Mrs. Bennet

Also known as: Mrs Bennet / her mother / his sister / mamma / mother / my mother / our poor mother / the mother / their mother / your mother · Family: Bennet · Role: mother · First appears: Chapter 1

For three-and-twenty years, Mrs. Bennet had been married to Mr. Bennet, whose character she still did not understand: “Mr. Bennet was 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.” In chapter 1, she spoke of Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Bennet, and Lydia Bennet, comparing Elizabeth unfavourably with Jane’s beauty and Lydia’s good humour; she also received news from Mrs. Long. She scolded Catherine Bennet for coughing, praised Mary Bennet and her sisters’ father, and urged Mrs. Long to introduce Mr. Bingley to her. When Mr. Bingley declined a dinner invitation, Mrs. Bennet continued arranging her family’s connections: she accompanied her two youngest daughters to Jane Bennet at Netherfield, refused Jane’s proposal to return home, and received Mr. Collins politely with the whole family.

The next morning, after learning that Mr. Collins might marry one of her daughters, Mrs. Bennet changed her opinion of him: “Mrs. Bennet treasured up the hint, and trusted that she might soon have two daughters married; and the man whom she could not bear to speak of the day before, was now high in her good graces.” She welcomed the invitation from Charles Bingley and his sisters to the Netherfield ball and secured his promise to visit Longbourn after London. Later, she threatened Elizabeth Bennet with losing her mother if she refused Mr. Collins, quarrelled socially with Lady Lucas, received her brother Mr. Gardiner and Mrs. Gardiner for Christmas, and mentioned matters to her sister Mrs. Philips. During the discussion of Lydia Bennet’s proposed Brighton trip, Mr. Bennet would not yield.

When she heard that Lydia Bennet would marry George Wickham, Mrs. Bennet celebrated the news and looked forward to seeing Lydia again. She invited Charles Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy to dine at Longbourn, and after Jane Bennet’s engagement to Charles Bingley, the Bennets were proclaimed the luckiest family in the world. On learning of Elizabeth Bennet’s engagement to Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mrs. Bennet enthusiastically approved: ““Good gracious! Lord bless me! only think! dear me! Mr. Darcy! Who would have thought it? And is it really true?” By then, she stood in such awe of her intended son-in-law that she spoke to him only when offering attention or showing deference to his opinion.