Chapters 1 to 12 — Eduqas GCSE English Literature C720
Eduqas GCSE English Literature · C720
Chapters 1 to 12
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
Netherfield let to Mr Bingley, the Meryton assembly and Darcy's slight, Charlotte Lucas on marriage, and Jane's illness and Elizabeth's stay at Netherfield.
What each chapter establishes about character and theme, with key quotations.
Key quotations: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife', 'What a fine thing for our girls!', 'the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world', 'She is tolerable: but not handsome enough to tempt me', 'Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance', 'a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman', 'you must be two of the silliest girls in the country', 'six inches deep in mud', 'A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages', 'Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her', 'My good opinion once lost is lost for ever'.
Form: the ironic opening sentence, the dialogue between Mr and Mrs Bennet in Chapter 1, and the assembly's gossip, which turns from admiring Darcy's 'ten thousand a year' to calling him proud.
Context: the entail on Longbourn, explained in Chapter 7, and why five daughters and no son make Mrs Bennet so anxious to see them married.
Eduqas's essay on this novel marks context as much as response and analysis: weave context into the argument, and treat the printed extract as a starting point, ranging across the beginning, middle and end of the novel.
