Pride & Prejudice questions 1. What is meaningful about Mr.

Bennet s attention to Collins talent of flattering with delicacy ? How does Mr. Bennet seem to toy with the younger man, playing on his ego? It is meaningful that Mr. Bennet pays attention to Mr. Collins flattering and excessive politeness so we can get to know better Mr. Bennet s character and how silly is Mr. Collins. We learned from previous chapters that Mr. Bennet is a sarcastic man that doesn t tolerate silliness, for example Mrs. Bennet s. Mr. Collins silliness is no exception, so Mr. Bennet mocks him by asking him if he plans his compliments or if they are spontaneous. Mr. Collins doesn t really understand it s sarcasm and actually responds the questions, proving again his silliness. From these conversations we learn that Mr. Bennet doesn t like Mr. Collins and isn t very tolerable when it comes to silly and snobby people, and that Mr. Collins is very silly and likes to flatter Lady Catherine every single minute to prove she is his acquaintance. 2. What motivates Collins to seek a wife from among the Bennet girls? Mr. Collins wants to seek a wife among the Bennet girls because he wants to make amends between Mr. Bingley and him. After Mr. Bingley dies all of his estate goes to Mr. Collins, so they aren t good friends with Mr. Collins obviously. Therefore, Mr. Collins wants to marry one of the Bennet girls, so his relationship with the family isn t so tense and they can get along better. Another reason he wants to marry the Bennet girls because he needs a wife soon, after Lady Catherine told him he should get married. So after he found out the Bennet girls were pretty he thought he had a great opportunity of fixing his problems all together by marrying one of the girls. 3. Why is Wickham s candor concerning his situation and his relationship with Darcy surprising? Are his revelations appropriate? Why or why not? What keeps him from talking even more openly? Mr. Wickham s honestly and frankness is surprising because he tells Elizabeth everything about the situation with Mr. Darcy, his past, without even knowing her that much. They had only known each other like for hours and he was already telling her everything about him, including information about Mr. Darcy, which isn t good according to him. The relationship is surprising because we were not expecting that they were related, and even had a tense relationship because of money and family problems. I believe Mr. Wickham s revelations are not appropriate because he doesn t even know Elizabeth that much to be telling her his life, and talking badly about Mr. Darcy. The only thing that kept him from talking more openly was the other people around. They were not alone so he couldn t speak so openly about everything. 4. How does Jane s desire to see the good in everyone differ from Elizabeth s judgments?

Jane and Elizabeth are totally different people, and when judging someone the different characters are more noticeable. Elizabeth is a prejudiced woman, and when she thinks ill about someone there is no coming back. She is easily influenced by someone else s opinion, like Mr. Wickham s opinion of Mr. Darcy. Meanwhile, Jane is more tolerable and likes to see the good in people. She tries to give people a chance of showing whom they really are, and doesn t like to prejudge them. If Elizabeth learns something bad about them she immediately believes it, and judges badly. Jane tries to see the good in people even though she has heard awful things and even experienced them, like with the Bingley sisters. Also Elizabeth believes in first impressions, while Jane tries to make a judgment after really meeting the person. 5. In what way does Elizabeth s family embarrass her at the ball? Is she justified in her reactions? Elizabeth s family embarrassed her in many ways. First of all Mrs. Bennet started talking about Jane and Bingley s relationship, and about their marriage to Lady Lucas. Mrs. Bennet was talking very loudly, and everyone could hear her including Mr. Darcy. Also Mary started singing to get everyone s attention, even after Mr. Bennet interrupted her. The other member that acted embarrassingly was Mr. Collins when he introduced himself to Mr. Darcy and when he said the unnecessarily, long flattering speech. I think Elizabeth was justified because her family was dishonoring themselves and were acting silly. Even though her reaction wasn t totally correct because she was upset with Mr. Darcy s situation and about Mr. Wickham s absence, so she delivered her anger towards her family.