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I feel like alot of people are harsh on her, but she seems really young and naive and thats her problem she hasnt been exposed to much. I feel like with her willingness to learn she could be alot like jane and elizabeth. Both her parents i feel neglected the younger children without any real discipline but mary managed to have some restraint on her own (not be like kitty and lydia).
I have this weird alter universe theory that she marries and travels the world as some rare women did back then, makes a shit ton of money, sets up house in london and a country estate and writes her scandalous memoirs. She would be far more cultured than any of her siblings. But thats just me dreaming
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JA said to her relatives- She (Mary) obtained nothing higher in marriage than one of her uncle Philips’s clerks
There’s nothing wrong with Mary at all- if she were indeed a poor performer then her parents should have discourages her from public exhibition or got her some lessons. She’s just different from her sisters in that she seems to prefer indoor pursuits (unlike Lizzy) and isn’t giggly and man-mad (unlike Lydia)
And yes Mr & Mrs B are not great parents (though trying to get husbands for the daughters is at least something done by Mrs B trying to help, unlike Mr B’s unbotheredness about his family…)
Haven’t heard people here being harsh on her?
I rather like her. She lives in a world where the only path open to her is marriage, and she doesn't have the money and looks men her age want, and even though she wants to be accomplished nobody will teach her to be that way. Even her book-loving father mocks her when she reads, instead of encouraging or teaching her!
But she won't give up, she damn well keeps trying to impress. I admire her determination, and I think she did very well in laterlife.
The problem is that Mary tealky isn't that young. She's 18 or 19 years old, and she's incredibly stuck up and self important. She constantly prides herself on being "better" than her other sisters. She shows no compassion for Lydia, she mocks her. I also don't think she's all that smart. She seems to me the type of person to use a lot of big words, but with no deep understanding of the things she reads.