Lydia Bennet Character Analysis

Mary Pearson model for Lydia Bennet

Elizabeth may be Mr. Bennet’s favorite daughter, but Lydia is definitely the apple of Mrs. Bennet’s eye – similar in personality, they both to gossip and socialize.

Frivolous and immature, the youngest Bennet loves to flirt with the militia officers, is spoiled and irresponsible. Over-indulged by her mother and ignored by her father, she is allowed out in society at the age of only 15!

Add Lydia’s “high animal spirits” to the mix and it suggests trouble ahead for the Bennet family. This comes in the form of George Wickham as Lydia runs off unmarried to live with him in London and causes a scandal and family crisis.

A quickly arranged marriage saves the reckless and impulsive Lydia and her family from social disgrace. Mr. Darcy is later being revealed as the hero who comes to the rescue and facilites this.

Five revealing Lydia Bennet quotes with analysis about the youngest of the Bennet sisters:

“Lydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion and good-humoured countenance; a favourite with her mother, whose affection had brought her into public at an early age. She had high animal spirits, and a sort of natural self-consequence, which the attention of the officers, to whom her uncle’s good dinners, and her own easy manners recommended her, had increased into assurance.”

Chapter 9. We learn here that Lydia Bennet is a strong 15-year-old who is well developed with “high animal spirits” and is Mrs. Bennet’s favorite daughter. She has “easy manners” and is obsessed with men, especially the officers of her militia regiment. This passage foreshadows the sexual scandal that the flirtatious Lydia will later become involved in.

Hopeless of remedy

“They were hopeless of remedy. Her father, contented with laughing at them, would never exert himself to restrain the wild giddiness of his youngest daughters; and her mother, with manners so far from right herself, was entirely insensible of the evil. Elizabeth had frequently united with Jane in an endeavour to check the imprudence of Catherine and Lydia; but while they were supported by their mother’s indulgence, what chance could there be of improvement? Catherine, weak-spirited, irritable, and completely under Lydia’s guidance, had been always affronted by their advice; and Lydia, self-willed and careless, would scarcely give them a hearing. They were ignorant, idle, and vain. While there was an officer in Meryton, they would flirt with him; and while Meryton was within a walk of Longbourn, they would be going there forever.”

Chapter 37. Elizabeth reflects on the flaws of her family after reading Darcy’s letter. From her father’s judgmental sarcasm, to the flirtations of her wild youngest sisters, to the unwillingness of her parents to control their behavior – the family is beyond remedy, Elizabeth says.

“Our importance, our respectability in the world must be affected by the wild volatility, the assurance and disdain of all restraint which mark Lydia’s character. Excuse me – for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous.”

Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 41. Elizabeth lectures her father over his questionable parenting of his youngest daughter Lydia. Fifteen-year-old Lydia has received an invitation from the wife of Colonel Forster to come with the militia regiment to Brighton. But Elizabeth is opposed to the wild and unrestrained Lydia going, ominously warning that she will become the “most determined flirt” and damage the family’s reputation and standing. Mr. Bennet fails to “check” his daughter’s “exuberant spirits” as demanded by Elizabeth, with very troubling consequences later on, as we discover. This foreshadows the scandal Lydia will soon become embroiled in.

“In Lydia’s imagination, a visit to Brighton comprised every possibility of earthly happiness. She saw herself the object of attention to tens and to scores of them at present unknown. She saw all the glories of the camp – its tents stretched forth in beauteous uniformity of lines, crowded with the young and the gay, and dazzling with scarlet; and, to complete the view, she saw herself seated beneath a tent, tenderly flirting with at least six officers at once.”

Chapter 41. Lydia’s imagination runs wild after Mr. Bennet with his hands-off parenting strategy gives her the go-ahead to go to Brighton with Colonel Forster and his wife. She fantasizes about partying with the young men of the regiment, flirting with at least six officers at the same time. This is foreshadowing of trouble ahead.

“What do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck. They must all go to Brighton. That is the place to get husbands.”

Chapter 51. After a forced marriage to Wickham and putting her family through a form of hell, an unrepentant Lydia returns to Longbourn. She sees no fault in her behavior and jokes about her luck in finding a husband in Brighton. With great irony she hopes her sisters get half as lucky in finding a good husband in Brighton. Lydia is unaware that Wickham had to be paid to marry her.