This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Gambler Series: (The Russians) Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky Translator: CJ Hogarth Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 221 Words: 60K
When I first read The Gambler in 2010, I came away more confused than not. I wasn’t used to the Russian naming conventions and the nicknaming scheme they’ve invented is worse than Cockney rhyming slang.
Now though, well, I feel comfortable with Alexei Ivanovich as much as I am with John Smith. I had no problem navigating the maze of names and who was who and who was doing what. This was really complicated. It doesn’t help that “The Gambler” refers to almost every person in the story. There are also layers of unspoken assumptions.
For example, Polina did love Alexei, the main character. But why did she never say so? Why did she treat him like dirt, like a lackey, like he didn’t matter? She ends up having a physical and partial mental breakdown and I do not understand at all why. He had confessed his love to her so it wasn’t like she had to worry about rejection. There was obviously something else going on, but I didn’t have the cultural understanding to know what I should. It would be like a guy claiming to have gotten to third base and leaving it at that. Knowing what that meant could convey a whole paragraph of information AND it could be used to convey something else without ever saying it explicitly. It’s frustrating, that’s what it is.
It was also depressing to see everyone get caught up in gambling. It’s one of the reasons I don’t gamble. The only gamble I take is when our national lottery gets to 1 billion dollars, then I’ll buy one $2 ticket, once. I’ve seen the mess people make of their lives in real life and a story like this one only emphasizes such caution in regards to gambling.
Earn your money, there are no short cuts.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia
Synopsis – click to open
The first-person narrative is told from the point of view of Alexei Ivanovich, a tutor working for a Russian family living in a suite at a German hotel. The patriarch of the family, The General, is indebted to the Frenchman de Grieux and has mortgaged his property in Russia to pay only a small amount of his debt. Upon learning of the illness of his wealthy aunt, “Grandmother”, he sends streams of telegrams to Moscow and awaits the news of her demise. His expected inheritance will pay his debts and gain Mademoiselle Blanche de Cominges’s hand in marriage.
Alexei is hopelessly in love with Polina, the General’s stepdaughter. She asks him to go to the town’s casino and place a bet for her. After hesitations, he succumbs and ends up winning at the roulette table. He returns to her with the winnings, but she will not tell him why she is in such need of money. She laughs at him (as she does when he professes his love) and treats him with apparent indifference. Alexei only learns the details of the General’s and Polina’s financial state later in the story through his long-time acquaintance, Mr. Astley. Astley is a shy Englishman who seems to share Alexei’s fondness for Polina. He comes from English nobility and is very wealthy.
One day, while Polina and Alexei are on a walk on the Schlangenberg (a mountain in the German town), he swears an oath of servitude to her. He tells her that all she has to do is give the word and he will gladly walk off the edge and plummet to his death. Polina dares him to insult the aristocratic couple Baron and Baroness Wurmerhelm, whom they have just seen, and he does so. This sets off a chain of events that explains Mademoiselle Blanche’s interest in the General and gets Alexei fired as tutor of the General’s children. Shortly after this, Grandmother shows up and surprises the whole party of debtors and indebted. She tells them all that she knows all about the General’s debt and why the Frenchman and woman are waiting around the suite day after day. She leaves the party of death-profiteers, telling them that none of them are getting any of her money. She asks Alexei to be her guide around the town, famous for its healing waters and infamous for its casino; she wants to gamble.
Grandmother plays at the roulette table and wins a large amount of money. She briefly returns to the hotel, but she has caught the gambling bug and soon returns to the casino. After three days, she has lost over a hundred thousand roubles.
After sending Grandmother off at the railway station, Alexei returns to his room where he is greeted by Polina. She shows him a letter where des Grieux says he has started legal proceedings to sell the General’s properties mortgaged to him, but he is returning properties worth fifty thousand roubles to the General for Polina’s benefit. Des Grieux says he feels he has fulfilled all his obligations. Polina tells Alexei that she is des Grieux’s mistress and she wishes she had fifty thousand roubles to fling in des Grieux’s face. Upon hearing this, Alexei runs out of the room and to the casino where, over a few hours, he wins two hundred thousand florins (100,000 francs) and becomes a rich man. When he gets back to his room and the waiting Polina, he empties the gold and bank notes from his pockets onto the bed. At first Polina accuses him of trying to buy her like des Grieux, but then she embraces him. They fall asleep on the couch. Next day, she asks for fifty thousand roubles (25,000 francs) and when he gives it to her, she flings the money in his face and runs off to Mr. Astley (Polina and Mr. Astley had been secretly meeting; she was supposed to meet Astley the night before, but had come by mistake to Alexei’s room). Alexei doesn’t see her again.
After learning that the General won’t be getting his inheritance, Mademoiselle Blanche leaves for Paris with her mother and seduces Alexei to follow her. They stay together for almost a month; he allows Mlle Blanche to spend his entire fortune on her own personal expenses, carriages and horses, dinner dances, and a wedding-party. After getting herself financially secured, Mlle Blanche, desiring an established social status, unexpectedly marries the General, who has followed her to Paris.
Alexei starts to gamble to survive. One day he passes Mr. Astley on a park bench in Bad Homburg and has a talk with him. He finds out from Astley that Polina is in Switzerland and actually does love Alexei. Astley tells him that Grandmother has died and left Polina and the children financially secured. The General has died in Paris. Astley gives him some money but shows little hope that he will not use it for gambling. Alexei goes home dreaming of going to Switzerland the next day and recollects what made him win at the roulette tables in the past.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Sanditon Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Unfinished Novel Pages: 79 Words: 24K
I really enjoyed this unfinished novel. Thoroughly enjoyed it, as it had all the hallmarks of a good Austen novel with all the stuff I love about her writing.
But it’s unfinished. I had barely gotten started when it ended. I was eating the salad, could smell the lasagna in the oven, then the restaurant owner came over, unceremoniously kicked me out of the restaurant. While I was still hungry. Oh the humanity!!!!
This is yet another unfinished novel that I would like to get my hands on a co-authored finished product. Some day!
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
The novel centres on Charlotte Heywood, the eldest of the daughters still at home in the large family of a country gentleman from Willingden, Sussex. The narrative opens when the carriage of Mr and Mrs Parker of Sanditon topples over on a hill near the Heywood home. Because Mr Parker is injured in the crash, and the carriage needs repairs, the Parkers stay with the Heywood family for a fortnight. During this time, Mr Parker talks fondly of Sanditon, a town which until a few years before had been a small, unpretentious fishing village. With his business partner, Lady Denham, Mr Parker hopes to make Sanditon into a fashionable seaside resort. Mr Parker’s enormous enthusiasm for his plans to improve and modernise Sanditon has resulted in the installation of bathing machines and the construction of a new home for himself and his family near the seashore. Upon repair of the carriage and improvement to Mr Parker’s foot, the Parkers return to Sanditon, bringing Charlotte with them as their summer guest.
Upon arrival in Sanditon, Charlotte meets the inhabitants of the town. Prominent among them is Lady Denham, a twice-widowed woman who received a fortune from her first husband and a title from her second. Living with Lady Denham is her niece Clara Brereton, a sweet and beautiful yet impoverished young lady. Also living in Sanditon are Sir Edward Denham and his sister Esther, nephew and niece to Lady Denham by her second husband. The siblings are poor and are thought to be seeking Lady Denham’s fortune; Sir Edward is described as a silly and very florid man, though handsome.
After settling in with the Parkers and encountering various neighbours, Charlotte and Mr and Mrs Parker are surprised by a visit from his two sisters and younger brother, all of whom are self-declared invalids. However, given their level of activity and seeming strength, Charlotte quickly surmises that their complaints are invented. Diana Parker has come on a mission to secure a house for a wealthy family from the West Indies, although she has not specifically been asked to help. She also brings word of a second large party, a girls’ school, which is intending to summer at Sanditon. This news causes a stir in the small town, especially for Mr Parker, whose fondest wish is the promotion of tourism there.
With the arrival of Mrs Griffiths at Sanditon, it soon becomes apparent that the family from the West Indies and the girls’ school group are one and the same. The visitors consist of Miss Lambe, a teenaged Antiguan-English heiress, and the two Miss Beauforts, English girls just arrived from the West Indies.[3] In short order, Lady Denham calls on Mrs. Griffiths to be introduced to Miss Lambe, the sickly and very rich young woman that she intends her nephew, Sir Edward, to marry.
A carriage unexpectedly arrives bearing Sidney Parker, the middle Parker brother. He will be staying in town for a few days with two friends who will join him shortly. Sidney Parker is about 27 or 28 years old, and Charlotte finds him very good-looking, with a decided air of fashion.
The book fragment ends when Mrs Parker and Charlotte visit Sanditon House, Lady Denham’s residence. There Charlotte spots Clara Brereton seated with Sir Edward Denham at her side having an intimate conversation in the garden and surmises that they must have a secret understanding. When they arrive inside, Charlotte observes that a large portrait of Sir Henry Denham hangs over the fireplace, whereas Lady Denham’s first husband, who owned Sanditon House, only gets a miniature in the corner – obliged, as it were, to sit back in his own house and see the best place by the fire constantly occupied by Sir Henry Denham.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Death of Ivan Ilyich Series: (The Russians) Author: Leo Tolstoy Translator: Rating: 3 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 82 Words: 22K
While I found this engaging and well written (ie, translated), I also had issues with it on multiple levels.
On a literary level, Ilyich is an unpleasant man who becomes even more unpleasant as he sees his death approaching. I did not enjoy reading about him. And as he got sicker and became more and more unpleasant and unbearable, it was not cathartic knowing he was going to die. The story starts AFTER his death and even that was unpleasant as the people he associated with were just as unpleasant as him.
On a spiritual level, I also found this unpleasant. Ivan Ilyich is dying and somehow magically sees God’s Plan and loses all fear of death, or something like that. There wasn’t one mention of Jesus Christ or His death, resurrection and redemption of humanity. This is one ongoing issue I have with old time’y Russians who claim to be Christians. Most of their spiritually is as mystical and unknowable as any pagan religion. This was one of the more egregious examples and it totally rubbed me the wrong way.
Thankfully, at just over 80 pages it didn’t last long. I’m glad I read this but like a lot of these Russian novellas, have no plans to ever re-read it.
★★★☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Ivan Ilyich lives a carefree life that is “most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.” Like everyone he knows, he spends his life climbing the social ladder. Enduring marriage to a woman whom he often finds too demanding, he works his way up to be a magistrate, thanks to the influence he has over a friend who has just been promoted, focusing more on his work as his family life becomes less tolerable.
While hanging curtains for his new home one day, he falls awkwardly and hurts his side. Though he does not think much of it at first, he begins to suffer from a pain in his side. As his discomfort grows, his behavior towards his family becomes more irritable. His wife finally insists that he visit a physician. The physician cannot pinpoint the source of his malady, but soon it becomes clear that his condition is terminal (although no diagnosis is ever stated by the physician.) Confronted with his terminal condition, Ivan attempts every remedy he can to obtain a cure for his worsening situation, until the pain grows so intense that he is forced to cease working and spend the remainder of his days in bed. Here, he is brought face to face with his mortality and realizes that, although he knows of it, he does not truly grasp it.
During the long and painful process of dying, Ivan dwells on the idea that he does not deserve his suffering because he has lived rightly. If he had not lived a good life, there could be a reason for his pain; but he has, so pain and death must be arbitrary and senseless. As he begins to hate his family for avoiding the subject of his death, for pretending he is only sick and not dying, he finds his only comfort in his peasant boy servant, Gerasim, the only person in Ivan’s life who does not fear death, and also the only one who, apart from his own son, shows compassion for him. Ivan begins to question whether he has, in fact, lived a good life.
In the final days of his life, Ivan makes a clear split between an artificial life, such as his own, which masks the true meaning of life and makes one fear death, and an authentic life, the life of Gerasim. Authentic life is marked by compassion and sympathy, the artificial life by self-interest. Then “some force” strikes Ivan in the chest and side, and he is brought into the presence of a bright light. His hand falls onto his nearby son’s head, and Ivan pities his son. He no longer hates his daughter or wife, but rather feels pity for them, and hopes his death will release them. In so doing, his terror of death leaves him, and as Tolstoy suggests, death itself disappears.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Watsons Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 46 Words: 17K
This is an unfinished novel that Austen began, stopped and for unknown reasons, never picked up again. It is 5 chapters long, which is why I’m giving it the “novella” tag.
While I enjoyed this little “taste”, it had many of the same elements in Austen’s full novels so it wasn’t a novelty like Lady Susan was.
I almost didn’t rate this because it wasn’t finished and so I didn’t know how the later, unwritten part of the story would have changed my outlook on the beginning. But I am rating what I was able to read and that gets 4stars from me.
There have been several “completed” versions by various authors. One of them, a descendant of Austen wrote a full 500+ page novel based on this. At some point I plan on reading that. It is entitled “The Younger Sister”.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
The timeframe of the completed fragment covers about a fortnight, and serves to introduce the main characters, who live in Surrey. Mr Watson is a widowed and ailing clergyman with two sons and four daughters. The youngest daughter, Emma, the heroine of the story, has been brought up by a wealthy aunt and is consequently better educated and more refined than her sisters. But after her aunt contracted a foolish second marriage, Emma has been obliged to return to her father’s house. There she is chagrined by the crude and reckless husband-hunting of two of her sisters, Penelope and Margaret. One particular focus for them is Tom Musgrave, who has paid attention to all of the sisters in the past. This Emma learns from her more responsible and kindly eldest sister Elizabeth.
Living near the Watsons are the Osbornes, a great titled family. Emma attracts some notice from the young and awkward Lord Osborne while attending a ball in the nearby town. An act of kindness on her part also acquaints her with Mrs Blake, who introduces Emma to her brother, Mr Howard, vicar of the parish church near Osborne Castle. A few days later Margaret returns home, having been away on a protracted visit to her brother Robert in Croydon. With her come her brother and his overbearing and snobbish wife. When they leave, Emma declines an invitation to accompany them back.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Yakov Pasinkov Series: (The Russians) Author: Ivan Turgenev Translator: Garnett Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 64 Words: 17K
There was a quote that sums up Russian Literature exquisitely:
“I felt very miserable, wretched and miserable beyond description. In twenty-four hours two such cruel blows! I had learned that Sophia loved another man, and I had for ever forfeited her respect. I felt myself so utterly annihilated and disgraced that I could not even feel indignant with myself. Lying on the sofa with my face turned to the wall, I was revelling in the first rush of despairing misery” ~bolding is mine
Reveling (I believe the double “L” in the quote is the old timey way of spelling it) in despairing misery. Do you understand that? If you don’t, or can’t, then Russian works are probably not for you. However, I CAN UNDERSTAND IT PERFECTLY! Which is why I enjoy Russian novels and novella’s so much. Even ones that have no real plot and are just ramblings about various character studies.
I was pretty pissed off that I couldn’t find a bleeping summary of this novella online. Not even that ***** liberal activist hotbed of partisanship and censorship, Wikipedia, had a separate article on this. It was just lumped in under “Works of Turgenev”. Now how lazy is that? Aren’t there any REAL Turgenev fans out there? Don’t they CARE that this novella doesn’t have its own article, that it doesn’t have an indepth summary or a bunch of blather by some idiot cramming in “meaning” from his mouth and *ss? I felt truly ashamed for anybody who claimed to be a Fan of Turgenev because they were THAT lazy. Shame on all five of them! If I ever come across them, I shall not even look at them or meet their eye.
Thankfully, I’m not a totally lazy git. Just a mostly lazy git. So I wrote a flaming synopsis, all on my own. Like a GOOD reviewer would do. In fact, I will lay claim to being one of the world’s best book reviewers, EVER, because of this masterful accomplishment. And it’s all thanks to my love of reveling in despair and misery. So there.
The End.
★★★✬☆
From Bookstooge.blog
Synopsis – You Know You Want to Read It!
An unnamed narrator relates his various interactions with the titular Yakov Pasinkov and various figures related to the narrator and to Pasinkov. Our narrator met Pasinkov at school, and become his mentee. They separated after school, met again years later in St Petersburg where Pasinkov smoothed over an issue for our Narrator with a young woman who the narrator was in love, as was Pasinkov. Then they separate for years again and our Narrator meets Pasinkov on his death bed, where he learns of Pasinkov’s love of the aforementioned young woman, who has since married and had a daughter. Our Narrator meets her, relates Pasinkov’s death and the woman reveals how her sister had been in love with Pasinkov. And some letters of Pasinkov reveal how he was loved by yet another peasant woman. So everybody loved somebody who didn’t love them and everybody was miserable or died, or both. The End.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Lady Susan Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic novella Pages: 85 Words: 23K
When I originally read this back in ‘13, it was as part of Austen’s collected “Minor Works”. As such, in my mind it was incomplete, because I was mixing it up with Sanditon. I assumed it was unfinished because it was so short. The reality though, is that it is a novella and reading it on its own this time, I realized it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is also in the epistolary style (the story is told through letters written to and from various characters) and I have a weakness for that particular literary device. It just works for me, so I had a great time this time around.
Lady Susan, the titular character, is, to put it bluntly, a home wrecker. She’s recently widowed and on the prowl for her next meal ticket. She gets involved with a married man, because “he’s interesting” and then when that causes a scandal, removes to the countryside to live with her brother-in-law and his wife. The wife’s brother comes to visit and Lady Susan decides to play with him. While keeping the married man on the leash AND keeping an eye on yet a third rich young man, who she thinks should marry her 16 year old daughter. Lots of drama ensues between family as the story progresses and we get to see the true Lady Susan through her letters to a friend in London. In the end, the daughter of Lady Susan is set to marry the good rich young man and Lady Susan ends up with the third young man, who is rich as Croesus, but extremely stupid. No come uppances are anywhere to be seen.
I was amazed at just how brazen Lady Susan was in her letters to her friend in London. She tells her real thoughts on everyone around her, outlines in detail her schemes for herself and her daughter and generally shows just how terrible a person she is. I would have been ashamed to even write in my own private journal some of the things she casually and glibly writes about. To be frankly so self-centered and selfish with no concerns for anyone besides herself, well, I’d be embarrassed to admit even to myself that I was that kind of person.
I did have a little trouble keeping track who was who. With several people referring to each other by their titles and last names instead of their family relation or full name, I had to concentrate on who Mrs Vincent Godfrey the 4th was, or how they were related to Miss Emma Murray. Thankfully, I WAS able to keep everyone straight, even if they did just refer to each other as Mrs Godfrey or Miss Murray. Naming conventions and their usage is another one of those little time capsules that I so enjoy about reading older books, even if it does take work on my part.
Reading this by itself emphasized the ending and I was glad to see this as a complete story instead of the “fragment” I thought it was in my head.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Lady Susan Vernon, a beautiful and charming recent widow, visits her brother-in-law and his wife, Charles and Catherine Vernon, with little advance notice at Churchill, their country residence. Catherine is far from pleased, as Lady Susan had tried to prevent her marriage to Charles and her unwanted guest has been described to her as “the most accomplished coquette in England”. Among Lady Susan’s conquests is the married Mr. Manwaring.
Catherine’s brother Reginald arrives a week later, and despite Catherine’s strong warnings about Lady Susan’s character, soon falls under her spell. Lady Susan toys with the younger man’s affections for her own amusement and later because she perceives it makes her sister-in-law uneasy. Her confidante, Mrs. Johnson, to whom she writes frequently, recommends she marry the very eligible Reginald, but Lady Susan considers him to be greatly inferior to Manwaring.
Frederica, Lady Susan’s 16-year-old daughter, tries to run away from school when she learns of her mother’s plan to marry her off to a wealthy but insipid young man she loathes. She also becomes a guest at Churchill. Catherine comes to like her—her character is totally unlike her mother’s—and as time goes by, detects Frederica’s growing attachment to the oblivious Reginald.
Later, Sir James Martin, Frederica’s unwanted suitor, shows up uninvited, much to her distress and her mother’s vexation. When Frederica begs Reginald for support out of desperation (having been forbidden by Lady Susan to turn to Charles and Catherine), she causes a temporary breach between Reginald and Lady Susan, but the latter soon repairs the rupture.
Lady Susan decides to return to London and marry her daughter off to Sir James. Reginald follows, still bewitched by her charms and intent on marrying her, but he encounters Mrs. Manwaring at the home of Mr. Johnson and finally learns Lady Susan’s true character. Lady Susan ends up marrying Sir James herself, and allows Frederica to reside with Charles and Catherine at Churchill, where Reginald De Courcy “could be talked, flattered, and finessed into an affection for her.”
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Crime and Punishment Series: (The Russians) Author: Fyodor Dostoyevsky Translator: Richard Pevear Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 667 Words: 224K
I still rated this 5stars, just like I did in 2012 (2012 Review) but I did not enjoy this read nearly as much as I did 14 years ago. I’ll enumerate those reasons and then talk about the reasons why this still gets 5stars anyway 😀
First, I read a more modern translation. Previously, I had read the free Garnett translation, and she was of a concurrent time as Dostoyevsky and so her English context and syntax was of an older variety. This Pevear guy did his translation in 1992 and there was a significant difference. I really felt like I was reading a modern novel and you know what? I did not like that feeling one bit, not one tiny bit. While I can understand a need for an accurate translation, I am not big on changing usage, as that changes meaning itself.
I think the biggest change, from trying to remember from 14 years ago, was that in the previous translation Raskolnikov came across as a fairly normal young man who descended into madness after committing the murder. In this translation, he was an already mentally unhinged arrogant jackass from before we ever meet him. It completely changed the trajectory of the story and not for the better.
I still enjoyed this immensely though. When you deny reality, it breaks your mind on one level or another. It might be a gradual breakage or a quick sharp snap. Much like today in fact. A whole generation is growing up denying basic biological reality. Not just on a philosophical level, but at the deepest part of their being and as such, their minds are breaking. They think they are unicorns and pentasexuals and that women are the exact same thing as men. And as a result, they are breaking in droves. The teen suicide rate is skyrocketing here in the US. In a time where the reality is that most people are living in a level of comfort, opulence and plenty that no one in the history of the world has ever experienced. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just that “one” issue, but it is the one that most easily springs to mind.
This time around, I found the character of Svidrigailov to be of the most interest. He’s a wretch of the first order and yet appears to have it all under control right up until he doesn’t. When he has nightmares and blows his brains out with a pistol. Svidrigailov tries to seduce Raskolnikov’s sister, had gotten into jail for ginormous gambling debts, poisons his wife and has some stuff in his past that makes him to be the kind of creep you’d want to stay far away from. There’s no redemption for him. He tries to redeem himself by doing a few good deeds but they are as a dirty dishrag wiping a bloody corpse. I think I was intrigued by him because the older I get, the more I see the brokenness of humanity in myself. But instead of making me more disgusted with humanity, it makes me more sympathetic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I enjoy the depravity more, or that I want to be that way, but until you realize that you are in the same exact boat as everybody else, there is too great a chance of thinking you are innately better than them. We can see in today’s world where that path leads.
Finally, mainly so as not to end on such a sad note, we do have redemption. It’s not the final and full redemption of Raskolnikov, but it is the beginning. It gives hope to someone who was hopeless, someone who didn’t even WANT hope. It was by the power of another. It is good to be reminded that we can’t always do it all by ourselves. We can’t save ourselves by our own bootstraps.
Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, a former law student, lives in extreme poverty in a tiny rented room in Saint Petersburg. Isolated and antisocial, he has abandoned all attempts to support himself and is brooding obsessively on a scheme he has devised to murder and rob an elderly pawnbroker. On the pretext of pawning a watch, he visits her apartment, but he remains unable to commit himself. Later in a tavern, he makes the acquaintance of Semyon Zakharovich Marmeladov, a drunkard who recently squandered his family’s little wealth. Marmeladov tells him about his teenage daughter, Sonya, who has become a prostitute in order to support the family. The next day, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother in which she describes the problems of his sister Dunya, who has been working as a governess, with her ill-intentioned employer, Svidrigailov. To escape her vulnerable position, and with hopes of helping her brother, Dunya has chosen to marry a wealthy suitor, Luzhin, whom they are coming to meet in Petersburg. Details in the letter suggest that Luzhin is a conceited opportunist who is seeking to take advantage of Dunya’s situation. Raskolnikov is enraged at his sister’s sacrifice, feeling it is the same as what Sonya felt compelled to do. Painfully aware of his own poverty and impotence, his thoughts return to his idea. A further series of internal and external events seem to conspire to compel him toward the resolution to enact it.
In a state of extreme nervous tension, Raskolnikov steals an axe and makes his way once more to the old woman’s apartment. He gains access by pretending he has something to pawn, and then attacks her with the axe, killing her. He also kills her half-sister, Lizaveta, who happens to stumble upon the scene of the crime. Shaken by his actions, he steals only a handful of items and a small purse, leaving much of the pawnbroker’s wealth untouched. Due to sheer good fortune, he manages to escape the building and return to his room undetected.
In a feverish and semi-delirious state Raskolnikov conceals the stolen items and falls asleep exhausted. He is greatly alarmed the next morning when he gets summoned to the police station, but it turns out to be in relation to a debt notice from his landlady. When the officers at the bureau begin talking about the murder, Raskolnikov faints. He quickly recovers, but he can see from their faces that he has aroused suspicion. Fearing a search, he hides the stolen items under a large rock in an empty yard, noticing in humiliation that he hasn’t even checked how much money is in the purse. Without knowing why, he visits his old university friend Razumikhin, who observes that Raskolnikov seems to be seriously ill. Finally he returns to his room where he succumbs to his illness and falls into a prolonged delirium.
When he emerges several days later he finds that Razumikhin has tracked him down and has been nursing him. Still feverish, Raskolnikov listens nervously to a conversation between Razumikhin and the doctor about the status of the police investigation into the murders: a muzhik called Mikolka, who was working in a neighbouring flat at the time, has been detained, and the old woman’s clients are being interviewed. They are interrupted by the arrival of Luzhin, Dunya’s fiancé, who wishes to introduce himself, but Raskolnikov deliberately insults him and kicks him out. He angrily tells the others to leave as well, and then sneaks out himself. He looks for news about the murder, and seems almost to want to draw attention to his own part in it. He encounters the police official Zamyotov, who was present when he fainted in the bureau, and openly mocks the young man’s unspoken suspicions. He returns to the scene of the crime and re-lives the sensations he experienced at the time. He angers the workmen and caretakers by asking casual questions about the murder, even suggesting that they accompany him to the police station to discuss it. As he contemplates whether or not to confess, he sees Marmeladov, who has been struck mortally by a carriage. He rushes to help and succeeds in conveying the stricken man back to his family’s apartment. Calling out for Sonya to forgive him, Marmeladov dies in his daughter’s arms. Raskolnikov gives his last twenty five roubles (from money sent to him by his mother) to Marmeladov’s consumptive widow, Katerina Ivanovna, saying it is the repayment of a debt to his friend.
Feeling renewed, Raskolnikov calls on Razumikhin, and they go back together to Raskolnikov’s building. Upon entering his room Raskolnikov is deeply shocked to see his mother and sister sitting on the sofa. They have just arrived in Petersburg and are ecstatic to see him, but Raskolnikov is unable to speak, and collapses in a faint.
Razumikhin tends to Raskolnikov, and manages to convince the distressed mother and sister to return to their apartment. He goes with them, despite being drunk and rather overwhelmed by Dunya’s beauty. When they return the next morning Raskolnikov has improved physically, but it becomes apparent that he is still mentally distracted and merely forcing himself to endure the meeting. He demands that Dunya break with Luzhin, but Dunya fiercely defends her motives for the marriage. Mrs Raskolnikova has received a note from Luzhin demanding that her son not be present at any future meetings between them. He also informs her that he witnessed her son give the 25 rubles to “an unmarried woman of immoral behavior” (Sonya). Dunya has decided that a meeting, at which both Luzhin and her brother are present, must take place, and Raskolnikov agrees to attend that evening along with Razumikhin. To Raskolnikov’s surprise, Sonya suddenly appears at his door. Timidly, she explains that he left his address with them last night, and that she has come to invite him to attend her father’s funeral. As she leaves, Raskolnikov asks for her address and tells her that he will visit her soon.
At Raskolnikov’s behest, Razumikhin takes him to see the detective Porfiry Petrovich, who is investigating the murders. Raskolnikov immediately senses that Porfiry knows that he is the murderer. Porfiry, who has just been discussing the case with Zamyotov, adopts an ironic tone during the conversation. He expresses extreme curiosity about an article that Raskolnikov wrote some months ago called ‘On Crime’, in which he suggests that certain rare individuals—the benefactors and geniuses of mankind—have a right to ‘step across’ legal or moral boundaries if those boundaries are an obstruction to the success of their idea. Raskolnikov defends himself skillfully, but he is alarmed and angered by Porfiry’s insinuating tone. An appointment is made for an interview the following morning at the police bureau.
Leaving Razumikhin with his mother and sister, Raskolnikov returns to his own building. He is surprised to find an old artisan, whom he doesn’t know, making inquiries about him. Raskolnikov tries to find out what he wants, but the artisan says only one word – “murderer”, and walks off. Petrified, Raskolnikov returns to his room and falls into thought and then sleeps. He wakens from an eerie nightmare about the murder of the old woman to find another complete stranger present, this time a man of aristocratic appearance. The man politely introduces himself as Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigailov.
Svidrigailov indulges in an amiable but disjointed monologue, punctuated by Raskolnikov’s terse interjections. He claims to no longer have any romantic interest in Dunya, but wants to stop her from marrying Luzhin, and offers her ten thousand roubles. Raskolnikov refuses the money on her behalf and refuses to facilitate a meeting. Svidrigailov also mentions that his wife, who defended Dunya at the time of the unpleasantness but died shortly afterwards, has left her 3000 rubles in her will.
The meeting with Luzhin that evening begins with talk of Svidrigailov—his depraved character, his presence in Petersburg, the unexpected death of his wife and the 3000 rubles left to Dunya. Luzhin takes offence when Dunya insists on resolving the issue with her brother, and when Raskolnikov draws attention to the slander in his letter, Luzhin becomes reckless, exposing his true character. Dunya tells him to leave and never come back. Now free and with significant capital, they excitedly begin to discuss plans for the future, but Raskolnikov suddenly gets up and leaves, telling them, to their great consternation, that it might be the last time he sees them. He instructs the baffled Razumikhin to remain and always care for them.
Raskolnikov proceeds to Sonya’s place. She is gratified that he is visiting her, but also frightened of his strange manner. He asks a series of merciless questions about her terrible situation and that of Katerina Ivanovna and the children. Raskolnikov begins to realize that Sonya is sustained only by her faith in God. She reveals that she was a friend of the murdered Lizaveta. In fact, Lizaveta gave her a cross and a copy of the Gospels. She passionately reads to him the story of the raising of Lazarus from the Gospel of John. His fascination with her, which had begun at the time when her father spoke of her, increases and he decides that they must face the future together. As he leaves he tells her that he will come back tomorrow and tell her who killed her friend Lizaveta.
When Raskolnikov presents himself for his interview, Porfiry resumes and intensifies his insinuating, provocative, ironic chatter, without ever making a direct accusation. With Raskolnikov’s anger reaching fever pitch, Porfiry hints that he has a “little surprise” for him behind the partition in his office, but at that moment there is a commotion outside the door and a young man (Mikolka the painter) bursts in, followed by some policemen. To both Porfiry and Raskolnikov’s astonishment, Mikolka proceeds to loudly confess to the murders. Porfiry doesn’t believe the confession, but he is forced to let Raskolnikov go. Back at his room Raskolnikov is horrified when the old artisan suddenly appears at his door. But the man bows and asks for forgiveness: he had been Porfiry’s “little surprise”, and had heard Mikolka confess. He had been one of those present when Raskolnikov returned to the scene of the murders, and had reported his behavior to Porfiry.
Raskolnikov attends the Marmeladovs’ post-funeral banquet at Katerina Ivanovna’s apartment. The atmosphere deteriorates as guests become drunk and the half-mad Katerina Ivanovna engages in a verbal attack on her German landlady. With chaos descending, everyone is surprised by the sudden and portentous appearance of Luzhin. He sternly announces that a 100-ruble banknote disappeared from his apartment at the precise time that he was being visited by Sonya, whom he had invited in order to make a small donation. Sonya fearfully denies stealing the money, but Luzhin persists in his accusation and demands that someone search her. Outraged, Katerina Ivanovna abuses Luzhin and sets about emptying Sonya’s pockets to prove her innocence, but a folded 100-ruble note does indeed fly out of one of the pockets. The mood in the room turns against Sonya, Luzhin chastises her, and the landlady orders the family out. But Luzhin’s roommate Lebezyatnikov angrily asserts that he saw Luzhin surreptitiously slip the money into Sonya’s pocket as she left, although he had thought at the time that it was a noble act of anonymous charity. Raskolnikov backs Lebezyatnikov up by confidently identifying Luzhin’s motive: a desire to avenge himself on Raskolnikov by defaming Sonya, in hopes of causing a rift with his family. Luzhin is discredited, but Sonya is traumatized, and she runs out of the apartment. Raskolnikov follows her.
Back at her room, Raskolnikov draws Sonya’s attention to the ease with which Luzhin could have ruined her, and consequently the children as well. But it is only a prelude to his confession that he is the murderer of the old woman and Lizaveta. Painfully, he tries to explain his abstract motives for the crime to uncomprehending Sonya. She is horrified, not just at the crime, but at his own self-torture, and tells him that he must hand himself in to the police. Lebezyatnikov appears and tells them that the landlady has kicked Katerina Ivanovna out of the apartment and that she has gone mad. They find Katerina Ivanovna surrounded by people in the street, completely insane, trying to force the terrified children to perform for money, and near death from her illness. They manage to get her back to Sonya’s room, where, distraught and raving, she dies. To Raskolnikov’s surprise, Svidrigailov suddenly appears and informs him that he will be using the ten thousand rubles intended for Dunya to make the funeral arrangements and to place the children in good orphanages. When Raskolnikov asks him what his motives are, he laughingly replies with direct quotations of Raskolnikov’s own words, spoken when he was trying to explain his justifications for the murder to Sonya. Svidrigailov has been residing next door to Sonya, and overheard every word of the murder confession.
Razumikhin tells Raskolnikov that Dunya has become troubled and distant after receiving a letter from someone. He also mentions, to Raskolnikov’s astonishment, that Porfiry no longer suspects him of the murders. As Raskolnikov is about to set off in search of Svidrigailov, Porfiry himself appears and politely requests a brief chat. He sincerely apologises for his previous behavior and seeks to explain the reasons behind it. Strangely, Raskolnikov begins to feel alarmed at the thought that Porfiry might think he is innocent. But Porfiry’s changed attitude is motivated by genuine respect for Raskolnikov, not by any thought of his innocence, and he concludes by expressing his absolute certainty that Raskolnikov is indeed the murderer. He claims that he will be arresting him soon, but urges him to confess to make it easier on himself. Raskolnikov chooses to continue the struggle.
Raskolnikov finds Svidrigailov at an inn and warns him against approaching Dunya. Svidrigailov, who has in fact arranged to meet Dunya, threatens to go to the police, but Raskolnikov is unconcerned and follows when he leaves. When Raskolnikov finally turns home, Dunya, who has been watching them, approaches Svidrigailov and demands to know what he meant in his letter about her brother’s “secret”. She reluctantly accompanies him to his rooms, where he reveals what he overheard and attempts to use it to make her yield to his desire. Dunya, however, has a gun and she fires at him, narrowly missing: Svidrigailov gently encourages her to reload and try again. Eventually she throws the gun aside, but Svidrigailov, crushed by her hatred for him, tells her to leave. Later that evening he goes to Sonya to discuss the arrangements for Katerina Ivanovna’s children. He gives her 3000 rubles, telling her she will need it if she wishes to follow Raskolnikov to Siberia. He spends the night in a miserable hotel and the following morning commits suicide in a public place.
Raskolnikov says a painful goodbye to his mother, without telling her the truth. Dunya is waiting for him at his room, and he tells her that he will be going to the police to confess to the murders. He stops at Sonya’s place on the way and she gives him a crucifix. At the bureau, he learns of Svidrigailov’s suicide, and almost changes his mind, even leaving the building. However, he sees Sonya (who has followed him) looking at him in despair, and he returns to make a full and frank confession to the murders.
Due to the fullness of his confession at a time when another man had already confessed, Raskolnikov is sentenced to only eight years of penal servitude. Dunya and Razumikhin marry and plan to move to Siberia, but Raskolnikov’s mother falls ill and dies. Sonya follows Raskolnikov to Siberia, but he is initially hostile towards her as he is still struggling to acknowledge moral culpability for his crime, feeling himself to be guilty only of weakness. It is only after some time in prison that his redemption and moral regeneration begin under Sonya’s loving influence.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mansfield Park Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 2 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 346 Words: 160K
This is my third time reading this. Sadly, I think this is the lowest rating for an Austen story yet. First time I read it in ‘06 I gave it 3stars, then when I re-read it in ‘14 I gave it 4stars, now in ‘24, I’m giving it 2 stars. I am definitely a mercurial reader and reviewer.
I did not enjoy this at all. Fanny Price wasn’t just a milk sop, she was someone who wouldn’t defend herself or standup for herself, in any way. I get that she grew up being put down by her extended family and that she was sickly, but she is one of these people who is so conflict averse that she will suffer harm to herself rather than even say “No”, just a plain “No”. Instead, she gives all these fatuous reasons, and reasons can always be overcome by someone who is motivated. Just Say No! And Fanny Price wouldn’t.
I think part of my dislike is that since my last read in ‘14, I’ve had occasion to deal with someone very similar to Fanny. Mrs B and I had an older friend who was living on her own in a little one bedroom apartment. Her daughter needed a temporary place to stay and so she opened up her place to her. Her daughter agreed to pay the rent, as she was working a pretty good paying job. She paid the rent for 2 months, then quit her job, starting working at a convenience store for half the money, told her mom she couldn’t pay the rent but kept living there. Then she started bringing her latest boyfriend home. To the one bedroom apartment. Our friend complained and lamented but wouldn’t DO anything. We told her what needed to be done (call the police and have the daughter and boyfriend escorted off the premises and told not to come back) and that we would come over and be right with her as she made the call. But she wouldn’t do it. She wanted us to make the call, us to be the ones to kick her daughter out. And this had happened before. So we told her that we would help her but that SHE needed to be the one to take that first step. She ended up getting someone else to do her dirty work and we haven’t been in contact since. She would not help herself.
Fanny Price reminded of that mindset during this read. I didn’t expect her to solve her problems by herself, but I did expect her to take a step of asking for help. She expected help from her Uncle and her Cousin, and I must say, she was right in that expectation, but when they were being obtuse or confused or just plain stupid, she refused to ask outright. It frustrated me incredibly. We all have problems that are bigger than we can handle ourselves. But pretending they don’t exist, or expecting others to read our minds to know our wishes on the issue isn’t the way to solve them. USE YOUR WORDS!
Maybe in another 10 or 15 years I’ll re-read this again and have yet another reaction to this, I don’t know. But for this time, it was not a good read for me and I did not enjoy it. Which saddens me incredibly because I love Austen’s works 🙁
★★☆☆☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – Click to Open
Ten-year-old Fanny Price is sent from her impoverished home in Portsmouth to live with the family at Mansfield Park. Lady Bertram is Fanny’s aunt and her four children – Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia – are older than Fanny. All but Edmund mistreat her and her other aunt, Mrs Norris, wife of the clergyman at the Mansfield parsonage, makes herself particularly unpleasant.
When Fanny is fifteen, Aunt Norris is widowed and her visits to Mansfield Park increase, as does her mistreatment of Fanny. A year later, Sir Thomas leaves to deal with problems on his sugar plantation in Antigua, taking with him his spendthrift eldest son Tom. Mrs Norris, looking for a husband for Maria, finds the rich but weak-willed Mr Rushworth, whose proposal Maria accepts but only for his money.
Henry Crawford and his sister Mary arrive at the parsonage to stay with their half-sister, the wife of the new incumbent, Dr Grant. With their fashionable London ways, they enliven the great house. Edmund and Mary then start to show interest in one another.
On a visit to Mr Rushworth’s estate, Henry flirts with both Maria and Julia. Maria believes Henry is in love with her and so treats Mr Rushworth dismissively, provoking his jealousy, while Julia struggles with jealousy and resentment towards her sister. Mary is disappointed to learn that Edmund will be a clergyman and tries to undermine his vocation.
After Tom returns to Mansfield Park ahead of his father, he encourages the young people to begin rehearsals for an amateur performance of Elizabeth Inchbald’s play Lovers’ Vows. Edmund objects, believing Sir Thomas would disapprove and feeling that the subject matter is inappropriate but, after much pressure, he agrees to take on the role of the lover of the character played by Mary. The play also provides further opportunity for Henry and Maria to flirt. When Sir Thomas arrives home unexpectedly, he is furious to find the play still in rehearsal and it is cancelled. Henry departs without explanation, and in reaction Maria goes ahead with marriage to Mr Rushworth. The couple then settle in London, taking Julia with them. Sir Thomas sees many improvements in Fanny and Mary Crawford initiates a closer relationship with her.
When Henry returns to Mansfield Park, he decides to entertain himself by making Fanny fall in love with him. Fanny’s brother William visits, and Sir Thomas holds what is effectively a coming-out ball for her. Although Mary dances with Edmund, she tells him it will be the last time, as she will never dance with a clergyman. Edmund drops his plan to propose and leaves the next day, as do Henry and William.
When Henry next returns, he announces to Mary his intention to marry Fanny. To assist his plan, he has used his family’s naval connections to help William achieve promotion. However, when Henry proposes marriage, Fanny rejects him, disapproving of his past treatment of women. Sir Thomas is astonished by her continuing refusal, but she does not explain, afraid of compromising Maria.
To help Fanny appreciate Henry’s offer, Sir Thomas sends her to visit her parents in Portsmouth, where she is taken aback by the contrast between their chaotic household and the harmonious environment at Mansfield. Henry visits, but although she still refuses him, she begins to appreciate his good features.
Later, Fanny learns that Henry and Maria have had an affair which is reported in the newspapers. Mr Rushworth sues Maria for divorce and the Bertram family is devastated. Tom meanwhile falls gravely ill as a result of a fall from his horse. Edmund takes Fanny back to Mansfield Park, where she is a healing influence. Sir Thomas realises that Fanny was right to reject Henry’s proposal and now regards her as a daughter.
During a meeting with Mary Crawford, Edmund discovers that Mary’s regret is only that Henry’s adultery was discovered. Devastated, he breaks off the relationship and returns to Mansfield Park, where he confides in Fanny. Eventually the two marry and move to Mansfield parsonage after Dr Grant secures a post in Westminster. Meanwhile, those left at Mansfield Park have learned from their mistakes and life becomes pleasanter there.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Northanger Abbey Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 175 Words: 81K
For this read through, I did my best to peer past the parody asides that Austen threw in and just see the romance story she had written. It was a pretty plain jane, vanilla flavored romance. It was also very much a coming of age story. Catherine is a sheltered young woman and this story was more about her seeing a wider world and the evil side of people, which she hadn’t been exposed to at home, than it was about her meeting and eventually marrying Henry Tilney.
It was also a good reminder of just how insecure and unsettled young people are. Catherine wasn’t confused, she just didn’t know enough to react properly to her so-called friend Isabella’s actions. She had to learn by experience. Overall, I’m a pretty confident guy and it can be hard for me to remember that not everyone else is the same. I have a feeling I’d fulfill the role of General Tilney (Henry’s father) and intimidate Catherine without even realizing it. I know I mock the idea of “special snowflakes” a lot, but I am aware that kids do need a little bit of care in handling, sometimes, but not often.
The other thing I noticed was just how much of a role letter writing played. It is in all of Austen’s stories, but here it just made me think. I am a texter and I write on my blog and I journal, so I’d like to think that I would have been a great letter writer back in the day. But there is a big difference between typing and writing. And there is a HUGE difference using a gel pen and a quill and ink stand. Upon reflection I suspect that I would not have been a huge letter writer unless I had an amanuensis to take dictation for me. If that was the case, I’d probably be sending letters every day 😀
You get a letter, you get a letter, everybody gets a letter! (well, except for you!)
Overall I enjoyed this more than my previous times and I suspect it had as much, if not more, to do with my appreciation of good writing than just having a good time with a story.
★★★★☆
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – click to open
Seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, she is “in training for a heroine” and is fond of reading Gothic novels “provided they [are] all story and no reflection.”
The Allens (her wealthier neighbours in Fullerton) invite Catherine to accompany them in their visit to the city of Bath and partake in the winter season of balls, theatre and other social activities. Shortly after their arrival, she is introduced to a young gentleman, Henry Tilney, with whom she dances. Mrs. Allen meets an old school friend, Mrs. Thorpe, whose daughter, Isabella, quickly becomes friends with Catherine. Isabelle introduces Catherine to Ann Radcliffe’s 1794 Gothic novel Mysteries of Udolpho. Mrs. Thorpe’s son, John, is a friend of Catherine’s older brother, James, at Oxford University where they are both students. The two young men come to Bath, where John is then introduced to Catherine.
The Thorpes are not happy about Catherine’s friendship with the Tilneys. They correctly perceive Henry as a rival for Catherine’s affections even though Catherine is not at all interested in John Thorpe. Despite Thorpe continually attempting to sabotage her relationship with the Tilneys, Catherine tries to maintain her friendships with both the Thorpes and the Tilneys. This leads to several misunderstandings, which put Catherine in the awkward position of having to explain herself to the Tilneys.
Isabella and James become engaged. James’ father approves of the match and offers his son a country parson’s living of a modest sum, £400 annually, but they must wait until he can obtain the benefice in two and a half years. Isabella is dissatisfied, but to Catherine, she misrepresents her distress as being caused solely by the delay, and not by the value of the sum. Isabella immediately begins to flirt with Captain Frederick Tilney, Henry’s older brother. Innocent Catherine cannot understand her friend’s behaviour, but Henry understands all too well as he knows his brother’s character and habits.
The Tilneys invite Catherine to stay with them for a few weeks at their home, Northanger Abbey. Once at Northanger Abbey, Catherine and Eleanor Tilney, Henry’s and Frederick’s younger sister, get to know each other better on a personal level.[7] Catherine, in accordance with her novel reading, expects the house to be exotic and frightening. Henry teases her about this as it turns out that Northanger Abbey is pleasant and decidedly not Gothic. However, the house includes a mysterious suite of rooms that no one ever enters; Catherine learns that they were the apartments of Mrs. Tilney, who died nine years earlier due to a serious illness,[7] leaving Mr. Tilney with three children to raise by himself.[8] As General Tilney no longer appears to be affected by her death, Catherine decides that he may have imprisoned her in her chamber, or even murdered her.
Catherine discovers that her over-active imagination has led her astray as nothing is strange or distressing in the apartments. Henry finds and questions her; he surmises and informs her that his father loved his wife in his own way and was truly upset by her death.[9] She leaves the apartments, crying, fearing that she has lost Henry’s regard entirely. Realising how foolish she has been, Catherine comes to believe that, though novels may be delightful, their content does not relate to everyday life. Henry does not mention this incident to her again.
James writes to inform her that he has broken off his engagement to Isabella and implies that she has become engaged instead to Captain Tilney. Henry and Eleanor Tilney are sceptical that their brother has actually become engaged to Isabella Thorpe. Catherine is terribly disappointed, realising what a dishonest person Isabella is. A subsequent letter from Isabella herself confirms the Tilney siblings’ doubts and shows that Frederick Tilney was merely flirting with Isabella. The General goes off to London, and the atmosphere at Northanger Abbey immediately becomes lighter and more pleasant from his absence. Catherine passes several enjoyable days with Henry and Eleanor until the General returns abruptly in a temper in Henry’s absence. He forces Catherine to go home early the next morning in a shocking and unsafe mode that forces Catherine to undertake the 70 miles (110 km) journey alone.
At home, Catherine is listless and unhappy. Henry pays a sudden unexpected visit and explains what happened. General Tilney (on the misinformation of John Thorpe) had believed her to be exceedingly rich as the Allens’ prospective heiress, and therefore a proper match for Henry. In London, General Tilney ran into Thorpe again, who, angry at Catherine’s refusal of his earlier half-made proposal of marriage, said instead that she was nearly destitute. Enraged, General Tilney, (again on the misinformation of John Thorpe), returned home to evict Catherine. When Henry returned to Northanger, his father informed him of what had occurred and forbade him to think of Catherine again. When Henry learns how she had been treated, he breaks with his father and tells Catherine he still wants to marry her despite his father’s disapproval. Catherine is delighted, though when Henry seeks her parents’ approval, they tell the young couple that final approval will only happen when General Tilney consents.
Eventually, General Tilney acquiesces because Eleanor has become engaged to a wealthy and titled man; he discovers that the Morlands, while not extremely rich, are far from destitute.
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Persuasion Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 193 Words: 85K
This is my 4th read of this novel since 2003. Suffice to say that I really enjoy it.
It is shorter than Pride and Prejudice as well as Sense and Sensibilityand is significantly shorter than Emma (which comes in around the 340page mark). Unfortunately, it “feels” shorter too. While I am a big fan of a short novel, sometimes it isn’t the best. I think the interactions between Anne (with an “E”, hahahaha) and Wentworth could have been longer and more drawn out. Or even more of them. It’s not that they didn’t meet and interact, it just felt rushed. Which ties into the shortness of the novel. But that is my only complaint.
I have always liked this novel because of the age of the protagonists. Anne is 26/27 and Wentworth is 30something? (an OLD man if you listen to Marianne Dashwood 😉 ). Mrs B was younger than Anne when we got married. The calm and collected way that Anne and Freddie (I am not typing Frederick more than once!) went about reconnecting was enjoyable to me. There was very little drama and they proceeded pretty calmly and rationally and allowed their minds to be in control instead of their emotions. They allowed their emotions to influence them, but the emotions weren’t in control. I really, really like that aspect. I see too much of people giving their emotions sway over their lives and then bad things usually happen, either to them or the people around them. So seeing a maturity in the romance is just refreshing.
Despite having read this four times (now), I never can remember which Austen novel it is where a young girl gets head strong and jumps and gives herself a concussion. It is this novel. The scene has always made a strong impression on me but for some reason I simply cannot keep it attached to Persuasion. I’m always convinced it is one of Austen’s other novels and I keep waiting for that scene in other books and am always disappointed it isn’t there; but that only enhances my enjoyment of it when I DO read it here 🙂
I did notice that I no problem getting into the story or the manner and style of writing. Reading S&S last year was a bit of a chore as my mind had to switch mental gears for the 1800’s literary style. But now that I’ve got three of Austen’s novels under my belt (the three mentioned at the start of this review), my mental gears are all well oiled and I sailed through this with nary a hiccup or stickage. That’s always a good feeling and it is how this book made me feel, ie, good.
★★★★★
From Wikipedia.org
Summary – Click to Open
The story begins seven years after the broken engagement of Anne Elliot to Frederick Wentworth: having just turned nineteen years old, Anne fell in love and had accepted a proposal of marriage from Wentworth, then a young and undistinguished naval officer. Wentworth was considered clever, confident and ambitious, but his low social status and lack of wealth made Anne’s friends and family view him as an unsuitable partner. Anne’s father, Sir Walter Elliot, and her older sister, Elizabeth, maintained that Wentworth was no match for a woman of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Furthermore, Lady Russell, a distant relative whom Anne considers to be a second mother to her after her own died, also saw the relationship as imprudent for one so young and persuaded Anne to break off the engagement. Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Lady Russell are the only family members who knew about the short engagement, as Anne’s younger sister Mary was away at school.
Several years later, the Elliot family are in financial trouble on account of their lavish spending, so they decide to rent out Kellynch Hall and settle in a cheaper home in Bath until their finances improve. Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s new companion, Mrs Clay, look forward to the move. Anne, on the other hand, doubts she will enjoy Bath, but cannot go against her family. Mary is now married to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a respected local squire. Anne visits Mary and her family, where she is well-loved. As the Napoleonic Wars are over, Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia (Frederick’s sister) have become the new tenants of Kellynch Hall. Captain Wentworth, now wealthy from his service in the war, visits his sister and meets the Uppercross family, where he crosses paths with Anne.
The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles, and Charles’s sisters Henrietta and Louisa, welcome the Crofts and Captain Wentworth, who makes it known that he is ready to marry. Henrietta is engaged to her cousin, clergyman Charles Hayter, who is absent when Wentworth is introduced to their social circle. Both the Crofts and Musgroves enjoy speculating about which sister Captain Wentworth might marry. Once Hayter returns, Henrietta turns her affections to him again. Anne still loves Wentworth, so each meeting with him requires preparation for her own strong emotions. She overhears a conversation in which Louisa tells Wentworth that before marrying Mary, Charles Musgrove first proposed to Anne, who turned him down. This news startles Wentworth, and Anne realises that he has not yet forgiven her for letting herself be persuaded to end their engagement years ago.
Anne and the young adults of the Uppercross family accompany Captain Wentworth on a visit to see two of his fellow officers, Captains Harville and Benwick, in the coastal town of Lyme Regis. Captain Benwick is in mourning over the death of his fiancée, Captain Harville’s sister Fanny, and he appreciates Anne’s sympathy and understanding, helped by their mutual admiration for the Romantic poets. Anne attracts the attention of Mr William Elliot, her cousin and a wealthy widower who is heir to Kellynch Hall despite having broken ties with her father years earlier. On the last morning of the visit, Louisa sustains a serious concussion after jumping from the Cobb seawall expecting to be caught by Wentworth. Anne coolly organises the others to summon assistance. Wentworth is impressed with Anne’s quick thinking and cool-headedness, but feels guilty about his actions encouraging Louisa’s attraction to him. This causes him to re-examine his feelings for Anne. Louisa, due to her delicate condition, is forced to recover at the Harvilles’ home in Lyme for months. Captain Benwick, who was a guest as well, helps in Louisa’s recovery by attending and reading to her.
Following Louisa’s accident, Anne joins her father and sister in Bath, with Lady Russell also in the city, while Louisa stays at the Harvilles’ in Lyme Regis for her recovery. Captain Wentworth visits his older brother Edward in Shropshire. Anne finds that her father and sister are flattered by the attentions of their cousin William Elliot, thinking that if he marries Elizabeth, the family fortunes will be restored. William flatters Anne and offhandedly mentions that he was “fascinated” with the name of his future wife already being an “Elliot” who would rightfully take over for her late mother. Although Anne wants to like William, the attention and his manners, she finds his character opaque and difficult to judge.
Admiral Croft and his wife arrive in Bath with the news that Louisa is engaged to Captain Benwick. Wentworth travels to Bath, where his jealousy is piqued by seeing William trying to court Anne. Captain Wentworth and Anne renew their acquaintance. Anne visits Mrs Smith, an old school friend, who is now a widow living in Bath under straitened circumstances. From her, Anne discovers that beneath William’s charming veneer, he is a cold, calculating opportunist who led Mrs Smith’s late husband into debt. As executor to her husband’s will, William has done nothing to improve Mrs Smith’s situation. Although Mrs Smith believes that William is genuinely attracted to Anne, she feels that his primary aim is to prevent Mrs Clay from marrying Sir Walter, as a new marriage might mean a son for Sir Walter, displacing William as heir to Kellynch Hall.
The Musgroves visit Bath to purchase wedding clothes for Louisa and Henrietta, both soon to marry. Captains Wentworth and Harville encounter them and Anne at the Musgroves’ hotel in Bath, where Wentworth overhears Anne and Harville discussing the relative faithfulness of men and women in love. Deeply moved by what Anne says about women not giving up their feelings of love even when all hope is lost, Wentworth writes her a note declaring his feelings for her. Outside the hotel, Anne and Wentworth reconcile, affirm their love for each other, and renew their engagement. Lady Russell admits she was wrong about Wentworth and endorses the engagement. William leaves Bath; Mrs Clay soon follows him and becomes his mistress, making it more likely that he will inherit Kellynch Hall as the danger of her marrying Sir Walter has passed. Once Anne and Wentworth have married, Wentworth helps Mrs Smith recover the remaining assets that William had kept from her. Anne settles into her new life as the wife of a Navy captain.
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Title: Pride and Prejudice Series: ———- Author: Jane Austen Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Genre: Classic Pages: 275 Words: 124K
This will be a bit different from my usual review. Lashaan and I did a buddy read of this and we used a series of questions I found online to help us talk about the book. There were 11 questions in total and I chose to answer 7 of them. I found the other 4 stupid, insipid, insulting or just plain not a subject I cared one whit for. After the questions I have some general thoughts. And I’ve included a link to Lashaan’s review at the end. Please visit his review when it goes live to see another whole take on this book 😀
1. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a goodfortune,must be in want of a wife.” This first line has become one of the most famous in Englishliterature. In addition to setting the narrative in motion, how does this line alert us to thetone of the novel and our role, as readers, in appreciating it? What does the line implyabout women?
I’ll work backwards on this. Addressing that last question first.
When you talk about the opening line, you have to also use the second to put it into context: “However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.”
So what the opening implies about women, and then about men, is that they are both playing pieces for their elders. It’s not about gender (despite what the questioner is trying to force into this). Both are pawns are on the chessboard of marriage.
The role of the reader is whatever the reader wants it to be. It doesn’t matter what the author thinks, or tries to do. The reader is an independent being and a good author acknowledges this and simply writes their story without forcing their reader into the slavery of being “in a role”. Only Message writers do that.
As for the tone of the novel, I’d say it it sets a jolly good tone! Funny, amusing and yet acknowledging the foibles of the culture the author is living in.
So there we go. My first set of ranty answers to the first question 😀
2. Elizabeth is upset to learn that Charlotte has accepted Mr. Collins’s marriageproposal. Doyou think Charlotte should have married Mr. Collins? Did she choose him or did he chooseher? What do you think influenced her decision to accept him? Is Charlotte a romantic? IsElizabeth?
At 27, being plain, poor and unconnected, Charlotte didn’t have much choice if she didn’t want to end up being a burden to her family. While I suspect she will regret in the future her choice of Mr Collins, tempermentally she seems fit to deal with his particular brand of pride and false-humility. And now she is mistress of her own establishment with greater things to come. Her children won’t be in her circumstances and thus will hopefully be able to have more choices open to them.
I’d say Charlotte definitely chose Mr Collins. He was just wafting around like a butterfly, looking for the first open flower. She saw him coming a mile away. Besides, Mr Collins seems to stupid to do any real choosing 😀
I think my answer to the first question also answers this. Material stability goes a long way towards making a relationship stable. Charlotte knew what her future held and so she did what she had to to change it, for the better.
I don’t see Charlotte as romantic at all. She’s just super realistic. Elizabeth on the other hand is fully infected with the “Love is Our Guiding Light” idea. Of course, given what Elizabeth sees between her father and mother, one can forgive her for wanting some genuine love in a relationship.
3. How does Pemberley play a role in Elizabeth’s change of heart? Does she really fall inlove with Darcy after seeing his estate? Trace the development of her feelings for him.Why is Darcy attracted to Elizabeth? Trace the development of his feelings for her.
I think this question is a bit too “school report” like for my taste. Plus, you know, feelings. Seeing Pemberley was just another check mark in the positive side for Darcy. Not because it was all big and rich, but because of the character it displayed and thus by extension, Darcy’s character. You can tell a lot about a person by their living quarters. And by the people they keep around them. So it simply helped Elizabeth begin to change her feelings towards Darcy. She saw another side of him displayed through Pemberley. She was discerning enough to see that and to look beyond the wealth itself.
4. What might have happened if Elizabeth had accepted Darcy’s first proposal? Do you thinkhe really expected her to accept? How does the first proposal change their feelings for, andopinions of, each other?
I think their marriage would have ended in disaster. He wouldn’t have respected her and she never would have loved him him. They both needed to change themselves and see the other in a more accurate light before their marriage could have worked.
I do think Darcy expected an acceptance. I’m pretty sure when they are talking about it later he says something like “you had everything to gain and nothing to lose by accepting my proposal. At least that is how I saw it at the time”.
I think Darcy’s proposal opened Elizabeth’s eyes to the fact that Darcy did love her. He wasn’t just attracted to her, but he loved her. That allowed her to realize that her feelings of prejudice might need to change. And Darcy got a good earful from Elizabeth and he needed that to set him on the path of seeing her as an equal in any marriage endeavor and not just an emotional and sexual outlet.
7. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet do not agree on very much, especially when it comes to theirdaughters’ futures. Who is the better parent—Mr. or Mrs. Bennet? What role does familyplay in this novel?
Neither of them is the better parent. Mr Bennet is the least worst though. Lydia is exactly like her mother, so it shouldn’t have come as any surprise to anyone at her running away with Wickham and not caring at all about getting married. Mr Bennet could have helped guide his wife’s character growth at the beginning of their marriage but chose not to fight that battle and he reaped the harvest with a selfish, vain, silly woman for a wife.
Family plays a huge role! The Bennetts. Darcy’s sister and Aunt. Mr Bingley’s sister. Elizabeth’s Aunt and Uncle. Even Wickham is a pseudo-family of the Darcy’s. You can’t go very far without a family interaction.
8. Darcy says that Wickham tried to elope with Georgiana for revenge. Does revenge play a part in his elopement with Lydia?
I don’t think it does at all. I think Wickham needed an out and Lydia provided the easiest and most comfortable out. I have to admit, Wickham running away with Lydia still puzzles me.
11. Why is this novel so popular? Why do readers keep coming back to it, even after the original suspense is gone and they know how it ends?
Because it’s a girly romance and there are more women in the world than men.
Is my off the cuff, flippant remark, hahahahaa.
My serious answer would be that the Initially Thwarted Romance between Jane and Mr Bingley and the Enemies to Lovers Romance between Elizabeth and Mr Darcy speaks to a lot of women. “I” like it because it’s a romantic story that shows some real human foibles and it’s some very fine writing.
I skipped a bunch of questions because they pissed me off. I hate social media so wanted to nothing to do with that question. I disliked the leading question about Irony because I don’t like being led down a certain path by somebody else. Finally, I don’t care two figs for what it might have been originally titled. It is called Pride and Prejudice and that’ that. It’s overthinking things for the sake of overthinking to do any more on the title.
Bookstooge’s General Thoughts:
I must admit, I did not like this format of Question and Answer. I felt stifled, hemmed in and like I was back in highschool with a teacher looking over my shoulder. While it made writing a review much easier (I pasted/copied the questions and my answers from my emails to Lashaan), I totally did not enjoy the reading process itself. My brain did not have the freedom to wander down the byways because I was focused on trying to “pay attention” to the story so I could answer the questions.
It’s not that the Q&A is a bad way of doing things, especially for younger people who haven’t been trained to think for themselves yet. It gives them a framework within which to work, otherwise they’d be left floundering and their thoughts would be “I liked this” or “I didn’t like this” without any further explanation. But I am not a kid any more. Sadly, I haven’t been for a long time and I have much vaster reading experience now than I did back when I was a teenager (even as well read as I was then). For me, the reading experience itself is part of the process. I simply flow into the story, absorb it and let it knock around my brain like a pair of dice. Then I release it and see what happens. That’s how I read and review now. It’s been quite the revelation to me to come to that realization.
I am also glad that “I” am the one that chose the questions, that way I have nobody but myself to blame, hahahaahahaa.
Overall, while this Q&A was quite the different approach, and one that I’m happy to have applied, it won’t be happening again.
1. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” This first line has become one of the most famous in English literature. In addition to setting the narrative in motion, how does this line alert us to the tone of the novel and our role, as readers, in appreciating it? What does the line imply about women? (From the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One Chicago pamphlet on Pride and Prejudice, 2005)
2. Elizabeth is upset to learn that Charlotte has accepted Mr. Collins’s marriage proposal. Do you think Charlotte should have married Mr. Collins? Did she choose him or did he choose her? What do you think influenced her decision to accept him? Is Charlotte a romantic? Is Elizabeth?
3. How does Pemberley play a role in Elizabeth’s change of heart? Does she really fall in love with Darcy after seeing his estate? Trace the development of her feelings for him. Why is Darcy attracted to Elizabeth? Trace the development of his feelings for her.
4. What might have happened if Elizabeth had accepted Darcy’s first proposal? Do you think he really expected her to accept? How does the first proposal change their feelings for, and opinions of, each other?
5. Several letters are reproduced in full in the text. What is the effect on you as a reader when you read a letter instead of getting the information contained in it from the 3rd person narrator? Why do you think Austen might have used letters so often in this novel? (There are 59 references to letters in the book.)
6. How does the title Pride and Prejudice relate to the original title Jane Austen used for the novel, First Impressions? Do you think Pride and Prejudice is a better title? Why? How does it relate to Elizabeth? Darcy? Does it relate to other characters in the novel?
7. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet do not agree on very much, especially when it comes to their daughters’ futures. Who is the better parent—Mr. or Mrs. Bennet? What role does family play in this novel?
8. Darcy says that Wickham tried to elope with Georgiana for revenge. Does revenge play a part in his elopement with Lydia?
9. Lady Catherine’s visit to Elizabeth to persuade her not to marry Darcy actually has the opposite effect and propels them toward the final conclusion, their marriage. What is it about this use of dramatic irony that is so appealing to readers? What other examples of irony do you find in the novel?
10. The novel has many universal themes that make it relevant today and inspire contemporary spin-offs and adaptations. Imagine the Facebook pages of each of the Bennet daughters. Who would be most active on Facebook? How would their entries differ from each other? Would any of them choose not to be on Facebook?
11. Why is this novel so popular? Why do readers keep coming back to it, even after the original suspense is gone and they know how it ends?
From Wikipedia.org
Synopsis – Click to Open
In the early 19th century, the Bennet family live at their Longbourn estate, situated near the village of Meryton in Hertfordshire, England. Mrs Bennet’s greatest desire is to marry off her five daughters to secure their futures.
The arrival of Mr Bingley, a rich bachelor who rents the neighbouring Netherfield estate, gives her hope that one of her daughters might contract an advantageous marriage, because “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.
At a ball, the family is introduced to the Netherfield party, including Mr Bingley, his two sisters and Mr Darcy, his dearest friend. Mr Bingley’s friendly and cheerful manner earns him popularity among the guests. He appears interested in Jane, the eldest Bennet daughter. Mr Darcy, reputed to be twice as wealthy as Mr Bingley, is haughty and aloof, causing a decided dislike of him. He declines to dance with Elizabeth, the second-eldest Bennet daughter, as she is “not handsome enough”. Although she jokes about it with her friend, Elizabeth is deeply offended. Despite this first impression, Mr Darcy secretly begins to find himself drawn to Elizabeth as they continue to encounter each other at social events, appreciating her wit and frankness.
Mr Collins, the heir to the Longbourn estate, visits the Bennet family with the intention of finding a wife among the five girls under the advice of his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh, also revealed to be Mr Darcy’s aunt. He decides to pursue Elizabeth. The Bennet family meet the charming army officer George Wickham, who tells Elizabeth in confidence about Mr Darcy’s unpleasant treatment of him in the past. Elizabeth, blinded by her prejudice toward Mr Darcy, believes him.
Elizabeth dances with Mr Darcy at a ball, where Mrs Bennet hints loudly that she expects Jane and Bingley to become engaged. Elizabeth rejects Mr Collins’ marriage proposal, to her mother’s fury and her father’s relief. Mr Collins instead proposes to Charlotte Lucas, a friend of Elizabeth.
Having heard Mrs Bennet’s words at the ball and disapproving of the marriage, Mr Darcy joins Mr Bingley in a trip to London and, with the help of his sisters, persuades him not to return to Netherfield. A heartbroken Jane visits her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner in London to raise her spirits, while Elizabeth’s hatred for Mr Darcy grows as she suspects he was responsible for Mr Bingley’s departure.
In the spring, Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr Collins in Kent. Elizabeth and her hosts are invited to Rosings Park, Lady Catherine’s home. Mr Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, are also visiting Rosings Park. Fitzwilliam tells Elizabeth how Mr Darcy recently saved a friend, presumably Bingley, from an undesirable match. Elizabeth realises that the prevented engagement was to Jane.
Mr Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, declaring his love for her despite her low social connections. She is shocked, as she was unaware of Mr Darcy’s interest, and rejects him angrily, saying that he is the last person she would ever marry and that she could never love a man who caused her sister such unhappiness; she further accuses him of treating Wickham unjustly. Mr Darcy brags about his success in separating Bingley and Jane and sarcastically dismisses the accusation regarding Wickham without addressing it.
The next day, Mr Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter, explaining that Wickham, the son of his late father’s steward, had refused the “living” his father had arranged for him and was instead given money for it. Wickham quickly squandered the money and tried to elope with Darcy’s 15-year-old sister, Georgiana, for her considerable dowry. Mr Darcy also writes that he separated Jane and Bingley because he believed her indifferent to Bingley and because of the lack of propriety displayed by her family. Elizabeth is ashamed by her family’s behaviour and her own prejudice against Mr Darcy.
Months later, Elizabeth accompanies the Gardiners on a tour of Derbyshire. They visit Pemberley, Darcy’s estate. When Mr Darcy returns unexpectedly, he is exceedingly gracious with Elizabeth and the Gardiners. Elizabeth is surprised by Darcy’s behaviour and grows fond of him, even coming to regret rejecting his proposal. She receives news that her sister Lydia has run off with Wickham. She tells Mr Darcy, then departs in haste. After an agonising interim, Wickham agrees to marry Lydia. She visits the family and tells Elizabeth that Mr Darcy was at her wedding. Though Mr Darcy had sworn everyone involved to secrecy, Mrs Gardiner now feels obliged to inform Elizabeth that he secured the match, at great expense and trouble to himself.
Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy return to Netherfield. Jane accepts Mr Bingley’s proposal. Lady Catherine, having heard rumours that Elizabeth intends to marry Mr Darcy, visits her and demands she promise never to accept Mr Darcy’s proposal, as she and Darcy’s late mother had already planned his marriage to her daughter Anne. Elizabeth refuses and asks the outraged Lady Catherine to leave. Darcy, heartened by his aunt’s indignant relaying of Elizabeth’s response, again proposes to her and is accepted.
