While there are many layers to every character in Pride and
Prejudice, one that I find to be the most interesting and also perhaps the
most confusing is Mrs. Bennet. She is portrayed throughout the book as a woman
obsessed with wealth and status, fixated on the marriage of her daughters to
successful, well-respected men. Austen writes of her as a seemingly crazy
mother, doing anything in her power to attract proper men to her daughters. She
is made out to be a crazy, controlling mother throughout the story, yet I am
not sure if I think this is true. At the core of every decision Mrs. Bennet
makes is love for her children and a desire to provide for them as much as she
possibly can, an innate desire that every parent inevitably has for their
children.
Mrs. Bennet is inarguably obsessed with two
things, the acquisition of a husband and the attainment of wealth for all of
her daughters. For example, when Mr. Bingley first arrives, Mrs. Bennet is
immediately overcome with excitement and convinced that his visit will end with
a proposal to one of her daughters. Upon hearing of Mr. Bingley’s arrival, Mrs.
Bennet exclaims to her husband, “Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure!
A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing
for our girls!...My dear Mr. Bennet, how can you be so tiresome! You must know
that I am thinking of his marrying one of them” (Austen 66). Mrs Bennet sees
every man coming into contact with her family as a potential suitor. She then
analyzes them exclusively based on their financial standing and ability to
provide for her daughters. Her desires seem superficial and based solely on
status and wealth, with little regard for the actual feelings of her daughters.
Mrs. Bennet is scrutinized throughout the story for this obsession with
marriage and wealth and ultimately made out to be a crazy, controlling
character.
However, I would argue that Mrs. Bennet is not
nearly as “crazy” as Austen makes her out to be. While most will agree now that
marriage should be based on two people’s mutual love for each other and desire
to be together, it is an innate worry of a parent’s to ensure that their kids
are marrying an appropriate suitor. Parents want their children to be as
successful as possible and have the best lives possible. I believe this is
where Mrs. Bennet’s crazy actions come from. Everything that Mrs. Bennet does
comes from a place of love for her daughters and hope that each one of them
lives the best lives possible. You can see this in the excitement she possesses
for each one of her daughters when they get engaged. When Lizzy informs Mrs.
Bennet of her engagement, she responds, “Dear, dear Lizzy. A house in town!
Everything that is charming! Three daughters married! Ten thousand a year! Oh,
Lord!” (Austen 357). Mrs. Bennet’s desire of marriage for her daughters comes
from a place of wanting them to each have everything they want in life.
Ultimately, during this time period, marriage was the only way to be ensured of
that for a woman. While Mrs. Bennet is a “crazy” character at times, she is
still respectable as everything she does is out of love for her children.
I agree that Mrs. Bennett isn’t as crazy as she seems, she just wants the best possible life for her daughters, as all parents do. Mrs. Bennett wants her daughters to marry and this is evident in the first chapter, “The business of her life was to get her daughters married…” (Austen 4). This post strengthens my view of the novel and of Mrs. Bennett because I viewed Mrs. Bennett as annoying, embarrassing, and persistent because of her obsession with her daughters marrying a decent and rich man. This post reminded me that this book was written in the 1800’s, where women did not have rights, and marrying a decent and rich man was their only chance at a wealthy and prosperous life – supporting Mrs. Bennett’s want for her daughters’ marriages. Although this does not seem right ethically, and a marriage should be with someone you love, Mrs. Bennett wants the best for her daughters, and was thrilled when Elizabeth married rich. Mrs. Bennett exclaims, “How rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have” (Austen 220)! I would also argue that she is as crazy as she seems because she is so vocal and determined to help her daughters marry a rich man. In chapter 9, Mrs. Bennett is happy to see Jane recovering from her illness, but also happy that she is still ill enough to stay at Netherfield, where Mr. Bingley is. Mrs. Bennett is not crazy in wanting the best for her daughters but is crazy for the way she approaches her daughters getting married.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting and sympathetic take on a character I do not hesitate to regard with disdain. Whilst I agree that, at least in some part, Mrs. Bennet’s behavior does relate to her wish for her daughters to be well-off in life, she tends to disregard their boundaries and societal propriety in pursuit of that goal, which makes her actions seem to be less out of concern for their welfare and more out of a want to have her own personal desires fulfilled. She is, as you said, fairly obsessed with her daughters’ circumstances in life with relation to marriage, but the way she goes about this does not take into account how her daughters feel at all; they are constantly irritated with her for sticking her nose in their business and only ever seem to want her to stop. I think this shows pretty well that her interest is for her own sake and not her daughters’; she seems to get personal satisfaction out of seeing her children marry well, though she rarely consults them when cooking up another scheme to get them to that place she wants them to be. Basically, her actions seem to be too selfish, I think, to entirely write them off as the understandable concern of a mother in the 19th century—just look at the mother in Little Women. I think she had the same concern, but the way she went about it caused everybody much less trouble. So, while Mrs. Bennet is not clinically “crazy”, I think looking at her as something of a foolish character is completely within the bounds of reason; the daughters she claims to be working so hard for certainly do, in any case.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the assumption that Mrs. Bennnett’s obsession with marrying off her daughters likely comes from a place of love, I think it is aditionally necessary to consider the customs of early nineteenth century relationships in order to better understand Mrs. Bennett’s frenzy. Her character, while “crazy” at times, is just attempting to fulfill one of her most important motherly duties. During the early nineteenth century, marriage was a way of ensuring financial stability and status once a woman leaves the home she grew up in. An emotional connection to your partner was not a necessary factor in forming an engagement or securing a marriage, as Charlotte reveals when she says “it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life” (Austen, 24). In fact, Charlotte and Mr. Collins had very little emotional connection, and knew very little each other when they got married. Of course, nowadays, marriage is rooted in mutual love between partners, and founded in a close relationship, not whether or not your partner is rich and respected. I believe this analysis of nineteenth century customs allows for a view of Mrs. Bennett in which she is not “crazy,” but fulfilling one of her duties as a mother.
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