd love to know what your response is to who tells lady catherine do you agree that it's mr collins and what do you make of charlotte lucas's schemes do let me know your thoughts in the comments below