Pride and Prejudice

[Blackdog19]

Just watching the awesome Colin Firth P&P adaptation. When I first watched it as a teenager, I thought Mrs Bennett was the annoying ridiculous one. It took reading something for me to realise that Mr Bennett was as bad in his own way saving no money and leaving Mrs Bennett with the possibility of 5 unmarried daughters and no home. If I had read the book in Jane Austen’s do you think we’d have more initial sympathy with Mrs Bennett?

Sorry didn’t mean to include voting, and not even sure it makes sense!!

Absolutely...she was doing what needed to be done at the time, securing her daughter's futures.

Mrs Bennett is ridiculous. But she has a point and is trying to secure her daughters futures. Mr Bennett is feckless having made no provision for any of his family.

Yeah Mr Bennett was a selfish prick and a useless father

Did he have no money so couldn’t save or was he irresponsible spending it? I can’t actually remember the detail! Just that they had little savings and the house belongs to his cousin (?) the lovely Mr Colins!

I agree with @formerbabe but as a teenager watching it she was excruciating in the way that I felt (at the time) only Mothers can be.

Watching it as a Mother there's no question one of them had to consider the future and Mr B seemed uninterested to the point of almost gaslighting her and her nerves.

Absolutely. Mr Bennett has not prepared at all for his daughters. Mrs Bennett, silly and annoying as she is understands that as the family home and income will go to Mr Collins, the girls must marry or face genteel destitution.

I much prefer the re-write that includes zombies.

I suppose you have to read it accepting the time it was written in. And be thankful we don't live in those times anymore.

I think the issue with the adaptation (which I love) is that Mrs Bennett is played more like a Dickensian caricature rather than the true Austen representation so we get annoyed by her and feel sorry for Mr Bennett.

The book (I think) is more subtle - both parents are at fault and when Mr Darcy criticises both Mr and Mrs Bennett for their behaviour it feels more believable.

You are of course right. Mr Bennett embarrasses Mary at Netherfield, essentially gaslights his family by saying he won’t call then calling and acting like that was always his intention, and himself married without proper consideration.

@Fatted

I much prefer the re-write that includes zombies.

I suppose you have to read it accepting the time it was written in. And be thankful we don't live in those times anymore.

The Zombie film was fab 👍🏽

It's clear from the book and the Colin firth version that both parents have their faults.

Neither of them come out particularly well. She is shrill and pushy and not very bright (an older version of Lydia), but her desperation is understandable. While she tries to take action to solve their longer-term financial problems by attempting to marry off their daughters, he remains passive, undermining her and letting everything disintegrate around him while taking refuge in his library.

I agree watching it as a teenager is very different to watching it as a mother.

I also feel the same way watching Mrs Doubtfire...as a child, i felt sorry for the dad and thought the mum was mean. As an adult I think the dad is completely useless and feel so sorry for the mum who was keeping it all together.

He married her for her looks too, which isn't very endearing. I recommend The Other Bennett Sister for its take on Mr B.

I have always thought Mr Bennett was an interesting figure in P&P. He clearly married young, outside of his "sphere" to a woman he later obviously despises, ridicules her to his own children and contradicts himself in his convictions all the way through the book (Mr Collins, Mr Darcy, visiting Bingley, allowing Wickham to come back to Longbourn). Mrs Bennett is meant to be crass and "common", I think her character is deliberately transparent and shallow. But Mr Bennett is not quite so clear cut. Good thread OP! (Also, this is a fantastic adaptation by Andrew Davies, I love his Sense and Sensibility as well!)

I think as you say, watching as a mother is v different to watching as a teenager!!

SaltyAndFresh just ordered The Other Bennet Sister. Thanks for recommending it.

I never got the impression that Mr B despises Mrs B, he just seems to find her “nerves” funny/ annoying and enjoys winding her up. Of course, we know that within the context of the era her anxiety is perfectly justified, but he’s a bloke so what’s it to him?

Mr Bennett’s also a shit father for favouring Lizzie!

Yes, as a younger viewer/reader it feels like she's trying to palm them off to anyone with no real consideration for their feelings.

As an older person and parent I can understand her desperation to secure their future. Mr Bennett is being absolutely no help really so she does what she does. I think she's just silly by nature in whatever she does though, she's very childlike.

I rather liked the dynamic of Mr and Mrs Bennett in the film version (Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn) which was gentler and had more affection between them.

Mr B is a dick but the most annoying in the BBC adaptation is Jane. My GOD WOMAN GET A PERSONALITY. Even more boring than Jane in the book, which I do love.

The most shocking thing is that Mrs Bennett probably married at 16, had Jane very soon afterwards, and is only in her late 30s! Which makes her the same age as me. Mind blown.

@formerbabe

I agree watching it as a teenager is very different to watching it as a mother.

I also feel the same way watching Mrs Doubtfire...as a child, i felt sorry for the dad and thought the mum was mean. As an adult I think the dad is completely useless and feel so sorry for the mum who was keeping it all together.

This is so true, she's a businesswoman, creative AND does all the difficult bits of parenting while he just has a laugh and gets to be good cop! God that film makes me feel so sad now when I watch it. I've never got over my dislike for Piers Brosnan created by that film though!

Does anyone think that Darcy and Wickham were half brothers? Just listened to the audio book and all the references to the old Mr Darcy raising Wickham 'as his own' despite being the son of a servant?