In Pride and Prejudice, what is Mrs. Bennet's reaction to Lydia's scandal and what does it show about her character?

As we read this excellent novel it is impossible not to
ignore the harsh, biting irony of the authoress and the way that she shows her true
opinion of a variety of characters. Of course, a frequent target for her satire is Mrs.
Bennet, who has so much to be made fun of. When Elizabeth returns back home with her
aunt and uncle, she goes up to see her mother. Austen describes her as
follows:

Mrs.
Bennet, to whose apartment they all repaired after a few minutes conversation together,
received them exactly as might be expected; with tears and lamentations of regret,
invectives against the villainous conduct of Wickham, and the complaints of her own
sufferings and ill-usage; blaming everybody but the person to whose ill-judging
indulgence the errors of her daughter must be principally
owing.

Note the judgement in
the last remark. Mrs. Bennet conveniently ignores her own fault in bringing up Lydia to
be the flirt that she has become, and chooses to blame everyone else instead. Of course,
the amusement is heightened when we consider how Mrs. Bennet magically changes her
opinion of "the villainous Wickham," going on to describe him as a wonderful son-in-law
once he has been forced to marry Lydia. Such responses show Mrs. Bennet to be incredibly
self-absorbed and lack self-awareness about the impropriety of her own
conduct.