Mr. Bennet

Also known as: Mr Bennet / her father / my dear father / my father / papa / their father / your father / your honoured father · Family: Bennet · Role: father · First appears: Chapter 1

At the beginning, Mr. Bennet is married to Mrs. Bennet, who has not understood his character after three-and-twenty years. He is the father of Jane Bennet, Elizabeth Bennet, Mary Bennet, Catherine Bennet, and Lydia Bennet, though he especially praises Elizabeth Bennet’s quickness: “They have none of them much to recommend them,” replied he: “they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters.” He visits Charles Bingley and thereby establishes an acquaintance, later receives Mr. Collins at Longbourn, and reveals that Mr. Collins will inherit the estate and may turn the family out after his death. When Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Bennet refuses to force her into the marriage.

He first resists the proposed summer trip to Brighton, but later permits Lydia Bennet to go despite Elizabeth Bennet’s objections. When Lydia Bennet disappears, he immediately leaves for London with Colonel Forster to search for her, then returns to Longbourn after Mr. Gardiner persuades him to leave the pursuit in his hands. He imposes strict restrictions on Catherine Bennet, including prohibiting officers from entering the house and limiting her attendance at balls. After Mr. Gardiner arranges conditions intended to secure Lydia Bennet’s marriage to George Wickham, Mr. Bennet accepts them, approves the arrangements, and agrees to receive the couple at Longbourn after their marriage.

Later, Mr. Bennet refuses to visit Charles Bingley, saying that he had already been forced into visiting him once without the promised result. He approves Jane Bennet’s engagement and tells her, “Jane, I congratulate you. You will be a very happy woman.” After receiving Mr. Collins’s letter about the rumored marriage of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, he hears from Elizabeth Bennet what Fitzwilliam Darcy did for Lydia Bennet and then announces Elizabeth Bennet’s approaching marriage: “Elizabeth will soon be the wife of Mr. Darcy. Console Lady Catherine as well as you can.”