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| Benjamin Whitrow as Mr. Bennett in the 1995 BBC TV series |
By Morris Dean
It is said that couples who pray together...stay together. In the case of the parents of the five Bennet daughters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, their staying together derives from another source:
Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence had vanished for ever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr. Bennet was not of a disposition to seek comfort for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on, in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate for their folly or their vice. He was fond of the country and of books; and from these tastes had arisen his principal enjoyments. To his wife he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. This is not the sort of happiness which a man would in general wish to owe to his wife; but where other powers of entertainment are wanting, the true philosopher will derive benefit from such as are given. [–The opening paragraph of Chapter 42]_______________
Copyright © 2013 by Morris Dean
| Please comment |
This is a test I posted once today.
ReplyDeleteWell it worked. As I said this morning; "If you can't be with the one you love--love the one your with."
ReplyDeleteOnly this morning I spelled it [you're]
ReplyDeleteI really tried to read and absorb that paragraph so I could comment at least semi-intelligently, but kept getting too tired and dizzy to finish. I did finally get to the end and saw that it was the opening paragraph of Chapter 42. Seriously, 42 chapters? All written like that? Oh my!
ReplyDeleteSixty-one chapters. Chapter 61 begins:
DeleteHappy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Bennet got rid of her two most deserving daughters. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Bingley [Jane], and talked of Mrs. Darcy [Elizabeth], may be guessed. I wish I could say, for the same of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children [Lydia is also married] produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though, perhaps, it was lucky for her husband, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous, and invariably silly.