Who it is for
Readers following character development, social satire, and the changing relationships around Chapter 42 will find this chapter especially useful.
English reader · Project Gutenberg #1342
Chapter 42
Pride and Prejudice. English-only reading by default; switch among English, Chinese, and Spanish, or compare languages side by side.
Chapter summary
This chapter advances the novel’s social and emotional action around Chapter 42, using dialogue, family expectations, and manners to reveal character motives and relationships. Its opening movement begins: Had Elizabeth’s opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good-humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her.
Modern reader note
Read this chapter in its Regency social context. Courtship, inheritance, gender expectations, class manners, and family authority around Chapter 42 reflect the novel’s historical world rather than present-day norms.
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