Recently,
in the following excerpt from a 2008 dissertation, I came across a surprising
lead regarding an allusive source for Pride
& Prejudice of which I had previously been unaware:
The Pleasures of Comic Mischief in
Jane Austen’s Novels
by Belisa Monteiro:
“…Readers
have noted the remarkably theatrical opening of Pride and Prejudice— the comic dialogue largely devoid of narrative
commentary, clearly reminiscent of stage comedy. But none have pointed out the
striking resemblance between Austen's scene of marital discord—a husband and
wife fundamentally at odds, the husband delighting in thwarting his wife's
desires—and the opening of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer, featuring Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle, another
squabbling, middle-aged couple. The Hardcastles, owners of a country estate,
argue over the merits of the fashionable custom of going to London for a little
seasonal diversion. A pretender to fashion, the hopelessly rustic Mrs.
Hardcastle wants nothing more than a sojourn in London's beau monde, while her
husband retorts with satirical witticisms on the "fopperies" of the town.
While the topic of dispute differs, the comic mode of marital argument
resembles
that of the Bennets: the wife exasperatingly pleading for what she wants, and the
husband pleasing himself in thwarting her entreaties. The effects produced on
the reader and spectator are similar too: we find ourselves laughing with the
satirical husband more than sympathizing with the frustrated wife, thus
complicit in the element of cruelty underlying the husbands' enjoyment of their
wives' torment. Indeed, the anti-wife humor, as ancient as Greek Old Comedy,
enlivens and emboldens these satirical sketches of marriage. Moreover, Austen's
humor is ultimately bolder: while Goldsmith, more attuned to the sentimental
temper of Georgian culture, softens the satire by adding a touch of tenderness
to Mr. Hardcastle's feelings for his annoying wife ("I have been pretty
fond of an old wife"), Austen denies this mollifying stroke of affection
in her depiction of the uneasy dynamics of the Bennet marriage.”
END
QUOTE FROM MONTEIRO
It took
only a few minutes to retrieve the first scene of She Stoops and verify that Monteiro was spot on:
SCENE—A Chamber in an old-fashioned House. Enter
MRS. HARDCASTLE and MR. HARDCASTLE.
MRS.
HARDCASTLE. I vow, Mr. Hardcastle, you're very particular. Is there a creature in the whole country but ourselves, that does not
take a trip to town now and then, to rub off the rust a little? There's the
two Miss Hoggs, and our neighbour Mrs. Grigsby, go to take a month's polishing
every winter.
[REVERSAL
OF MRS. BENNET’S STANDING UP TO DARCY FOR COUNTRY LIFE]
HARDCASTLE.
Ay, and bring back vanity and affectation to last them the whole year. I wonder
why London cannot keep its own fools at home! In my time, the follies of the
town crept slowly among us, but now they travel faster than a stage-coach. Its
fopperies come down not only as inside passengers, but in the very basket.
[MR.
BENNET’S DROLL IRONIC WIT]
MRS.
HARDCASTLE. Ay, your times were fine times indeed; you have been telling us of them for many a long year. Here we live
in an old rumbling mansion, that looks for all the world like an inn, but that
we never see company. Our best visitors are old Mrs. Oddfish, the curate's
wife, and little Cripplegate, the lame dancing-master; and all our entertainment your old stories of Prince Eugene and the Duke of
Marlborough. I hate such old-fashioned trumpery.
[MR.
BENNET WHOSE OLD FRIENDS ARE HIS WIFE’S NERVES]
[THEN
SKIP AHEAD TO MISS HARCASTLE’S ENTRANCE]
HARDCASTLE.
Well, remember, I insist on the terms of our agreement; and, by the bye, I
believe I shall have occasion to try your obedience this very evening.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. I protest, sir, I don't comprehend your meaning.
HARDCASTLE.
Then to be plain with you, Kate, I expect the young gentleman I have chosen to be your husband from town
this very day. I have his father's letter, in which he informs me his son is
set out, and that he intends to follow himself shortly after.
[MR.
BENNET JOKING ABOUT BINGLEY AS FUTURE HUSBAND OF ANY BENNET GIRL]
MISS
HARDCASTLE. Indeed! I wish I had known something of this before. Bless me, how
shall I behave? It's a thousand to one I shan't like him; our meeting will be
so formal, and so like a thing of business, that I shall find no room for
friendship or esteem.
HARDCASTLE.
Depend upon it, child, I'll never
control your choice; but Mr. Marlow, whom I have pitched upon, is the son of my
old friend, Sir Charles Marlow, of whom you have heard me talk so often. The
young gentleman has been bred a scholar, and is designed for an employment in
the service of his country. I am told he's a man of an excellent understanding.
[“DEPEND
UPON IT” IS MR. BENNET’S PET PHRASE]
MISS
HARDCASTLE. Is he?
HARDCASTLE.
Very generous.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. I believe I shall like him.
HARDCASTLE.
Young and brave.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. I'm sure I shall like him.
HARDCASTLE.
And very handsome.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. My dear papa, say no more, (kissing
his hand), he's mine; I'll have him.
HARDCASTLE.
And, to crown all, Kate, he's one of the
most bashful and reserved young fellows in all the world.
[MR.
DARCY’S RESERVE]
MISS
HARDCASTLE. Eh! you have frozen me to death again. That word reserved has
undone all the rest of his accomplishments. A reserved lover, it is said,
always makes a suspicious husband.
HARDCASTLE.
On the contrary, modesty seldom resides in a breast that is not enriched with
nobler virtues. It was the very feature in his character that first struck me.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. He must have more striking features to catch me, I promise you. However, if he be so young, so handsome, and
so everything as you mention, I believe he'll do still. I think I'll have
him.
[DARCY’S
LIST OF NECESSARY ASSETS OF AN ACCOMPLISHED WOMAN]
HARDCASTLE.
Ay, Kate, but there is still an obstacle. It's more than an even wager he may
not have you.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. My dear papa, why will you
mortify one so?—Well, if he refuses, instead of breaking my heart at his
indifference, I'll only break my glass for its flattery, set my cap to some
newer fashion, and look out for some less difficult admirer.
[ELIZABETH
BENNET’S TRADEMARK WIT & RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF SNOBBERY]
[THEN ONE
MORE BRIEF FAST FORWARD TO...]
MISS
HARDCASTLE. No; nothing of all this. I have been threatened—I can scarce get it
out—I have been threatened with a lover.
MISS
NEVILLE. And his name—
MISS
HARDCASTLE. Is Marlow.
MISS
NEVILLE. Indeed!
MISS
HARDCASTLE. The son of Sir Charles Marlow.
MISS
NEVILLE. As I live, the most intimate
friend of Mr. Hastings, my admirer. They are never asunder. I believe you
must have seen him when we lived in town.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. Never.
MISS
NEVILLE. He's a very singular character, I assure you. Among women of reputation and virtue he is the modestest man alive; but
his acquaintance give him a very different character among creatures of another
stamp: you understand me.
[AND IN
THOSE LAST EXCHANGES WE HAVE JANE & ELIZABETH DISCUSSING BINGLEY & DARCY; THEN FOR GOOD MEASURE, THERE’S THE MODEL FOR COLONEL FITZWILLIAM’S
PRECIS OF DARCY’S SITUATIONAL CHARACTER!]
So it’s
clear from the above that She Stoops to
Conquer was not only a source (as has previously been noted by Austen
scholars) for Emma and Sense & Sensibility, but even more
so for P&P---- not just in the above quoted opening scene, but thereafter
at various points in the remainder of Goldsmith’s famous play, which I’ll
catalog tomorrow in a followup post.
But I
will close today with the startling realization I came to as I browsed in the
final Act of She Stoops: i.e., it stared me in the face that the first reader
to notice the allusion in P&P to She
Stoops was none other than Sir Walter Scott, when, in 1816, he wrote the
following drolly sarcastic encapsulation of tthe romantic climax of P&P: “They
chance to meet exactly as her prudence
had begun to subdue her prejudice; and after some essential services
rendered to her family, the lover becomes encouraged to renew his addresses,
and the novel ends happily..... "
Now,
read the following romantic climax of She
Stoops, when Marlow (“Darcy”) and Miss Hardcastle (“Elizabeth”) finally
connect romantically, and at the end you’ll see the exact passage that Scott
was winking at:
MISS
NEVILLE. No, Mr. Hastings, no. Prudence
once more comes to my relief, and
I will obey its dictates. In the moment of passion fortune may be despised, but
it ever produces a lasting repentance. I'm resolved to apply to Mr.
Hardcastle's compassion and justice for redress.
HASTINGS.
But though he had the will, he has not the power to relieve you.
MISS
NEVILLE. But he has influence, and upon that I am resolved to rely.
HASTINGS.
I have no hopes. But since you persist, I must reluctantly obey you. [Exeunt.]
SCENE changes.
Enter SIR CHARLES and MISS
HARDCASTLE.
SIR
CHARLES. What a situation am I in! If
what you say appears, I shall then find a guilty son. If what he says be true,
I shall then lose one that, of all others, I most wished for a daughter.[THERE
IS THE SOURCE FOR MR. BENNET’S SOLOMON-LIKE RESPONSE RE: ELIZABETH LOSING ONE
OF HER PARENTS NO MATTER WHETHER SHE ACCEPTS MR. COLLINS’S PPOPOSAL OR NOT]
MISS
HARDCASTLE. I am PROUD of your
approbation, and to show I merit it, if you place yourselves as I directed,
you shall hear his explicit declaration. But he comes.
SIR
CHARLES. I'll to your father, and keep him to the appointment. [Exit SIR
CHARLES.]
Enter MARLOW.
MARLOW.
Though prepared for setting out, I come once more to take leave; nor did I,
till this moment, know the pain I feel in the separation.
MISS
HARDCASTLE. (In her own natural manner.) I believe sufferings cannot be very
great, sir, which you can so easily remove. A day or two longer, perhaps, might
lessen your uneasiness, by showing the little value of what you now think
proper to regret.
[AND
NOW, HERE IS THE PASSAGE THAT SCOTT WINKED AT]
MARLOW.
(Aside.) This girl every moment improves upon me. (To her.) It must not be,
madam. I have already trifled too long with my heart. My very PRIDE begins to submit to my passion. The disparity of
education and fortune, the anger of a parent, and the contempt of my equals,
begin to lose their weight; and nothing can restore me to myself but this
painful effort of resolution.
And as my
very eloquence begins to submit to my fear of going on too long, I will end Part
One now, and be back with Part Two tomorrow.
[Added 02/19/17: Subsequent to writing the above post, after a bit more creative Googling, I came upon a 2016 review of a performance of She Stoops by a very sharp elf of a theater critic, Nancy Churnin, who at one point wrote the following about She Stoops:
"It’s a tale of pride and prejudice that may have influenced characters that Jane Austen would make famous in her novel about proud Fitzwilliam Darcy and spirited Elizabeth Bennet 40 years after this play’s debut."]
[Added 02/19/17: Subsequent to writing the above post, after a bit more creative Googling, I came upon a 2016 review of a performance of She Stoops by a very sharp elf of a theater critic, Nancy Churnin, who at one point wrote the following about She Stoops:
"It’s a tale of pride and prejudice that may have influenced characters that Jane Austen would make famous in her novel about proud Fitzwilliam Darcy and spirited Elizabeth Bennet 40 years after this play’s debut."]
Cheers,
ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode
on Twitter
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