Between Mr and Mrs Bennet there is no intellectual equality. Mr Bennet is clever, but on the other hand his wife isn’t, in fact Mrs Bennet is a fool! She does not understand her husband in the slightest manner, and so Mr Bennet frequently takes this opportunity to make a quick comment that will offend Mrs Bennet. Jane Austen says, “ the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his temper.” These twenty-three years of his unhappy marriage had brought Mrs Bennet’s characteristics out in a true light. She was a woman of mean understanding, very little information and an uncertain temper. She fancied herself nervous whenever she felt discontented. The business of her life was to get her daughters married, it seemed that was all the poor woman ever went on a bout and it infuriated Mr Bennet greatly.
Mr Bennet showed no great respect for his wife and almost enjoyed ridiculing her in front of her daughters. Take the example of when Mrs Bennet overhears some news that a young handsome man with a large fortune; four or five thousand a year has agreed to take possession of Netherfield Park before Michaelmas. She breathlessly answers Mr Bennet’s questions revealing to the reader that the man is called Mr Charles Bingley and what a fine thing he would be for one of the girls he would be. Mr Bennet knowing his wife’s ways only too well after twenty-three long hard years chooses to ridicule her in front of her daughters. He answers her in such a manner that infuriates her greatly. He refuses to accept Mrs Bennet’s wishes of him going to pay Mr Bingley a visit when he arrives in the neighbourhood. Shocked at this refusal, she asks him to think of his daughters’ future, as she believes that Mr Bingley would be perfect for one of them. Mr Bennet uses strong sarcasm as a reply to Mrs Bennet as he knows it will certainly infuriate her even more, explaining that if Mr Bingley were to meet with his daughters, he may favour Mrs Bennet over them all!
“.. For you are as handsome as any of them, Mr Bingley might like you the best of the party.”
Surely, with Mrs Bennet being the mother of five grown up daughters, she should now be well past the stage of her own beauty!
My final point about Mr and Mrs Bennet’s marriage is that they don’t seem to enjoy sharing each other’s company. In awkward situations of his paternal and marital responsibilities he simply retreats back to his library in a hope to avoid all the fuss. Mrs Bennet complains rather dramatically throughout the novel,
“ You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my nerves.” Mr Bennet replies sarcastically
“ You mistake me my dear, I have high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least!”
From the points that I have just discussed, I think it is safe to say that the marriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet is very unsuccessful.
The next unsuccessful relationship I am going to discuss is that of Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Their marriage is entirely loveless. The only explanatory reason why Mr Collins is in desperate need of a wife is that of Lady Catherine de Burgh. When she tells Mr Collins twice that it was his duty to marry, he sets out to find a suitable match. He also thinks that it will set an “ example of matrimony in his parish” and that it will also add very greatly to his happiness. During this time of his lookout for a wife, he changes quickly from Jane Bennet to Elizabeth Bennet but after being rejected by both women he turns to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s best friend. To Mr Collins love is seen in a comic light. He is quite selfish, as he doesn’t seem capable of loving anyone but himself. He has no proper knowledge of love and is so convinced that he is a “ good catch” that he doesn’t take Elizabeth’s strong refusals to heart. Instead he takes them as encouragement, attributing it to her “ wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.” How wrong could Mr Collins be?
Charlotte Lucas is a plain 27-year-old woman who is in danger of soon being classified as an old maid. To her Mr Collins is her only chance of ever being proposed to. She knows that if she marries Mr Collins, she will be secure with a home she can call her own and also a family. She knows that if she doesn’t marry him as she will feel a burden on her family and be passed around her brothers and sisters as either an aunt or unpaid servant. She says herself that she is not a romantic person. At the Merryton assembly, she says to Elizabeth:
“ Happiness in a marriage is entirely a matter of chance and that therefore long acquaintanceship beforehand is not needed. “
As she believes that people grow apart after marriage, she says
“ It is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person of whom you are to pass your life.”
When she states this to her good friend Elizabeth, she is enlightened to hear that Elizabeth feels she is joking. The marriage to Mr Collins proves just how wrong Elizabeth was. Charlotte is not joking at all and discovers ways which keep Mr Collins as occupied as possible for as long as possible ensuring that she doesn’t have to spend much of her free time with him. She encourages him in gardening most days and gives him the best sitting room in the house hoping that he spends a lot of his time in there.
Their marriage is highly unsuccessful relationship purely because they have no love for one another. In a way they have both achieved what they want but on the terms of how successful the marriage is, it doesn’t fit the criteria too well.
Elizabeth and Mr Darcy’s relationship thankfully ends up as success. Their relationship does not begin all that well as Mr Darcy seems more bothered about Elizabeth’s family importance and makes a quick judgement on her instead of her own qualities. Elizabeth feels disgusted and hurt when
