Character Description #1: Mr. Bennet

Lu Li
AP English – Mr. George
Apr. / 13/ 2009
Character Description

Mr. Bennet Analysis

_As the father of the five Bennet Sisters, Mr. Bennet is a witty old gentleman who always has a sarcastic, cynical, but somehow indifferent tone when he talks to people.

_Mr. Bennet is “so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice” (7). He hates and despises the classist structuring society, which he has to live through. However, his disdain of society did not make him a reformer who advocates changes of the rigid social structures, but an old unsociable man who is detached from the society – he prefers to lock himself into the library and spend a whole day reading books rather than going out to make acquaintances with others. Although he is loved by his family and is also well respected by his daughters, his careless and indifferent state of mind made him an irresponsible father: “contented with laughing at them, [he] would never exert himself to restrain the wild giddiness of his youngest daughters” (209). He withdraws from those never-ending family affairs and issues by simply making jokes about it and walks away with a playful and indifferent heart.

_Mr. Bennet can be seen as a man sitting in a couch, watching TV, with his right hand holding a box of popcorn. He has always been a speculator throughout the novel, as if he is not a part of the big picture of society. He mocks, sneers, and laugh about the things going on behind the TV screen. When he feels uncomfortable with a situation he is in, he just simply pick up the remote control and switch the channel – just as he always escapes from those annoying family incidents by locking himself in the library.

_With the sarcastic, cynical sense of humor, Mr. Bennet is similar to Mark Twain, who is also a humorous critic of society.