ALERT!:
This post is ONLY for those who enjoy Austenian shadow story subtext, all
others should ignore!
Think
of P&P as a vast network of textual riddles which, when solved,
collectively point toward a coherent, radically alternative version of the
storyline (which I call the “shadow story”) in a variety of significant ways.
In that light, I bring you one of those riddles today in the form of a quiz, and suggest to you that there is a
common thread among all the following EIGHT
groups of passages in P&P, which at first may seem to have absolutely nothing
to do with each other. However, I claim they are connected clues in a literary scavenger hunt, deliberately
left scattered in the text of the novel by JA so that puzzle loving readers
would eventually, upon a sufficient number of rereadings, glimmer upon the
common denominator among these passages and solve that particular riddle:
ONE: The
passages in Chapters 15 and 29, which (I claimed in my post yesterday) are
evidence of Mr. Collins being JA’s version of Bottom, and Lady Catherine JA’s
version of Titania, Bottom and Titania
being of course, the brief, absurdly incongruous, spell-bound “lovers” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
TWO: My
previous claims that numerous passages in P&P point to Charlotte Lucas as
being (romantically) in love with Elizabeth Bennet, i.e., Charlotte is a
lesbian. That is why Charlotte agrees to marry the sexless Mr. Collins, and
that is also why Charlotte, via Mr. Collins, plants the false rumor of Darcy and Elizabeth
being engaged in Lady Catherine’s mind, so that Lady Catherine will be hoist on
her own petard, when she succeeds only in driving Darcy and Elizabeth into each
other’s arms. Think in particular about the implications of the above for Charlotte’s
marriage to Mr. Collins.
THREE:
These two passages from Chapters 47 (when Elizabeth returns to Longbourn) and
49 (when Elizabeth and Jane become aware that Mr. Bennet has received a letter
from Mr. Gardiner), respectively:
“Elizabeth
jumped out; and, after giving each of them a hasty kiss, hurried into the
vestibule, where Jane, who came running down from her mother's apartment,
immediately met her.”
“Jane,
who was not so light nor so much in the habit of running as Elizabeth, soon
lagged behind, while her sister, panting for breath, came up with him, and
eagerly cried out…”
FOUR:
These two passages about Mrs. Bennet, in Chapters 47 and 50, respectively:
“…And,
above all, keep Mr. Bennet from fighting. Tell him what a dreadful state I am
in, that I am frighted out of my wits—and have such tremblings, such flutterings,
all over me—such spasms in my side and pains in my head, and such beatings at
heart, that I can get no rest by night nor by day….”
“When first Mr. Bennet had married, economy
was held to be perfectly useless, for, of course, they were to have a son. The
son was to join in cutting off the entail, as soon as he should be of age, and
the widow and younger children would by that means be provided for. Five
daughters successively entered the world, but yet the son was to come; and Mrs.
Bennet, for many years after Lydia's birth, had been certain that he would.
This event had at last been despaired of, but it was then too late to be
saving. Mrs. Bennet had no turn for economy, and her husband's love of
independence had alone prevented their exceeding their income.”
FIVE:
This passage from Chapter 61:
“Mary
was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was necessarily drawn from
the pursuit of accomplishments by Mrs. Bennet's being quite unable to sit
alone. Mary was obliged to mix more with the world, but she could still moralize
over every morning visit; and as she was no longer mortified by comparisons
between her sisters' beauty and her own, it was suspected by her father that
she submitted to the change without much reluctance.
SIX:
A fiction in the Regency Era law of entails which was described in an article
in a past issue of Persuasions, the
JASNA journal, which created a curious loophole.
SEVEN:
These two passages in Chapters 17 and 57 regarding two letters written by Mr.
Collins to Mr. Bennet, (curiously) almost exactly one year apart (in mid-October
of two consecutive years):
“…As
a clergyman, moreover, I feel it my duty to promote and establish the blessing
of peace in all families within the reach of my influence; and on these grounds
I flatter myself that my present overtures are highly commendable, and that the
circumstance of my being next in the entail of Longbourn estate will be kindly
overlooked on your side, and not lead you to reject the offered olive-branch. I
cannot be otherwise than concerned at being the means of injuring your amiable
daughters, and beg leave to apologise for it, as well as to assure you of my
readiness to make them every possible amends—but of this hereafter.” …. "In point of composition," said
Mary, "the letter does not seem defective. The idea of the olive-branch
perhaps is not wholly new, yet I think it is well expressed."
“The
rest of his letter is only about his dear Charlotte's situation, and his
expectation of a young olive-branch.”
EIGHT:
Last but not least, this passage from JA’s Letter 85 dated May 24, 1813, or 4 months
after publication of P&P, in which JA describes a painting which reminds
her of Jane after she has married Bingley:
“…very well pleased – particularly (pray tell Fanny) with a small
portrait of Mrs. Bingley, excessively like her; I went in hopes of seeing one
of her Sisters, but there was no Mrs. Darcy; — perhaps however, I may find her
in the Great Exhibitions which we shall go to, if we have time;… Mrs. Bingley’s
is exactly like herself, size, shaped face, features & sweetness; there
never was a greater likeness.”
I
will disclose the common thread tomorrow (Saturday) by no later than 5 pm EST,
but I do hope that these eight hints, when considered as a group, will be
sufficient for at least some of you to guess correctly, or at least to come
close!
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
on Twitter
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