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