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50 free Pride and Prejudice trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Pride and Prejudice has sold more than 20 million copies, and most of its readers can quote the first line from memory. Jane Austen wrote it in her early twenties as First Impressions, sold it for £110 fifteen years later, and produced the most re-read romance in the English language: five Bennet sisters, an entailed estate, a rich neighbour at Netherfield, and Mr Darcy at £10,000 a year. This quiz starts with the book: the plot, the money, the characters from Mr Collins to Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and the story of how it was written and published. Then it moves to the adaptations everyone argues about, from Olivier and Garson in 1940 to Colin Firth's lake, Keira Knightley's Oscar nomination, Bridget Jones, the Bollywood version, the zombies and the Emmy-winning web series. There are easy questions for people who have only seen the films and harder ones on the text and its history for people who reread it every winter. Every answer is checked against a reference source and each question links to where the fact was confirmed.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year was Pride and Prejudice first published?
1813
It was Austen's second published novel after Sense and Sensibility (1811), though the third she wrote; she was in her early twenties when she drafted it.
Q 02What was the novel's original working title?
First Impressions
Austen wrote it between October 1796 and August 1797; her father offered it to bookseller Thomas Cadell, who declined by return post.
Q 03How much did Austen receive when she sold the manuscript to publisher Thomas Egerton?
£110
About £6,800 in today's money, and a flat sale — she saw none of the profits from a book that became one of the best-sellers in English literature.
Q 04What completes Austen's line 'a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of...'?
a wife
The line frames the whole marriage-market comedy that follows, and has been parodied endlessly — including by a zombie novel.
Q 05How many daughters does Mr Bennet have?
Five
Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia — and no son, which is the whole problem, since Longbourn is entailed to the male line.
Q 06In which English county is the Bennets' Longbourn estate?
Hertfordshire
The nearby town of Meryton hosts the militia; Kent is where Mr Collins and Lady Catherine live, and Derbyshire holds Pemberley.
Q 07Why is the Bennet family so anxious that a daughter marry well?
The estate is entailed away to a male cousin
On Mr Bennet's death the estate goes to his cousin Mr Collins, leaving the women to live on the interest of about £9,000.
Q 08What is Mr Darcy said to be worth per year?
£10,000
Roughly twice Mr Bingley's income and five times Mr Bennet's £2,000; Caroline Bingley has £20,000 outright.
Q 09What is Mr Darcy's first name?
Fitzwilliam
It was his mother's maiden name; his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam shares it. Charles is Bingley, William is Collins.
Q 10What is the name of the estate Mr Bingley rents near Longbourn?
Netherfield Park
His £100,000 fortune comes from trade rather than land, which is why leasing a country house with hopes of buying it matters so much to his sisters.
Q 11Why does Mr Darcy decline to dance with Elizabeth at the first ball?
He says she is 'not handsome enough'
Elizabeth jokes about it but is deeply offended, and the slight sets her prejudice against him for half the novel.
Q 12Who is Mr Collins's patroness?
Lady Catherine de Bourgh
He is rector of Hunsford in Kent, dines regularly at her estate Rosings, and cannot keep a confidence from her — which later helps bring Elizabeth and Darcy together.
Q 13After Elizabeth turns him down, whom does Mr Collins marry?
Charlotte Lucas
Q 21How does Lady Catherine's angry visit to Longbourn end up helping Darcy?
Her report of the refusal to rule out marriage gives him hope
Elizabeth admits she is not engaged but refuses to promise never to accept him; Lady Catherine repeats this indignantly to Darcy, who returns to Longbourn.
Q 22According to Austen family tradition, whom did Mary Bennet eventually marry?
One of her uncle Philips's law clerks
James Edward Austen-Leigh's Memoir also says Kitty married a clergyman who lived near Pemberley.
Q 23How much did Mrs Bennet bring into her marriage as a settlement?
Elizabeth's pragmatic friend accepts him within days; her spring visit to the Collinses in Kent sets up Darcy's first proposal.
Q 14How is the militia officer George Wickham connected to the family at Pemberley?
He is the son of the late owner's steward
Darcy's father intended a church living for him; Wickham took cash instead, squandered it, and tried to elope with 15-year-old Georgiana Darcy for her dowry.
Q 15How old was Georgiana Darcy when Wickham tried to elope with her?
Fifteen
Darcy reveals it in the letter he hands Elizabeth the morning after his rejected proposal — the turning point of the novel.
Q 16Where does Darcy make his first, disastrous proposal to Elizabeth?
In Kent, while she is staying near Rosings
He declares his love 'despite her low social connections' and she refuses him, accusing him of ruining Jane's happiness and wronging Wickham.
Q 17With whom is Elizabeth touring Derbyshire when she unexpectedly meets Darcy at Pemberley?
Her aunt and uncle Gardiner
The Gardiners, Mrs Bennet's brother and his wife, are the sensible relatives whose 'trade' connections Darcy once sneered at — and whom he charms at Pemberley.
Q 18Which Bennet sister runs off with Wickham?
Lydia
The youngest and her mother's favourite, Lydia is 'her mother in miniature'; Darcy secretly pays Wickham's debts and buys him a commission to force the marriage.
Q 19How does the family first learn who really arranged the youngest sister's marriage?
Lydia lets slip that Darcy attended her wedding
Elizabeth then writes to Mrs Gardiner, who breaks Darcy's oath of secrecy and reveals he secured the match 'at great expense and trouble to himself.'
Q 20Whom has Lady Catherine long intended Darcy to marry?
Her daughter Anne
She claims it was the dearest wish of both her and Darcy's late mother, and storms to Longbourn to demand Elizabeth renounce him — which backfires spectacularly.
£5,000
She later inherited a further £4,000; the family will have to live on the interest from these sums after Mr Bennet dies.
Q 24Between which years do the novel's events most likely take place, based on the militia's Brighton camp?
1793 and 1795
The Brighton camp opened in August 1793 and militia barracks were finished by 1796, which pins the story to the years Austen was first drafting it.
Q 25Under what byline did Austen's novels appear during her lifetime?
Anonymously
Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma were all published without her name and brought only moderate success while she lived.
Q 26In which Hampshire village was Jane Austen born in 1775?
Steventon
Her father George was rector there; she later lived at Chawton and died in Winchester in 1817.
Q 27Which two Austen novels were published posthumously in 1817?
Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
She also left Sanditon unfinished at her death; her sister Cassandra is believed to have burned most of her letters.
Q 28Who played Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy in the 1940 MGM film?
Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
A Brave New World author co-wrote the screenplay, and the film won an Oscar for black-and-white art direction despite dressing the cast in 1830s crinolines.
Q 29Which famous novelist co-wrote the screenplay of the 1940 film?
Aldous Huxley
The Brave New World author worked with Jane Murfin, adapting Helen Jerome's stage version as well as the novel.
Q 30Who wrote the screenplay for the 1995 BBC series starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle?
Andrew Davies
Davies and producer Sue Birtwistle agreed to adapt it back in 1986; he later co-wrote the Bridget Jones films with the same Darcy in them.