---
type: Person
title: Mr. Bennet
description: Master of Longbourn, father of five daughters, given to sarcastic wit
  and retreat to his library.
resource: raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt
tags:
- bennet-family
- longbourn
- hertfordshire
- gentry
aliases:
- Mr Bennet
timestamp: '2026-07-16T18:15:29Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Mr. Bennet is master of [Longbourn](../misc/longbourn.md), an estate worth two thousand a year
that is entailed, in default of heirs male, away from his five daughters and onto a distant
relation, [Mr. Collins](../persons/mr-collins.md).[^s1] He is married to
[Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md), and their daughters are
[Jane](../persons/jane-bennet.md), [Elizabeth](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md),
[Mary](../persons/mary-bennet.md), Catherine ("Kitty"), and [Lydia](../persons/lydia-bennet.md).[^s2]

The narration describes him as "so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and
caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife
understand his character."[^s2] He favours Elizabeth over her sisters, telling his wife that
"Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters."[^s3] He spends much of his time retired
in his library, away from the household's noise.[^s4]

When [Mr. Collins](../persons/mr-collins.md) proposes to Elizabeth and Mrs. Bennet demands
he compel her to accept, Mr. Bennet instead tells Elizabeth: "Your mother will never see you again
if you do _not_ marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you _do_" — refusing to force
the match.[^s5] When Jane's courtship by [Mr. Bingley](../persons/charles-bingley.md) collapses,
he wryly tells Elizabeth that being "crossed in love" gives a girl "a sort of distinction among
her companions," and jokes that she should let [Wickham](../persons/george-wickham.md) jilt her
next.[^s6]

When Elizabeth warns him that [Lydia](../persons/lydia-bennet.md)'s unchecked behaviour risks the
family's "importance" and "respectability," Mr. Bennet dismisses the danger: "Lydia will never be
easy till she has exposed herself in some public place," and, trusting Colonel Forster to keep her
out of real mischief, lets her go to [Brighton](../misc/brighton.md).[^s7] After Lydia elopes with
Wickham, he goes to London himself to search for her, without success; on his return he tells
Elizabeth, "Who should suffer but myself? It has been my own doing, and I ought to feel it," and
later concedes she had been "justified" in her earlier warning.[^s8] Once the marriage is settled,
he refuses to receive the couple warmly or fund their wedding clothes, telling his wife, "into
_one_ house in this neighbourhood they shall never have admittance."[^s9] Once they depart for
Newcastle, he remarks dryly of his new son-in-law, "He is as fine a fellow... as ever I saw. He
simpers, and smirks, and makes love to us all. I am prodigiously proud of him."[^s15]

## Two engagements

Reading aloud [Mr. Collins](../persons/mr-collins.md)'s letter warning of a rumoured match between
Elizabeth and [Mr. Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md), Mr. Bennet finds it highly diverting —
"Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any woman but to see a blemish" — unaware how near the truth it
is.[^s10] When [Jane](../persons/jane-bennet.md) accepts [Bingley](../persons/charles-bingley.md)'s
proposal, Mr. Bennet privately tells her, "Jane, I congratulate you. You will be a very happy
woman," though he teases that their similarly "complying" tempers mean "nothing will ever be
resolved on" between them and that they will "always exceed" their income.[^s11]

When Darcy asks his consent to marry Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet warns her against an unequal marriage
without real esteem — "you could be neither happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your
husband" — but gives his blessing once satisfied of her attachment.[^s12] Learning that Darcy had
"voluntarily done" everything for Lydia — arranged the marriage, paid Wickham's debts, and
purchased his commission — leaves him astonished: "This is an evening of wonders, indeed!"[^s13]
He later jokes that he admires all three sons-in-law, "Wickham, perhaps... my favourite," but
expects to like Darcy "quite as well as Jane's."[^s13] After Elizabeth marries, Mr. Bennet misses
her enough that he takes to visiting [Pemberley](../misc/pemberley.md) often, "especially when he
was least expected."[^s14]

## See also

- [Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md)
- [Elizabeth Bennet](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md)
- [Longbourn](../misc/longbourn.md)
- [Entail](../concepts/entail.md)
- [Lydia Bennet](../persons/lydia-bennet.md)
- [Mr. Gardiner](../persons/mr-gardiner.md)
- [Jane Bennet](../persons/jane-bennet.md)
- [Fitzwilliam Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md)
- [Pemberley](../misc/pemberley.md)
- [Catherine Bennet](../persons/catherine-bennet.md)

## Sources

[^s1]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1655-1662 — the Longbourn entail (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 783-789 — Mr. Bennet's character and marriage (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 757-763 — Mr. Bennet names Elizabeth his favourite (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1119-1240 — Mr. Bennet's habitual retreat to his library (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s5]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 4793-4799 — Mr. Bennet declines to force Elizabeth's marriage to Collins (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s6]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5681-5692 — Mr. Bennet's response to Jane's disappointment over Bingley (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s7]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 8915-8917; 8954-8964 — Mr. Bennet dismisses Elizabeth's warning and lets Lydia go to Brighton (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s8]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 11186-11188; 11202-11206 — Mr. Bennet's self-reproach and acknowledgment on his return from London (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s9]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 11606-11608 — Mr. Bennet refuses the couple admittance and wedding clothes (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s10]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 13578-13580 — Mr. Bennet's amusement at Collins's warning (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s11]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 13012-13022 — Mr. Bennet's blessing and teasing of Jane (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s12]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14104-14114 — Mr. Bennet's warning and consent to Elizabeth's marriage (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s13]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14132-14138; 14195-14197 — Mr. Bennet's astonishment at Darcy's actions for Lydia, and his later regard for his sons-in-law (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s14]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14408-14410 — Mr. Bennet's visits to Pemberley after Elizabeth's marriage (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s15]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12336-12339 — Mr. Bennet's ironic pride in Wickham as a son-in-law (ingested 2026-07-16)
