Pride and Prejudice — Chapter One (Abridged)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little may be known of such a gentleman’s feelings when he first arrives in a neighbourhood, the local families are soon convinced that he ought to marry one of their daughters.

“My dear Mr. Bennet,” said his lady to him one day, “have you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?”

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

“But it is,” returned she; “for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it.”

Mr. Bennet made no answer.

“Do you not wish to know who has taken it?” cried his wife impatiently.

“You are eager to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it.”

This encouragement was sufficient. Mrs. Bennet then informed him that Netherfield had been taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that he had come down only a few days earlier to see the place, had been so pleased with it that he agreed at once, and would soon take possession.

“What is his name?” asked Mr. Bennet.

“Bingley.”

“Is he married or single?”

“Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What an excellent thing for our girls!”

“How can it affect them?”

“My dear Mr. Bennet,” replied his wife, “how can you be so tiresome? You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them.”

“Is that his design in settling here?”

“Design! Nonsense. But it is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”

Mr. Bennet answered that he saw no particular occasion for such a visit. Mrs. Bennet, however, insisted upon it. Without a formal introduction, she explained, neither she nor the girls could properly call upon Mr. Bingley. Other families, including Sir William and Lady Lucas, intended to go for that very reason.

Mr. Bennet continued to amuse himself by teasing his wife. He remarked that perhaps she and the girls might go without him, or even that Mr. Bingley might admire her more than any of her daughters. Mrs. Bennet accepted the compliment only long enough to declare that a woman with five grown-up daughters ought not to think of her own beauty any longer.

Still, she returned to her chief point: he must visit Mr. Bingley. Mr. Bennet refused to give a direct answer, but instead joked that he would send a few lines expressing his hearty consent to Mr. Bingley’s marrying whichever daughter he preferred, though he might add a particular word in favour of little Lizzy.

At this Mrs. Bennet protested strongly. Lizzy, she declared, was no better than the others, and not nearly so handsome as Jane, nor half so good-humoured as Lydia. She accused her husband of always preferring Lizzy. Mr. Bennet replied that none of the girls had much to distinguish them from others, but that Lizzy possessed rather more quickness than her sisters.

Mrs. Bennet, offended by what she considered an attack on her children, complained that her husband delighted in vexing her and had no compassion for her poor nerves. Mr. Bennet answered that he had the greatest respect for her nerves, having heard them mentioned with consideration for many years.

She insisted that he could not understand what she suffered. He responded that he hoped she would recover, and live to see many more young men of four thousand a year enter the neighbourhood. When she answered that even twenty such men would be of no use if he refused to visit them, he replied that in that case he would visit them all.

Thus the first chapter presents the Bennets through lively conversation. Mr. Bennet appears intelligent, dry, and sarcastic, taking pleasure in irony and in provoking his wife. Mrs. Bennet is eager, excitable, and entirely occupied with the business of getting her daughters married. Her chief comforts are visiting and news. In this humorous exchange, Jane Austen introduces both the family and the social world in which marriage, money, and manners are deeply connected.