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Séquence 7 · A war of words: Darcy's first proposal in Pride and Prejudice

How does Jane Austen turn a marriage proposal into a verbal duel?

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Dans cette séquence de langues, littératures et cultures étrangères (anglais), tu vas chercher à répondre à la grande question écrite en haut de la page. Elle se fait en 2 séances. Pour chaque séance : lis la consigne, étudie les documents, réponds aux questions sur ta feuille ou sur l'ENT, puis recopie l'essentiel dans ton cahier. Tu peux imprimer cette page avec le bouton « Imprimer ».

À la fin, je serai capable de :

Les mots importants

proposal scene, verbal duelfree indirect speechirony, narrator's commentpride, prejudice, social rankrhetoric of refusal

Ressources de la séquence

Les notions, les repères et les pistes pour aller plus loin, utiles pour toutes les séances.

Les notions à maîtriser

Free indirect speech
The narrator reports a character's words or thoughts without quotation marks, often with irony.
Periodic sentence
A long sentence whose main point comes at the end (« the last man in the world »).
Proposal scene
A key convention of the courtship novel, here reversed into a refusal.

Repères

DateÉvénement
1796-1797Austen writes a first version entitled First Impressions.
1811Sense and Sensibility.
1813Pride and Prejudice is published (28 January).
1995 ; 2005BBC series and Joe Wright's film adaptation.

Pour aller plus loin

Sources et bibliographie

Mon parcours : je choisis mon rythme

Séance 1 · « In vain have I struggled »

70 min

Séance approfondie : cours développé, documents sourcés, activités exigeantes avec coups de pouce.

La question du jour

Why does Darcy's proposal fail before Elizabeth even answers?

Mon plan de travail

Le cours à lire · Narrator's irony

At Hunsford, Darcy suddenly declares his love. His first words are passionate, but the narrator summarises the rest in free indirect speech: he insists on Elizabeth's inferiority and on the « degradation » of marrying her. Austen's irony is in the balance of the sentence: he was « not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride ».

Document 1 · Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, chapter 34 (Darcy's proposal)

Novel, 1813 (public domain).

"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

[…] He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride.

Source : Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, chapter 34 (full text on Wikisource).

Pour bien lire ce document :

repressed: held back; ardently: passionately; tenderness: gentle love.

Activité 1 · Understand

12 min
Essentiel

Supports : Documents

Consigne :

Read and answer.

  1. What does Darcy confess?
  2. Which other feeling does he express?
  3. Who reports the rest of his speech?

Ce qui est attendu (6 pts) : Comprehension

Activité 2 · Analyse

18 min
Essentiel

Supports : Documents and lesson

Consigne :

Analyse.

  1. Why is « In vain have I struggled » a strange beginning?
  2. Explain the irony of « not more eloquent… than of pride ».
  3. What does this reveal about him?

Ce qui est attendu (7 pts) : Analysis

Activité 3 · Write

20 min
Travail à rendre

Supports : Documents and lesson

Consigne :

Rewrite Darcy's declaration in about 150 words as he should have made it, then explain your choices in two sentences. Sentence starters: Miss Bennet, I… / I have come to admire… / I changed… because….

Ce qui est attendu (7 pts) : Written production

Trace écrite · document à compléter (papier ou ENT)

Complète la trace écrite avec les mots de la banque, puis recopie-la dans ton cahier.

inferiorityirony

Darcy declares his love but insists on Elizabeth's ___________: the narrator's ______ shows his pride.

Séance 2 · « The last man in the world »

70 min

Séance approfondie : cours développé, documents sourcés, activités exigeantes avec coups de pouce.

La question du jour

How does Elizabeth win the duel?

Mon plan de travail

Le cours à lire · Rhetoric of refusal

Elizabeth answers with a long periodic sentence: an accumulation of accusations (« arrogance », « conceit », « selfish disdain ») builds up to the climax « the last man in the world ». The proposal becomes a verbal duel in which the heroine, poorer and socially lower, has the last word.

Document 1 · Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, chapter 34 (Elizabeth's answer)

Novel, 1813 (public domain).

"From the very beginning, from the first moment, I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immoveable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry."

Source : Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, chapter 34 (full text on Wikisource).

Pour bien lire ce document :

conceit: excessive pride; disapprobation: disapproval; immoveable: impossible to move; prevailed on: persuaded.

Activité 1 · Understand

12 min
Essentiel

Supports : Documents

Consigne :

Read and answer.

  1. Which three faults does Elizabeth list?
  2. When did her dislike begin?
  3. What is her conclusion?

Ce qui est attendu (6 pts) : Comprehension

Activité 2 · Analyse

18 min
Essentiel

Supports : Documents and lesson

Consigne :

Analyse.

  1. How is the sentence built?
  2. Find a metaphor of construction.
  3. Why is this a social reversal?

Ce qui est attendu (7 pts) : Analysis

Activité 3 · Speak

20 min
Travail à rendre

Supports : Documents and lesson

Consigne :

In pairs online (or alone, playing both parts), record a 2-minute modern version of the duel. Sentence starters: You may think that… / Let me tell you… / In short,….

Ce qui est attendu (7 pts) : Oral production

Trace écrite · document à compléter (papier ou ENT)

Complète la trace écrite avec les mots de la banque, puis recopie-la dans ton cahier.

periodicworld

Elizabeth's ________ sentence ends with « the last man in the ______ »: she wins the verbal duel.

Fiche à trous · je complète

Complète le texte avec les mots de la banque (sur papier ou dans le document de l'ENT).

ironymanpridestruggled

Darcy begins: « In vain have I _________. »

He talks as much about his ______ as about tenderness.

Elizabeth calls him « the last ______ in the world » she could marry.

The narrator's ______ shows that Darcy's eloquence works against him.

Ce que j'ai appris

Les 3 idées que je retiens :
Une phrase en anglais que je veux retenir :
Ce qui reste difficile pour moi / ma question pour le professeur :