Pride and Prejudice · Chapter
Chapter XXIII explained
Sir William Lucas announces Charlotte's engagement to Mr.
What happens
Sir William Lucas announces Charlotte's engagement to Mr. Collins, shocking the Bennet family. Mrs. Bennet reacts with disbelief and anger, blaming Elizabeth. Mr. Bennet finds amusement in Charlotte's apparent folly. Jane and Elizabeth worry about Mr. Bingley's prolonged absence from Netherfield. Mr. Collins returns to Longbourn, spending most of his time at Lucas Lodge, while Mrs. Bennet grows increasingly bitter about the match and the entail.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Status
Charlotte's engagement to Mr. Collins secures her future as mistress of Longbourn, highlighting the importance of marriage for social and economic stability.
Family and Duty
Mrs. Bennet's distress over the entail and Charlotte's future possession of Longbourn reflects the family's anxiety about property and duty to daughters.
Self-Knowledge and Growth
Elizabeth's disappointment in Charlotte leads her to reflect on her own judgments and to turn with fonder regard to Jane's rectitude.
Characters to notice
- Elizabeth Bennet
Reflects on Charlotte's engagement and confirms the news to her family; feels disappointed in Charlotte and grows more anxious about Jane's happiness.
- Jane Bennet
Expresses surprise at the match but earnestly desires the couple's happiness; anxiously awaits news of Mr. Bingley.
- Mrs. Bennet
Reacted with disbelief and anger to Charlotte's engagement; blames Elizabeth and remains resentful for months; distressed by Mr. Bingley's absence.
- Mr. Bennet
Finds amusement in Charlotte's engagement, considering her as foolish as his wife; responds with dry humor to Mrs. Bennet's complaints about the entail.
- Lydia Bennet
Boisterously exclaims that Mr. Collins wanted to marry Lizzy; views the match only as news to spread at Meryton.
- Charlotte Lucas
Engaged to Mr. Collins; Elizabeth feels a restraint between them and believes no real confidence can subsist again.
Key passages
“Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of her mother and sisters, by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William”
Elizabeth stepped in to rescue Sir William from the awkwardness by confirming the engagement and offering sincere congratulations, hoping to quiet her mother and sisters.
Elizabeth's sense of social duty and composure contrasts with her family's rudeness.
“Mr. Bennet’s emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion, and such as he did experience he pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort; for it gratified him, he said, to discover that Charlotte Lucas, whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible, was as foolish as his wife, and more foolish than his daughter!”
Mr. Bennet was calmly amused, finding satisfaction in the thought that sensible Charlotte was acting as foolishly as his own wife and daughter.
Mr. Bennet's dry wit and detachment from family drama are evident.
“Between Elizabeth and Charlotte there was a restraint which kept them mutually silent on the subject; and Elizabeth felt persuaded that no real confidence could ever subsist between them again.”
Elizabeth and Charlotte were now awkwardly reserved with each other, and Elizabeth believed their friendship could never be truly open again.
The engagement damages Elizabeth's trust in Charlotte's judgment and their intimacy.
