Longbourn

While the first volume looked intimately at the physical effort of domestic labor, this section explores the practical and economic realities of employment, especially the working class’s concerns about the future and the different ways they must navigate love, marriage, and homemaking. This examination is framed by the arrival of Mr. Collins, who is the legal heir to Mr. Bennet’s property, as his approval of the servants will impact whether they remain at Longbourn when he inherits. So, while the family prepares for the visit by instructing the servants to prepare the house, the duties of the servants are doubled: They must maintain the house while also impressing Mr. Collins to ensure their future livelihoods, highlighting the theme of Class Hierarchies and Visibility. Mrs. Hill’s concerns about her future and the household’s security extend to contemplating marriage between James and Sarah, just as Mr. Collins is calculating who among the Bennet girls will make the most advantageous match, highlighting further parallels between the two social classes below and above stairs. Regardless of social class, they all hope for marriage and security, but the options of the “lower” class are more limited, particularly regarding gender and limited agency.

Like Pride and Prejudice, Longbourn examines The Attractions of Marriage, an institution made complex by entwining expectations of romantic attraction into a negotiation that is also transactional in its ensuring of economic security. Sarah experiences this imbalance when she considers running away with Ptolemy, who seems to offer both love and security; he is briefly her subject of infatuation in the same way Mr. Wickham is for the Bennet girls, especially Elizabeth, but he also appears to offer a stable economic venture in the form of his shop. This synchronicity also reiterates that, in mind and spirit, people want the same things and share similar behaviors and characteristics no matter their class: Sarah is charmed by the forward, inappropriate Ptolemy while dismissing James as proud and deliberately mysterious, as Elizabeth does with Mr. Darcy. Jane, meanwhile, provides the model of pursuing marriage for love, as she has charmed Mr. Bingley by her beauty, but her disappointment—mirroring Sarah’s when the Bingleys, including Ptolemy, leave—shows the tenuous nature of being an object of attraction when the wider world holds many diversions, particularly for men with greater agency. Mr. Collins, on the other hand, approaches marriage to fulfill a desire for companionship while showing dutiful generosity to Mr. Bennet—who will bequeath him a gentleman’s estate, status, and life of leisure—by marrying one of his daughters. This practical approach is unwelcome to Elizabeth, who values her personal happiness above practical concerns, as Sarah wishes she could, highlighting the varying agencies of women as they relate to social class. Notably, in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and Jane are initially considered unsuitable matches for Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley, respectively. Longbourn challenges the notion of poorer families of the gentry class being less desirable by instead offering the perspective of the servants, whose options are even more limited and who view the Bennet girls as advantaged in every way.

Personal Happiness and the Satisfaction of Work is explored in these sections through different forms of pleasure: the pleasure of industry and the pleasure of leisure. Industry is supposed to bring a more lasting and deeper satisfaction, as leisure is considered frivolous by many characters, such as Mr. Collins, James, Sarah, and Mrs. Hill. Mr. Collins has employment for which he earns a salary, and this gives him common ground with the servants. He relates to Sarah as he would any parishioner and confides his concern about whether the Bennet girls have been raised with middle-class morals like industry and thrift. Meanwhile, leisure and the birthright of unemployment while receiving income based on property taxes (See: Background: Historical Context) is considered a necessary part of life for wealthier families like the Bingleys and Darcys, but leisure is also a key part of the lives of the Bennet girls, who Mr. Collins notes do not do household tasks. So, while he wants a thrift wife, he does not want one who performs labor, as this suggests a lower class. Regarding Sarah, the allusion to Samuel Richardson’s popular romantic novel Pamela (1740) offers a fictional example of crossing class divides, depicting a female servant who elevates her status through marriage to a gentleman after proving her good breeding by refusing his sexual advances. This gives Sarah the idea of taking control of her own circumstances by leaving Longbourn, which is a radical act for a woman of 19th-century England, and it also provides a parallel to Mr. Wickham’s touching of Polly, in whom he shows sexual interest, possibly perceiving her as someone to take advantage of because of her greater lack of agency as a woman of the “lower” class.

An instance of irony surfaces in Sarah’s feeling trapped by her work and the longing for freedom, and James’s growing accustomed to the softness and ease of a settled life. Both characters wish for something different from what they have known, suggesting that, together, they might find balance, offering what the other has lacked. James’s past is heavily foreshadowed, and his avoidance of the officers contributes to building suspense. Further, Mr. Wickham’s creeping and menacing presence also highlights his true character, which will ultimately lead him to threaten to expose James. Differences in class continue to be marked by the ownership of things; Sarah’s small wooden box, which holds all her possessions, is a far cry from Mrs. Bennet’s dressing room, crowded with discarded luxuries that no longer hold any satisfaction for her. Sarah crosses this boundary briefly the night of the Netherfield ball; in taking Jane’s gown and walking with Ptolemy outside, she flirts with the idea of having what the Bennet girls have. But in kissing James, she develops a new goal for her personal happiness and finds something that is purely her own: love. While Sarah initially hopes to find love with Ptolemy, that her resolve to leave softens when James follows her is significant, as is her decision to leave Longbourn. For a woman of 19th-century England to go off on her own, away from the safety of Mrs. Hill, is remarkably radical and even dangerous, demonstrating the intense feeling of being trapped that Sarah experiences daily. Her activities are defined by the needs of others, and the constant witnessing of the lives of the Bennet girls serves as a reminder of how limited her own choices are, particularly regarding autonomy in romance.