From
my 1/19/11 post in Austen-L….
…I
retrieved an additional textual clue--the subtle pun in the phrase “the game”
in P&P, pointing to Elizabeth as “the game” (defined as an animal being
hunted, as in big-game hunting) being “caught” by Caroline Bingley’s repeated trickery
in staging overhearings by Elizabeth:
Ch.
8: Elizabeth was SO MUCH CAUGHT by what
passed as to leave her very little attention for her book; and soon laying it
wholly aside, she drew near the card-table, and stationed herself between Mr.
Bingley and his eldest sister, TO
OBSERVE THE GAME
Ch.
10: Mr. Darcy was writing, and Miss Bingley, seated near him, was watching the
progress of his letter and repeatedly calling off his attention by messages to
his sister. Mr. Hurst and Mr. Bingley were at
piquet,
and Mrs. Hurst was OBSERVING THE GAME.
Ch.
16: Mr. Wickham did not play at whist, and with ready delight was he received
at the other table between Elizabeth and Lydia. At first there seemed danger of
Lydia's engrossing him entirely, for she was a most determined talker; but
being likewise extremely fond of lottery tickets, she soon grew too much INTERESTED IN THE GAME,
too eager in making bets and exclaiming after prizes, to have attention for any
one in particular. Allowing for the common DEMANDS OF THE GAME, Mr. Wickham
was
therefore at leisure to talk to Elizabeth, and she was very willing to hear
him....
Ch.
29: SCARCELY A SYLLABLE WAS UTTERED THAT
DID NOT RELATE TO THE GAME, except when Mrs. Jenkinson expressed her fears of
Miss De Bourgh's being too hot or too cold, or having too much or too little light.
A great deal more passed at the other table. Lady Catherine was generally
speaking -- stating the mistakes of the three others, or relating some anecdote
of herself. Mr. Collins was employed in agreeing to everything her Ladyship
said, thanking her for EVERY FISH HE WON, and apologising if he thought he won
too many..."
Ch.
43: Mr. Gardiner, though seldom able to
indulge the taste, was VERY FOND OF FISHING, and was so much engaged in
watching the occasional appearance of some TROUT IN THE WATER, and talking to
the man about them, that he advanced but little. ....The conversation soon
turned UPON FISHING; and she heard Mr. Darcy invite him, with the greatest
civility, to FISH THERE as often as he
chose while he continued in the neighbourhood, offering at the same time to SUPPLY
HIM WITH FISHING-TACKLE, and pointing out those parts of the stream where there
was usually MOST SPORT.
Ch.
52: "On the very day of my coming
home from Longbourn, your uncle had a most unexpected visitor. Mr. Darcy
called, and was shut up with him several hours…. From what I can collect, he
left Derbyshire only one day after ourselves, and came to town WITH THE
RESOLUTION OF HUNTING FOR THEM.
The
only thing missing here was a reference to fishing for “trout in a peculiar
river” (bawdy sexual innuendo from the beginning of Measure for Measure) at
Pemberley.
So we
see that these short passages from P&P can all be read as staged
overhearings in which various characters are part of a quiet conspiracy to “observe
the game”, i.e., observing Elizabeth,
to monitor her reactions to Caroline Bingley’s repeated verbal thrusts—and also,
in the earlier passages at Netherfield , observing Darcy
as well, to monitor his reactions,
i.e., to observe the effects of Caroline’s being so pushy and insistent in
drawing his attention to other women. And why would she do this? Because Darcy,
like Elizabeth, reacts, as per human nature, by reasserting his autonomy to
make his own courtship choices. I.e.,
both Darcy and Elizabeth are “the
game” in this particular “hunt”!
And
doesn’t that remind us once again of Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado, who are both equally the targets of seemingly
benevolent stratagems to push them together? And so it should come as no
surprise that we not only have one of the female conspirators gleefully
reporting “We have caught her, Madam”, we also have Claudio using a
bird-hunting metaphor during the staged overhearing by Benedick at the end of
Act 2....
Claudio:
O, ay: STALK ON. STALK ON; THE FOWL SITS. I did never think that lady would have loved any man…..BAIT THE HOOK well; THIS FISH WILL BITE.
And
with Beatrice in the beginning of Act 3, we have the following additional and elaborate
group riff on fishing among the three
female conspirators, with Beatrice as “the fish”, which explains why we hear so
much about Lydia Bennet’s and Mr. Collins’s shared interest in winning (but not
winning too many) “fish” during their
games, and also Mr. Gardiner’s interest in catching “trout” at Pemberley!:
Ursula:
The
pleasant'st ANGLING is to see THE FISH
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
And greedily devour the TREACHEROUS BAIT:
So ANGLE WE FOR BEATRICE; who even now
Is couched in the woodbine coverture.
Fear you not my part of the dialogue.
Cut with her golden oars the silver stream,
And greedily devour the TREACHEROUS BAIT:
So ANGLE WE FOR BEATRICE; who even now
Is couched in the woodbine coverture.
Fear you not my part of the dialogue.
Approaching the bower
No, truly, Ursula, she is too
disdainful;
I know her spirits are as coy and wild
As HAGGERDS OF THE ROCK.
I know her spirits are as coy and wild
As HAGGERDS OF THE ROCK.
In summary as to the above, then,
the lens of the explicit hunting and fishing metaphors in the explicit overhearings
staged for the two main lovers of Much
Ado reveals to us, in vivid colors, the implicit hunting and fishing metaphors
on exactly the same motifs.
THE TWO STAGED OVERHEARINGS IN PERSUASION
Understanding
that Caroline Bingley has staged an overhearing of Darcy in a shrubbery for
Elizabeth in P&P, particularly at the end of Chapter 10, helps us see that Louisa
Musgrove does exactly the same thing in Chapter 10 of Persuasion, i.e., stages
not one but two successive overhearings of Wentworth
in a shrubbery for Anne:
First,
Louisa baits the hook, by inducing Wentworth to express romantic interest in
Louisa herself, in order to make Anne extra jealous:
“Anne's
object was, not to be in the way of anybody; and where the narrow paths across
the fields made many separations necessary, to keep with her brother and
sister. Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from
the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves, and withered
hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical
descriptions extant of autumn, that season of peculiar and inexhaustible
influence on the mind of taste and tenderness, that season which had drawn from
every poet, worthy of being read, some attempt at description, or some lines of
feeling. She occupied her mind as much as possible in such like musings and
quotations; but IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE, THAT WHEN WITHIN REACH OF CAPTAIN
WENTWORTH’S CONVERSATION WITH EITHER OF THE MISS MUSGROVES, SHE SHOULD NOT TRY
TO HEAR IT; yet she caught little very remarkable. It was mere lively chat,
such as any young persons, on an intimate footing, might fall into. He was more
engaged with Louisa than with Henrietta. Louisa certainly put more forward for
his notice than her sister. This distinction appeared to increase, and there
was one speech of Louisa's which struck her. After one of the many praises of
the day, which were continually bursting forth, Captain Wentworth added:-- "What
glorious weather for the Admiral and my sister! They meant to take a long drive
this morning; perhaps we may hail them from some of these hills. They talked of
coming into this side of the country. I wonder whereabouts they will upset
to-day. Oh! it does happen very often, I assure you; but my sister makes
nothing of it; she would as lieve be tossed out as not."
"Ah! You make the most of it, I
know," cried Louisa, "but if it were really so, I should do just the
same in her place. If I loved a man, as she loves the Admiral, I would always
be with him, nothing should ever separate us, and I would rather be overturned
by him, than driven safely by anybody else."
It was spoken with enthusiasm.
"Had you?" cried he,
catching the same tone; "I honour you!" And there was silence between
them for a little while.
Anne could not immediately fall into
a quotation again. The sweet scenes of autumn were for a while put by, unless
some tender sonnet, fraught with the apt analogy of the declining year, with
declining happiness, and the images of youth and hope, and spring, all gone
together, blessed her memory. SHE ROUSED HERSELF TO SAY, AS THEY STRUCK BY
ORDER INTO ANOTHER PATH, "Is not this one of the ways to Winthrop?" BUT
NOBODY HEARD, OR, AT LEAST, NOBODY ANSWERED HER.” END QUOTE
So, after hearing all of that, Anne
is so discombobulated that she cannot even retreat into the familiar defense of
quoting poetry to herself (she being the person who is a true victim of too
much poetry, not Benwick, who only pretends to be poetically addicted!).
The stage is then set for Louisa to
plunge the hook right next to Wentworth, so that Anne can hear Wentworth take
the “bait” and rekindle his interest in Anne. Just think about it---if Louisa
was really out to ensnare Wentworth for herself, would she have chosen to
mention to Wentworth the one fact which gives strongest evidence of Anne’s
holding out for Wentworth? Read this passage later in Chapter 10, just after
Wentworth has delivered his famous speech about his preference for very firm
nuts, and read it this time with new eyes:
“He
had done, and was unanswered. It would have surprised Anne if Louisa could have
readily answered such a speech: words of such interest, spoken with such
serious warmth! She could imagine what Louisa was feeling. For herself, she
feared to move, lest she should be seen. While she remained, a bush of low
rambling holly protected her, and they were moving on. BEFORE THEY WERE BEYOND
HER HEARING, HOWEVER, LOUISA SPOKE AGAIN.
"Mary
is good-natured enough in many respects," said she; "but she does
sometimes provoke me excessively, by her nonsense and pride--the Elliot pride.
She has a great deal too much of the Elliot pride. We do so wish that Charles
had married Anne instead. I SUPPOSE YOU KNOW HE WANTED TO MARRY ANNE?"
After
a moment's pause, Captain Wentworth said--
"Do
you mean that SHE REFUSED HIM?"
"Oh!
yes; certainly."
"When
did that happen?"
"I
do not exactly know, for Henrietta and I were at school at the time; but I believe
about a year before he married Mary. I wish she had accepted him. We should all
have liked her a great deal better; and papa and mamma always think it was her
great friend Lady Russell's doing, that she did not. They think Charles might
not be learned and bookish enough to please Lady Russell, and that therefore,
she persuaded Anne to refuse him."
The
sounds were retreating, and ANNE DISTINGUISHED NO MORE. Her own emotions still
kept her fixed. She had much to recover from, before she could move. The listener's
proverbial fate was not absolutely hers; SHE HAD HEARD NO EVIL OF HERSELF, but
she had heard a great deal of very painful import. She saw how her own
character was considered by Captain Wentworth, and there had been just that
degree of feeling and curiosity about her in his manner which must give her
extreme agitation. “ END QUOTE
So
there, just as in Much Ado, we have a
female schemer who appears on the surface to be a rival for the affections of
the hero, but who actually is scheming for the reverse goal, i.e. to bring the
confused hero and heroine together by staged overhearing and carefully chosen
intelligence about the other’s true motivation.
And it’s
not just Louisa Musgrove scheming this way in Persuasion. This reading fits perfectly with the picture of the
Crofts as secret matchmakers that we see in the cancelled chapters of Persuasion. Here’s what I wrote in that
specific regard a few months ago:
“…the
idea of secondary characters playing matchmaker in Persuasion is not new, it has been out there for twenty years,
courtesy of my friend Jim Heldman who wrote the following article in the JASNA
journal Persuasions in 1993...
...presenting
ideas which I have taken further in more recent years:
All
of which tells us that if Jane Austen deployed such “gamesmanship” in early 1813
and also in mid-1816, a span of 3 ½ during her prime as a mature writer, that
suggests this was a strategy she used in all
of her novels, intending readers familiar with all of them to derive
insights as to one novel from insights as to others of her novels—just like the
echoing amongst Shakespeare’s plays.
And finally,
you begin to realize that for Jane Austen, her readers were her “game”----but
her “hunt” was a benign, even an altruistic one---it was designed to train her female
readers to detect hidden motivations in themselves and in others, the better to
survive in a dangerous, unfair world.
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
on Twitter
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