Which Pride and Prejudice Character Are You?

The Pride and Prejudice cast, sorted

Pride and Prejudice is usually sold as a love story, but it is really a book about what a woman could afford to want. The Bennet daughters have no inheritance, a father who will not save and a mother who cannot stop worrying. Every character is making a bet about security, and the quiz asks which bet you would make.

The first fault line runs through the Bennet marriage. Mr. Bennet saw it clearly and chose to be amused rather than useful. Mrs. Bennet saw only the problem, and she turned it into noise. Readers split on which parent did more harm: the one who gave up and laughed, or the one who panicked and pushed. Both are right, which is why neither is easy to love and both are easy to recognize.

The second is between Elizabeth and Jane, who look like sisters of one temperament and are not. Jane finds good in everyone because it keeps her calm. Elizabeth finds fault in nearly everyone because it keeps her entertained. Jane's generosity costs her a man for a season. Elizabeth's wit costs her nearly the best match in the book. Neither is a lesson. They are two ways to protect yourself.

Then there is the matter of Charlotte Lucas, the character fans argue about most. Some read her marriage to Mr. Collins as a betrayal of the book's romance. The better reading is that she is the only person in the novel who tells the truth about the stakes, and acts on it. She wants a house of her own, and she gets one. Whether that is wisdom or surrender is the question the quiz cannot settle for you.

The proud and the prejudiced are not only the leads. Darcy is proud by training and shy by temperament, and he mistakes silence for dignity. Lady Catherine is proud with no shyness at all. Bingley has none of it, and that is both his charm and his weakness, since he lets a friend make his biggest decision. Lydia and Mary are the extremes of the family: one never reflects, the other never stops.

Answer as you would act, not as you would like to be seen. The quiz does not need you to pick a hero. It reads your choices against what each character does in the book, from the first chapters to the last, and gives you the one whose habits you share.

All 10 possible results

Elizabeth Bennet The Quick Study

You read people fast and trust your read, which is your best quality and your biggest blind spot.

Jane Bennet The Kind Eye

You give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and you keep your own feelings so quiet that people miss them.

Mary Bennet The Student

You work hard at being serious, and it shows in a way you would rather it did not.

Lydia Bennet The Main Event

You want to be where it is happening, and you do not see why that needs a reason.

Mr. Darcy The Quiet Giver

You are shy in a crowd and generous in private, and people take the first for the whole.

Mr. Bingley The Open Door

You make everyone feel welcome, and you ask a friend what to do more often than you should.

Charlotte Lucas The Realist

You see what a good life actually takes, and you are willing to do the arithmetic.

Mr. Bennet The Dry Observer

You see everything and you find most of it funny, which is also how you avoid doing anything.

Mrs. Bennet The Matchmaker

You worry out loud, you plan for everybody, and you are more right about the stakes than anyone admits.

Lady Catherine The Authority

You know how it should be done, and you tell people so, usually before they ask.

How this quiz scores you

Each answer gives points to one to three characters, based on what that character actually does or chooses in the novel. Your total for each character is added up at the end, and the character with the highest total is your result. Close calls are settled by your later answers.

Spoilers: Mentions how the novel's romances and the Lydia crisis resolve. Read the book first if you want the surprises.

Sources

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Project Gutenberg

An unofficial fan quiz. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the makers of Pride and Prejudice.