Chapters 13 to 23 — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
Chapters 13 to 23
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Mr Collins's arrival, Wickham's story about Darcy, the Netherfield ball, Mr Collins's proposal to Elizabeth, Bingley's departure for London and Charlotte's engagement.
Key quotations: 'There is a mixture of servility and self-importance in his letter', 'you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy', 'His behaviour to myself has been scandalous', 'I have always seen a great similarity in the turn of our minds', 'You have delighted us long enough', 'it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept', 'a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart', 'An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth', 'I am not romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home', 'Engaged to Mr. Collins! my dear Charlotte, impossible!'.
Structure: the Netherfield ball, where Elizabeth's family embarrass her in front of Darcy, and the close of the novel's first volume, with Bingley gone and Charlotte engaged.
Context: the entail that makes Mr Collins heir to Longbourn, and a clergyman's living in the gift of a patron such as Lady Catherine.
