Plot Summary
Chapter 35 of Pride and Prejudice is one of the novel's most pivotal chapters. The morning after Darcy's failed proposal, Elizabeth walks near the park at Rosings and encounters Darcy himself, who has been pacing the grove hoping to find her. Without conversation, he hands her a letter and departs. The rest of the chapter consists entirely of Darcy's letter, a lengthy and carefully argued document that addresses Elizabeth's two main accusations from the previous evening.
Darcy's Defense Regarding Bingley and Jane
In the first part of the letter, Darcy addresses the charge that he separated Bingley from Jane. He acknowledges having done so, but explains his reasons: he genuinely believed Jane to be indifferent based on her serene, composed manner, and he found the behavior of the Bennet family -- particularly Mrs. Bennet, Kitty, Lydia, and occasionally Mr. Bennet -- to be lacking in propriety. He admits that he and Bingley's sisters conspired to keep Bingley in London and that he concealed Jane's presence in town from his friend, calling this concealment the one part of his conduct he does not reflect on with satisfaction.
Darcy's Account of Mr. Wickham
The second and longer portion of the letter reveals the true history of Mr. Wickham. Darcy explains that Wickham was the son of his father's steward, supported through school and Cambridge by the elder Mr. Darcy. Upon the elder Darcy's death, Wickham declined the church living intended for him, accepted three thousand pounds instead, and squandered it on a life of idleness and dissipation. When the living later became vacant, Wickham attempted to claim it anyway, and Darcy refused. Most devastatingly, Darcy reveals that Wickham attempted to elope with Darcy's fifteen-year-old sister Georgiana at Ramsgate the previous summer, motivated by her thirty-thousand-pound fortune and a desire for revenge against Darcy. The elopement was averted only because Georgiana confessed to her brother just before it was to take place.
The Letter's Conclusion
Darcy closes by directing Elizabeth to Colonel Fitzwilliam as a witness who can verify every particular, and signs the letter "Fitzwilliam Darcy." This letter fundamentally reshapes Elizabeth's understanding of both Darcy and Wickham, setting in motion the gradual reversal of her prejudices that drives the second half of the novel.