Pride & Prejudice, ch. 2: A Day In The Life

So! Turns out that Mr. Bennet secretly planned to meet Mr. Bingley all along and then teased his wife about not wanting to visit him ever, like, never ever. And now he’s trolling his daughters, too. Wow. After all that.

… Huh.

Is it weird that I don’t like Mr. Bennet now as much as I did before? Although as pranks go, this is pretty harmless, so maybe I’m just being a grump. His visiting Mr. Bingley does show that he a) knows how to be a good neighbor and possibly b) understands that he’s doing it primarily for his daughters’ sake. Later we get more of Mr. Bennet complaining about the aspects of propriety that he thinks are superficial, so maybe this is his way of acting out. Like a small, personal, ineffectual rebellion.

Anyway, Mr. Bennet starts teasing Elizabeth, which provokes Mrs. Bennet. Here is where we hear Elizabeth speak for the first time in the novel. First-time readers might pass over it, because what she says is pretty boring. But look again: Elizabeth is literally the voice of reason. She points out that they’ll all meet Mr. Bingley at a neighborhood ball. No jokes, no sarcasm, just a statement of fact. You know, it has always bugged me that one of the best characters in British literature (and arguably literature in general) gets such a dry introduction. First-time readers have no idea what’s in store for them in the next chapter.

Her mom gets salty about the woman who will be introducing them to Mr. Bingley, sniffing that “I have no opinion of her” after telling us all exactly what she thinks of her. Turns out that we should actually read that as “I have no [good] opinion of her,” which is just as dumb, as she’s saying the same thing twice. This is the point where, if you weren’t that annoyed with Mrs. Bennet before, things start to change.

Mr. Bennet continues to put his daughters and his wife on the spot as he ribs them. Mary gets shut down before she can speak up, Kitty is yelled at for coughing at the wrong time, and Mrs. Bennet (understandably) becomes more irritated at her husband’s apparent nonsequitors. Finally he reveals that he did actually visit Mr. Bingley and the mood brightens considerably. Now, since the visit only happened that morning and not, like, a week ago, this “joke” plays much better. I guess a guy like Mr. Bennet can’t just come out and say something—he has to make a production out of it.

Quick aside: “I do not cough for my own amusement” is an underrated line, and probably the funniest thing Kitty ever says (intentionally or otherwise). Someone could write a modern adaptation where half of the characters are struggling stand-up comedians (maybe call it Humorous Persons).

Also, “fatigued with the raptures of his wife” really is the Bennets’ marriage in a nutshell. When she’s happy, he can’t handle it: not because he’s a heartless bastard, but because her emotions are always turned up to eleven no matter how she’s feeling. Mrs. Bennet praises him with these extreme turns of phrase—his being a good neighbor transforms into a “kindness” for which they must “make him amends.” Ugh, okay, now she’s starting to wear me out.

By the way, I have never, in all the years I’ve re-read this book, never pictured Lydia as the tallest of the Bennet sisters. I know that this has been influenced by just about every movie adaptation of P&P (clearly everyone feels free to ignore the height thing). But even during the first time I read Lydia’s declaration of “I’m the tallest!”, I never remembered it throughout the story. How many of you believe her? How many of you assume that she’s giving herself a couple inches? It could be that her ego has influenced her self-perception or that her height has given her ego a boost (not that she needs one, what with her mom already coupling her up with the poor unsuspecting Mr. Bingley).

We leave the Bennets with only a vague idea of when they might see Mr. Bingley for the first time. Goosebumps!

Next time: Charles “Good Vibes” Bingley makes his appearance, we get our first ball, and a very important snubbing takes place.