‘What an excellent father you have, girls,’ said she, when the door was shut.
Previously, Mr Bingley moved into Netherfield Park manor and became the talk of the town. Mrs Bennet badgered her husband to pay him a visit to give their five daughters a better chance to win his hand, especially his favourite, Lizzy.
He did not want to.
Untrue to his word, this chapter opens with Mr.Bennet having been “among the earliest” to visit Bingley, having “always intended to”. Whether this was to irritate his wife of 23 years or surprise her, it doesn’t say, but I would guess the former.
He walks in on Lizzy preparing a hat to wear when Mrs Long, a neighbour with eligible nieces to court Bingley, introduces the Bennet girls to him in a fortnight. Mrs.Bennet is still annoyed, and despite having no opinion of the “selfish, hypocritical woman”, she doesn’t expect Long to deliver on her promises. She decides to vent her anger on Kitty (presumably one of the 5 daughters only alluded to in the last chapter; allow me to cross ‘Pinky’ off my character list) when she coughs, much to her husband’s amusement.
When the conversation turns back to the upcoming ball, Mr Bennet tries to persuade his wife to take the advantage of Mrs Long being out of the area until the ball to get to know him better “and introduce Mr.Bingley to her” when the time comes. If she refuses, he plans to take on the duty himself (which, yes, he was secretly doing anyway, but this way he gets to humiliate his spouse).
Naturally, she doesn’t take kindly to having her only role in Victorian Regency Era⧫ society usurped, and thus Mr Bennet drags his well-read daughter, Mary, into the fray (and that’s a Bennet full house!) to “say something very sensible”. She keeps quiet.
Here, Bennet finally shows his hand and declares to the women and young women that he visited Netherfield Park that very morning. Checkmate, the supposed love of his life.
The chapter ends with him leaving the room as Mrs.Bennet somehow turns the topic towards herself and the girls chatter about who will dance with Bingley first and when they should invite him over, as is the custom.
One thing I should tack on to the end here is that in many ways, Mrs.Bennet appears to personify the ‘Pride’ part of the book’s title. Whether that’s an accurate assessment or not, I guess we’ll find out together.
Also, take this link to a digital copy of the book, (or this one if you prefer to read one with italics like in the physical copy) and read the book alongside my inane analysis. It should go without saying, but I am not affiliated with these sites in any way, but it’s a public domain book, so it’s quite alright to read it however suits you.
Thoughts
- These are really short chapters
- So many daughters in the Bennet household
- Are their family dynamics a stand-in for Austen’s interpretations of their society?
- Also, Tumblr undoes all of the formatting I do in GoogleDocs, which is annoying
- I think writing names Like.This wasn’t great for readability, so I’m omitting the . from now on
⧫The Regency Era was a period of English history between 1811-1820/37, coming between King George III’s mental decline leading to his son ruling as Prince Regent and Queen Victoria’s coronation. A time of arts, architecture and America really coming into their own as a country, not that I expect that in particular to be relevant. (This was pointed out to me by a helpful Tumblrer whose comment you can probably find on the original post.)
