Writing the Essay—2018-2019
Writings of the Scholars
Tommy Phelan Mr. Bennett's Response letter
Mr. Collins,
I am writing back to you in compliance of your sympathy letter. I am very sorry about my daughter leaving, but I really do not think that death in a blessing in comparison to that. That is a little Gall of you to say something like that. And even though I know you are in great solace, this does not mean that anyone should be inclined that Lydia is naturally bad! Also , you were not involved in our sorrow or disgrace one bit. I believe I will never throw off the affection for my own daughter, that would be completely dain. Just because she ran off once doesn't mean I am going to disown her. Please do no think i would ever disown my own daughter because of one bad choice. It seems to me like you have had a caprice of ridiculousness towards this situation. Even though it might be a dire situation, you should never give up.
Sincerely, Mr. Bennet
Jack Shin
My dear Mr. Collins,
I hope that you and Mrs. Collins are well. I take much pleasure in your advice, and I shall heed your warnings concerning Lydia. I partially agree with you that my family and I should be pitied. After all, we have no sons but only witless daughters, such as Lydia. Even though Lydia acted with haughty gall, she is still one of my beloved daughters of buffoonery. But I do agree with you that if Lydia keeps acting with foolish impulsiveness, then it shall ruin our family’s reputation.
But Mr. Collins, I shall give you a warning: you should not be swayed like a minion by the opinions of Lady Catherine and her daughter. If you continue to do this, then you will not know how to act on your own accord, and you will always be enslaved to the caprice of others. However, I know you to be a young and gentlemanly sage. I am confident you are a scrupulous guardian of our family’s reputation, and you will think of others before yourself as always.
So I thank you for your caution and discretion.
And I bid you farewell.
My best regards,
Mr. Bennet
Maddy Olavides
Dearest Mr. Collins,
I must congratulate you on congratulating yourself for resting assured that the certain events you so narrowly escaped from last November relieved you from our dire circumstance. I would not, however, agree that anyone’s daughter passing would be any less grievous.
While I concede that you are indeed entitled to your opinion about the parenting of Mrs Bennet and I, or the lack thereof, as you implied, I have reason to believe that you should not fret over the caprice union between Lydia and Mr. Wickham. When they visited us two days prior, they appeared as happily married as you and Mrs. Lucas. I have no doubt, your benefactor, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, approves of your choice in a willing partner, just as much as we do for our dear Lydia.
Just as your mixture of servility and self-importance in this letter as well as your last promises well, so does their union reflect on our family as a whole. I hope this relieves you from being a harbinger of any ill will on this matter. Thank you again for your scrupulous opinions, which you so readily share with us. Your pastoral encouragement never ceases. We are most appreciative of your correspondence.
Your cousin,
Kate Kuipers
My Dear Mr. Collins, Thank you for your solace regarding the recent tragic events, which are as it seems so conflicting upon you and your wife. But upon reading the rest of your letter I was deeply galled by your scrupulous accusations against my daughter Lydia. Your statements were of the most offensive manner, which insulted both her character and upbringing and can by no means be excused.On that note, I will ask you to refrain from informing Lady Catherine about these sorts of things from now on because you have increased our dishonour in so doing. Furthermore, consider the stress I am already enduring due to Wickham’s attempted elopement with my daughter. “But however "inflicting” this humiliation may be I would not go to such extremes as to wish my youngest dead. Whether I shun Lydia or not is none of your business, so I ask that you keep your opinions to yourself from now on. I was utterly appalled by your rejoicing over the narrow escape from this disgrace by your rejection of Elizabeth. Also, as you are a clergyman I would expect less vulgar statements and more comfort in such a dire situation. To conclude my letter, I desire that you tell no one else of this matter and request that no reply be sent. Mr. Bennet
Gracie Tejeda
Dear Sir Collins,
How very kind that a man of your stature would take the time to write such a scrupulous letter to myself amidst your busy life. I admire your desire to give me, what I believe you presume to be, a gift of sincere solace in this time. However, I’ll have you be informed as of this moment that I, along with my family, are able to carry on without any unessential input from you and anyone in association with you. I hope you can promptly recognize, in putting this faintly, how gallish you must be to pronounce that my daughter would be more suitable dead than alive. I hope you realize, regardless of your inheritance of my property, that I will not tolerate such a statement as that from you again. You are the minion of the trait of busy bodieness. Although my wife may posses the same trait, it is attractive in such a woman as her, not a man like yourself. Now, continuing forward, I wish that you keep this exchange of communication between us. I find it unnecessary for any ears of my neighbors to be chatted off by your significant desire to bring I’ll thoughts and feelings to my family name. It is always a pleasure Mr. Collins.
Sincerely,
Mr. Bennet
Jadyn Weber
Dear Mr. Collins
I received your letter, I appreciate your solace and hope all is well. I think that a man in your place has no right to come across the way you did. I am most not impressed with the fact that you think that her death would be more appropriate, to be gall. Lady Catherine has no say in this area of our life’s, how dare you feel deign to talk to her about our situation. I feel that the blame for this situation is not strictly on Mrs. Bennet and I, for if Lydia is old enough to get married, she is old enough to make her own choices. You say you don’t want any arguments, but your letter says otherwise. You are right, this could affect my other daughters, but if a man loves them enough they will look past this. I am glad Lizzy turned down your offer of marriage, for I would not want a son-in-law that in a dire need is not there. I will not be taking your advice to disown my child, any father who is willing to do that obviously has no love for them. Say hello to Mrs. Collins and good day to you.
Sincerely, Mr. Bennet
Bella Ly
MY DEAR SIR,
Your condolences have been greatly appreciated by Mrs. Bennet and myself in these dire times. We indeed feel that nothing can alleviate so grievous a tragedy. Poor Mrs. Bennet was taken ill immediately and has not since left her room. Even I could not speak for ten full minutes after hearing the news. Words cannot express my agony and shame, and I find solace nowhere. You are quite right, my dear Sir, that I would prefer almost anything to this terrible calamity, perhaps even the death of my precious Lydia. I must agree with you concerning the unfortunate tendencies of my wife. She was rather given to indulging our poor daughter, almost to the point of negligence. Nevertheless, Mrs. Bennet and I would indeed much rather suppose this recklesscaprice of Lydia’s was only an indication of our daughter’s true nature, and not a fault of her upbringing. We appreciate the fact Lady Catherine de Bourgh deigned to give her own opinion of our little misfortune, and the thoughtfulness of yourself and Mrs. Collins. I thank you for your prudent advice and promise to consider it.
I am, dear Sir, &c. &c.
Ryan Smith
Dear Mr. Collins,
I appreciate your attempt at condolence, but I fervently believe you are void of any arguments that could alleviate my current distress. I must also state that while this situation is dire, the death of my daughter will never be viewed as a happy alternative, for, as a pastor like yourself must be hoping, Lydia may yet repent of her current evil. Whilst I acknowledge my faults and shortcomings, I will request that you keep your vast knowledge on the subject of good parenting to yourself. As for Lydia having a generally bad disposition, I entreat you to also take into account the seductiveness of the Scoundrel Mr. Wickham. It is unseemly to lay the guilt of such on offense on only one of the offenders. Since you have heard only evil of Lydia, I understand your advice to cast her off. But since you have no understanding of anything other than the evil of her actions, I intend to ignore your most considerate recommendation. Instead, I will continue to hope for her to see the error of her ways, as should you. I believe I must thank you for giving such a scrupulous description of our circumstances to Lady Catherine, for now we may find solace in knowing that so many of Lady Catherine's important acquaintances will be well informed of our grievous situation and disgrace. As for the events of last November, I can assure you that I share in your joy at Elizabeth's not deigning to marry you. I certainly hope our friendship has not harmed your reputation or honor in any way - lest I should have to end all communication with you, so as to preserve you from any association with my family's disgrace.
With many thanks,
Mr. Bennett
Poppy Kruggel
Dear Mr Collins,
I want to thank you, for this letter of your making, for it must have been shocking to hear the news of Lydia. Now, I recognize your sympathy to which upon hearing our dire news. You surely are not as sympathetic as you sound, might I say, but rather only sending this to show that you have heard the news. You must have taken much time to think and write this out, although it is not very comforting to our family at this time. I thank you for sending the letter though, to which upon you at least pretend that you care. Now, I would like to discuss your assumptions. I believe you said that Lydia’s death would be better than this instead of her courting. I most certainly think her death would grieve us all until we reach our graves. For although Lydia is quite thoughtless, none of us want her gone out of our lives completely. And to give us “gall advice” to cast her out of the house and not care for her when she returns, is unthought of and quiet stupid. For where as we have very disliked Lydia for her actions on account to the other daughters, we have not the slightest caprice to send her away, for we still care for her as family should. Not that you’d know that, but it was just necessary to say. Hereas, I do wish you had not spoken to Mrs De Bourgh and her daughter about this. Surely she now has awful thoughts about our family, (not that I care) and will announce to anyone who sees her that our family is not worthy of any other marriages for the the rest of my daughters. Now, I see that since you are a minion to Mrs De Bourgh, you practically tell her anything. Although you really should have not told her of our news, for it is none of her business and only 5% yours. I assume you didn’t think this through before you announced our problem, for your benefits of your honesty to Miss Catherine. But now, I must end this letter on account for Mrs Bennet is calling for me. Thank you for your letter and I shall hope to not see you for a while, whereas this business must be kept secluded and quiet, with no company for at least a fortnight.
Sincerely,
Mr Bennet
Paul Symank
Mr. “Dear” Mr. Collins,
I received your letter and let me simply express, I am indescribably offended by the fact that you perceive we are less than stellar parents. It is not our poor parenting that has made Lydia elope with Wickham. Just the mere fact that you think that makes me want to not give you my estate at Longbourn. If it were my choice, I would rather have my daughter Lydia inherit my estate than a snooty, despicable man such as yourself. I can’t believe you have the gall to insult me in such a way. Although I do agree with you that Lydia must not marry such a scoundrel as Wickham. Wickham is a gambling, poor man who is not fit to marry my daughter. Even in thisdire time, I do not believe I should cut my affections to her out from our lives, but I know I will have the inclination to hold a grudge against her and Wickham for quite a lengthy period, and I shall not soon forgive them. Although I shall also not forgive you, sir, for offending me and galling me.
Your Cousin,
Mr. Bennet
Luke Thomasson
Mr Collins,
Your conduct, and intention in relating with me in sympathy for my daughter’s foolish decisions has only made the state of our friendship worse. I have no intention in further continuing a relationship with a man with the manners, and reputation as yours. I further incline that the dire decisions performed by my daughter have nothing to do with are family, (although most of our children's uncommon behavior can be traced to my wife). Referring to Mrs De Bourgh, and her remarks on my daughter, I now see how she can be uncommonly scrupulous, and intrusive to one's personal life. I am constantly astonished at her deign remarks toward my family, we are not her minions. To conclude, I have been quite disgusted, and amused in your thoughtlessness in your remarks to Eliza, saying it was a poor decision in not taking your hand in marriage. If you would like to know my opinion, I am quite relieved in Eliza's refusing your hand in marriage, and if she did I really do think I would have never seen her again. Your insults and disgusting manner behaved toward my family have truly convinced me that if Eliza took your hand in marriage, it would leave an even more bitter mark on my family's reputation, than my daughter Lizzy. I have no intention in abandoning Lizzy, and I wish for you to realize how insulting your remarks have been.
With much thought,
Mr Bennet.
Shiloh Neve Striemer
My Dear Mr. Collins,
Thank you for your most generous letter of comfort in my time of great affliction. However, I am sorry to say that the intent of your letter of condolence finds me still in want of solace. I do thank you for your and Mrs. Collins’ sympathy. I must ask you though how many others now condole with us? A man in your situation of life, as a clergyman, had best keep in mind the counsel of the Scriptures, that one ought not to gossip and that one must be quick to forgive and slow to judge. I must strongly disagree that death would be by any means better than this great sin my daughter has committed. If concealed properly, it will after some time, be forgotten; and, our family’s reputation and my daughter’s will be restored to its former state; whereas, death is a rather permanent affair. If you believe you could have trained up my children any better, then I invite you to attempt it yourself and to succeed in bringing up perfectly balanced, and not by any means, self-indulgent children. Clearly, your father and mother had some great difficulty in that regard. I must admit that my dear daughter has much galland is very capricious, but I believe that most young girls her age are much the like, however, as they mature they are hoped to develop temperance. Do thank Lady Catherine for her so great and wise sentiment, but I must disagree. Are we to be pitied indeed? I think not. For I have again four more mature daughters of good mien with just as good prospects as any other girls in Hertfordshire. I also am happy with the results of that certain event last November; for if it had been otherwise, you would have been here comforting me, which would all the more vex me and add to my great suffering.
Yours etc, etc,
Emmett Brooks
Mr. Collins,
I appreciate your condolences, but yours and Lady Catherine’s advice is at best unnecessary. I assure you I can deal with this issue myself and you obviously do not realize that this is an extreme outlier and not a harbinger of my families social demise. Also, in no way would Lydia’s death be superior to this small misfortune. I’m glad that this does not disgrace you because you may not survive another disastrous embarrassment. However, I do believe it may have been a near miss for us in November because having you our family would be much as bad as our current predicament. I do not think that it is entirely my fault or Lydia’s that this happened, but maybe the people in which she was associating. In now way will this small mishap merit her disownment or revoke my affections for her. I hope that eventually you will learn that life is not all about social status but also about strong relationships and family bonds. Send charlotte all of our regards and thank you for all your support.
-Mr. Bennet
Isaac Jensen
My good cousin,
I thank you for deigning to offer your condolences to me. HOwever, several of your remarks were rather galling and not in the least bit helpful or comforting. First I would much rather have a living eloped daughter than a dead one, strange as it may seem to you. Second, I believe my wife and I have done a great job of raising our daughters. Third, perhaps our reputation would be spared some damage if certain well-meaning relations would keep our family affairs private. Your remarks are just as comforting to me as Job’s friends’ remarks were to him. I advise you to take some of your time to sid down and read Job to see how not to condole your friends. One of the many points you may glean is that assigning blame does not comfort. This knowledge may help you see how not to provide solace to some other unfortunate being found in a dire situation. Finally, although my daughter has been very foolish, I still love her with all my heart and hope she has a great relationship with her husband.
Emma Muffett
Dear Mr. Collins,
I dare not express my feelings for how rapidly the news of these intimate grievances got to you, and that I now can be consoled by your words. I can assure you, though the troubles are great, I would never wish death for my daughter over these unfortunate circumstances. Each of my daughters are gifted with unique dispositions, and I must persuade you that your assumption of Lydia’s is undoubtedly true— Her troubles have been brought to her due to her natural disposition and not by indulgent choices made my myself. As for yourself, an immense amount of bad qualities corrupts your natural disposition, as it does for everyone’s dispositions, so you must not judge Lydia too harshly. Lydia’s bad character qualities were only brought to light by inappropriate means of misunderstood communications. Do not be hasty in your remarks, for once she is recovered, a revised account of her actions may differ from your assumed beliefs. I only say this to relieve you from any embarrassment that might burden you from the self-righteous speech you are now using. I give you my gratitude for so hastily relating these private family details to Lady Katherine, whom you so praise, and I thank her for her recommendations. However, I will not pursue the course of action you and your great acquaintance suggest. These are my private matters, and I ask you to refrain from sharing these matters to anyone else, and earnestly beg you to withhold from voicing your personal opinions.
Yours,
Mr. Bennet