Story so far
Lydia Bennet and Mr. Wickham live unsettled lives after the peace sends them from post to post in search of cheap quarters. Their income is inadequate for their heedless spending, and they repeatedly apply to Jane or Elizabeth for help with bills. Lydia's affection for Wickham lasts longer than his for her, and she retains the social respectability marriage gave her without gaining reflection or economy.
She hopes Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy will obtain Wickham a court position, but Elizabeth refuses to press Darcy for such advancement. Lydia sometimes visits Pemberley while Wickham is away enjoying London or Bath, though the household never receives him there. Her old promises of balls and young men do not tempt Kitty, whom their father keeps safely apart from her influence.
Appearance
She is a well-grown, stout young Englishwoman with a fine complexion and good-humoured countenance; her hair, eye colour, exact dress, and age are not described.
Role
She is the cautionary married sister whose formal rescue never becomes a moral transformation.
Relationships
Mr. Wickham — Mr. Wickham is Lydia's husband; her affection outlasts his, while their shared extravagance keeps them unsettled.
Kitty Bennet — Kitty Bennet is deliberately kept from Lydia's society so that her sister's example cannot undo her improvement.
Sources — 11 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 1
- A Bennet daughter whom her mother calls especially good-humoured.
Chapter 2
- The youngest Bennet daughter, confident that her height will make her bold at the coming ball.
Chapter 7
- The youngest, tall, heedless Bennet sister, now captivated by Meryton's uniformed officers.
Chapter 9
- A fifteen-year-old, high-spirited Bennet sister whose confidence turns Bingley's promised ball into a demand for more military dancing.
Chapter 37
- Lydia greets her sisters with shopping, officer gossip, and exuberant plans for the militia's Brighton camp.
Chapter 39
- Invited to Brighton by Mrs. Forster, Lydia leaves Longbourn in triumph, unable to see the danger Elizabeth fears for her.
Chapter 44
- Lydia has left Brighton with Wickham, first believed bound for Scotland but now feared to be unprotected by any marriage at all.
Chapter 45
- Lydia's laughing farewell reveals that she mistakes an elopement with Wickham for a triumphant joke, not a danger.
Chapter 48
- Lydia is to marry Wickham and leave for the north, though her parents will briefly receive the couple to preserve her consequence.
Chapter 49
- Newly Mrs. Wickham, Lydia returns to Longbourn triumphant and unashamed, treating her rescue as proof of enviable good luck.
Chapter 59
- Lydia's marriage gives her a name but not prudence; she and Wickham remain restless, extravagant, and dependent on her sisters' aid.