So the thread about Mrs. Phillips yesterday got me thinking about what is probably my least favorite paragraph in all of P&P. It comes after Lizzy and Darcy are engaged, and ReformedDarcy is being polite to the people in Hertfordshire, while apparently still despising most of them:
"Mrs. Phillips's vulgarity was another, and perhaps a greater, tax on his forbearance; and though Mrs. Phillips, as well as her sister, stood in too much awe of him to speak with the familiarity which Bingley's good humour encouraged, yet, whenever she DID speak, she must be vulgar. Nor was her respect for him, though it made her more quiet, at all likely to make her more elegant. Elizabeth did all she could to shield him from the frequent notice of either, and was ever anxious to keep him to herself, and to those of her family with whom he might converse without mortification; and though the uncomfortable feelings arising from all this took from the season of courtship much of its pleasure, it added to the hope of the future; and she looked forward with delight to the time when they should be removed from society so little pleasing to either, to all the comfort and elegance of their family party at Pemberley."
I have so many issues with this, for both how it reflects on Elizabeth and Darcy's attitudes, as well as on their relationship.
As far as I can tell, Mrs. Phillips seems to be like plenty of people in my own extended family and those of others: perhaps not the classiest (in my view) in their taste or speech patterns, sometimes engaging in behavior I don't agree with, but still a warm and loving family member who is a gracious and polite hostess at social events. Not saying I'd expect her and Darcy to become BFF's like his relationship with the Gardiners, but shouldn't he and Lizzy be able to enjoy a card party or dinner in her home without stress?
What does Lizzy's constant embarrassment say about her "growth" story during the course of the novel? Is she becoming more of a snob?
(And it's not like Darcy/Bingley circle as she experienced at Netherfield is so superior - the Bingley sisters are vapid and snobby, Mr. Hurst is a dolt, etc. And they will all be hanging out at Pemberley . . .)
Thoughts?