Pride and Prejudice
Mrs. Bennet
The Bennet girls' mother
A fretful, talkative mother with one great goal: to see her daughters well married. She is quick to panic and slow to notice when she embarrasses them.
Mrs. Bennet is about forty-five, theatrical and fond of complaining about her nerves. Her whole purpose in life is marrying off her five daughters, and the news that a rich bachelor has taken Netherfield Park sends her into raptures. She enjoys gossip, she announces her plans to anyone who will listen, and she does not hear when she is being rude.
She has a real reason to worry. Longbourn is entailed to Mr. Collins, so the girls are not secure. But she goes about it so loudly that she makes things harder. She brags about Jane's prospects at the Netherfield ball, quarrels with Mr. Darcy, and sends Jane on horseback in the rain so that she will have to stay the night.
“You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them! You must visit him the moment he arrives!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Mrs. Bennet's schemes produce both comedy and trouble. Her rain plan gets Jane ill, which brings Elizabeth to Netherfield. She is furious when Elizabeth refuses Mr. Collins and demands that Mr. Bennet force her to marry him. She adores Lydia and applauds the Brighton invitation as a triumph.
When Lydia elopes, she takes to her bed, certain that Mr. Bennet will be killed in a duel and the family turned out. When Lydia is married she cheerfully sees about the wedding clothes. She is overjoyed to see Bingley come back, and by the end of the story she has two daughters married well, which is exactly what she wanted.
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