Mary Bennet series: Mary in P&P 1813, 1940, 1980, 1995, 2005, and in P&P&Z (2016)
First of all, I do want to say, there are so many movie and tv adaptations of this book. I am just covering the ones that are somewhat accessible to me. Sadly, there are not a lot of gifs of the 1940 movie or the 1980s miniseries, and I do not have the talent to make gifs of my own.
books i read in 2021: “the other bennet sister” by janice hadlow ★★★★☆
It is a sad fact of life that if a young woman is unlucky enough to come into the world without expectations, she had better do all she can to ensure she is born beautiful. To be handsome and poor is misfortune enough; to be both plain and penniless is a hard fate indeed.
I will talk about Mary Bennet published fanfiction soon, but The Other Bennet Sister is my favourite.
In Pride and Prejudice (1940), Marsha Hunt plays Mary Bennet.
Mary: Look Mama, I have just purchased Burke's essay on the sublime and beautiful.
This is pretty much the only line Mary gets in the 1940 film. Besides, of course, the scene when she is singing and playing piano. Wish I could find a gif of her because she is so darn cute especially with her outfit and hair and glasses.
In the 1980 miniseries, Mary Bennet (Tessa Peake-Jones) also has a few lines, unique to the source material.
"It has been my experience that an event looked forward to with much impatient desire does not always bring its promised satisfaction."
"I admire the activity of so much benevolance, but every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason. In my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required."
This is actually a book quote in Volume I Chapter 7 page 33:
“I admire the activity of your benevolence,” observed Mary, “but every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason; and, in my opinion, exertion should always be in proportion to what is required.”
In the Broadview Pride and Prejudice on page 70 in the footnotes it states: "Mary begins by reproducing the terms of eighteenth-century moral philosophy, in which moral action is prompted by natural sympathy or feeling rather than by reason; her last comment shades into conduct-book inanity, however, and she seems not to notice the incongruity."
In the introduction to the Penguin Clothbound of Pride and Prejudice on page xxiv it states that, "Mary Bennet, for example, who talks like a conduct book rather than a human being, primly intones the maxim that "every impulse of feeling should be guided by reason..."
On Kitty coughing:
"I have been considering the subject of coughing, the measure to which the body and soul conflict."
"One coughs when one must."
On Wickham not planning to marry Lydia:
"In exoneration, let it not be forgotten that young men must have something to live on as well as young women. By and large, it was to be expected."
Mary Bennet + Outfits | ep 01-06 (requested by anonymous)
Lucy Briers as Mary in the 1995 miniseries.
Mary Bennet + light blue evening dress | ep 01
"In their youths, a letter from Mary would have been more than the cause of irritation, or the increase of mirth. Mary then had been as much pedant as a scholar. Her interest in theology, music, and history had been marred by too great a wish to display her accomplishments, often before they were equal to such attention. This habit had made her a figure of fun in the family and in Meryton. Disdaining balls and picnics, she met few eligible young men and therefore enchanted none."
-The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray, pages 261-262
Some of Mary Bennet's words of wisdom exclusive to P&P 1995:
"Misfortunes, we are told, are sent to test our fortitude, and may often reveal themselves as blessings in disguise."
"I wonder at Kitty and Lydia, that they are so fond of dancing. I take little pleasure in a ball."
"It has often been said that a friend in need is a friend indeed."
" It behooves us all, to take very careful thought before pronouncing an adverse judgement on any of our fellow men."
"The pleasures of Brighton would have no charms for me. I should infinitely prefer a book."
This is a book quote found on Volume II Chapter 39 Page 214:
To this Mary very gravely replied, “Far be it from me, my dear sister, to depreciate such pleasures! They would doubtless be congenial with the generality of female minds. But I confess they would have no charms for me-I should infinitely prefer a book.”
Mary Bennet (Talulah Riley) doesn't have much to say in the 2005 movie. She asks about warts, and paraphrases one of Elizabeth's lines from the book.
No scheme could have been more agreeable to Elizabeth, and her acceptance of the invitation was most ready and grateful. “Oh, my dear, dear aunt,” she rapturously cried, “what delight! what felicity! You give me fresh life and vigour. Adieu to disappointment and spleen. What are [young] men to rocks and mountains? Oh! what hours of transport we shall spend! And when we do return, it shall not be like other travellers, without being able to give one accurate idea of anything. We will know where we have gone-we will recollect what we have seen. Lakes, mountains, and rivers shall not be jumbled together in our imaginations; nor when we attempt to describe any particular scene, will we begin quarreling about its relative situation. Let our first effusions be less insupportable than those of the generality of travellers.” Volume II Chapter 27 Page 152
So in a way, I am happy that 2005 Mary got a few speaking lines, and one based on Austen's words, but these are words written for Elizabeth, not Mary.
Millie Brady plays Mary in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016).
millie brady as mary bennet in pride and prejudice and zombies - requested by anonymous
In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) does have a few speaking lines.
Mary: Pride is a very common failing, I believe. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synomyously.
Liz: A person may be proud without being vain.
Mary: Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, and vanity to what we would have others think of us.
In the 1980s miniseries, Mary says: "Pride is a very common failing I believe. By all that I have ever read I am convinced that it is very common indeed. That human nature is particularly prone to it and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imagined."
The quote from the book is as such:
“Pride,” observed Mary, who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections, “is a very common failing, I believe. By all that I have ever read, I am convinced that it is very common indeed; that human nature is particularly prone to it, and that there are very few of us who do not cherish a feeling of self-complacency on the score of some quality or other, real or imaginary. Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” -Mary Bennet
Volume I Chapter 5 page 21
Please see this post where I talk about the quote from the novel.
For the last bit of this post, I want to take a quote from the book and show how it is handled in the various adaptations.
The following quote is found in Volume III, chapter 47, on pages 274-275:
“This is a most unfortunate affair, and will probably be much talked of. But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation.”
Then, perceiving in Elizabeth no inclination of replying, she added, “Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.”
Elizabeth lifted up her eyes in amazement, but was too much oppressed to make any reply. Mary, however, continued to console herself with such kind of moral extractions from the evil before them.
Various Adaptations:
Pride and Prejudice 1940: n/a
Pride and Prejudice 1980: Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable, that one false step involves her in endless ruin, that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful. We must pour into the wonded bosom of each other the balm of sisterly consolation.
Pride and Prejudice 1995: "But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into each other's wounded bosoms the balm of sisterly ocnsolation. Loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable. For a woman's reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful. Therefore we cannot be too guarded in our behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex."
Pride and Prejudice 2005: n/a
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: n/a
In the Broadview annotated Pride and Prejudice on page 298, the footnote states that: "Mary's unforgiving theses come straight from... conduct books." At the end of this edition, there are appendices from some writers of the 18th century. An excerpt from Volume 1 Sermon I of Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women from page 394:
"When a daughter...turns out unruly, foolish, wanton, when she disobeys her parents, disgraces her education, dishonours her sex, diappoints the hopes she has raised; when she throws herself away on a man unworthy of her... The world, I know not how, overlooks in our sex a thousand irregularities, which it never forgives in yours; so that honour and peace of a family are, in this view, much more dependant on the conduct of daughters than of sons; and one young lady going astray shall subject her relations to such discredit and distress, as the united good conduct of all her brothers and sister, supposing them numerous, shall scarce ever be able to repair."
I'm unable to embed this youtube video, but it's a good one because it contains clips of Mary's performances from the various adaptations. From Lucy Worsley's Jane Austen at Home on page 43: "It seems awfully unfair to us now that Mary gets a kicking for having taken up music and reading, in order to have something to offer instead of the good looks she lacks. But Jane's point, easy to miss today, was that Mary's accomplishments lacked heart. Mary quoted from great literature, but she did not understand it. She played, but her performance did not move the listener."