Ending Pride and Prejudice II; The 1995 Adaptation

Here is our second feature on the endings of Pride and Prejudice dramatizations. For the 1980 adaptation click here and for the 2005 movie here

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This time we have a transcript of the final scenes from the BBC 1995 adaptation, which goes a little further than the 1980 adaptation by showing the actual marriages of the Bingleys and Darcys, and ends with a famous freeze frame of Mr and Mrs Darcy in mid-kiss.

Unlike the 1980 series, however, it does include the wonderful scene in which Elizabeth declares her love of Mr Darcy to her father, at which point he heartily gives his consent.

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Elizabeth and Darcy are walking together. Bingley and Jane are some way ahead.

DARCY:
I have been a selfish being all my life. As a child I was given good principles but I was left to follow them in pride and conceit. And such I might still have been but for you, dearest loveliest Elizabeth.

Jane and Elizabeth are before their mirrors.

JANE:
Engaged? To Mr Darcy? No. You are joking! It is impossible.

ELIZABETH:
This is a wretched beginning. If you don’t believe me I’m sure no-one else will. Indeed, I am in earnest. He still loves me, and we are engaged.

JANE:
No, Lizzy, it can’t be true. I know how much you dislike him.

ELIZABETH:
(Laughs) No, no. It is all forgotten. Perhaps I did not always love him as well as I do know, but in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.

JANE:
Dearest Lizzy. Do be serious. How long have you loved him?

ELIZABETH:
It’s been coming on so gradually, I hardly know. But I believe I must first date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley!

They laugh.

JANE:
Lizzy!

Mr Bennet gets out of his chair.

MR BENNET:
Are you out of your senses to be accepting this man, Lizzy? Have you not always hated him?

ELIZABETH:
Papa…

MR BENNET:
I’ve given him my consent. He’s the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare to refuse anything. But let me advise you to think the better of it. I know your disposition, Lizzy. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. He’s rich, to be sure, but will he make you happy?

ELIZABETH:
Have you any objections apart from your belief in my indifference?

MR BENNET:
None whatever. We all know him to be proud, unpleasant sort of man, but this would be nothing if you really liked him.

ELIZABETH:
I do. I do like him. I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He’s perfectly amiable. If you only knew his generous nature… I didn’t always love him, but I love him now so very dearly. He is truly the best man I have ever known.

MR BENNET:
Well, my dear. If this be the case, he deserves you. I could not have parted with you to anyone less worthy, Lizzy.

Mr Bingley and Miss Bennet, and Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth are being married. There is much grinning…

MINISTER:
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman, and this man and this woman, in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate, instituted by God in the time of man’s innocence, signifying unto us the mystical union that is between Christ and his church and therefore is not by any to be enterprised lightly or wantonly to satisfy man’s carnal lusts and appetites, but reverently, discreetly, risedly, soberly and in the fear of God, duly considering the causes for which matrimony was ordained.

MINISTER (VOICE-OVER):
Firstly, it was ordained for the procreation of children.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh is at home, looking rather grumpy next to her daughter, Anne, who is coughing into her tissue.

MINISTER (VOICE-OVER):
Secondly, as a remedy against sin and to avoid fornication.

Mr Wickham is sitting on a bed drinking wine, as Lydia strokes him with her foot.

MINISTER:
Thirdly, for the mutual society, help and comfort that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity, into which holy estate these persons now here present come now to be joined.

Amidst great celebrations the married couples walk to their carriages. The Bingleys are seated first. The carriages leave together. Mr and Mrs Bennet are waving.

MRS BENNET:
Three daughters married. Oh, Mr Bennet! God has been very good to us.

MR BENNET:
Yes, so it would seem.

In their carriage, Mr and Mrs Darcy kiss.

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So this is where the curtain falls on the BBC 1995 Pride and Prejudice adaptation. The marriage is of course mentioned by Jane Austen, and both marriages do take place together, but the scene has been fleshed out considerably from the novels’ very brief description. I think it’s lovely to see Darcy’s face break into an uncontrollable beam at the end, and the marriage seems a natural finishing point, but what do you think of this ending, compared to both the book and the other adaptations?

Darcy