Lydia Bennet: The Wild Card of the Bennet Sisters

In Pride and Prejudice, the story follows the lives of five sisters in 19^th century England who do not get their father’s inheritance when their father dies so they must be married off to wealthy men so their mother and they can live comfortably before they die. The novel is more of a 3^rd person point of view narration focused on Elizabeth Bennet, the second eldest of the Bennet sisters. However, the youngest of the Bennet sisters, Lydia, is considered the wild card of all the sisters because she runs off with a man whom she is not married to. In the book and the 2005 movie version, she is described as very vivacious and bold in her actions. She is always the first of the Bennet sisters to say something quite outrageous, for this time, to a man. She gets her way most of the time and is seen as the most reckless and adventurous of all the Bennet sisters.

The novel describes her brash decision to run off with a man as very unbecoming of a lady and Elizabeth sees it as a huge dishonor on their family. She finds it distasteful and worries that the rest of the sisters will not be able to be married off. During this part of the novel, Elizabeth isn’t shy to how wrong she thinks this really is for their family. I feel like the way Elizabeth reacts to the situation says a lot of her character. She seems very rebellious out of all the sisters because she wants to marry for love and not just to marry for money. Compared to the novel, the 2005 movie version shows Lydia as a very dim girl and literally getting exactly what she wants. I think this movie version is a very accurate adaptation of what the novel has described Lydia as because Jane Austen wanted to show the take action side of being rebellious during this time. However, Lydia is very naïve for her time and shows that Jane Austen wants people to laugh at debutantes like her.