What CLASS are the Bingleys? Caroline Bingley & The Gentry—Jane Austen PRIDE AND PREJUDICE analysis

What social class are the Bingley family in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice? (i.e. Caroline Bingley/Miss Bingley, Mrs Hurst, & Mr Bingley.) Their wealth ensures their financial social status, but what is their class social status? What difference does it make in Regency society to have acquired wealth by trade rather than by being a member of the landed gentry? Analysis of social class in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

The lecture:
• Provides contemporary context to social class (class hierarchy & class status): explains meaning of the terms Nobility/Aristocracy, Landed Gentry/Gentleman, Genteel/Mercantile/Commercial Trade, Common Trade, Peasantry
• Explains what class the Bingleys belong to (Caroline Bingley/Miss Bingley, Mrs Hurst, & Mr Bingley)
• Examines the significance of the Bingleys’ class status:
- Caroline Bingley’s & Mrs Hurst’s snobbery (especially toward the Bennets)
- Social status, & differences between class status & financial status
- Compares the Bingleys to Mr Darcy
- How do these characters engage with the Gardiners? Cheapside? Gracechurch Street?

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[FreyaEinde]

Bingley being of a slightly lesser class really explains why he takes Darcy's advice about Jane more seriously, and also a bit why he's so easygoing and polite. He sort of needs to be to get by.

[marthawolfsen]

At the very end of P&P we learn that the Gardiners and the Darcys (after Darcy marries Elizabeth) "were always on the most intimate terms." So Darcy-- not only a very rich landowner but the grandson of an earl-- chooses his friends by their qualities, not by their assigned position in society.

[j.munday]

This gave me so much to think about. I never really thought about it before, but Jane Austen gives such a good (and stinging) portrayal of "new money" vs "old money" with the way the Bingley sisters act. They're so insecure in their social status that they fall into that new money trap of treating people like lesser beings to sort of "prove" they're better because of their wealth. I like to imagine when the Bingley sisters are making fun of Jane and Darcy says "that must materially hurt her chances of marriage" I think it was his dry humor way of poking fun at them, not Jane. (Implying that if having relatives in trade is what made someone unmarriable then the Bingley sisters were very unmarriable.)

Another thing is how she points out its very easy to judge people by the company they keep. The thing is we should have focused on Darcy and Bingley being the BFFs and realized Darcy could care less about social rank as long as the person is capable and kind. But because Miss Bingley is all over Darcy like a rash, and Darcy himself is so standoffish around new people, Jane Austen is able to cleverly trick the readers into judging them both harshly. Then the obvious big reveal is that Darcy is a reserved person who is actually the kind of ride-or-die friend we would all love to have.

I think that's why Austen, s work has stood the test of time. She was such a good observer of human nature and was able to tease out all the basics that we can identify with still today.

[hanna-writes]

This is such a good breakdown, but I would further drive home just how important connections really were. Mr Darcy and the Bennets belong to the same class, yes, but what sets them apart isn't just money. Right after Elizabeth says to Lady Catherine, "He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal", Lady Catherine replies, "True. You are a gentleman's daughter. But who was your mother? Who are your uncles and aunts? Do not imagine me ignorant of their condition." While the Bennets belong to the gentry, none of their relations do. Darcy, meanwhile, is the grandson of a late earl, the nephew of an earl, the cousin of a future earl, and the cousin of a knight or baronet's only daughter and heiress. While untitled himself, he is surrounded by titled or near-titled individuals. This, of course, widens the gap between him and Elizabeth, but it also enables him to bridge the gap without much risk to himself. Elizabeth's lack of money will not negatively affect his financial position, her class is technically the same as his, and while her lack of valuable connections gives him pause at first--as stated in his first proposal--he has more than enough to go around already. Marrying Elizabeth is, for him, a small risk that carries a very high reward.

While we know plenty about Mr Darcy's connections, the same cannot be said for the Bingleys. All we are ever told is that their father had died before he could purchase an estate. No mention of a mother (though we can assume she is dead), nor any aunts or uncles or cousins. Since I'm sure Miss Bingley would have flaunted any valuable connections, we can assume either that the Bingleys have none, or that the ones they have aren't (in their opinion) worth mentioning. I believe this is the biggest reason Miss Bingley is so set against Mr Bingley marrying Jane. Although nowhere near as rich as Darcy, they are still very well off, and they're already straddling the line between genteel trade and gentry. Mr Bingley's marriage alone--regardless of whom he married--would not materially change their position, either class-wise or financially. So Mr Bingley marrying Jane, a gentleman's daughter, should not be seen as such a bad thing. Except. All of Jane's aunts and uncles belong to the very class Miss Bingley wants to escape, and therefore Jane is tainted by association. Mr Bingley clearly does not care about this, but Miss Bingley does. As you say, the Bingleys' place in society is much less secure than Mr Darcy's. In attempting to bring about a marriage between Mr Bingley and Miss Darcy, Miss Bingley is not only trying to increase her own chances of marrying Mr Darcy (which would of course bring her squarely into the landed gentry, though her family would be left behind), but she is also trying to increase the social standing of her entire family by improving their connections. When Mr Bingley marries Jane, he connects himself to a tradesman and an attourney, and through Lydia, a known rake. Once he purchases an estate and becomes a gentleman proper, any further upwards mobility or an advantageous marriage for his sister, which good connections might have brought about, will be more or less out of reach. No tradesman or attourney could ever facilitate those things. So if climbing as high as possible on the social ladder had been Mr Bingley's highest ambition in life, then marrying Jane would have been an inexcusable mistake. Of course, he also ends up connected to Mr Darcy through Elizabeth, but that was not something anyone expected until after Mr Bingley and Jane were already engaged.

So yes, class and money were both hugely important factors, but connections could be just as, or sometimes even more, important. We have to understand what class the Bingleys belonged to in order to understand what Miss Bingley wanted to achieve (upwards mobility)--but we also have to understand the importance of good connections, as well as the potential harm of bad or mediocre connections, to fully understand why she was so against her already wealthy brother marrying a woman who technically belonged to the class above them.

[_winniehui_]

This really helped me understand how Lydia's elopement came dangerously close to forever dooming the entire family. There were already many factors that were lowering the social status of the Bennet sisters- relations on Mrs Bennet's side, the impropriety of Mrs Bennet as well as Mary, Kitty, and Lydia, etc. If Mr Gardiner and Mr Darcy had not come to the rescue, the family's status would be lowered by a lot and their reputation would have been tainted forever. Jane and Lizzie are also very lucky to have found Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy, who don't particularly care about status as much as other's would have since they value other qualities before that. In fact, the whole family is truly truly lucky to have escaped the fate that would have very likely occurred because of Mr Wickham's grooming and Lydia's rashness.

[whatevergoesforme]

The Bingleys are what we call nouveau riche while Darcy is old money nowadays.

[stoverboo]

I've always assumed that one reason Mr Darcy preferred to deal with Mr Gardiner in the matter of Lydia's elopement was that he still hoped to marry Elizabeth, and did not want to humiliate his future father in law if that could be avoided.

[clairemeehan]

That was brilliant. I know I'd clocked that their money was originally from trade, but I never truly appreciated the significance of that as the story progressed. It's even less of a wonder that Caroline Bingley felt threatened by Lizzie Bennett when you consider that, not only had she caught Darcy's attention, not only could she match him with her wit, but also she was of the Gentry. Ha! The class issue alone would have been enough to make Caroline spit feathers 😄

[MidrinaTheSerene]

I love this breakdown. Somehow I never realised they were a different class. The more funny it is how the Bingley sisters saw the Bennet sisters as 'below them', while actually they were of a lower class than the Bennets ... Indeed, the hypocrisy figures

[ClaireHi]

Oh wow I hadn't realized they were of lower class. Even though it was clearly written. 🙈
The sisters made such a fuss, you would think they are second to the queen.
I had just assumed they were the same as Darcy, but of lower income. Great video!!

[mariateresam]

I also want to add that perhaps Mr. D did not want to deal with Mr. Bennet when it came to Lydia and Wickam because he didn’t want the chance of Mr. B feeling indebted to him, and that if he should marry Elizabeth B, it should be because she wanted to and not because they’re indebted to him.

[sharragamez]

I really love how the theme of pride and prejudice is explored in so many ways through the novel. Even side characters can be evaluated in light of their pride and prejudices (like Sir William Lucas becoming disgusted by his own business after being knighted).

I don't think I realized the class divide between the Bennets and Bingleys was so distinct, though - I suppose since Mr. Bingley wanted an estate and was capable of buying one, I thought of them as fundamentally different than the Gardiners. But now I see Darcy's treatment of them foreshadows his easy acceptance of the Gardiners. In fact, Darcy's prejudice seems to be more against poor education or personal faults like those Mr. Bennet indulges in. He gets on perfectly well with both Bingley and the Gardiners, preferring them not only to most of the Bennets, but also to Lady Catherine. Elizabeth still has an imperfect understanding of his biases when she believes Lady Catherine's arguments might sway him, I think.

[charlottefasi]

I love the book but listening to the commentary tells me that I’ve been relying on the films too much and it’s skewed my understanding of the characters. It’s so great listening to your analysis.

[carolynhunt]

Please do an analysis of the military in Austen.

[sarahgroggs]

Literally love your work. It's like literature candy 🍬

[Dinozzzaur]

The saddest part for me was when Lizzy realized the extent of neglect her father has left her family in. He was set up to be a loving, stereotypical father. Then his soft-side gets exposed as folly, "...fully aware of the evils arising from so ill-judged a direction of talents, talents which rightly used might at least have preserved the respectability of his daughters..."

[julijakeit]

Everyone fancies themselves a gentry until Dr Cox brings you down to Earth.

[LVP]

This was an excellent breakdown that really put the Bingleys into a whole new context for me. The explanation of class structure adds an important layer to the Bingley sisters' motivations. Here I thought they were just money-grubbing snobs. The fact that they're also pretentious hypocrites and gentry wannabes makes them even more ridiculous.

[joelledurben]

I cannot help wondering if Darcy's comment about the chances of marrying well was a hint to Miss Bingley that such tasteless talk lowered HER chances of marrying Darcy - whether from deficiency in manners or in relatives.

[fatimagaribay]

Even though I read Pride and Prejudice in my mother tounge, which is spanish, I absolutely love your videos and they help me understand the novel in a different level.
I hope reading it again soon.
Greetings from Mexico🇲🇽