The role of Mrs. Bennet in the novel Pride and Prejudice is very simplistic as her goal in life is to marry off all of her daughters although she does this in an embarrassing and not at all sly manner. I think we can all agree that Mrs. Bennet is not everyone’s favorite character and typically is annoying throughout the plot of the book. In specific, her and Elizabeth have a rocky relationship as Elizabeth is most aware of her mother’s social habits. Mrs. Bennet is always overstepping boundaries and crossing the line in social contexts. For example, in Chapter 9, when Elizabeth and Jane were staying at the Bingley’s because Jane was sick, Mrs. Bennet was sent a letter to come visit her sick daughter. Upon the arrival of Mrs. Bennet, she, of course, made a fool of herself when “everybody was surprised; and Darcy, after looking at her for a moment, turned silently away. Mrs. Bennet, who fancied she had gained a complete victory over him, continued her triumph” (43). Elizabeth knew that her mother was wrong and out of line although Mrs. Bennet had no idea and did not pick up on the fact that everyone was thinking such. Elizabeth is embarrassed by this encounter and displays her emotions when Austen said “‘Indeed, Mama, you are mistaken’, said Elizabeth, blushing for her mother” (43).
Although Mrs. Bennet annoys Elizabeth, she truly cares about her daughter and does what she does because she wants her daughters to have the best lives. Once Elizabeth shared the news of her engagement to Mr. Darcy with her mother, Austen described Mrs. Bennet’s reaction as: “its effect was most extraordinary; for on first hearing it, Mrs. Bennet sat quite still and unable to utter a syllable. Nor was it under many, many minutes that she could comprehend what she heard” (357). Mrs. Bennet was overjoyed that Elizabeth had become engaged to Mr. Darcy as he is very well off and can provide for her. Elizabeth, while she was annoyed and aware of her mother’s annoying habits, also wanted to share the news with her mother as she knew it would provide happiness for her. Mrs. Bennet achieved her goal of marrying off her daughters and therefore, she was fulfilled in the sense that her family and daughters would be in a better financial situation than herself.
You give a lot of good points about Mrs. Bennet's role throughout the novel, and her only goal of marrying off her daughters. I think something interesting that you touched on a bit is that despite her being generally annoying and incompetent, her persistent, blunt attempts to find suitors for her daughters actually end up working most of the time. For example, with Jane and Bingley, they are both so timid and cautious that neither of them really wants to take a chance and admit that they were falling for the other. Elizabeth evens knows that Jane likes Bingley when he is afraid to see it, when she says, "If I can perceive her regard for him, he must be a simpleton, indeed, not to discover it too" (15). Enter Mrs. Bennet, who sees the awkward situation and then forces the two of them to spend time together in such a direct way that they are forced to overcome their reservations and finally fall in love. Mrs. Bennet's tactics aren't the cleverest, and are annoying to every character and the audience, but I can't say they aren't effective.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely not a fan of Mrs. Bennet, and neither are you, but I think it’s great that you see that underneath her clueless, annoying, ignorant persona, there is a genuine care for her daughters that goes both ways. Mr. Bennet, on the other hand, has no such endearment for his wife, and Elizabeth notes, “To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement" (177). His attitude is unfortunate and cruel, but that’s the topic of another discussion.