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Miss Bentley Is rich, attractive, elegant, snobbish, and conniving. She Is determined to marry Dairy, flattering him constantly though in vain and disparaging Lezzy at every opportunity. She treats Jane like a dear friend while secretly undermining her relationship with Bentley, who she hopes will marry Darers little sister. Charles Bentley Bentley Is half as rich as Dairy, meaning very rich Indeed, and he has Just begun renting a manor house near the Bennett’.
He Is outgoing, affable, good-looking, charming, and so open and artless that everyone can tell almost immediately that he s in love with Jane. But he is also somewhat flighty boasting to Mrs.. Bennett that “whatever I do is done in a hurry” and thus susceptible to the persuasions of Dairy and his sisters, who oppose his marrying into the Bennett family. Elizabeth Bennett The second of Mr.. And Mrs.. Bonnet’s five daughters, who has inherited her mother’s beauty and her father’s intelligence. At 20, Lezzy has perfect manners, but she is as witty and independent-minded as the period’s strict social code will allow.
She finds her mother’s vulgarity humiliating, but reproaching her for it, even in private, would be a breach of decorum. On the other hand, she publicly teases Mr.. Dairy for his lack of chivalry, and her willingness to assert her own opinions shocks Lady Catherine, who Is used to the deference and even the awe of those around her. As attractive as they are to modern readers, however, Lilly’s independence and willfulness are the chief obstacles in the book’s romantic plot, for they lead her to the prejudice of the title.
The night she meets Mr.. Dairy, he shows obvious contempt for her family, friends and neighbors, and she accidentally overhears him making some belittling remarks about her. That Is enough to convince her to deedless him on principle. Though Hickman later misrepresents Dairy’s character to her, she Is too eager to believe him, and too willing to ignore the inconsistencies in his story, because of her determination to think badly of Dairy.
Otherwise, however, she is a model of late-18th-century upper-class feminine virtue: like her father, she reads a great deal; she both plays the Plano and sings well; she Is clever of speech; and she Is a devoted and affectionate friend and sister. When Jane falls ill during her visit to Interfiled, Lezzy hikes three miles across country to take care of her climbing over fences and muddying her petticoats rather than recall NY of her father’s horses from their vital farm work. Bangle’s sisters deride such unladylike exertion, but it speaks volumes about Lilly’s sensibility, self-reliance, and compassion. Mr..
Dairy supplies the pride of the title, and he has good reason for it: he is not only tall, handsome, and clever, but filthy rich. At 28, he is the sole owner of the Pimpernel estate in Derbyshire, which generates an annual revenue of 10,000 pounds, making him one of England’s 400 richest people. Dairy is well bred he attends to all the formalities that civility demands of him but he does not go out of his way to make others feel comfortable. He has no patience for frivolousness: he would rather sit silent than engage in vacuous small talk, and he doesn’t like to dance, which is counted a serious fault in an eligible bachelor.
Because of his natural dignity and contempt for vulgarity, his reticence makes him appear haughty though that appearance is heightened by his arrogant conviction that, in accompanying his friend Bentley to Worcestershire, he has slipped several rungs down the social ladder. None of the locals likes him. But after Lezzy refuses his (first) offer of marriage, he proves himself, in an attempt to obtain [her] forgiveness” and “lessen [her] ill opinion,” capable of great charm and generosity. He even ignores the difference in rank between himself and Lilly’s uncle and aunt Gardener, who are not landowners.
We also discover that the housekeeper at his estate has “never had a cross word from him” in 24 years, that he is “affable to the poor,” and that he indulges and dotes on his younger sister though she still remains a little bit afraid of him. George Hickman Mr.. Hickman was Dairy’s boyhood companion and the son of his father’s steward, a former lawyer and an honorable man who ran the Dairy estate until his death. Hickman is polite, devastatingly handsome, charming, well-spoken and utterly worthless.
Dairy’s father had bequeathed Hickman a parsonage, which would have provided him a good, comfortable living, but Hickman renounced it in exchange for three thousand pounds in cash, which he quickly squandered. When Dairy refused to give him any more money, Hickman seduced his 1 5-year-old sister and attempted to elope with her. He leaves huge debts wherever he goes, and tries to insinuate himself with every rich woman he meets. Lane Bennett lane is the Bonnet’s oldest daughter, well bred, gentle, and even prettier than Lezzy Hough not as quick witted.
Indeed, she is so mild mannered that her ardor for Bentley looks to Dairy like complete indifference. She finds it distressing to think badly of anyone and is consequently the only resident of Worcestershire to find any virtue in Dairy. She cannot even motivate herself to censure Hickman, until she learns of his gambling debts. Jane and Lezzy are each other’s most intimate confidantes. Lady Catherine De Burgh Dairy’s aunt and Mr.. Collision’s benefactor: arrogant and vain of her rank, yet but takes pleasure in instructing all those around her in the conduct of their own affairs.
Despite her incivility, however, she requires constant company to stave off boredom. Mr.. Bennett Mr.. Bennett is a gentleman, meaning he lives off the rent and the farm revenue generated by his estate. He married his wife for her beauty and youthful exuberance, neither of which compensated very long for her inanity. He thus spends most of his time alone in his library, reading. While he commands deference as head of the household, his conversation is usually limited to mild but witty ridicule of his wife, neighbors, and younger daughters, whom he makes little effort to keep in line. Indeed, he makes little effort at anything.
He is, however, devoted to Lezzy, in whose intelligence and satirical bent he sees the reflection of his own. Milliamp Collins Since Mr.. Bennett has no sons, his 25-year-old nephew Mr.. Collins is, to everyone’s chagrin, the heir of his estate. He is also, in Lilly’s words, “a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man. ” Mr.. Collins owes his current position as a parson to the patronage of Dairy’s aunt, Lady Catherine De Burgh. He is awed by her nobility and talks about her, and the magnificence of her estate, almost constantly, adding homeless pandering to his habitual faults of long-windiness and pomposity.
Other Characters Mary Bennett: The third and plainest of the Bennett girls, Mary spends all her time playing the piano and reading moralistic literature that gives her an endless supply of sanctimonious aphorisms. Catherine (Kitty) Bennett: The fourth of the Bennett girls, Kitty tags after Lydia and complains when she doesn’t get as much attention. Lydia Bennett: The youngest of the Bennett girls, Lydia is a somewhat less attractive ‘erosion of her mother at 16: loud, exuberant, thoughtless, vulgar, and boy crazy. Edward Gardener: Mrs..
Bonnet’s brother, an honest, honorable, friendly man who lives in London. He is wealthy, but since he made his money in trade, the landed gentry look down on him. Mrs.. Gardener: Mrs.. Bonnet’s sister-in-law, whose good sense, good manners, and perceptiveness make her a favorite with Lezzy and Jane. Sir William Lucas: The Bennett’ neighbor in Worcestershire, Sir William is so outgoing that he sometimes oversteps the bounds of decorum, and so solicitous that he sometimes intrudes on other people’s personal affairs. But no one doubts his good heart. Partner.
The two women also have a friendly rivalry: Lady Lacuna’s estate is less grand than the Bennett’, but her husband is a knight; her daughter is less pretty, but she manages to get married first. Charlotte Lucas: Kind, plain, and practical, Charlotte is Lilly’s best friend until she shows the bad Judgment of marrying Mr.. Collins. At 27, however, Charlotte has few alternatives that will guarantee her as much security. Marie Lucas: Charlotte younger sister. Marries sole purpose in the story is to be so overwhelmed by Lady Catering’s grandeur that she can hardly speak. Georgian Dairy: Mr..
Dairy’s sister, 12 years his Junior, who worships her older brother and, because she finds his example so intimidating, is shy and diffident in public. Nonetheless, she is pretty, bright, kind, and accomplished. Colonel Fatalism: Dairy’s cousin, who is much more affable and outgoing, but much less dashing. Miss De Burgh: Lady Catering’s daughter, a sickly, pale, emaciated little thing who hardly speaks but nonetheless finds ways to be inconsiderate. Her mother intends her to be Dairy’s wife. Louisa Hurst: The eldest of Bangle’s two sisters, Mrs.. Hurst serves only to second her sister’s opinions and abet her connivance’s. Mr..
Hurst: Bangle’s brother-in-law, who lives only to hunt, eat, drink, play cards and, Nee none of those options is available, to sleep. Aunt Phillips: Mrs.. Bonnet’s sister, who is, if anything, even ruder and more embarrassing. Uncle Phillips: Mrs.. Bonnet’s brother-in-law, who inherited her father’s law practice In Emerson, a town Just a mile or so from the Bennett estate. Colonel Forester: The head of the militia unit in which Hickman enlists, which is Initially quartered in Emerson. Mrs.. Forester: The colonel’s wife, who, easygoing and exuberant herself, takes a liking to Lydia, thereby precipitating her disastrous elopement with Hickman.