Pride and Prejudice

That night, in the drawing room, Darcy attempts to read but is interrupted frequently by Miss Bingley, who tries in vain to draw him into conversation. She walks around the room to gain Darcy’s attention; when that fails, she invites Elizabeth to join her. Darcy finally looks up. He declines an invitation to join them and says he can imagine two reasons they are walking. Miss Bingley asks him to explain what he means. Darcy says they either have secrets to discuss or wish to show off their figures. If they have secrets, he’ll leave them alone. If they wish to show off their figures, he can watch them more easily from where he sits.

Miss Bingley expresses shock and asks how they can punish him. Elizabeth replies that they can punish him by laughing at him. Miss Bingley says it’s impossible to laugh at a man of such “calmness of temper and presence of mind” and that they’ll look foolish if they “laugh without a subject” (55). Elizabeth replies that a person who can’t be laughed at has “an uncommon advantage” (55) and an unfortunate one, for she loves to laugh.

Darcy says even the best of men can be laughed at by someone “whose first object in life is a joke” (55).