Pride and Prejudice Mr and Mrs Bennet - Please help me?

Question

Mr and Mrs Bennets relationship?
What chapters best show this?
Was their relationship good?
On what reasons did they marry?

Answer 1

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have a poor relationship. The implication is that Mrs. Bennet was once a great beauty, and Mr. Bennet fell in love with her for her looks, but he regretted it when he realized what an idiot she was, and that he could never respect, or truly care for, such a foolish woman. He does not love her, nor she him, though she appears to be to stupid to notice or care. He teases and prods at her, his one great mistake, his folly, but he is really teasing himself, for allowing himself to be tied to such a fool.

Support:
In Chapter 1, Mr., refusing to visit Mr. Binglet, suggests that "[Mrs. Bennet] and the girls may go, or [she] may send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better; for, as [she is] as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like [her] the best of the party." Mrs. Bennet replies, "I certainly have had my share of beauty, but I do not pretend to be any thing extraordinary now." This is an allusion to her former beauty, and how Mr. Bingley may be captivated by the girl's beauty, though Bennet deems them foolish, just as he was captivated by Mrs. Bennet's beauty, years before.

He enjoys teasing her, doing so throughout the novel. Here is one example in Chapter 1. Upon Mr. Bennet calling his daughters silly and ignorant, Mrs. Bennet exclaims, ``Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.'' Bennet replies, ''You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.''


At the end of the chapter, Austen clearly states that the two have little understanding:
"Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develope. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper."

But perhaps the most telling passage in the book comes in chapter 59. The last two sentences are especially significant.
"But let me advise you to think better of [your marriage to Mr. Darcy]. I know your disposition, Lizzy. I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband; unless you looked up to him as a superior. Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about.'' He is warning her off the same mistake he made.

As for the people who keep telling you to watch the movie, the new movie with Keira Knightley is AWFUL, totally hollywood-dramaticized, poorly acted, ignorantly portrayed (The Bennets live on a manor in the middle of a farm! A farm! Their back courtyard opens onto a pigsty.They aren't poor farmers. They're quite well off. The girls just can't inherit any of it) If you want to watch a good version, almost identical to the novel, try the BBC version with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. It's excellent. But the novel really tops all.

Answer 2

Mrs Bennet

Answer 3

I've always wondered about their relationship, too. They seem such opposites. I imagine that Mrs. B. was very pretty and very bubbly as a young woman, and that Mr. B. was a quiet, studious sort of young man. She probably swept him off his feet with her giddy charm and cuteness. She probably thought he was so smart and so reliable. After a while, they probably came to realize that he was dull and she was a nit-wit. He withdrew into his study and she was left to flutter hysterically around the house, thinking that it was up to her to handle all the "important" things. He would quietly take care of the essentials and ignore her. I imagine they loved each other in a settled kind of way, but I doubt whether they brought each other much happiness. The first two chapters really capture their relationship.

The new movie with Keira Knightly does a great job at portraying the Bennets. Donald Sutherland is wonderful as Mr. B. You really feel his loneliness.

Answer 4

the movie p&p in 2005 was lousy. but the 1940 b&w one is just superb. even the 1995 bbc tv one is great.
mr and mrs bennet r like what lydia and wickham will be when they grow old.or 20 yrs into the marriage.

wickham eloped w. lydia-she's pretty etc..she seduced him. but later he'll realise tht lydia,like her mum is all beauty on d surface. and tht's why she and liz r exact opp.

liz never focuses on her beauty,she knows she is 'ok' looking. instead,she plays instruments passably well, n sings n of cuz, wht sets her way above other girls,she reads well..

Answer 5

I don't know much about this book, saw the movie. But my daughter almost named her kitty Fitzwilliam, but changed her mind to Darcy. Poor cat has had 20 names. Right now it's George after George in Grey's Anatomy.

Anyway, email my daughter. [e-mail].

TX Mom

Answer 6

they didn't get a divorce

Answer 7

watch movie and u will know.............