I somehow missed this post; it's timely to me because I've just finished re-reading "Pride and Prejudice", and was thinking why two elder daughters are so much superior let's call it to the other three sisters.
Besides different nature -it seems to me that as they were born in the very beginning of the marriage, thy dynamics of the marriage were still different. Mr. Bennett might have thought that temperaments and lack of thoughfulness of Mrs Bennet might be explained by her delicate condition of being pregnant and as such is a passing phase; in any case he was younger, less tired, and maybe more inclined to take bigger part in Jane and Lizzy's upbringing.
Then as years went by, he became progressively disappointed and more tired. He doesn't neccessarily hide it.
His wife- as stupid and tactless as she is -does need to deal somehow with his growing estrangement. Her nature leads to just flat deny it, and to be preoccupied with minutia, health concerns as she sees them, and dreams of marrying her daughters out.
That's of course just a hypothesis; yet I always imagine everybody as a younger person, or a small kid, it's fascinating, like trying to find the key to some magic garden, whatever the garden might be.
It's almost always worth visiting.
Thank you-and I'll try to read other posts I seem to have missed; apparently, it's not only mmy own 'stack that doesn't reach 20% of subscibers
Coolly feminist criticism re. P&P mainly about economics, imho. I don’t actually think it’s a novel about love in the way that Mansfield Park is a novel about love. P&P is utterly ruthless on the economics of marriage. Pity poor Mrs Collins! And poor, stupid Lydia. I also think Darcy is going to retreat to his study like Mr Bennet. Yes, Darcy likes his library and he’s civilised, but dismissive and neglectful of important obligations and relationships until things reach crisis point.
Austen does seem to regularly blame poor parenting for offspring's moral failings, but doesn't really provide any sense of what good parenting would be. Perhaps unsuitability of mind, temperament, and virtue produces bad marriages which then lead to failed children? But, then again, poorly suited couples produce both good and bad children-- Lydia and Lizzy, Edmund and Maria. The level of attention paid to childrearing is not guarantee either, else we wouldn't have Fanny, one of nine whose mother is overstretched and father is at best coarse and unhelpful. When we see good marriages represented in the novels-- the Gardiner's here and the Crofts in Persuasion-- the couples don't have children. It feels like Austen wants us to think that Lizzy and Darcy will be great parents and have virtuous and temperate kids, but how and why is not at all clear.
I somehow missed this post; it's timely to me because I've just finished re-reading "Pride and Prejudice", and was thinking why two elder daughters are so much superior let's call it to the other three sisters.
Besides different nature -it seems to me that as they were born in the very beginning of the marriage, thy dynamics of the marriage were still different. Mr. Bennett might have thought that temperaments and lack of thoughfulness of Mrs Bennet might be explained by her delicate condition of being pregnant and as such is a passing phase; in any case he was younger, less tired, and maybe more inclined to take bigger part in Jane and Lizzy's upbringing.
Then as years went by, he became progressively disappointed and more tired. He doesn't neccessarily hide it.
His wife- as stupid and tactless as she is -does need to deal somehow with his growing estrangement. Her nature leads to just flat deny it, and to be preoccupied with minutia, health concerns as she sees them, and dreams of marrying her daughters out.
That's of course just a hypothesis; yet I always imagine everybody as a younger person, or a small kid, it's fascinating, like trying to find the key to some magic garden, whatever the garden might be.
It's almost always worth visiting.
Thank you-and I'll try to read other posts I seem to have missed; apparently, it's not only mmy own 'stack that doesn't reach 20% of subscibers
I am trying to link to old posts more often because I think people do miss them :/
I'd call that a convincing argument.
I plan to read some feminist criticism to see where I might be going wrong, but a simple close reading seems fairly tight to me on this issue.
Coolly feminist criticism re. P&P mainly about economics, imho. I don’t actually think it’s a novel about love in the way that Mansfield Park is a novel about love. P&P is utterly ruthless on the economics of marriage. Pity poor Mrs Collins! And poor, stupid Lydia. I also think Darcy is going to retreat to his study like Mr Bennet. Yes, Darcy likes his library and he’s civilised, but dismissive and neglectful of important obligations and relationships until things reach crisis point.
Really fascinating post. Considering Mr Bennett is something I have only done superficially. Thank you for this.
:)
This is a great post; I’ve long struggled to put my thoughts about Mr Bennet into words. Thank you!
Thanks!
Austen does seem to regularly blame poor parenting for offspring's moral failings, but doesn't really provide any sense of what good parenting would be. Perhaps unsuitability of mind, temperament, and virtue produces bad marriages which then lead to failed children? But, then again, poorly suited couples produce both good and bad children-- Lydia and Lizzy, Edmund and Maria. The level of attention paid to childrearing is not guarantee either, else we wouldn't have Fanny, one of nine whose mother is overstretched and father is at best coarse and unhelpful. When we see good marriages represented in the novels-- the Gardiner's here and the Crofts in Persuasion-- the couples don't have children. It feels like Austen wants us to think that Lizzy and Darcy will be great parents and have virtuous and temperate kids, but how and why is not at all clear.
The Gardiners do have children as I recall and are portrayed as delightful and much loved by Jane and Lizzie.
yes