Is Mrs Bennett the true heroine of Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth Bennett the villain?

Controversy Corner: Let’s all enjoy a good debate.

Please note: the voiceover has been added to improve accessibility and is not the voice of Jodi Taylor.

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I first read Pride and Prejudice when I was a teenager and loved it. Clever, funny Mr Bennett; witty Lizzie; pretty Jane; villainous Wickham; sardonic – and rich – Mr Darcy; and, of course, silly Mrs Bennett.

And yet, she isn’t, is she? Silly, I mean. Clever, funny Mr Bennett has so mismanaged his estate that, on his death, his wife and any unmarried daughters will be very badly off indeed. As was common in those days, Mr Bennett’s estate of Longbourn is entailed. In other words, on his death the estate passes, in its entirety, to the nearest male heir and the widow and children must move out, resulting in a dramatic worsening of their financial position and social status.

Witness Mrs and Miss Bates in Emma. When rebuking Emma for her public slighting of Miss Bates, Mr Knightly informs Emma that Miss Bates once occupied a position very similar to Emma herself, but had, presumably lost everything when she and her mother had to leave their comfortable home and rely on the charity of friends and neighbours even to be able to enjoy a few basic comforts.

We see the same situation in Sense and Sensibility when the Dashwoods must leave their home. At a stroke they lose husband, father, home, status and financial security.

Presumably the same will happen to the female Bennetts and their situation will be equally dire. No mechanism existed for women to earn their own living in those days. They might, if they were fortunate, become either governesses or unpaid drudges to other members of their family, but that’s about it.

No one is more aware of how bleak their future will be than Mrs Bennett, endlessly scheming to get her daughters married and safely settled while Mr Bennett retires to his library, sipping wine and reading books.

Mrs Bennett, on the other hand, uses every trick a matchmaking mama’s repertoire. Jane is denied the carriage and sent out on horseback because it looks as if it might rain and she will have to stay at Netherfield overnight, considerably increasing her chances of snaring Mr Bingley. Lizzie is to be sacrificed to the clergyman Mr Collins. Lydia and Catherine are almost flung at the military officers at their nearby encampment.

It's all very witty and funny but Mrs Bennett probably lay awake at night, wondering what would become of her daughters.

Indeed I would go further. The true villain of the piece is Elizabeth Bennett herself, who wilfully refuses both Mr Collins – OK, we’ll let her off refusing Mr Collins – and the enormously wealthy Mr Darcy and his ten thousand pounds a year. Even when I first read the book in the sixties ten thousand pounds was a hell of a lot of money. A very quick google shows that ten thousand then would be worth around one million pounds today. Lizzie Bennet could have solved all her family’s problems at a stroke. Mr Bennett’s financial difficulties would disappear. There would be generous dowries for each of the girls and financial security for Mrs Bennett. A greatly improved social position would have meant excellent marriage prospects for her sisters. And Lydia Bennet would never have gone to Brighton and run away with Wickham. In fact, Wickham wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near her. Her life would never have been ruined.

And yet Lizzie refuses him.

A plot device, obviously. Lizzie had to say ‘no’ or the book would have ended there and then and that would have been a massive shame. The world would have been deprived of a literary masterpiece. And every story needs a little comic relief but think of poor Mrs Bennett, laughed at by generations and yet seemingly the only one making any provision for the future. She is the true heroine of Pride and Prejudice and Elizabeth Bennett is the villain.

And … discuss.