He settles on Elizabeth, but is stunned and offended when she refuses him. Bennet that Lady Catherine has instructed him to marry and that he plans to choose a wife from the Bennet daughters. Full of apologies for the entail and praises for his patroness, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, Mr. Bennet's estate when he dies because of a legal stricture known as an entail. Bennet's cousin, William Collins, a clergyman who will inherit Mr.

In the midst of Jane and Elizabeth's developing relationships, the Bennet family is visited by Mr. Wickham's tale makes Darcy appear not only proud but cruel, and Elizabeth accepts Wickham's account without question, disliking Darcy even more because of it.

Stating that he was favored by Darcy's father, Wickham claims that Darcy disobeyed his father's bequest of a clergyman's revenue to Wickham out of selfish resentment. Wickham tells Elizabeth that his father worked for Darcy's father and that he and Darcy grew up together. He is drawn to her spirited wit and expressive eyes, and Caroline Bingley's jealous criticisms of Elizabeth can do nothing to lessen Darcy's admiration.Īs Darcy grows more interested in Elizabeth, Elizabeth continues to despise him and is instead attracted to George Wickham, a handsome and personable militia officer. Meanwhile, Darcy finds himself attracted to Elizabeth despite his objections to her family. Any serious relationship between the two, however, is opposed by Bingley's sisters (who do not approve of Jane as a wife for Bingley because of her mother's lower status) and by Darcy (who believes that Jane is indifferent to Bingley).

They are less impressed, however, by Bingley's friend Fitzwilliam Darcy, a landowning aristocrat who is too proud to speak to any of the locals and whom Elizabeth Bennet overhears refusing to dance with her.īingley and the oldest Bennet daughter, Jane, soon form an attachment. When the Bennet daughters meet him at a local ball, they are impressed by his outgoing personality and friendly disposition. Bennet, who hopes to marry one of her five daughters to him. When Charles Bingley, a rich single man, moves to the Netherfield estate, the neighborhood residents are thrilled, especially Mrs.

Pride and prejudice annotations