Summary:
Darcy and Bingley come to Longbourn again and a walk is proposed with Jane, Bingley, Elizabeth, Darcy, and Kitty. Jane and Bingley quickly fall behind, and Kitty stops at the Lucases, leaving Elizabeth and Darcy alone. Elizabeth bursts out with thanks for what he did for Lydia, though she knows it was meant to be a secret. He responds by affirming his continuing love for her and saying that should her sentiments be unchanged he will drop the subject forever. Elizabeth quickly tells him that she has undergone a very severe change of heart. At the end of the walk they have come to an engagement. Telling her family is very awkward as nobody, not even Jane, believes Elizabeth to feel anything but violent dislike for Mr. Darcy but she is eventually successful in making them all believe that she does, in fact, love him. When she asks Mr. Darcy what made him speak again, he said that Lady Catherine told him of her visit, and that the knowledge that Elizabeth had refrained from denying any possible connection between them had given him hope. They are married, as are Bingley and Jane, and live happily in Pemberley. Lydia and Wickham’s happiness wears out and their finances are always short (Elizabeth and Jane discreetly help whenever possible), Kitty stays with Jane and Elizabeth and so is able to evolve from her insipid ways, Mrs. Bennet lives happily with the marriages of three of her daughters, Mr. Bennet frequently visits Pemberley to see Elizabeth. Georgiana and Elizabeth become close and the friendship is mutually beneficial; Lady Catherine is at first livid but then out of curiosity or something else condescends to visit the estate; the Gardiners, who are well-loved and respected by both Darcy and Elizabeth, are frequent and welcomed guests.
Fantasy:
In this last section the happy ending of the story comes about through the engagement of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, which the reader is to understand to be the foundation of a “good” marriage.
Darcy alludes to his own eucatastrophe, the happy turn of his story. It came when his aunt told him of her visit to Elizabeth, and he says, “It taught me to hope…as I had scarcely ever allowed myself to hope before” (341). His eucatastrophe, like Elizabeth’s, was made possible by his conversion and came about as a moment of clarity. As mentioned earlier, the complaints that Lady Catherine had regarding the potential engagement between her nephew and Elizabeth were the same ones Darcy enumerated during his first proposal. But, through his conversion and newfound humility, he no longer believes these complaints to be reason to belittle her or see her as inferior as his aunt does. When his aunt relays the conversation to him, he does not hear a reaffirmation of his own superiority. His humility and his civility toward Elizabeth allow him to look past those complaints to see in Elizabeth’s response not a defense of her family, but hope for himself. He recognizes Elizabeth as “good” and it is after this that he pursues her again. Like Elizabeth, Darcy comes to discern what is “good” and what is “nice” and consciously chooses to pursue the “good.”
Mimesis:
Elizabeth’s rejection of her father as a model is fully realized in this section as he advises her not to accept Mr. Darcy’s proposal, not realizing the conversion that both he and she have undergone. Elizabeth’s disagreement with her father and her unwillingness to reconsider the engagement or doubt Mr. Darcy because of what her father said show that she truly has turned toward new models.
The fact that the Gardiners remain models, not only for Elizabeth but also for Darcy, is made clear in the last chapter of the novel. As the narrator describes the life Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy enjoy together after they are married, it says, “With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms” (361). This implies that the Gardiners, then, are models not only for Elizabeth but for Darcy as well. It also implies that their respective conversions truly were linear, as both characters do not go back to their old models and old behaviors. The changes and transformations they went through in the course of the novel permanently altered them and their relationships.
Discussion:
Darcy’s transformation is fully realized in this section. He no longer seems to see himself as superior to the Bennet family; he displays respect toward them and toward Elizabeth. He shows this with his response when Elizabeth thanks him for all he did for her family. He says, “you family owe me nothing. Much as I respect them, I believe, I thought only of you” (340). His treatment of her family is not the only thing that has drastically changed throughout the course of the novel. His self-assurance, the pride that led to his confidence of acceptance during his first proposal, has dwindled so that when he comes to Elizabeth a second time he is unsure and humbled. He speaks without expectations and with an acceptance of possible rejection when he says, “My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever” (340). With this new proposal there now exists between Darcy and Elizabeth the respect and esteem that was missing in the first. He respects her and her family enough to be embarrassed by Elizabeth’s thanks; he respects her decisions and her desires enough to preemptively accept a rejection of his offers. He thinks highly enough of her to be embarrassed by his earlier treatment of her, as he says “my behaviour to you at the time, had merited the severest reproof. It was unpardonable. I cannot think of it without abhorrence” (341).
The transformation of radical change that Elizabeth went through during the course of the novel is also explicitly pointed out in this section, more so than before. When Darcy mentions the letter he wrote her, Elizabeth says, “The feelings of the person who wrote, and the person who received it, are now so widely different from what they were then, that every unpleasant circumstance attending it, ought to be forgotten” (342, emphasis mine). Elizabeth acknowledges her own conversion as well as Darcy, and recognizes how those conversions led them to the point they are at now.
This conversion is, as Girard says, one-way. The characters do not regress; they do not turn back toward their old models. The Gardiners remain the model of amiability, civility and virtue to which both Darcy and Elizabeth aspire. As the narrator relays that they remain close with Elizabeth’s aunt and uncle, it also makes it clear that neither one goes back to their old models. Their transformation is linear and permanent; they are forever changed.
The happy ending of Pride and Prejudice comes about with the engagement of the two principal characters, but this engagement is made possible by the preceding moments of clarity where they were finally able to discern the “good” and pursue it, and these moments of clarity were made possible by each character’s conversion. At the end of their transformations each emerged as a more humble being, following superior models and therefore able to receive these moments of clarity and act on them.
Pride and Prejudice and Fantasy 