Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 2, 2023 September 25, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Oh, single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!
Mrs. Bennet’s almost absurd enthusiasm for Mr. Bingley’s arrival in the neighborhood introduces her as a silly and melodramatic character obsessed with the marriage of her daughters. She has not met Mr. Bingley nor knows anything about him, but because he is a wealthy bachelor, she has already imagined that he’s a suitable match for one of her daughters. While her desire for her daughters to marry is reasonable as their futures depend on it, her complete lack of consideration of reality or circumstances comes off quite vapid.
[H]er mother was talking to that one person (Lady Lucas) freely, openly, and of nothing else but of her expectation that Jane would be soon married to Mr. Bingley.
Mrs. Bennet’s rudeness at the Netherfield Ball almost ruins Jane’s prospects of marrying Mr. Bingley. Although Mr. Bingley has shown favor toward Jane, he has not yet proposed, and so Mrs. Bennet’s surety is presumptuous. Her loud and open conversation with Lady Lucas is not only tactless but appears conniving and money-hungry. We later learn that this conversation convinces Darcy that Mrs. Bennet is encouraging Jane toward Mr. Bingley because of his money. Although Mrs. Bennet has good intentions, she is unfortunately unable to keep her mouth shut when she should.
It is very hard to think that Charlotte Lucas should ever be mistress of this house, that I should be forced to make way for her, and live to see her take my place in it!
Mrs. Bennet makes this comment not long after Charlotte Lucas accepts Mr. Collins’s proposal. Throughout the novel, Mrs. Bennet has been engaged in tacit competition with Mrs. Lucas over their daughters’ marriages. This apparent triumph of Charlotte has brought out some of the worst in Mrs. Bennet. Her bitterness here is particularly nasty and emphasizes that while her fears about her daughters’ futures are warranted, Mrs. Bennet also has very shallow motivations. Instead of being relieved that Charlotte, as a friend of the family, would be unlikely to turn out the Bennets, all Mrs. Bennet can think of is status.
The marriage of a daughter . . . was now on the point of accomplishment, and her thoughts and her words ran wholly on those attendants of elegant nuptials, fine muslins, new carriages, and servants.
Once again, Mrs. Bennet’s complete focus on finding marriages for her daughters renders her unable to acknowledge the situation she finds herself in. Lydia may be married to Wickham, but in terrible circumstances that just barely skirt the bounds of propriety. Marriage may be the best outcome in this situation, but it is still a bad situation for Lydia. However, Mrs. Bennet chooses to focus on the fact that Lydia is married instead of paying attention to any of the material circumstances surrounding it. Her denial emphasizes her foolishness.
Oh, my sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! Jane’s is nothing to it—nothing at all. I am so pleased—so happy.
Mrs. Bennet’s shallowness comes on full display here. Before hearing about Darcy’s proposal, Mrs. Bennet calls him disagreeable, but as soon as his wealth benefits her, she immediately changes her opinion. Her complete lack of concern for any emotional aspect of the match comes as no surprise given her previous desire for Elizabeth to marry Mr. Collins. The way she compares Elizabeth to Jane is also distressing, but as Jane and Elizabeth never compete, this crassness becomes laughable. Ultimately, we see here that Mrs. Bennet has not changed one bit.
Please wait while we process your payment