The Pride and Prejudice characters revolve around Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. He insults her at a dance, she refuses his first proposal, and they marry only after each admits being wrong. Around them are the Bennets, the Bingleys, Darcy's relatives and a few neighbours, and every one of these connections turns on what a marriage costs and who pays for it.
Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy
Darcy arrives at the Meryton assembly with £10,000 a year and Pemberley behind him, and within an evening the whole room has decided he is proud. Bingley urges him to dance with Elizabeth, the second Bennet daughter. Darcy glances at her and says, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me."
Elizabeth overhears and tells the story "with great spirit" to her friends. That joke hardens into a verdict. When the charming George Wickham later tells her Darcy cheated him, she believes it at once, because it confirms what she already thinks.
The verdict breaks at Hunsford. Darcy proposes while dwelling on how far her family sits beneath him, and Elizabeth calls him "the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry." His letter the next morning answers her charges, and she repeatedly rereads the passages about Wickham before admitting, "Till this moment I never knew myself."
Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley
In Pride and Prejudice, Jane is the eldest Bennet sister and the kindest person in the book. Elizabeth teases her that she never sees "a fault in any body." Jane feels deeply and shows little, a habit that costs her badly.
Bingley is all openness. He rents Netherfield, dances twice with Jane at the first assembly and admits to his own impulsiveness: "if I should resolve to quit Netherfield, I should probably be off in five minutes."
After the Netherfield ball he goes to London on business, and his sisters and Darcy follow to keep him there. Darcy has watched Jane's calm face and judged her indifferent. Bingley takes his friend's word over his own feelings, and he stays away for months. Jane, meanwhile, assures Elizabeth she is perfectly content. Neither speaks, and the silence nearly ends things. After Bingley returns to Netherfield, Darcy reassesses Jane's feelings and confesses to him that he misread her.
The Bennet Household
Longbourn is entailed away from the female line, and Mr. Bennet has five daughters and no son. When he dies, the estate goes to his cousin Mr. Collins. Mrs. Bennet's frantic matchmaking grows from that fact. Her husband's response is to laugh at everyone from his library.
The Netherfield ball shows what this costs. Mrs. Bennet tells Lady Lucas, loudly enough for Darcy to hear, that Jane will soon marry Bingley. Mary sits down at the pianoforte and will not get up until her father says, "That will do extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough." Kitty and Lydia, giddy over the militia quartered at Meryton, have been chasing officers all season. Elizabeth feels that her family could scarcely expose itself more thoroughly to ridicule if its members had planned it, all in front of the people judging Jane.
Mr. Bennet enjoys much of the comedy. When he does intervene to stop Mary's performance, his public rebuke embarrasses her rather than offering tactful guidance.
Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins
Mr. Collins comes to Longbourn intending to make amends for the entail by marrying one of the daughters. Jane is spoken for, so he settles on Elizabeth. She refuses. Within days he has proposed to her friend Charlotte, and Charlotte has said yes.
Charlotte is twenty-seven, has never been handsome and has little fortune. She tells Elizabeth exactly what she has bought: "I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home." Collins is pompous and dull, a clergyman who repeats every opinion of his patron, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Charlotte does not pretend otherwise.
When Elizabeth visits the Hunsford parsonage, she finds the bargain running smoothly. Charlotte chooses a back sitting room over the pleasanter dining parlour, keeping Collins in his own road-facing book room more often. She also encourages his gardening.
George Wickham and Lydia's Elopement
Wickham, son of the late Mr. Darcy's steward, tells Elizabeth that Darcy refused him a church living. Darcy's letter gives the rest. Wickham took money in place of the living, spent it, then tried to elope with fifteen-year-old Georgiana Darcy for her fortune.
Elizabeth keeps that secret, and the silence proves costly. Lydia goes to Brighton as a companion to the colonel's young wife, Mrs. Forster, and Wickham's regiment is camped there. Elizabeth is touring Derbyshire when two letters from Jane arrive at once. Lydia has run off with Wickham. They have not gone to Gretna Green to marry; they are hiding somewhere in London.
For the Bennets this threatens social disgrace. Lydia's running away with Wickham without marrying him could damage all her sisters' marriage prospects.
Darcy finds the couple, pays Wickham's debts, buys him a commission and arranges the wedding. He wants no credit. Lydia lets slip that Darcy attended the ceremony, and a letter from Mrs. Gardiner tells Elizabeth the rest.
Darcy's Relatives at Rosings and Pemberley
Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy's aunt, talks over every guest at Rosings. She claims that had she learned music she would have been "a great proficient." She has settled in advance that Darcy will marry her sickly, silent daughter Anne.
Darcy brings Georgiana to Elizabeth's inn at Lambton to introduce her. Elizabeth expects a proud heiress and finds a girl who can barely get past a monosyllable. Darcy's gentleness with his sister shows Elizabeth a side of him that Rosings never did.
Colonel Fitzwilliam, Darcy's cousin, stands between the two households. He is an easy talker who has to marry money, because "younger sons cannot marry where they like." He mentions, without knowing it matters, that Darcy recently saved a friend from an imprudent marriage. Elizabeth works out at once that the friend is Bingley.
Lady Catherine then drives to Longbourn to forbid the match. Elizabeth refuses to promise anything, and when Darcy's aunt reports that to him, it gives him the hope he needed to propose a second time.
Caroline Bingley, Louisa Hurst and the Gardiners
When Elizabeth walks three miles to nurse Jane at Netherfield, Caroline Bingley mocks her untidy hair, and her married sister Louisa Hurst describes her petticoat as "six inches deep in mud." Darcy agrees that he would not want his sister appearing that way, but says the exercise brightened Elizabeth's eyes. Caroline wants Darcy for herself. Mrs. Hurst remarks that the Bennets have an uncle who lives "somewhere near Cheapside." Caroline replies, "That is capital," and both sisters laugh.
That uncle is Mr. Gardiner, Mrs. Bennet's brother, a tradesman who lives within sight of his own warehouses. He and his wife take Elizabeth on the Derbyshire tour, and Darcy meets them at Pemberley. Elizabeth braces for him to sneer. He invites Mr. Gardiner to fish in his stream instead.
Key Takeaways
- Darcy's "tolerable" and Elizabeth's quickness to believe Wickham are the two misjudgments the novel corrects.
- Jane's composure and Bingley's pliability let Darcy separate them.
- The entail on Longbourn explains Mrs. Bennet's panic and the cost of Mr. Bennet's detachment.
- Lydia's elopement threatens every sister, and Darcy's quiet rescue changes Elizabeth's mind.
- Lady Catherine, Caroline and the Gardiners show character through how they treat people below them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who does Kitty marry in Pride and Prejudice?
Kitty is still unmarried when the novel ends. She improves once she spends more time with her elder sisters and away from Lydia. Family recollections in A Memoir of Jane Austen say Austen imagined her marrying a clergyman near Pemberley.
Who is Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice?
Charlotte is Elizabeth's closest friend and the eldest daughter of Sir William and Lady Lucas. At twenty-seven she marries Mr. Collins for security.
Is Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice?
Yes, Fitzwilliam Darcy is the hero of the novel, master of Pemberley and Elizabeth's eventual husband.
Who is the red-haired girl in Pride and Prejudice?
The adaptation's year and the scene are needed to identify her reliably; hair colour alone is not enough.
What is Bingley's first name?
His first name is Charles.
How many characters are there in Pride and Prejudice?
There is no official count. The named cast numbers more than two dozen, but most of the story moves through the Bennets, the Bingleys and Darcy's family.
Know the People Behind the Courtships
Charlotte pays with romance to gain a home. Darcy pays Wickham's debts to save Lydia's name, and through it her sisters' chances. Mr. Bennet's years of laughing from the library are paid for by his daughters. Elizabeth's own marriage costs her nothing except her certainty that she judged Darcy correctly.