Poor ol' Mr. Bennet
The
portrait of Mr. Bennet is comparable to a man in a bubble: He is completely shut off
from the convoluted life in his household caused primarily by his exceedingly annoying
wife, Mrs. Bennet, and his completely different 5
daughters.
Having 5 daughters already puts him on a losing
end. No heir meant that his entire estate and hard-earned possessions would go directly
to a far cousin, Mr. Collins, after his death. This apparently does not seem to phase
Mr. Bennet, who leaves the topic alone, seems "happy go lucky" about it, and retires
consistently to read in his library.
Having a wife like
Mrs. Bennet is perhaps even more punishing: A woman who consistently demands his
attention towards marrying off the daughters, the entailment of Mr. Collins, the
behavior of Lizzie and Lynda, and the constant asking of calling on gentlemen to make
acquaintance.
Mr Bennet is aloof. He seemingly only reacts
to extreme situations such as Lydia's elopement (and Mr Gardiner did more than he did in
finding her). He is the typical man who probably had the same arrangements to marry Mrs.
Bennet in his youth, for which he had no option, and he takes refuge in his
reading.
Had he had sons, instead of daughters, maybe
things could have been different: With sons, he would have had to prepare them to become
his heirs, they may have had more in common such as hobbies and interests, and certainly
it would have taken power away from Mrs. Bennet, since she would have not had anything
to nag about. At times it seems that this is actually the source of Mr. Bennet's
aloofness and lack of care for his family: He is in the total minority and there is
nothing he can do about it.
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