Mr. Bennet Out for a Stroll

In Jane Austen’s novel Pride & Prejudice Mr. Bennet is the witty and sarcastic patriarch of the Bennet household. He is the husband of Mrs. Bennet and the father of the main character Elizabeth, along with her sisters Jane, Lydia, Kitty, and Mary. Mr. Bennet clearly did not choose wisely when he married his overly dramatic and simplistic wife and has been paying the price for 20 plus years. When Mrs. Bennet complains that he has not thought of what result his actions would have on her nerves he responds “I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration for these twenty years at least.”