Bennet family
The Bennet family is a fictional family created by the English novelist Jane Austen in her 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. The family consists of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters: Jane, Mary, Catherine, Lydia, and Elizabeth, who is the novel's protagonist.
The family belongs to the landed gentry of Hertfordshire in the Regency era of English history. The relationships between the Bennets influence the evolution of the plot as they navigate the difficulties faced by young women in attempting to secure a good future through marriage.
Paternal branch
The book does not elaborate on the ancestors of Mr Bennet; except that neither his father or grandfather is still living. This is only established for the Collins family, father and son, who are described as Mr Bennet's "distant" cousins.Estate
Their estate, Longbourn House, comprises a residence and land located within the environs of the fictional town of Meryton, in Hertfordshire, just north of London. From his family estate, Mr Bennet derives an annual income of £2,000. Longbourn has an entailment upon it, meant to keep the estate intact and in the sole possession of the family, down the male line, rather than being divided also amongst younger sons and any daughters; it is to be passed down amongst first male heirs only. This legal restriction could only remain valid if renewed in each generation by a strict settlement, usually entered into by each heir to an estate on attaining their majority. Mr Bennet is understood to have entered into such a settlement himself before his marriage, but now wishes to end the entail entirely. For years, Mr and Mrs Bennet had hoped to raise a son who, on reaching age 21, would join with him in barring the entail by common recovery in an agreement that would provide income for him, for his widow, and any other children they might have. Mr Bennet does not get along with his then-closest living male relative, his distant cousin Mr Collins, who is described as an "illiterate miser", and did not want the estate to be given to him. After 23 or 24 years of marriage, Mr Bennet remains the last male scion of the older branch of the Bennet family, meaning that the estate will pass in default according the Strict Settlement, to the nearest direct male descendent in the younger branch, now represented by Mr William Collins, rector of Hunsford; Mr Collins having recently died.Mr Bennet
Mr Bennet, the patriarch of the Bennet family, is a landed gentleman. He is married to Mrs Bennet, the daughter of a Meryton attorney, who brought £5,000 into the marriage as her marriage settlement. Together they have five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia. None of the daughters are married at the beginning of the novel. The property comprising Mrs Bennet's marriage settlement is not incorporated into the Longbourn estate; and so would not be covered by the legal entail, but could be disposed of amongst the daughters following the deaths of Mr and Mrs Bennet. But any expectations of the daughters receiving marriage portions from the Longbourn estate are limited under the terms of the strict settlement. As a result of this, young men were dissuaded from marrying her daughters.Mrs Bennet is eager to find husbands for her daughters. Mr Bennet makes no effort to change the behaviour of his wife or his younger daughters, being more intent on "enjoying the show".
Characterisation
Mr Bennet is described in his first appearance in the book as "so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character", and it is this same ironic, cynical, dry, wry sense of humour that irritates his wife.The narrator points out Mr Bennet's many acts of negligence regarding his duties as husband and father. If he draws the sympathy of the reader by his skill at irony, he has nevertheless faults: indifferent and irresponsible, self-centred, stubborn, indolent, and a dislike of company. Mr Bennet admits he married a silly girl, but he has, for his part, largely given up his social role as pater familias. His disengagement is symbolised by his withdrawing into his library and hiding behind cynical mockery.
Although Mr Bennet is an intelligent man, his indolence, lethargy, and indifference results in him opting to spend his free time ridiculing the weaknesses of others rather than addressing his own problems. His irresponsibility in not saving from his income places his family in the position of being potentially homeless and resourceless when he dies. He recognises this but does nothing.
He regards the world with an ironic detachment. When he is involved in a social event, such as the ball at Netherfield, he is a silent and amused witness of the blunders of his family. Even the discovery of Darcy's role in Lydia's marriage only draws an exclamation of relief from him: "So much the better. It will save me a world of trouble and economy."
Relationship with his wife
Mr Bennet has a closer relationship with Mrs Bennet's "poor nerves" than Mrs Bennet herself, referring to them as his old friends, stating: "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 twenty years at least."In volume 2, chapter 19, it is revealed that Mr Bennet had only married his wife based on an initial attraction to her:
captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour, which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman, whose weak understanding, and illiberal mind, had, very early in the marriage, put an end to any real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence, had vanished forever; and all of his views of domestic happiness were overthrown. But Mr Bennet was not of a disposition to seek 'comfort' for the disappointment which his own imprudence had brought on, in any of those pleasures which too often console the unfortunate of their folly or vice. He was fond of the country and of books, and from these tastes had arisen his principal enjoyments.
Mr Bennet openly favours Jane and Elizabeth due to their steadier temperaments; he actively distances himself from his wife and younger daughters' activities whenever possible.
Relationship with Elizabeth
Elizabeth and Mr Bennet have a close bond, which is apparent to everyone in the family. Mrs Bennet, in one of her many quasi-hysterical moments, turns on her husband and exclaims: "I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than the others, and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor half so good-humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving her the preference," to which he replies; "They have none of them much to recommend them... they are all silly and ignorant like other girls, but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters."Despite the fact that his daughter must marry in order to be able to continue living the life of a gentlewoman, Mr Bennet appears, for the most part, unconcerned. After Elizabeth rejects Mr Collins' marriage proposal, Mrs Bennet is beside herself and proclaims that she shall "never see again". In contrast, Mr Bennet trusts Elizabeth's reasoning for not wanting to marry Mr Collins, who would have been able to provide for her, and sarcastically declares "An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. – Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr Collins, and I will never see you again if you do."
Maternal branch
Mrs Bennet, born a Gardiner and married for twenty-three years at the start of the novel, is the daughter of an attorney in Meryton. She has a brother and a sister, both married. Though equally vulgar, ignorant, thoughtless, tasteless and gossipy, the marriages of the two sisters have resulted in them moving in different circles: one marries a member of the local gentry, while the other marries one of her late father's law clerks, while their naturally genteel brother pursues an education and a higher social status in general trade in London.Mrs Bennet
Mrs Bennet is the young middle-aged wife of her social superior, Mr Bennet, and the mother of their five daughters.Like her favourite daughter, Lydia, Mrs Bennet is shameless, frivolous, and very "silly".
She is susceptible to attacks of "tremors and palpitations", which occur whenever she is defensive or displeased. She is also prone to flights of fancy, flights of pique and melodrama, believing herself to regularly ill-used, talking loudly of it.
Her personal fortune inherited from her father amounted to £4,000 which was sufficient money for an individual of her condition but not to support her children as well. In addition, she has a life interest in her marriage settlement of £5,000, invested in 4% funds, the capital for which is bound by the terms of the settlement to be distributed to her children at her death.
Her pastimes are shopping and socialising. Her favourite daughter is her youngest, Lydia, who takes very much after her younger self. Next she values her eldest, Jane, though only for Jane's great physical beauty, and she never considers Jane's feelings, virtue, or reputation. Her least favourite daughter is Elizabeth whom she does not understand at all; when Mr Collins was directing his "enraptured heart" at Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet thought them both together a perfect match purely because she does not like either of them:
Of having married to Mr. Collins, she thought with equal certainty, and with considerable, though not equal, pleasure. Elizabeth was the least dear to her of all her children; and though the man and the match were quite 'good enough' for her, the worth of each was eclipsed by Mr. Bingley and Netherfield".