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Avoiding embarrassment   Written by Robbin (6/3/2007 2:32 p.m.) in consequence of the missive, I see a similarity right from the proposal, penned by Tracy W
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Thanks! IMO you are right. Lizzy wants to avoid Darcy chiefly because she refused him and the emotions it would occasion for both of them. They are conflicting emotions for Lizzy because she regrets her misjudgments but not her rejection. She caused him disappointment and now that she understands he is only disagreeable (chapter 42) and not dishonorable she regrets charging him with dishonorable acts. She has also come to appreciate the compliment of his affections which she could not do during the proposal. She also knows exactly how he viewed her family and the preceding time at home has only confirmed his judgment of them to her which is another barrel of embarrassment because she has a clear picture of how other people, not just Darcy, may view them.

I think Lizzy believes she should not meet for his sake also. Seeing her will bring up her rejection and his disappointment. At the very least it would be an unpleasant reminder of how badly he misjudged her feelings for him—wounded pride which Lizzy knows all too well since she misjudged him and Wickham. The comment “She felt that she had no business at Pemberley” I think refers to this and also to feelings that her visit to Pemberley could be viewed as inappropriate, embarrassing for both of them—why is she looking about his home since she refused to be mistress of it? Perhaps she could be misinterpreted as rubbing his nose in her rejection. Perhaps she could be viewed as throwing herself at him because she now regrets rejecting him.

A lesson brought home to me from this attempted avoidance both at the park and at Pemberley is how hard it is to get past hurtful truths and situations and interact with that person again. This is something I have experienced in real life—made mistakes, said hurtful things although it was truth to me so Lizzy’s feelings have a ring of truth to me. It seems clear to me that Lizzy regrets her misjudgments of Darcy and Wickham and her erroneous conclusions but at this point Lizzy cannot be sure Darcy regrets anything he said or did except for proposing and giving opinions in his letter Lizzy will not like to hear—this also may be a reason for her to avoid him At the end of Chapter 42 Lizzy may feel she is the last woman in the world Darcy wants to see. ;D


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