It occurred to me a few moments ago that it would be fun to collect in
one place all the references to the appearance of Elizabeth Bennet's
eyes in Pride & Prejudice, which, I think, most Janeites would agree are
the most important and memorable eyes in all of Jane Austen's novels. It
turns out that there are _eight_ such references, and here they are:
Chapter 6: ...But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his
friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to
find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression
of HER DARK EYES.
...."My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the
very great pleasure which a pair of FINE EYES in the face of a pretty
woman can bestow."
Chapter 8: "I am afraid, Mr. Darcy," observed Miss Bingley in a half
whisper, "that this adventure has rather affected your admiration of HER
FINE EYES." "Not at all," he replied; "they were BRIGHTENED by the
exercise."
Chapter 9: Mrs. Bennet and her daughters then departed, and Elizabeth
returned instantly to Jane, leaving her own and her relations' behaviour
to the remarks of the two ladies and Mr. Darcy; the latter of whom,
however, could not be prevailed on to join in their censure of /her/, in
spite of all Miss Bingley's witticisms on /FINE EYES/.
Chapter 10: As for your Elizabeth's picture, you must not have it taken,
for what painter could do justice to those BEAUTIFUL EYES?" "It would
not be easy, indeed, to catch their EXPRESSION, but their COLOUR and
SHAPE, and the EYELASHES, SO REMARKABLY FINE, might be copied."
Chapter 18: I appeal to Mr. Darcy:—but let me not interrupt you, sir.
You will not thank me for detaining you from the bewitching converse of
that young lady, whose BRIGHT EYES are also upbraiding me."
Chapter 45: Her teeth are tolerable, but not out of the common way; and
as for HER EYES, which have sometimes been called SO FINE, I could never
see anything extraordinary in them. They have a SHARP, SHREWISH look,
which I do not like at all...
Chapter 53: The colour which had been driven from her face, returned for
half a minute with an additional glow, and a smile of delight added
LUSTRE to HER EYES, as she thought for that space of time that his
affection and wishes must still be unshaken....
Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter
I love this kind of collection of passages with a shared word or image.
ReplyDeleteIt strikes me with this set that I would have thought that most of the comments about E's eyes were from Darcy, but it's mostly Miss Bingley's "witticisms on fine eyes" instead.