Mary Bennet has neither taste nor talent, and also has the unhappy role of being the only plain daughter in the Bennet family. She may not be gifted with the natural talents necessary for woman during that time period, but this makes her work harder than the rest of her siblings for her accomplishments. She is constantly practicing piano or reading. Nevertheless, she lacks her sisters’ charms at the piano, Jane’s beauty, and Elizabeth’s wit in conversation.
Jane Austen seems to spend very little time on Mary’s character, and is very unsympathetic towards her in the novel. We as humans have very little over our physical appearance nor natural musical ability, and we are limited in the amount over our way with words. Jane Austen writes about Mary in a dismissive manner which makes us comfortable with treating Mary dismissively because she is the forgotten plain sister. The reason she tries so hard to improve her skills is to make herself noticeable (but it appears very unappealing) Just like in that society, today we are still incredibly judgmental, and I feel like we judge Mary too quick due to how she is written.
I sympathize with Mary, and feel that if she were alive today she would be quite successful. She might be the plain girl but I feel like she would that cool nerdy girl who likes to read Harry Potter or a book like that. Even though I feel this way I understand why Jane Austen chose to write Mary in this way. Having such a plain character in the novel highlights the traits in the other girls that make them so special.
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