Go to end of list.  Go to chronology. Go to topics list.
Go to Pride&Prej. motifs. Go to place list/map.  Go to table of contents.
This is a list of characters and their interrelationships, with many
hypertext links from and to the main text of
Pride and Prejudice (it is based
ultimately on the basic list of characters in Chapman's 1923 edition). Select
the name of a character in the detailed alphabetical listing below to jump to
the first meaningful appearance of that character in the novel. Other links
are to significant descriptions of the major characters -- this list indexes
passages which describe the appearances, personalities, and circumstances of
the characters (but does not index the events in the novel as
such; for this see the chronological index). The
index to passages referring to the themes of
"pride" and "prejudice" has additional insights into some of the
characters.
- The Bennets: Mr. Bennet,
Mrs. Bennet, Jane,
Elizabeth, Mary,
Kitty, Lydia.
- The Bingleys: Bingley,
Louisa Hurst,
Caroline.
- Mr. Collins.
- The Darcys: Old Mr. Darcy,
Lady Anne Darcy,
Darcy, Georgiana
Darcy.
- Lady Catherine, her daughter
Anne de Bourgh.
- Colonel Fitzwilliam.
- Mr. Gardiner,
Mrs. Gardiner.
- The Lucases: Sir William,
Lady Lucas, Charlotte,
Maria.
- Old Mr. Wickham,
Wickham.
- Minor Characters: Mrs. Annesley,
Captain Carter,
Mr. Chamberlayne,
Dawson, Mr. Denny,
Colonel Forster, William
Goulding, Miss Grantley,
Haggerston, The
Harringtons, Mrs. Hill,
Mr. Hurst,
Mrs. Jenkinson,
Mr. Jones, Miss Mary King,
Mrs. Long, Lady
Metcalfe, Mr. Morris,
Mrs. Nicholls,
Mr. Philips, Miss
Pope, Mr. Pratt,
Mrs. Reynolds,
Mr. Robinson,
Mr. Stone, Miss Watson,
The Miss Webbs,
Mrs. Younge.
See also the Genealogical Charts for Sense and Sensibility
And the Genealogical Charts for Emma
And the Genealogical Charts for Persuasion
And the Genealogical charts for Jane Austen's own family
Mr. Collins is a cousin of Mr. Bennet (an explanation of the entail is available).
+--------------+---------------------------+
| | |
| | |
Mr. Bennet === Mrs. Bennet Mrs. Philips === Mr. Philips Edward === M----
| Gardiner |
+--------+-+-----+-------+-------+ |
| | | | | +--+--+--+
Jane Elizabeth Mary "Kitty" Lydia | | | |
[Catherine] Four children
The individuals in parentheses died before the main action of the novel
begins.
(Old Earl of ----,
surnamed Fitzwilliam)
|
+------------+----+----------------+
| | |
(Old Mr. === (Lady current Lady === (Sir Lewis
Darcy) | Anne) Earl of ---- Catherine | de Bourgh)
| | |
+------+------+ +---+------+ |
| | | | |
Fitzwilliam Georgiana elder Colonel Anne de
Darcy Darcy son(s) Fitzwilliam Bourgh
Sir William === Lady +----------+----------+
Lucas | Lucas | | |
| | | |
+---------+----------+ Charles Caroline Louisa === Mr.
| | | Bingley Bingley Hurst
Charlotte Maria other boys
Lucas Lucas and girls
- Mrs. Annesley,
companion to Georgiana Darcy.
- The Bennets:
- Mr. BENNET, of
Longbourn-house in
Hertfordshire; the estate was about
£2,000 a year, and £5,000 was
settled on his wife and children.
- First description.
- Second (longer) description of
Mr. Bennet -- his relations with his wife.
- Mrs. Bennet: He is always giving
Elizabeth the preference.
- Entail, Mr. Bennet's finances
- "An unhappy alternative is before
you, Elizabeth..."
- He so little likes Elizabeth's going
from home for a stay, that "he told her to write to him, and almost
promised to answer her letter."
- He hates London.
- Elizabeth: though he has "some
peculiarities", he also "has abilities which Mr. Darcy himself need not
disdain, and respectability which [Darcy] will probably never reach".
- Wrote to Elizabeth in Kent, to hurry
her return.
- Elizabeth: He laughs at Kitty and
Lydia's behaviour, rather than restraining them.
- "I am glad you are come back,
Lizzy."
- "What, has [Lydia] frightened away
some of your lovers?"
- Elizabeth, despite being her
father's favorite child, is aware of some of his faults as the head of his
family.
-
- Finances.
- He married ---- Gardiner
(Mrs. Bennet), daughter
of a Meryton attorney, £4,000. (From
the fact that she has been married 23
years, it can be deduced that she was almost certainly in her forties --
the prime marrying years for women were between ages 17 and 27.)
- Their children:
- Jane, 22. (Jane is
often referred to simply as "Miss
Bennet", according to the convention that the first name of the eldest
unmarried daughter in a family is omitted after "Miss";
Elizabeth is sometimes addressed as "Miss
Bennet" by the other characters, but the narrator never refers to her in
that way.)
- Elizabeth:"You never see a fault in
anybody".
- Considered the prettiest of the five Bennet daughters:
Darcy,
Elizabeth,
Bingley (to Darcy),
Bingley (overheard),
Mr. Collins, and
Mrs. Bennet: 1st 2nd.
(According to one of Jane Austen's
letters, of May 24th 1813, "Green was a
favorite colour with her".)
- "Though Jane would have defended
either or both, had they appeared to be wrong", she can't explain
Darcy and
Wickham's antagonism.
- She tries to clear both Darcy and
Wickham.
- She prefers to believe Caroline
Bingley to be "incapable of wilfully deceiving any one".
- Elizabeth: "My dear Jane! you are
too good."
- Elizabeth: "You shall not defend
her, though it is Charlotte Lucas. You shall not, for the sake of one
individual, change the meaning of principle and integrity..."
- Jane has "no idea of there being so
much design [scheming] in the world as some persons imagine."
- "Let me take it in the best
light"; i.e. Jane prefers to believe that she
has been mistaken in supposing Bingley's
affection for her, rather than that his sisters would designedly try to
separate him from her, and he would be so easily swayed.
- She is the only one who could
suppose extenuating circumstances for
Darcy with respect to
Wickham's accusations.
- She finally confesses herself to
have been entirely deceived by Caroline Bingley, but
pities "her because she must feel she has been
acting wrong".
- "I cannot understand it. If I were
not afraid of judging harshly, I should be almost tempted to say that there is
a strong appearance of duplicity in all this."
- Jane
subject to "periods of dejection";
"not in spirits", showing
"a want of cheerfulness" unlike her usual
"serenity".
- Elizabeth thinks her fully worthy
of Bingley, and that in opposing a Jane-Bingley match, Darcy can have no
legitimate objections to Jane herself.
- "What a stroke was this for poor
Jane! who would willingly have gone through the world without believing that
so much wickedness existed in the whole race of mankind, as was here collected
in one individual."
- Bingley was Jane's first love; she
is unable to easily get over him.
- Jane's "steady sense and sweetness
of temper exactly adapted her for attending to [children] in every way --
teaching them, playing with them, and loving them".
- She is "willing to hope the best"
when she hears of Lydia's elopement with Wickham.
- After hearing that Wickham and
Lydia are probably not on their way to
Gretna Green:
"No one can throw any blame on Col. and
Mrs. Forster"; "My father and mother
believe the worst, but I cannot think so ill of" Wickham;
"I know not what to think".
- "'Tis too much! by far too much. I do not deserve it. Oh! why is not every body as happy?"
Illustration <JPEG>
- Elizabeth,
20. Her family calls her "Lizzy", her friends and neighbours call her "Eliza",
and the narrator usually calls her "Elizabeth" (never
"Miss Bennet").
- Soon after the publication of Pride
and Prejudice, Jane Austen wrote about
Elizabeth Bennet, "I must confess that I think her as delightful a
character as ever appeared in print, and how I shall be able to tolerate those
who do not like her at least, I do not know".
- Description: She has a "lively
playful disposition".
- Her father thinks her
"quickest".
- Mrs. Bennet: Elizabeth "is not a
bit better than the others"; she "is not half so handsome as
Jane, nor half so good humoured as
Lydia".
- Just as all we know about Darcy's
physical appearance is that he is tall and handsome, there is little
description of
Elizabeth: only that she is pretty and has
"dark eyes". Rather, other characters
reveal themselves through praising or disparaging
Elizabeth's looks.
She is generally considered the
second-prettiest of the five Bennet sisters;
Darcy's famous snub;
Reasons why Darcy starts to find her
attractive; Darcy: "the
very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman
can bestow"; Caroline Bingley maintains she
has "no beauty" 1st.
See also opinions on Elizabeth's looks later in the
novel.
- She doesn't ride horses
(as Jane does), but is
"lighter, and more in the habit of
running" than Jane. (Thus
Darcy considers Elizabeth's
"figure to be light and pleasing".)
- Elizabeth on Darcy: "He has a very
satirical eye, and if I do not begin by being impertinent myself, I shall soon
grow afraid of him."
- Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Hurst
abuse her for having "pride and impertinence", and for getting muddy walking
two miles to visit her sick sister.
- Her manner makes it difficult for
her to affront Darcy.
- Caroline Bingley considers her to
possess "conceit and impertinence".
- She loves to laugh at follies,
etc.; loves absurdities.
- "To Elizabeth it appeared, that
had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could
during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts
with more spirit, or finer success".
- Mr. Collins: Her "wit and
vivacity" will be acceptable to Lady
Catherine when tempered with "silence and respect".
- "I do assure you that I am not one
of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to
risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time." (Here
the author is getting in a little joke on her character.)
- "Do not consider me now as an
elegant female, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her
heart."
- Mrs. Gardiner: Elizabeth would
have "laughed herself out" of being disappointed in love sooner than Jane.
- Elizabeth's courage does not fail
her, on being about to meet Lady Catherine.
- She "catches the fancy" of Colonel
Fitzwilliam.
- "You mean to frighten me,
Mr. Darcy..."
Illustration <JPEG>
- Darcy: Elizabeth "finds great
enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not her
own."
- Since "Colonel Fitzwilliam had
made it clear that he had no intentions at all", Elizabeth "does not mean to
be unhappy about him", "agreeable as he was"
- Though flattered at Darcy's
proposal, she never intends to accept him, and becomes angry when he tells her
how degrading he feels it would be to be connected to her family.
- Darcy's letter: He tells her
obliquely that he suspects she has refused him because she is in love with
Wickham.
- Elizabeth ashamed of her
misjudgements of Darcy and Wickham. "Till
this moment, I never knew myself."
- Elizabeth regrets her unjust
accusations of Darcy, but still resents his manner of proposing, and doesn't
regret having turned him down.
- She is almost inclined to excuse
Darcy's having separated Bingley and Jane when she sees
Lydia and Kitty's
behaviour on the impending departure of the militia regiment.
- Darcy's housekeeper's praise of
him throws an unexpected light on his character, and Elizabeth softens a
little in her feelings toward him. See also
 topics
list.
- She is doubtful at first as to
Darcy's feelings when witnessing his altered and improved behaviour at
Pemberley; "Without looking farther, ... it
was gratifying to know that his resentment had not made him think really ill
of her"; "For to love, ardent love, it must
be attributed".
- At Lambton: Elizabeth tries to
resolve her feelings towards Darcy. She
thinks he would propose to her again if she encourages him.
- As she becomes convinced that
Darcy has given up all thoughts of her (after learning of Lydia's disgrace),
"never had she so honestly felt that she could have loved him, as now, when
all love must be vain".
- Opinions on Elizabeth's looks later in the
novel: Colonel Fitzwilliam finds her
pretty; The jealous Caroline Bingley
maintains she has "no beauty" 2nd; and
unwisely reminds Darcy of
the similar opinion he held on first meeting
Elizabeth. Darcy: "one of the handsomest
women of my acquaintance"; (later:)
"loveliest Elizabeth". Elizabeth to Darcy:
"My beauty you had early withstood".
- Mary.
- Catherine
("Kitty"), two years older than Lydia.
Description. Was `satisfactorily married to
a clergyman near Pemberley' according to
the Memoir.
- Lydia, 15-16.
- The Bingleys:
- Captain Carter,
of the ----shire Militia.
- Mr. Chamberlayne,
of the ----shire Militia.
- The Rev. William
COLLINS, Rector of Hunsford in
Kent, cousin and heir to
Mr. Bennet; 25; was at one of the Universities.
- First impressions.
- Description;
Description by
Elizabeth to Jane;
Description by
Elizabeth to
Mrs. Gardiner.
- The infamous marriage proposal:
since he has more money than she does, he can't conceive of any grounds why
she should refuse him, and so persistently disbelieves her refusal.
See
Marriage and Money in the topics list.
Illustration <JPEG>
- Advice to Elizabeth on dressing for
her first visit to Rosings.
- Mr. Collins generally speaks in
clichés (often inappropriate), and is often described by the narrator
in the same terms:
- Mr. Collins's
letter to Mr. Bennet on the elopement
of Lydia is a most amazing production -- it's
difficult to count the number of ways in which Mr. Collins manages to be offensive,
apparently without being aware of it, in one medium-sized paragraph. (The
novelist Trollope considered
Mr. Collins's letters to be a comic masterpiece which "would move laughter
in a low-church archbishop".)
- First off, it is not entirely clear that any letter at all from
Mr. Collins is called for upon this occasion
(cf. Elizabeth: "Assistance is impossible;
condolence, insufferable -- let them triumph over us at a distance");
however, a proper letter would begin something along the lines of
"Unfortunately, I could not help hearing about
Lydia...", would probably be discreetly silent as
to the exact source from which the letter-writer heard the news, and would
scrupulously avoid any implication that the letter-writer himself has spread
the scandal any further.
- Instead, Mr. Collins
tells on the Lucases for spreading the news
of the scandal to Hunsford.
- Then he tells on himself and
Charlotte for
scandalmongering to each other.
- And he tells on himself for
scandalmongering to the De Bourghs.
- He then offers a little self-contradictory "consolation":
He offers to "alleviate"
Mr. Bennet's distress, whose cause, on the other
hand, "no time can remove".
- He "comforts"
Mr. Bennet by pointing out that "The death of your
daughter would have been a blessing in comparison of this".
- He manages to blame both
Lydia as intrinsically bad and the
Bennet parents for being too indulgent (and in the
process tells on Charlotte for blabbing the
intimate details of the Bennet family).
- He oh-so-delicately informs
Mr. Bennet that Lady
Catherine thinks that this will ruin the
chances of his other daughters marrying, and rejoices that he didn't marry
Elizabeth after all.
- Mr. DARCY the
elder, of Pemberley in
Derbyshire (died approximately
five years before the novel begins),
married Lady
Anne Fitzwilliam (sister to Lady
Catherine).
- Fitzwilliam
Darcy, his son, of Pemberley (and a
town house not named), 28, £10,000 a
year. (Explanation of why his first name is "Fitzwilliam".)
- His description. It is
mentioned that he is "tall": by Bingley,
by Kitty,
by Mrs. Bennet.
- His behaviour at the Meryton
assembly reveals his personality.
- His famous snub of Elizabeth at
the Meryton assembly.
Illustration <JPEG>
- Mrs. Bennet: Darcy "high and
conceited".
- His friendship with Bingley;
contrast between his personality and Bingley's.
- Admits Jane is pretty but thinks
"she smiles too much".
- He begins to be attracted to
Elizabeth.
Illustration <JPEG>
- Mrs. Bennet considers his
manners less agreeable and genteel than Sir William Lucas's.
- He admits his faults of temper.
- Elizabeth discovers his defect to
be "implacable resentment"; "a propensity to
hate everybody"
- Lady Catherine intends
Darcy to marry her daughter Anne:
1st. 2nd.
- Even Wickham admits
Darcy has some good qualities....
- ...in his behaviour to his social
inferiors.
- ...in his behaviour to his
sister.
- ...in his behaviour to his social
equals. (Hmm... Maybe you should begin to see a pattern here,
Elizabeth?)
- The Netherfield Ball:
Elizabeth tells Darcy he is of "an unsocial
taciturn disposition".
- The Netherfield Ball:
Elizabeth attempts to "illustrate" Darcy's
character
- The Netherfield Ball:
Jane to Elizabeth: Bingley "will vouch for
the good conduct, the probity and honour" of
Darcy.
- Everybody in the Meryton
neighbourhood is "pleased to think how much they had always disliked
Mr. Darcy before they had known any thing of"
Wickham's accusations against him;
Darcy is "condemned as the worst of men".
- Elizabeth thinks that "that
abominable Mr. Darcy's" former bad treatment and impoverishment of
Wickham is the main reason why she cannot
consider marrying Wickham.
- Elizabeth sees a resemblance
between Darcy and his aunt, Lady Catherine.
- Lady Catherine speaks of him "in
terms of the highest admiration".
- He is "a little ashamed of" Lady
Catherine's "ill breeding".
- "I am ill qualified to recommend
myself to strangers"; "I have not the
talent of conversing easily with those I have never seen before."
- Elizabeth discerns no signs of any
love by Darcy for Anne de Bourgh.
- Charlotte suspects Darcy is in
love with Elizabeth.
- Darcy silent and dull; Charlotte
doubts he is in love with Elizabeth.
- Darcy several times encounters and
walks with Elizabeth in Rosings Park.
- Elizabeth thinks Darcy is hinting
that Colonel Fitzwilliam will probably propose to her.
- Elizabeth thinks that Darcy
objected to the "ungentlemanly" occupations of her and Jane's uncles, when he
separated Jane and Bingley.
- The infamous proposal -- He
frankly confesses how his love for her has overcome his sense that a marriage
to her would be degrading because of her inferior family.
- He is surprised and angry at her
rejection of his proposal.
- Darcy refuses to disguise his
mixed feelings with flattery even in making a marriage proposal.
- Elizabeth tells him his present
manner is ungentlemanlike, and that his
manners have made a negative impression on her from the beginning of their
acquaintance.
- Darcy's letter: He is already
making excuses for Elizabeth's believing Wickham.
- Elizabeth realizes that she doesn't
objectively know much in Darcy's disfavor except for his "proud manner"
(leaving aside his separating Bingley and Jane).
- Elizabeth thinks that if she had
married Darcy, he wouldn't allow her to invite the Gardiners to Pemberley,
because of Mr. Gardiner's "ungentlemanly" occupation.
- Darcy's housekeeper's praise of
him surprises Elizabeth.
- Encounter at Pemberley: Elizabeth
has "never in her life she seen his manners so little dignified", and he has
"never spoken with such gentleness".
- described by Mr. and
Mrs. Gardiner; "But to be sure, the
good lady who shewed us the house did give him a most flaming character!".
- Elizabeth is doubtful as to
Darcy's feelings when witnessing his altered and improved behaviour at
Pemberley
- The Darcys' call at
Lambton: Mr. and
Mrs. Gardiner have no doubt that
Darcy does love her:
1st. 2nd.
- The Darcys' call at Lambton: His
improvement in manners continues; Elizabeth still surprised.
- The Gardiners become "anxious to
think well" of him after they think he is interested in Elizabeth.
- Elizabeth thinks that the news of
Lydia's disgrace destroys "her power" with Darcy.
- Darcy's sister
Georgiana, 16,
£30,000. She is tall (like
her brother);
she is "rather taller" than
Elizabeth; "though little more
than sixteen, her figure was formed, and her appearance womanly and graceful".
- Dawson,
Lady Catherine's maid.
- Sir Lewis DE BOURGH, knight, of Rosings Park
in Kent.
- Mr. Denny, of the
----shire Militia.
- Colonel
Fitzwilliam, younger son of the Earl of ----, nephew of
Lady Catherine de Bourgh and of
Lady Anne Darcy.
- Colonel Forster,
commanding the ----shire Militia;
description;
married
Harriet ----.
Description.
- Edward
GARDINER, of Gracechurch-street, brother of
Mrs. Bennet.
- The Gouldings
(William named) of
Haye-Park.
- Miss
Grantley, an acquaintance of Caroline
Bingley.
- Haggerston, an
attorney.
- Miss Harriet
and Miss "Pen" Harrington, acquaintances of
Mrs. Forster and
Lydia.
- Mrs. Hill,
housekeeper at Longbourn.
- Mr. Hurst, of
Grosvenor-street; description;
married Louisa Bingley.
- Mrs. Jenkinson,
Miss de Bourgh's companion.
Non-description.
Her four nieces.
- John, the Collins's
servant.
- John, the
Gardiners' servant.
- Mr. Jones,
apothecary at Meryton.
- Miss Mary King,
heiress of
£10,000.
Description; no longer courted by Wickham.
- Mrs. Long; her
two nieces.
- Sir William LUCAS,
knight, of Lucas Lodge. (See an an explanation of aristocratic honorific prefixes such as "Sir".)
- Lady Metcalfe,
an acquaintance of Lady Catherine.
- Mr. Morris.
- Mrs. Nicholls,
housekeeper at Netherfield.
- Mr. Philips,
attorney in Meryton; married
Miss ---- Gardiner.
- Miss Pope,
governess in
Lady Metcalfe's family.
- Mr. Pratt, of the
----shire Militia.
- Mrs. Reynolds,
housekeeper at Pemberley.
- Mr. Robinson,
of the Meryton neighbourhood.
- Sally/Sarah (in chapters 47 and 55, respectively -- may be the same
individual), servant(s).
- Mr. Stone,
Mr. Gardiner's clerk?
- Miss Watson, of
Meryton.
- The Miss Webbs,
acquaintances of Lady Catherine.
- Mr. WICKHAM,
steward to old Mr. Darcy.
- His son
George; Lieutenant in
the ----shire Militia; went to Cambridge.
- Mrs. Younge,
former governess or companion to
Georgiana Darcy.
|
|
