Bennet family

Bennet family
The Bennet family at Longbourn, by Hugh Thomson. Illustration for chapter II (1894).
Full name	Bennet
Birth	Longbourn, Meryton, Hertfordshire, England
Occupation	Landed gentry
Income	£2000 per annum
Rank	Gentry
Primary residence	Longbourn House in the village of Longbourn, Meryton township, in Hertfordshire
Family
Parents	Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet
Children	Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, Lydia

The Bennet family are a fictional family of dwindling Hertfordshire landed gentry, created by English novelist Jane Austen. The family plays a central role in the novel Pride and Prejudice, since it is the one to which the protagonist, Elizabeth, belongs. The complex relationships between its various members influence the evolution of the plot.

In a society where marriage is the only possible future for a young girl of good family, the presence in the household of five girls to marry with no other advantage than their good looks can only be a source of concern. Yet the Bennet couple do not assume their role as educators: the mother repeatedly makes a spectacle of herself, incapable of realizing that her behaviour is more likely to put off any rich, eligible young man who noticed the oldest and most pretty of her daughters. All the while, the father, an indifferent husband, whose mocking gaze only makes things worse, since he has long-since given up on reining in her behaviour, more intent on 'enjoying the show' than in correcting her behaviour, and the behaviour of his younger daughters, regardless of how negatively it affects his daughters' chances of respectable matches.

These girls show very different behaviors according to the education they received or provided themselves: the two eldest daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, show irreproachable conduct and are appreciated by their father, while Mary, less physically attractive, displays intellectual and musical , and the two youngest are both left almost abandoned to run wild under the sloppy, careless supervision of their ineffectual mother.

Other members of the Bennets staged by Jane Austen are, on the one hand Mrs Bennet's brother and sister – Mr. Gardiner and Mrs. Philips, on the other hand the designated heir of Mr. Bennet's estate, his distant paternal second cousin, the pompous and foolish Mr. William Collins. Mr. Gardiner and Mrs. Philips contribute significantly to the progress and outcome of the story, but at a level and in a different register reflecting their respective social belonging. Collins's character serves as a link between the gentry of Hertfordshire, to which the Bennets belong, and the large property owners Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Mr. Darcy.