---
type: Person
title: Mary Bennet
description: Middle Bennet daughter, bookish and moralizing, prized for accomplishment
  more than natural talent.
resource: raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt
tags:
- bennet-family
- longbourn
- hertfordshire
- gentry
timestamp: '2026-07-16T18:15:29Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Mary is a middle daughter of [Mr.](../persons/mr-bennet.md) and
[Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md).[^s1] Being, in the narrator's words, "the only plain one
in the family," she "worked hard for knowledge and accomplishments" but "had neither genius nor
taste," and her application gave her "a pedantic air and conceited manner."[^s2] At Lucas Lodge
she delivers an extended, book-derived reflection on pride and vanity — "Pride relates more to our
opinion of ourselves; vanity to what we would have others think of us" — described as pronounced
by one "who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections."[^s3] At the Netherfield ball she
plays and sings at length until [Mr. Bennet](../persons/mr-bennet.md) cuts her off: "That will do
extremely well, child. You have delighted us long enough."[^s4] She also offers a measured
approval of [Mr. Collins](../persons/mr-collins.md)'s letter of thanks: "In point of
composition his letter does not seem defective."[^s5] The narrator describes her as usually "deep
in the study of thorough bass and human nature."[^s6]

After her elder sisters marry, Mary is the only daughter left at home; drawn away from her studies
because [Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md) cannot bear to sit alone, she is "obliged to mix more
with the world," though her father suspects she accepts the change without much reluctance, no
longer having her sisters' looks to be compared unfavourably against.[^s7]

## See also

- [Elizabeth Bennet](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md)
- [Mr. Bennet](../persons/mr-bennet.md)
- [Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md)

## Sources

[^s1]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 783-789 — the Bennet family (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1519-1527 — Mary's application and want of natural talent (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1335-1346 — Mary's speech on pride and vanity (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 4396-4403 — Mr. Bennet stops Mary's singing at the Netherfield ball (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s5]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 3066-3068 — Mary's remark on Mr. Collins's letter (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s6]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 2922-2923 — Mary's habitual study (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s7]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14429-14435 — Mary remains at home after her sisters marry (ingested 2026-07-16)
