There is a similarity to Mr. Bennett as well as to Darcy in the character of Mr. Palmer, as Mr. Bennet is also noted as being a man who married an attractive woman who was in many ways a ninny. Mr. Bennet retreats into his study as an escape from his wife, but is not as cold and indifferent as Mr. Palmer. I sometimes wonder if this theme isn't a method by which JA took some subtle revenge on a world/society that valued a pretty face over a large brain and an active wit? It is unfortunate that Mrs. Palmer in the 1995 film version of S & S is plain as well as dense, for it puts a different twist on the situation: it looks as though Mr. Palmer married her solely for her money, which is not the feeling one gets in the book. As in John Dashwood's relationship with Fanny ("he was young when he married and fond of his wife"), there is a hint of sexuality when these men marry the pretty face, and,at least in the case of the Bennets and Palmers, find to their everlast disappointment, that there are no brains under the bonnets.