Elizabeth Bennet

Anne de Bourgh (cousin-in-law)

* Mr. Bingley (brother-in-law)

**Elizabeth Bennet** is the main female protagonist of *Pride and Prejudice and Zombies*. She is the second of the Bennet daughters, and is intelligent, lively, playful, attractive, and witty—but with a tendency to judge on first impression . At the beginning of the film, Elizabeth appears alongside her four sisters who have all been trained in the "Deadly Arts" in China to fight the Zombie Apocalypse.

**Elizabeth** is a member of the **Bennet Family,** and a member of the **Darcy Family.**

## Early Life

Lizzy was trained at Pei Liu of Shaolin in China along with her sisters, where they learned the art of weaponry and martial arts.

## In the Film

Elizabeth Bennet is the second eldest child of five sisters and is shown in her father's study cleaning a pistol with them near the film's opening. Mr. Bennet is focused on training his daughters to survive the daily threat of zombies, but Mrs. Bennet is determined to have them married off to wealthy men. Elizabeth is present when Mrs. Bennet mentions that Mr. Bingley is moving into Netherfield House and is a rich man who earns £5000 a year. Elizabeth shows frustration towards her sisters, especially the youngest Lydia Bennet who proclaims that Elizabeth is the least proficient in the art of "tempting the other sex" and chases her out of the room.

At a local ball at which Bingley is to attend, Elizabeth declares to her friend Charlotte Lucas that she will never relinquish her sword for a ring and the right man wouldn't ask her to in the first place. Bingley attends the ball with Mr. Darcy, an old friend of his who catches Elizabeth's attention. Bingley becomes smitten with Elizabeth's eldest sister Jane Bennet and Elizabeth overhears Darcy making disparaging comments about her. Angry and upset, she storms out of the room accidentally knocking a bottle over causing it to smash drawing unwanted attention to herself. Outside, Elizabeth is approached by the now zombified Mrs. Featherstone who is about to tell her something when Darcy kills her. When more zombies attack the ball, Elizabeth and her sisters fight them off and unbeknownst to her, Darcy becomes smitten with her after witnessing her skill in combat.

Elizabeth is seen training and sparring against each of her sisters proving her skill as a warrior. She offers Jane reassurance when her sister heads to Netherfield on horseback despite an incoming storm and the threat of a potential zombie attack en route.

When hearing of Jane's illness after getting attacked by unmentionables she walks to Netherfield to be with her. As Jane didn't show many signs of recovering and slept through most of the illness Darcy feared she had caught the Plague and uses his carrion flies to detect if she is undead. However, Elizabeth catches each of them in her hand and returns the dead flies to Darcy as she exits the room. In the evening, Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst mock her for her inability to speak Japanese (unlike the upper classes, Elizabeth was trained in China which is considered unfashionable). Darcy comments on her book choice "The Art of War" although confesses he has never read it in the original Wu dialect. Elizabeth then replies (in Chinese) that he has then never read "The Art of War".

At night Elizabeth watches Darcy training in the grounds of Netherfield but his ruthlessness puts her on edge. When her family come to visit them, Elizabeth hastens to get Jane for fear Darcy will behead her sister despite the doctor giving her the all clear. On the way home, the family drive past zombified children from a nearby orphanage but are not engaged in combat.

On returning home, Mr. Bennet announces that his cousin Mr. Collins will be visiting the family. As the Bennet family have no direct male heirs, their estate will pass directly to him. Although, Mr. Collins originally takes an interest in Jane, after Mrs. Bennet mentions that Bingley is interested in her, Mr. Collins turns his attentions to Elizabeth much to her horror. On the way to Meryton where a regiment have been stationed, the sisters encounter an overturned stage coach with a local girl zombified inside. Mr. Collins repeatedly makes attempts to hold Elizabeth's hand during the walk but she shakes him off and is left carrying the all the rifles that belong to herself and her sisters much to her annoyance.

Arriving in Meryton to visit their aunt, the Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham, a lieutenant in the local regiment staying in the town. As the pair talk, Bingley and Darcy ride past. Elizabeth notices the looks Darcy and Wickham share before the former rides off and asks Wickham if they knew each other. Wickham tells her that Darcy's father left him an inheritance in his will, but after he died, Darcy refused him that inheritance. Elizabeth is shocked by Darcy's actions and forms an even stronger dislike against the man. Wickham assures her that he will be at the Netherfield Ball before they part ways.

At the ball, Elizabeth is delighted to find Mr. Wickham present (*something that does not happen in the novel*) but before she can talk properly with him, Mr. Collins asks her to dance. After their dance, Mr. Collins mentions that he wishes to stay with her the whole evening much to her dismay. However when she hears someone asking her to dance she immediately accepts only to discover it is Mr. Darcy. Mr. Collins enthusiastically greets Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth learns that Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Collins patroness, is Darcy's aunt.

A while later, a slightly drunken Mrs. Bennet loudly talks about how she expects Bingley and Jane to marry and how delighted she would be considering how wealthy Bingley is. Elizabeth is horrified to find that Mr. Darcy overheard and quickly hurries after him. Instead she runs into Bingley only to witness a man servant dragged away screaming by a zombie. The two arm themselves and head down into the kitchens to find the cooks and maids zombified. Bingley is knocked unconscious and Elizabeth is told by one zombie that a friend of theirs showed them the way in. Before anymore can be said, Darcy bursts in and quickly kills off the zombies even pushing one into a lit oven. Elizabeth is stunned where he prepares to kill Bingley if the man is bitten and remarks that he is a good warrior, but it is a pity he is not such a good friend.

The next day, Jane receives a letter from Miss Bingley explaining that Bingley, herself, the Hursts and Darcy are returning to London and will not be coming back. Elizabeth tries to assure her sister that Bingley truly loves her, but Jane is unconvinced. Later in the morning, Mr. Collins unexpectedly proposes to Elizabeth and she refuses much to the horror of Mrs. Bennet who declares she will never speak to her again if she does not. Elizabeth is delighted when her father intervenes saving her from having to marry Collins before heading into the woods to escape her mother. Elizabeth sees four gentlemen with their back to her but is distracted when Wickham appears and the men vanish. Wickham takes her to St Lazarus Church in the In-Between (a stretch of land between fortified London and the only remaining bridge to the rest of the country) where zombies are fed pigs brains instead of human ones. This way they retain a part of their humanity and Wickham claims that the wilder zombies instinctively follow them meaning the Zombie Plague could become less of an issue. Wickham explains that the Crown funds have run dry and they cannot support the venture.

Back home, Elizabeth learns that Charlotte has accepted an offer of marriage from Mr. Collins and asks Elizabeth to accompany her to meet Lady Catherine. Elizabeth agrees and brings Wickham with her after hearing of Lady Catherine's wealth hoping Wickham can persuade her to support his venture. Darcy, however, is staying with his aunt in Rosings and becomes increasingly cold towards Wickham before demanding that he leave. Elizabeth feels Wickham has been treated unjustly and that night, before Wickham leaves, apologises for the treatment he has received. Wickham informs her that it was Darcy who separated Jane and Bingley and it is something he boasts about to his friends. He then asks Elizabeth to elope with him but she refuses.

The next morning, Darcy proposes to Elizabeth but she rejects him on the grounds that he ruined Jane's chance of happiness. When Darcy does not deny the accusations or offer any apology, Elizabeth attacks him and the pair engage in a duel. Elizabeth eventually gains he upper hand and declares Darcy to be the last man in the world she "could ever be prevailed upon to marry". Darcy quickly leaves and Elizabeth breaks down crying when he has gone and Charlotte and Mr. Collins return.

A day later, she receives a letter from Darcy explaining that what he overheard Mrs. Bennet saying at the ball and Jane's shyness convinced him that Jane was being pushed into a wealthy but loveless marriage and he did not mean to hurt her. He also explains that after Wickham's inheritance was announced, his father was suspiciously infected and it was down to him to behead his undead father. This gave him a cold view of the world and after the incident it was Wickham himself refused the inheritance asking for money instead. After Darcy refused to keep giving him money, attempted to elope with his 15 year old sister. Darcy interceded after realizing Wickham was only after his sister's £30,000 inheritance. Elizabeth is appalled after she realizes she has treated him unfairly. Darcy also mentions that London has been overrun with zombies and he implores her to be ready.

Returning home, Jane explains that Wickham has taken Lydia away and shows her a letter. Elizabeth recognises the wax seal as the symbol of St Lazarus and works out that Wickham must have taken her there. Before she can set off, Lady Catherine arrives after hearing rumours that Elizabeth was engaged to Darcy. Elizabeth fights off Lady Catherine's bodyguard declaring ha despite not being engaged to Darcy, she will not promise to reject him should he ask her again and impresses Lad Catherine with both her skill as a warrior and resolve as a woman. Elizabeth prepares to ride out to the In-Between and Lad Catherine offers the Bennets shelter at Rosings however Jane decides to go with Elizabeth.

After reaching the In-Between, Elizabeth kills a zombie that is about to attack Darcy and the duo dispatch the zombies rising from the unmarked graveyard. Elizabeth explains Lydia's situation but is stunned when he tells her that St Lazarus Church was raised to the ground five days earlier and neither Wickham nor Lydia could have survived. The remaining survivors of the London Attacks are planning to blow up the bridge at dawn trapping the Zombies in London and preventing them from reaching the rest of the country. Whilst talking with Jane, Elizabeth notices Bingley looking anxiously in the direction of St Lazarus and realizes that Darcy lied and has gone to rescue Lydia himself. Elizabeth instantly rides off after him long into the night and spots Lydia riding past alone on Darcy's horse away from a huge hoard of zombies. As dawn breaks, she discovers an undead Wickham about to kill Darcy and slices his arm off before he can deliver a fatal blow.

The two ride back towards the bridge just as it blows up and are thrown from the horse. Elizabeth comes to and sees Darcy's presumably dead body. She tearfully confesses her love for him as Jane and the others run to help them.

Some time later at Rosings, Elizabeth and her family are cleaning weaponry when Darcy, having survived the explosion, enters. As everyone else leaves to congratulate Jane on her engagement to Bingley, Darcy holds her back. He tells her that he heard what she said on the bridge and proposes to her a second time saying it gave him hope that she had changed her mind about him. Elizabeth agrees to be his wife and the two share a passionate kiss. They share a wedding with Jane and Bingley and leave to enjoy married life.

In a Post Credits Scene, the pair halt before they leave Rosings to see Wickham, now with a wooden mace in place of his arm, charging towards them with a large army of zombies.

## Physical Appearance

At the beginning of the book while at the Netherfield party she is refereed to very pretty and agreeable by Mr. Bingley. Later on Mr. Darcy "...was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing, and her arms surprisingly muscular, though not so much to diminish her femininity."

In the film, she is portrayed by actress Lily James and has dark curly brown hair and brown eyes.

## Strengths and Abilities

> "...they are silly and ignorant like their mother, the exception that being Lizzy, who has something more of a killer instinct that her sister." -Mr. Bennet
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## Relationships

### Jane Bennet

Elder sister. Elizabeth is shown to have a close relationship with her

### Mr. Bennet

Elizabeth's father. Elizabeth is his favorite child.

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### Mrs. Bennet

Elizabeth's mother. She does not love her as much as other daughters.

### Mr. Darcy

The relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy has never been particularly smooth, with the two of them engaging in vicious verbal sparring matches more often than they wax poetic to one another. In *Pride and Prejudice and Zombies*, those fights become physical sparring matches, as both Elizabeth and Darcy are highly skilled fighters.

> "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt *me."*
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Later Darcy changes his opinion of Elizabeth but when he initially proposes, she rejects him. Later on, he proposes again and the two marry.

### George Wickham

Elizabeth initially is very close to Wickham after he tells her of the "misfortunes" he has suffered at Darcy's hand. He asks her to elope with him but she refuses. After she finds out the truth about Wickham she grows an intense dislike and later cuts his arm off before he can kill Darcy.

## Quotes

> "...a woman is either highly trained or highly refined. One cannot afford the luxury of both in such times. - Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy
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“ Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection” - Elizabeth to Mr. Bennett