Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

tendency to believe he could have done something about
the entail. Edward Copeland sees Mr. Bennet as "grossly
irresponsible" to his wife and five daughters, allowing
his family situation to be such as it is at the beginning
of the novel (38). Judith Newton says that Mr. Bennet's
imprudence accounts for his unhappy family life (67).
Alistair Duckworth contends that Mr. Bennet is socially
derelict, "less than responsible," and a man who "refuses
to adopt the role of father and landowner" (128).
Elizabeth Langland believes that Mr. Bennet forgoes his
parental responsibilities in order to satisfy his
individual pleasure (32) . That is how it generally goes
for Mr. Bennet. However, personal shortcomings
notwithstanding, one does have to appreciate his dilemma.
Mr. Bennet has five daughters and no son. Most
importantly, however, as Eileen Spring has pointed out,
Mr. Bennet could do nothing to break the entail, since
laws forbid it (Law, Land and Family 33) .
Mr. Bennet did the appropriate thing with his estate
when he married. The succession of sons in his family
had continued for at least two generations. He felt
secure in his option to resettle the estate with the
entail intact. Anticipating the arrival of his first
son, Mr. Bennet also assumed economy to be "perfectly