I wanted to start a 'new topic', but as I' m unable to from where I am now, and simeone has brought up the Aunt and the Mother, PUH-LEEZE can I ask, us it just me, or even within the context of the story and the times, is the mother Mrs.Bennett not just an ABSOLUTE twittering,blathering IDIOT??? I'm on Part 6 right now, the family are discussing the insipid twit Lydia finally getting married to the purely awful Mr.Wickham, and the Mother is just babbling on about wedding clothes money, where the fool will be married to the evil scoundrel etc., and ALL this character can do is spew drivel and giggle like an imbecile!!! It's becoming totallyinsufferable!! I want to chuck a large boulder at her head just to stop the idiocy!
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crlnrgbrght5
7 years ago
The 1940 film version with Mary Boland as 'Mrs. Bennet' was pretty much the same way, except she didn't ham it up like Alison Steadman did.
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suzannereilman
7 years ago
@crinrgbrght5...THANK you! Thought it was just me for a minute! While I understand the necessity of Mrs.Bennett being as silly as she was, you've hit the nail on the head! The performance grew 'hammier'than an Arkansas pig farm! :)
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supergran
7 years ago
Alison Steadman's performance WAS over-the-top, but her excitement at her daughter's wedding and obliviousness to the couple's impropriety comes straight from the book.
Mrs Bennet was preoccupied with getting her daughters married off, and she wasn't particular about to whom! To be fair, her worries about the girl's spinsterhood were founded, and her husband was no help in this matter. (I always think Mrs Bennet gets a raw deal. Lol!)
If there aren't any skeletons in a man's closet, there's probably a Bertha in his attic.
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suzannereilman
7 years ago
Supergran..enjoyed your comments..you are so right, of course, but even within the context of the times, their particular untenable situations and Mrs.Bennett's own 'character', if you will, I still find it hard to take all her shrieks and lamentations wherein she's declaring simultaneously that Lydia and Wickham MUST be married, and also moaning(rightly) about what an awful cad/scoundrel,etc. he is; listing with her sister all the heinous acts he's committed and at the same time going on about all the little particulars and niceties of what location they'd prefer for the wedding, what Lydia should wear, etc...
ORRR..maybe I should just lighten up and roll with it!!! :)
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supergran
7 years ago
ORRR..maybe I should just lighten up and roll with it!!! :)
Oh, definitely the latter! Just see her as comedic relief.
Or, you can watch other versions where the portrayal isn't so hammy. The 1980 TV series and 2005 film spring to mind.
If there aren't any skeletons in a man's closet, there's probably a Bertha in his attic.
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Furienna (3322)
3 years ago
Again, Mrs Bennet is simply happy to see one of her daughters married off.
This was indeed what Mrs Bennet was like in the book as well.
Mrs Bennet is meant to be obnoxious and annoying and embaressing.
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Techto (1070)
8 months ago
You’re that Mr.Bennet wis little help in finding husbands for his daughters but Mrs. Bennet pressured her daughters to marry unsuitable partners like Mr. Collins (an insufferable bore) and Mr. Wickham (a cad).
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Moviefan225 (253)
7 years ago
There are mothers like that you know... (Not in terms of Alison's loudness, but in terms of that character)
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