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IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, MORE THAN IN ANY OF HER OTHER NOVELS, Austen uses card games in order to introduce and develop characters, to foreshadow forthcoming events in light of the traits various card games reveal in those who play them (or abstain from playing them), and to consider interesting relationships between characters. 1 Although card games perform all of these functions throughout the novel, it is useful to consider the various card games that occur in the novel in the context of where they occur because card games primarily perform one of these functions in each of the novel’s major settings. In the words of Alistair M. Duckworth, “the particular games chosen [are] fitted to the families that play them” (283). The narrative is framed by two sets of card games played at Longbourn, a site of courtship and, ultimately, engagement. 2 Within that frame, the card games played at Netherfield primarily promote the development of the novel’s main characters; those played at Meryton primarily foreshadow (albeit dimly) the elopement of Lydia and Mr. Wickham; and the card games played at Rosings juxtapose various characters in a way that emphasizes the importance of social and familial relationships in the novel.
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Austen uses the first set of games played at Longbourn primarily to introduce Jane and Mr. Bingley to each other and to the reader, but the reader learns from these games a fair amount about Elizabeth as well. Elizabeth makes the first allusion to card games in the novel when she and Charlotte discuss the growing relationship between Jane and Mr. Bingley in the context of these games. Charlotte asserts that Jane should secure an engagement from Mr. Bingley as soon as possible, but Elizabeth says that Jane and Mr. Bingley have not interacted “‘enough to make her understand his character’” (22). 3 Charlotte notes that “‘four evenings have been . . . spent together—and four evenings may do a great deal’” (22). Elizabeth replies, “‘Yes; these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain that they both like Vingt-un better than Commerce; but with respect to any other leading characteristic, I do not imagine that much has been unfolded’” (22-23). Because Charlotte quickly changes the subject, it is...