Catherine "Kitty" Bennet is the fourth daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. She has four sisters, Jane Bingley, Elizabeth Darcy, Mary Bennet, and Lydia Wickham. She is the sister-in-law of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Charles Bingley, and George Wickham. She is a distant cousin of William Collins.
Biography
Catherine Bennet is the fourth of the five Bennet sisters, and is almost always called "Kitty" by her family and most intimate friends.
Kitty is in the shadow of her youngest sister, Lydia, often simply repeating or supporting Lydia's own opinions. She is often seen together with her younger sister in various scenes, dancing at the assembly room, at Lucas Lodge, and out in town.
When the militia come to Meryton, she is just as infatuated by the officers as Lydia, including George Wickham.
When Lydia is invited to accompany Colonel Forster's wife to Brighton, Kitty sulks and whines about not being invited, and grumbles after Lydia leaves for a long time, in no spirits to ever leave the house.
When Lydia runs away with Wickham, Kitty proudly reveals that she knew of Lydia's plans from the letters she sent her while she was in Brighton. Mr. Bennet is furious when he finds out, and Kitty has to deal with her father's anger at this discovery. He later makes it clear that he'll be more careful with Kitty, and refuses to allow her to go to Meryton or balls, unaccompanied, which distresses Kitty. Though Lydia married Wickham, saving herself and her family from ruin, Mr. Bennet refused to receive them at Longbourn or to visit them. Lydia sent letters to Kitty, inviting her, but Mr. Bennet refused to allow Kitty to go.
After Jane married Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth married Mr. Darcy, Kitty would often visit and spent most of her time with her eldest sisters. Under their guidance and away from Lydia's influence, Kitty changed for the better.
According to James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen, she later married a clergyman who lived near Pemberley.
Appearance and Personality
Kitty is two years older than Lydia, making her seventeen or eighteen during the events of the novel (as Lydia turned sixteen in June).[1] She is pretty, unlike Mary,[2] but slight and delicate[3] and apparently sickly: She coughs frequently enough that her parents complain[4] and gets sick in carriages.[5] Besides that, her aunt Phillips believes sea-bathing would do her a great deal of good,[6] and Charles Bingley states that a walk to Oakham Mount would be too much for her,[7] a statement she agrees with.
Her only care at a ball is never being without a partner,[8] and she and Lydia frequently walk to Meryton to visit the milliner's and hear the latest gossip from their aunt Phillips.[9] When the militia regiment arrives in Meryton, Kitty is as enamored with the officers as Lydia and no longer takes pleasure in the society of a man who doesn't wear a red coat.[10]
She is "weak-spirited, irritable, and completely under Lydia's guidance,"[11] as well as "vain, ignorant, idle, and absolutely uncontrolled,"[12] but unlike Lydia, she is capable of understanding: She is disconcerted when Mr. Bennet insults them while Lydia does not care,[9] and when Mrs. Bennet orders her daughters to let her speak alone with Mr. Collins, Kitty leaves with Jane and Elizabeth while Lydia remains to hear all she can.[13]
Supported by Mrs. Bennet's indulgence, she had always been affronted by Jane and Elizabeth's attempts to check her behavior,[11] but following their marriages, Kitty spends the majority of her time with them, and removed from Lydia's influence, she grows "less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid."[14]
How she is Addressed
- Kitty - by family and intimate friends, the narrator herself also frequently refers to her as Kitty.
- Catherine - the narrator sometimes also refers to her as her full true name of "Catherine", and it is possible that there are others who do so as well.
- Miss Kitty Bennet/Miss Catherine Bennet - by those who are not intimate enough with her to use either her full name or her nickname alone.
- Miss Bennet - she will be addressed as such if none of her elder, unmarried sisters were present.
Bennet Family
Immediate
- Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet
- Jane Bennet & Charles Bingley
- Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy
- Mary Bennet
- Catherine Bennet
- Lydia Bennet & George Wickham
Extended
Paternal
- William Collins (cousin) & Charlotte Lucas
- Unnamed child (unknown if baby did survive)
Maternal
- Edward Gardiner & Mrs. Gardiner (maternal uncle and aunt)
- Mrs. Phillips & Mr. Phillips (aunt and uncle)
Film Portrayals
- 1940: Heather Angel
- 1967: Sarah Taunton
- 1980: Clare Higgins
- 1995: Polly Maberly
- 2005: Carey Mulligan
- 2008: Florence Hoath
- 2011: Christina Rizzo
- 2016: Suki Waterhouse
Gallery
References
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 41
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 6
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 47
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 2
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 39
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 41
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 59
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 3
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 7
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 8
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 31
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 41
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 20
- ↑ Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 61