Reevaluating the Importance of Lydia Bennet: A Closer Look at Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by Natalia

Natalia Rueda-Marshall

Romantic Comedy

March 20, 2020

Reevaluating the Importance of Lydia Bennet: A Closer Look at Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Lydia Bennet is often dismissed as the naive, lustful, youngest daughter of the Bennet bunch within Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice by readers of the novel. Her character is overshadowed by her sister Elizabeth who is viewed as intelligent, witty, and strong-willed and even by the passive Jane who gets her own love story within this novel. There is no serious attention given to Lydia until the end of the novel where her character runs off with the much older militia officer, George Wickham. The attention she receives for this is not the good kind as she threatens to hurt her family’s reputation by being with a man alone while being unwed. After this whole ordeal, she is dismissed by her family as being selfish, with the exception of her mother who is thrilled by the marriage of her youngest daughter. Lydia is very much the product of her mother in this novel, where Mrs. Bennet’s entire prerogative was to make sure her daughters got married to ensure security and status for them. It is for this reason that Lydia and Mrs. Bennet are accurate portrayals of the women and social values of the 18th century. Lydia Bennet should be regarded as a central figure to Pride and Prejudice because the unlikability of her character is Jane Austen’s representation of her critique of her society’s values and the basis of what Elizabeth Bennet’s character is not.

Lydia Bennet is first introduced early on in the story when Jane Austen familiarizes readers with the leading family of the novel. The earliest mention of Lydia is between her mother and father, where the latter compares Lydia and Elizabeth and pronounces that he finds Elizabeth much more favorable. ‘“They have none of them much to recommend them,” replied he; “they are all silly and ignorant like other girls; but Lizzy has something more of quickness than her sisters”’ (Austen, 4). This is an example of how Elizabeth is received as a much better person than Lydia, which is largely due to the fact that she isn’t “silly” because she is not concerned with men. If Jane Austen had not made Lydia so interested in the militiamen, she would not be perceived in the same way and in turn, neither would Elizabeth because there would not be a basis of an immature girl to compare her to. It is also this characterization that helps reveal Austen’s feelings on the notion that women were supposed to seek out men because the character that doesn’t do that is preferred even by their own father.

There are several examples throughout Pride and Prejudice where Lydia's prime concern is about the eligible men in her town. We often see her accompanied by her slightly older sister Kitty, going into town to catch a glimpse of the militiamen and get gossip from their aunt. But another important moment where her intentions are clear comes in chapter nine, ‘“ Oh! Yes- it would be much better to wait till Jane was well, and by that time most likely Captain Carter would be at Meryton again” (Austen, 33). Lydia’s desire to see the Captain and to be in the social setting of the ball where there are other men to meet and mingle with is blatantly obvious. It is because of this type of behavior that Lydia is dismissed as an unimportant character. However, I reiterate again that this characterization is Austen’s way to portray the values of her time and her opposition to it. There is very little of this behavior displayed by Elizabeth the protagonist, with the exception of her small interest in Mr.Wickham. This disparity with Lydia makes Elizabeth seem like a better character.

The last relevant example in this novel that displays the sharp contrast between Lydia and Elizabeth comes after the youngest sister elopes with Mr. Wickham. At this point, Elizabeth is happily married to Mr. Darcy even though her character’s prerogative was not on finding a husband. Lydia on the other hand after having spent the entire novel lusting over men finds herself in a marriage that really only has affection on her half since her husband is in it for the money. In a letter to her sister, Lydia states “... I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place will do, of about three or four hundred a year....” (Austen, 264). It is in this final letter where the consequence of Lydia’s values are revealed. The sister who valued marriage and status was left in the position where she had to ask her sister who valued independence and actual character- for money in order to lead a good life. This was Austen’s way of making known why women should not desire marriage just for the sake of status and security. In the end, Elizabeth had a more enviable result because she went against all that Lydia was by being outspoken and interested in more than just men. 

It is, of course, easy to disagree with the notion that Lydia is a critical character to this novel on the basis that there are other characters such as Charlotte and Kitty who also portray the common women of Jane Austen’s time. Charlotte marries Mr. Collins because she is getting older and we would make a sufficient husband due to his connections with the very wealthy Lady Catherine De Bourgh and due to the fact that he is set to inherit the Bennet household after Mr. Bennet’s passing. However, I maintain that this does not compare to Lydia’s character because she chooses to marry Mr. Wickham not only because it is assumed that there is some money there due to his position as an officer, but largely due to the fact that her concern was to get married because it was what women of the time did and how they maintained respect. Regarding Kitty, she accompanied Lydia in her lust of the militiamen but because she did not end up marrying one, and in fact goes through a character development when she is no longer allowed to see her sister, Lydia remains the more convincing character of who Elizabeth was not to resemble.

It is clear from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that the author had much more respect for Elizabeth Bennet's character because she was a woman that went against the norms of Austen’s time. Yet, this respect and favorability would have been harder to discern if not for Lydia Bennet’s character. In this novel, Lydia represented the women of the time because of her value for marriage and lack of uncharacteristic ladylike qualities. The stark contrast between the characters is what sets Elizabeth apart as the more favorable Bennet. Without Lydia, Austen’s critique of the norms of her time would be lost and the uniqueness of Elizabeth as a strong female lead would have been lessened.

Work Cited

Austen, Jane, et al. Pride and Prejudice. W.W. Norton and Company, 2016.