Catherine Bennet

Catherine Bennet, almost always called Kitty, is the fourth daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet of Longbourn, a young woman whose character is defined less by her own convictions than by her susceptibility to the stronger personalities around her. She is introduced as a girl of little discretion, whose coughs are ill-timed and whose mind is as vacant as her sister Lydia's, requiring a walk to Meryton to furnish conversation for the evening. Her father openly calls her one of the two silliest girls in the country, a judgment she receives with disconcerted silence, lacking even Lydia's brazen indifference.

Identity and Family Position

Kitty is the constant companion and follower of her younger sister Lydia, a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen whose high animal spirits and natural self-consequence have been increased by the attention of officers. Kitty, by contrast, is weak-spirited, irritable, and completely under Lydia's guidance, always affronted by the advice of her elder sisters. She is described as slight and delicate, and her mind is more vacant than those of Jane and Elizabeth, leaving her perpetually in need of amusement. Her chief occupations are walking to Meryton to see the officers, gossiping with her aunt Phillips, and joining Lydia in dressing up Chamberlayne in woman's clothes for a joke at Colonel Forster's.

Arc Through the Plot

Kitty's trajectory is one of gradual, passive separation from Lydia's orbit. She shares Lydia's misery when the militia regiment prepares to leave Meryton, lamenting that she cannot go to Brighton, and she weeps from vexation and envy when Lydia receives an invitation from Mrs. Forster. When Lydia elopes with Wickham, Kitty is revealed to have known of their attachment for many weeks, having kept the secret because it was a matter of confidence. After the scandal, her father threatens her with severe restrictions: no officer is ever to enter his house again, balls are prohibited unless she stands up with one of her sisters, and she is never to stir out of doors until she can prove she has spent ten minutes of every day in a rational manner. Kitty takes these threats in a serious light and begins to cry.

Change and Ending

Kitty's genuine improvement comes only after Lydia's marriage removes her from the household. Removed from the influence of Lydia's example, and spending the chief of her time with her two elder sisters in society far superior to what she had generally known, she undergoes a material improvement. She becomes, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. Her father, who had once refused to trust her as near Brighton as Eastbourne for fifty pounds, now keeps her carefully away from Lydia's further influence, refusing to consent to her visiting Mrs. Wickham despite the promise of balls and young men. By the end of the novel, Kitty is the only daughter besides Mary who remains at home, but she has been transformed from a thoughtless follower into a young woman capable of rational behavior.

Thematic Significance

Kitty embodies the dangers of unchecked female frivolity and the power of bad example, particularly within a family where the mother indulges rather than restrains. Her character serves as a contrast to the steady sense of Jane and Elizabeth, and as a demonstration that even a weak-willed girl can be reclaimed when removed from corrupting influences. Her arc reinforces the novel's argument that character is not fixed but can be improved by proper guidance and superior society, a lesson that Lydia, who remains untamed and unabashed, never learns.