Mr. Bennet Quotes

She is very young; she has never been taught to think on serious subjects; and for the last half-year, nay, for a twelvemonth – she has been given up to nothing but amusement and vanity. She has been allowed to dispose of her time in the most idle and frivolous manner, and to adopt any opinions that came in her way. Since the -shire were first quartered in Meryton, nothing but love, flirtation, and officers have been in her head.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 47. Elizabeth is highly critical of Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet and their parenting of Lydia – of lack of it! She blames her teen sister’s lack of moral integrity and fall on them. They have neglected to educate her properly on serious matters. And they allowed her to indulge herself in amusement, vanity and idleless, so that her head is filled with flirtation, love and militia officers.

And now here’s Mr. Bennet gone away, and I know he will fight Wickham, wherever he meets him; and then he will be killed, and what is to become of us all? The Collinses will turn us out before he is cold in his grave, and if you are not kind to us, brother, I do not know what we shall do.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 47. Mrs. Bennet pleads with her brother Mr. Bennet for help after Lydia’s flight to London with Wickham. Otherwise Mr. Bennet will be killed when he fights Wickham and the Collinses will evict them from Longbourn and they will be homeless, she warns.

You go to Brighton. I would not trust you so near it as East Bourne for fifty pounds! No, Kitty, I have at last learnt to be cautious, and you will feel the effects of it. No officer is ever to enter my house again, nor even to pass through the village. Balls will be absolutely prohibited, unless you stand up with one of your sisters. And you are never to stir out of doors till you can prove that you have spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 48. Mr. Bennet has learned the lessons of bad parenting – but a little too late. Here he responds to Kitty, when she says that if she should ever go to Brighton she would behave better than Lydia. Mr. Bennet decrees that from now on: no officer in the house, no balls, no going out for his daughters until they prove they can behave themselves at home. Too late to save Lydia from scandal, however.

Yes, yes they must marry. There is nothing else to be done. But there are two things that I want every much to know – one is, how much money your uncle has laid down, to bring it about; and the other is, how I am ever to pay him.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 49. Mr. Bennet responds to Mr. Gardiner’s letter stating that Wickham and Lydia have been persuaded to marry if Wickham has his debts paid and receives a small yearly stipend. Mr. Bennet suspects that Mr. Gardiner has already paid Wickham a great deal of his own money and he dislikes the idea of being indebted to his brother-in-law. Wickham is being paid to wed Lydia.

"He is as fine a fellow," said Mr. Bennet, as soon as they were out of the house, "as ever I saw. He simpers, and smirks, and makes love to us all. I am prodigiously proud of him. I defy even Sir William Lucas himself to produce a more valuable son-in-law."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 53. Mr. Bennet is having a little joke here as he engages in ironic mockery of his son-in-law George Wickham. Seemingly praising Lydia’s husband, Mr. Bennet is actually being sarcastic and insulting, letting Mrs. Bennet know that he can see through the smooth operator Wickham’s deceptive charms. He also sneers at Sir William Lucas’s "charming" son-in-law Mr. Collins, whom he can only tolerate for short periods of time.

No, no. You forced me into visiting him last year, and promised, if I went to see him, he should marry one of my daughters. But it ended in nothing, and I will not be sent on a fool’s errand again.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 53. Mr. Bennet refuses when Mrs. Bennet instructs him to visit Charles Bingley as soon as he returns to Netherfield. But Mr. Bennet makes clear that he will not visit Bingley because he didn’t marry his daughter Jane. However three days after Bingley’s arrival to Netherfield he comes to the Bennets’ home with Darcy.

I have not a doubt of your doing very well together. Your tempers are by no means unlike. You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 55. When Mr. Bennet’s good-natured eldest daughter Jane gets engaged to the very likeable Mr. Bingley, he congratulates her. But he has a funny way of saying it. Here he makes an attempt at misplaced irony, joking about the similarity of their tempers, their servants cheating them, and being so generous they will exceed their income. But Mr. Bennet is never good at expressing his feelings, he is either unable to do so or unwilling.

Mr. Darcy, you see, is the man! Now, Lizzy, I think I have surprised you. Could he or the Lucases have pitched on any man, within the circle of our acquaintance, whose name would have given the lie more effectually to what they related? Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any woman but to see a blemish, and who probably never looked at you in his life! It is admirable!

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. Mr. Bennet tells Elizabeth that he has received a letter from Mr. Collins which has astonished him, saying that his daughter Elizabeth will not long bear the name of Bennet. The chosen partner is "one of the most illustrious personages in this land" and that man is Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bennet reveals. The fact that Mr. Bennet thinks the idea of a match between his daughter and Mr. Darcy is ridiculous is an example of dramatic irony. For he is unaware of the growing chemistry and connection that the two share.

For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. Mr. Bennet is a likeable, funny character. But his witty remarks can be very cynical and sarcastic. His detached irony is, like his library, an escape room where he retreats for sanctuary to insulate himself from family responsibilities. He is a laissez-faire father whose neglect of his parenting duties and continuous ridicule of his wife is partly responsible for Lydia’s disgrace. Mr. Bennet speaks here on the secret of life, that all we are here for is to laugh at our neighbors’ follies and nonsense and they at ours. He makes his ironic comment after a letter from Mr. Collins about a rumored engagement between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, which he thinks very funny.

That is what makes it amusing. Had they fixed on any other man it would have been nothing; but his perfect indifference, and your pointed dislike, make it so delightfully absurd!

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. There is dramatic irony here when Mr. Bennet tries to make light of a letter from Mr. Collins referring to a rumor about a possible engagement between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Her father thinks that this is hilarious, in view of what he says are Darcy’s indifference to Elizabeth and her complete dislike of him. Little does he know! His daughter’s feelings towards Darcy are quite the opposite. Elizabeth has strong romantic feelings for him and now regrets refusing his marriage proposal.

Elizabeth had never been more at a loss to make her feelings appear what they were not. It was necessary to laugh, when she would rather have cried. Her father had most cruelly mortified her, by what he said of Mr. Darcy’s indifference.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 57. Mr. Bennet doesn’t take seriously Mr. Collins’s letter suggesting a marriage between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. He speaks insensitively about Darcy’s indifference to his daughter and Elizabeth’s dislike of Darcy. He jokes whether Lady Catherine has called to refuse her consent. Elizabeth goes along with the joke and replies with a laugh, but she feels like crying. The irony here is that Mr. Bennet is completely unaware of his daughter’s true feelings for Darcy.

"Lizzy," said he, "what are you doing? Are you out of your senses, to be accepting this man? Have not you always hated him?"
"I do, I do like him," she replied, with tears in her eyes; "I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable. You do not know what he really is; then pray do not pain me by speaking of him in such terms."

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 59. An incredulous Mr. Bennet walks around the room of his house looking grave and anxious, and wonders why his daughter wants to marry a man that she has always hated. But Elizabeth blurts out that she loves Mr. Darcy and that he has no improper pride. She tells him that it pains her to hear him speak badly of Darcy, that her father doesn’t know Mr. Darcy’s real character.

I have given him my consent. He is the kind of man, indeed, to whom I should never dare refuse anything, which he condescended to ask. I now give it to you, if you are resolved on having him. But let me advise you to think better of it. 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.

– Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 59. Mr. Bennet tells Elizabeth that he has gives his consent for Mr. Darcy to marry her. But he also warns his favorite daughter that she should think hard before going into wedlock. He emphasizes the importance of a marriage of equals who have respect for one another and he doesn’t want Elizabeth to settle for anything less. Mr. Bennet himself is in a loveless marriage between unequal minds and he has no respect for his wife. He doesn’t want the same for Elizabeth.
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