Pride and Prejudice Dialectical Journal 1

[Lady Catherine:] “Are any of your younger sisters out, Miss [Elizabeth] Bennet?” “Yes ma’am, all.” “All!—What, all five at once? Very odd!—And you only the second.—The younger ones out before the elder are married!—Your younger sisters must be very young?” “Yes, my youngest is not sixteen. Perhaps she is full young to be much in company. But really, Ma’am, I think it would be very hard upon younger sisters that they should not have their share of society and amusement because the elder may not have the means or inclination to marry early.—The last born has as good a right to the pleasures of youth as the first. And to be kept back on such a motive!—I think it would not be very likely to promote sisterly affection or delicacy of mind.” “Upon my word,” said her ladyship, “you give your opinion very decidedly for so young a person.—Pray, what is you age?” “With three younger sisters grown up,” replied Elizabeth smiling, “your Ladyship can hardly expect me to own it.” Lady Catherine seemed quite astonished at not receiving a direct answer; and Elizabeth suspected herself to be the first creature who had ever dared to trifle with so much dignified impertinence. “You cannot be more than twenty, I am sure,—therefore you need not conceal your age.” “I am not one and twenty.” Chapter 27, Page 142
Literary Devices: ethos, pathos, and humor

Through Lady Catherine’s surprise and confusion over all of the Bennet daughters being out, Jane Austen mocks the upper class. Though the use of exclamation points and interjections, as well as an incredulous tone, Lady Catherine is characterized as being very conservative and old-fashioned towards the aristocratic lifestyle. Her shock that Elizabeth did not answer her question directly adds to her haughty nature by perceiving Elizabeth’s indirect answer as an affront. The reason that Lady Catherine is so stunned by the Bennet situation is that upper-class society believes that only the eldest daughter should be out before she is married. Through Elizabeth, and to a lesser extent the Bennets for allowing their daughters to all be out, Jane Austen’s voice is heard. Elizabeth backs her parents decision to have all their daughters out by using ethos (in arguing that the eldest may not have the means or inclination to marry early) and pathos (in arguing that the youngest has as good a right to the pleasures as the first), characterizing her as intelligent and perceptive. Lady Catherine expresses her surprise at Elizabeth by asking how old she is. In addition to being irrelevant, since wisdom does not necessarily come with age, Lady Catherine criticizes Elizabeth for being too smart. Elizabeth, however, does not take this as an insult and instead replies indirectly to the highest ranking and wealthiest person that she had met, characterizing her as unmoved by people’s status and wealth as a sign of power, again criticizing the aristocratic lifestyle. Lady Catherine then suggests that the reason that Elizabeth concealed her age was because she was embarrassed about it. Lady Catherine believes that anyone older than twenty is embarrassed about their age because it appears that they are too old to be married. However, twenty-one and older are still quite young, especially since Jane is twenty-two and still unmarried. Austen uses Elizabeth to chisel away the superfluities and societal norms of the upper class to reveal a cold group of people dominated by avarice and pride.