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Question about P&P
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You make an interesting observation. I have not really thought deeply on this, but always assumed Mr. Darcy saw an opportunity and he grabbed it. If Elizabeth had gone to Rosings and no opportunity arose for him to speak privately, he may have delayed his departure, once again. The colonel alluded to Mr. Darcy having postponed their departure several times this visit.
I’m not convinced he had made up his mind to propose to her. The way I read it, upon hearing that she’s indisposed he impetuously goes down to the parsonage to check on her, all his protective instincts activated. On finding her not seriously ill, he paces about for a bit and then . . . carpe diem! When is he going to find her alone again? If he leaves Hunsford without ever asking her, will he regret it? It seems to me a spontaneous thing, not a planned one.
I must admit-I always leaned towards the idea that he had came to propose when he found her upset, mostly because that is the way the 1998 movie always portrayed it-but I now think Abigail's opinion is most likely what happened. It all makes sense!
So you think that if she had gone to Rosings, there would not have been a proposal? I never thought of it that way. I thought he had quite definite plans to propose to her, considering the hints he let drop when he walked with her in the park. I think that to his mind he was being as explicit about his eventual intentions as a man of his station could allow himself to be. I think that is why he came to the parsonage at all - not to check on her, but to speak to her at last!
I also think it was spur of the moment. Perhaps if Elizabeth had gone to Rosings and they had taken a walk in the shrubbery or flower garden he may have been moved to propose but I don't think he planned on it ahead of time. He was struggling NOT to love her so why would he plan to propose to her?
Emily wrote: "I have a question about Pride and Prejudice, which I was hoping someone could answer for me. Jane Austen famously worked on her novel for many years, and the final version we are all acquainted w..."
He wouldn't have proposed at all. He just took advantage of the fact that she didn't come.
Seriously? I find this very surprising. Why then did he hint to her on their walks that when next she came to visit Kent, she'd be staying in Rosings? He always struck me as a fellow who would be more cautious about those sort of statements. I thought it meant that he definitely planned it. Also, why did he go and see her in the parsonage at all if he didn't mean to do just that? Consider what it must look like to the others at Rosings, that he just waltzes out visit this random girl he only casually knows, alone!
It's true that during the visit, Darcy is assessing Elizabeth's comfort level at Rosings, but it's clearly an opportunistic proposal. He first makes the excuse of wishing to hear that she's feeling okay, then paces, is agitated and finally comes out with a declaration of love and a very detailed proposal, as if he's getting everything said because he doesn't know when he will have another opportunity.I think a case might be made that he didn't even come to the parsonage intending to propose.
Jane Austen famously worked on her novel for many years, and the final version we are all acquainted with is the labour of her youth, and has undergone several revisions. So I am sure that she must have known the answer to this, but it is just not apparent to me from the text, no matter how often I read it. Here it is: when Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, he does so in the Hunsford parsonage, because she refuses to go to Rosings, because of what she heard from Colonel Fitzwilliam about Darcy's interfering in Bingley's plans to propose to Jane, right? But if that is the case then Darcy was going to propose to her in Rosings that evening, right? Just logistically speaking, how do you think he meant to go about doing that, considering Lady Catherine's near constant attention to him? It would have been an evening, too, so it's not like he could have asked her to go away with him for a bit. Yet they would have to be private to talk, and for him to make his confession. Am I missing something? Does anybody have any ideas? What would have happened, had Elizabeth gone to Rosings that evening after all?