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Pride and Prejudice Chapter 36 Summary

  • We like to call this chapter "Elizabeth Realizes Her Idiocy."
  • When Elizabeth first reads Darcy's letter, she's still mad.
  • But then she goes for a long walk and reads it again (and again), realizing that Mr. Darcy might actually be completely blameless.
  • She tries to excuse Wickham by thinking about his good qualities, but, oops: he doesn't actually have any.
  • In fact, it was really inappropriate for Wickham to have brought up Mr. Darcy in the first place.
  • Plus, he waited until the Netherfield contingent had left before he started spreading his anti-Darcy story around.
  • Hmm. It's not looking good for Wickham.
  • Plus, Mr. Darcy might be kind of a jerk, but he's not actually immoral.
  • Cue another character transformation. Lizzy is suddenly ashamed of herself: she's been prejudiced against Darcy.
  • She even admits that Jane didn't act much like she loved Bingley.
  • There's still the little matter of him thinking her family is disgusting—but, um, he's actually right about that.
  • When she returns to the house, Elizabeth discovers that Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam had dropped by to say good-bye (they're heading out of town), and now they're gone.

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