Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these last twenty years at least."

Here we have a perfect example of Austen’s genius for creating memorable characters. With just four lines of dialogue, right away we know everything there is to know about Mr. Bennet, and we’re only a few pages into the book. He is convinced he is always right (“You mistake me, my dear”). He often says the opposite of what he means (his wife is not at all mistaken here - he lives for nothing more than to vex her constantly). His use of language is so adroit, one can spin his words to mean entirely opposite notions (watch here the high-wire act he performs of starting with the phrase “high respect,” designed purely to get his wife’s hopes up that he is finally conceding a point, and then dashing them all to the ground by the end). Finally, Mr. Bennet loves nothing more than to tease, but rarely with affection. In fact, with the level of insult taking place here, Mr. Bennet will only be outdone in the entirety of the text by the first proposal of Mr. Darcy to Elizabeth. But whereas Darcy will eventually be redeemed by his love for Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet has no such motivation to change—and it is his stubborn self-interest, exemplified by permitting his youngest and most undisciplined daughter a poorly-chaperoned trip just to get her out of his hair, that leads to the spectacular controversy that will later envelop his entire family.