Chapters 13 to 23

New arrivals turn marriage into a practical question

In Chapters 13 to 23, Austen brings two very different men into Elizabeth Bennet’s life: her cousin Mr Collins and the charming militia officer George Wickham. Their arrival develops two connected questions: how should people judge character, and what should they seek in marriage? Elizabeth confidently rejects one man and trusts the other, but confidence does not always mean sound judgement.

These chapters complete the novel’s first volume. They begin with possibilities for marriage and end with disappointment for Jane, a surprising engagement for Charlotte Lucas, and growing uncertainty about Elizabeth’s understanding of other people.

Chapters 13–14: Mr Collins’s politeness conceals power

Mr Collins introduces himself through a letter announcing his visit to Longbourn. He presents himself as a peacemaker who wants to repair a family quarrel, but repeatedly congratulates himself on his generosity and praises his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Mr Bennet identifies the contradiction in Chapter 13: “There is a mixture of servility and self-importance in his letter which promises well.” Servility means excessive submission to someone powerful; self-importance means an inflated sense of one’s own value. Collins can display both because he worships Lady Catherine’s rank while believing that his connection with her makes him important. Mr Bennet’s “promises well” is ironic: he anticipates amusement, not a valuable friendship.

Yet Collins is more than a comic visitor. An entail is a legal restriction controlling the inheritance of an estate. Longbourn’s entail prevents the Bennet daughters from inheriting it; Mr Collins is the next heir. When Mr Bennet dies, the family will lose control of its home and the estate’s income. Collins’s praise of the house therefore unsettles Mrs Bennet: he appears to be admiring his future possessions.

This arrangement helps explain why Mrs Bennet changes from resenting Collins to welcoming him as a potential husband for a daughter. Marriage to him could protect one daughter’s position and potentially help the family. Her anxiety has a genuine economic basis, even when Austen makes her behaviour ridiculous. This is a restriction affecting Longbourn, not a rule that all women were unable to inherit property: Lady Catherine’s daughter is an heiress.

Collins’s own security comes from his living at Hunsford: a Church appointment providing an income and a home. Lady Catherine has the right to nominate a clergyman to that position and has chosen him. Patronage connects employment with social power, helping to explain his exaggerated gratitude and obedience.

In Chapter 14, Mr Bennet tells him that “you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy”. Collins misses the mockery and explains how he prepares compliments while making them appear spontaneous. The dialogue exposes the gap between his claimed sincerity and calculated flattery. His subsequent choice to read Fordyce’s sermons to the girls, and his offence when Lydia interrupts, also reveal his assumption that young women need his moral instruction.

Chapters 15–17: Wickham wins Elizabeth’s trust

Collins intends to marry a Bennet daughter as compensation for inheriting their father’s estate. He initially chooses Jane, then transfers his attention to Elizabeth when Mrs Bennet suggests Jane is likely to become engaged to Bingley. The narrator makes the change almost instantaneous: it happens while Mrs Bennet is stirring the fire. This compressed sequence makes his supposed affection seem interchangeable rather than personal.

Wickham’s introduction is strikingly different. In Meryton, he impresses the sisters through his handsome appearance and easy conversation. Elizabeth notices that both he and Darcy change colour when they meet, but she cannot explain their reaction. Austen creates a mystery before allowing Wickham to supply his own answer.

At Mrs Philips’s gathering in Chapter 16, Wickham claims that Darcy deprived him of a valuable Church living promised by Darcy’s father. He declares, “His behaviour to myself has been scandalous”. The adjective “scandalous” presents Darcy’s conduct as morally outrageous. Wickham combines this accusation with affectionate memories of the elder Darcy, making himself appear both injured and loyal.

His apparent reluctance to criticise Darcy is persuasive: he suggests that respect for Darcy’s father prevents him from exposing the son, even while he tells Elizabeth damaging details. This contradiction gives readers a reason for caution. His references to generosity and family affection also make his account sound more balanced than a simple attack.

Elizabeth is especially ready to believe him because Darcy has already wounded her pride and Wickham’s attention flatters her. In Chapter 17, she tells Jane, “Besides, there was truth in his looks.” She treats attractive appearance as evidence of honesty. Jane’s reluctance to condemn either man provides a contrast, although her determination to think well of everyone is not a complete solution either.

Austen’s prose narration handles the two newcomers differently. The narrator directly states that Collins is not sensible, but much of Wickham’s presentation is filtered through Elizabeth’s admiration. Readers are encouraged to share her fascination without receiving equally secure knowledge of his character. Introducing the men close together creates a juxtaposition: Collins’s obvious absurdity makes Wickham’s polished manners look especially attractive. Pleasant manners, however, are not proof of moral goodness.

Chapter 18: the Netherfield ball brings private tensions into public view

Elizabeth expects to dance with Wickham, but he is absent. She blames Darcy for the disappointment and must first endure Collins’s awkward dancing. When Darcy unexpectedly asks her to dance, she accepts before she has time to consider her response.

Their conversation combines attraction, hostility and misunderstanding. Elizabeth teasingly tells Darcy, “I have always seen a great similarity in the turn of our minds” in Chapter 18. She describes them both as unsociable and reluctant to speak, although her lively conversation contradicts that portrait. Her irony makes the dance a contest of wit rather than a straightforward romantic encounter.

The claim of similarity also invites readers to compare them more seriously. Both are proud of their judgement and capable of misreading others. Elizabeth questions Darcy about prejudice while remaining strongly influenced by Wickham’s account. Her criticism can therefore turn back upon herself.

Darcy hints that Wickham can make friends more easily than retain them, but does not explain their history. Caroline Bingley warns Elizabeth against Wickham, yet mixes her warning with contempt for his background as a steward’s son. Elizabeth reasonably objects to that snobbery, but then dismisses the warning itself. Austen shows how an unpleasant messenger can make a true warning easier to reject.

The ball also exposes the Bennets’ behaviour to Darcy and Bingley’s sisters:

• Mrs Bennet loudly discusses Jane’s expected marriage to Bingley and its financial advantages.
• Collins addresses Darcy without a formal introduction, ignoring Elizabeth’s warning about etiquette.
• Mary performs beyond her abilities and continues singing when Elizabeth wants her to stop.
• Mr Bennet intervenes by publicly embarrassing Mary rather than quietly protecting her.

Mr Bennet tells Mary in Chapter 18, “You have delighted us long enough.” The apparent praise is a sarcastic dismissal. It ends the performance but adds another humiliation, showing that his wit can hurt his children as well as entertain the reader.

In the social world Austen depicts, a family member’s conduct affects the reputation of the whole family. Jane and Elizabeth cannot entirely separate their marriage prospects from their relatives’ behaviour. Austen can therefore expose genuine breaches of manners while also making readers question the fairness of judging the sisters through their family.

Structurally, the ball gathers several plot strands into one extended scene: Collins’s courtship, Elizabeth’s hostility towards Darcy, Wickham’s disputed reputation, and Jane and Bingley’s growing attachment. Sir William Lucas’s hint about a future marriage directs Darcy’s attention towards Jane and Bingley. The evening gives him material for judgements that will become important later, without resolving the misunderstandings now.

Chapters 19–20: Elizabeth insists that her refusal means no

Collins proposes the morning after the ball. His long speech lists reasons for marrying: a clergyman should set an example, marriage will improve his happiness, and Lady Catherine recommends it. He also presents marrying a Bennet daughter as compensation for the entail. These priorities make the proposal sound like a practical arrangement centred on himself, not an expression of love for Elizabeth.

When she refuses, Collins insists in Chapter 19 that “it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept”. He replaces her actual words with a stereotype about female behaviour. The repeated exchanges are comic because each clear refusal becomes, in his mind, further encouragement; they are also disturbing because his assumptions deny her authority over her own choice.

His reminder that her small fortune may prevent another proposal adds economic pressure. Elizabeth nevertheless demands to be treated as “a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart” in Chapter 19. “Rational” claims the ability to think and judge independently; “heart” establishes that her feelings matter too. She rejects his view of women as performers of artificial modesty and asks him to recognise her as an individual.

Mrs Bennet tries to force Elizabeth to accept, but Mr Bennet supports the refusal. In Chapter 20, he begins, “An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth.” His solemn opening leads to a comic reversal: her mother threatens never to see her again if she refuses Collins, while her father threatens never to see her again if she accepts him. The balanced alternatives turn Mrs Bennet’s attempted coercion against her.

Mr Bennet’s support protects Elizabeth’s freedom, but it does not remove the financial problem behind Mrs Bennet’s fear. Austen holds personal happiness and economic insecurity together rather than making the choice entirely easy.

Chapters 21–23: Jane loses hope while Charlotte gains security

In Chapter 21, Wickham explains that he chose to avoid the ball because meeting Darcy might cause an unpleasant scene. Elizabeth admires his restraint. Yet his absence also contrasts with his earlier claim that Darcy, not he, must leave if either man wishes to avoid the other. Her attraction encourages her to accept both versions without much scrutiny.

Bingley has gone to London expecting a short visit. Caroline then writes to Jane that the rest of the party are following him and do not expect to return that winter. Her letter promotes the possibility of Bingley marrying Georgiana Darcy. Jane reads this as evidence that he does not love her; Elizabeth interprets it as Caroline’s attempt to separate them and secure a wealthier connection. The letter communicates Caroline’s wishes, not an engagement between Bingley and Georgiana.

Letters are important to the novel’s form because they carry information from absent people while allowing competing interpretations. Jane trusts Caroline’s intentions; Elizabeth distrusts them. By Chapter 23, Bingley’s continued absence weakens Elizabeth’s confidence that his affection will overcome his friends’ influence.

Meanwhile, Charlotte deliberately encourages Collins and accepts his proposal in Chapter 22. Elizabeth exclaims, “Engaged to Mr. Collins! my dear Charlotte, impossible!” The exclamations capture her shock, while “impossible” shows how strongly she assumes that her friend must share her own values.

Charlotte explains in Chapter 22, “I am not romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home”. The short declarations are calm and definite. “Only” presents her aim as modest, but a secure home is enormously important to a woman with little fortune and limited opportunities for independent employment. At twenty-seven, Charlotte sees Collins’s income, home and future inheritance as protection against poverty and dependence.

Her decision can be read as a sensible response to restricted choices: she understands Collins’s faults and acts deliberately. It can also be read as a troubling sacrifice of companionship and affection for security. Elizabeth defends the importance of personal happiness, but her certainty that Charlotte cannot be happy may underestimate a different person’s priorities. Austen’s narration gives readers access to Charlotte’s practical reasoning as well as Elizabeth’s disapproval. Through free indirect discourse, Elizabeth’s harsh judgement of the match enters the third-person narrative; readers must still consider whose judgement they are hearing.

Chapter 23 ends the first volume without the marriages Mrs Bennet confidently expected at the ball. Bingley remains absent, Elizabeth has rejected Collins, and Charlotte will become the wife of Longbourn’s future owner. This reversal links the romantic plot back to the entail. It also leaves emotional distance between Elizabeth and Charlotte, preparing for Elizabeth to encounter her friend’s married life later.

Turning a quotation into an argument

A paragraph on marriage can connect language, narrative structure and context rather than treating them as separate subjects:

Austen presents Elizabeth’s refusal as a defence of personal judgement against a marriage shaped by economic pressure. In Chapter 19, Elizabeth asks Collins to recognise her as “a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart”. The adjective “rational” challenges his assumption that a woman’s refusal is merely a conventional performance, while “heart” insists that genuine feelings should influence marriage. The repeated dialogue makes Collins’s failure to listen comic, but his position as Longbourn’s future heir gives his persistence a more threatening significance. Austen then places Charlotte’s acceptance soon after Elizabeth’s refusal, showing that the same financially secure match can represent intolerable unhappiness to one woman and a practical opportunity to another.

Plot sequence

• Chapters 13–14: Collins arrives as Longbourn’s future heir; his letter and flattery expose servility and self-importance.
• Chapters 15–17: Collins switches his choice from Jane to Elizabeth. Wickham claims Darcy denied him a promised living; Elizabeth trusts his charm.
• Chapter 18: Wickham misses the Netherfield ball. Elizabeth and Darcy clash while dancing; her relatives embarrass her publicly.
• Chapters 19–20: Collins proposes and misreads repeated refusals. Mrs Bennet pressures Elizabeth; Mr Bennet supports her.
• Chapter 21: Caroline’s letter announces the departure for London and promotes Georgiana as a match for Bingley.
• Chapters 22–23: Charlotte accepts Collins for security. Jane waits anxiously; Elizabeth’s friendship with Charlotte becomes strained.

Central contrasts

• Collins and Wickham: obvious pomposity versus persuasive charm; manners are not reliable evidence of goodness.
• Elizabeth and Charlotte: happiness and personal choice versus a secure home within restricted opportunities.