Mrs. Bennet said, "You must not expect such girls to have the sense of their father and mother."
Alas, I'm afraid they do have the sense of their mother, which does them very little good at such a young age. Having also been given so much freedom to flit around with the officers is certainly a bad combination. That must at least partially call into question the sense of the father.
What strikes me here is the unwillingness of the father, realizing that they are silly, to even try to impart some sense into the girls. Does he think it's a lost cause? Is it just too much work? Perhaps, for he would need to start by convincing Mrs. Bennet of a need to change their behavior. That is monumental, indeed.
2 comments:
This raises for me the question of "Who influences whom?" Are the daughters primarily influenced by their mother? Is one like Elizabeth - whom we have known as her father's favorite since the first chapter - more influenced by the "better sense" of her father?
And how would life in this household have been different if there had been any boys?
I'm curious about "go so often to Miss Watson's...Clarke's library." What kind of establishment does Miss Watson run that attracts militia officers? The speech seems to contrast Miss Watson's with a library -- I have looked elsewhere and have found no comment on Miss Watson.
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