How do Darcys first and second marriage proposals to Elizabeth compare in language and results?
lit24 Teacher Doctorate eNotes Editor Darcy first proposes to Elizabeth in Ch.34. She is alone in Collins’ house as Charlotte and Collins have gone over to Lady Catherine’s house for tea. Elizabeth is suffering from a head ache which was a consequence of her being upset and crying after she had learnt from Col. Fitzwilliam Darcy that Darcy was responsible for separating Bingley from Jane: “he [Darcy] congratulated himself of having lately saved a friend [Bingley] from the inconveniences of a most imprudent marriage.” (Ch.33) Just then Darcy arrives and Elizabeth is indifferent to his preliminary queries about her health. Then all of a sudden he blurts out his marriage proposal to her saying “you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” Elizabeth is “astonished,” and for a few moments speechless, and then composes herself and rejects him. Darcy is in turn is shocked and surprised and “his complexion became pale with anger and the disturbance of his mind was visible
