---
type: Person
title: Jane Bennet
description: Eldest Bennet daughter of Longbourn, gentle and even-tempered, courted
  then disappointed by Mr. Bingley.
resource: raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt
tags:
- bennet-family
- longbourn
- hertfordshire
- gentry
timestamp: '2026-07-16T18:15:29Z'
citadel_version: 0.3.0
---

Jane Bennet is the eldest of [Mr.](../persons/mr-bennet.md) and
[Mrs. Bennet](../persons/mrs-bennet.md)'s five daughters.[^s1] At the Meryton assembly,
[Mr. Bingley](../persons/charles-bingley.md) dances with her twice — the only lady in the room he
asks a second time.[^s2] While visiting [Netherfield Park](../misc/netherfield-park.md), she
falls ill after riding through the rain and writes to Elizabeth that she is "very unwell" with a
sore throat and headache, prompting her to stay and be nursed there.[^s3]

Her sister [Elizabeth](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md) describes her as someone who "never heard
speak ill of a human being" and who takes "the good of everybody's character" without ever noting
the bad.[^s4] When [Caroline Bingley](../persons/caroline-bingley.md) writes from London that the
Netherfield party will not return for the winter, and dwells on her brother's growing intimacy
with [Georgiana Darcy](../persons/georgiana-darcy.md), Jane at first reads it as confirmation that
Bingley's regard was never serious, while Elizabeth argues Caroline is only trying to keep him
away from Jane.[^s5] After visiting Caroline in London and being received coldly, Jane concludes in
a letter to Elizabeth that Caroline is "so altered a creature" that she is resolved not to
continue the acquaintance, though she still tries to excuse Bingley himself.[^s6] Jane accepts her
aunt [Mrs. Gardiner](../persons/mrs-gardiner.md)'s invitation to stay in London.[^s7]

When Elizabeth tells her of [Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md)'s proposal and refusal, Jane's
sympathy goes first to Darcy: "his being so sure of succeeding was wrong... but consider how much it
must increase his disappointment."[^s8] It is Jane who first writes to Elizabeth, at Lambton, that
[Lydia](../persons/lydia-bennet.md) has "gone off to Scotland with one of his officers; to own the
truth, with Wickham," adding "I am willing to hope the best, and that his character has been
misunderstood."[^s9] A second, more urgent letter reports that Colonel Forster fears the couple are
not married and never intended to be, and begs Elizabeth and the Gardiners to come home.[^s10] Once
home, Jane argues against exposing Wickham's true character generally — "surely there can be no
occasion for exposing him so dreadfully" — and cares for their mother through the crisis largely
alone.[^s11]

## Engagement to Bingley

When [Bingley](../persons/charles-bingley.md) returns to [Netherfield Park](../misc/netherfield-park.md)
and resumes calling at Longbourn, Jane at first insists to Elizabeth that she feels only
indifference, then that his renewed attentions do not affect her — "you must not suspect me. It
mortifies me" — before finally admitting he had "made me so happy" by revealing he had not known she
was in town the previous spring.[^s12] Bingley proposes during a private moment at Longbourn; Jane
"instantly embracing" Elizabeth, acknowledges herself "the happiest creature in the world."[^s13]
That night, told of Elizabeth's own engagement to [Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md), Jane is
at first flatly incredulous — "I know it to be impossible" — before accepting it with delight once
convinced.[^s14] After a year at Netherfield, Jane and Bingley buy an estate in a county neighbouring
Derbyshire, bringing her within thirty miles of Elizabeth.[^s15]

## See also

- [Elizabeth Bennet](../persons/elizabeth-bennet.md)
- [Charles Bingley](../persons/charles-bingley.md)
- [Netherfield Park](../misc/netherfield-park.md)
- [Lydia Bennet](../persons/lydia-bennet.md)
- [Fitzwilliam Darcy](../persons/fitzwilliam-darcy.md)

## Sources

[^s1]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 783-789 — the Bennet family (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s2]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1059-1082 — Bingley dances twice with Jane at the assembly (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s3]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1791-1796 — Jane's note about her illness (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s4]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 1147-1158 — Elizabeth on Jane's disposition (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s5]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5015-5022 — Caroline Bingley's letter on Georgiana Darcy (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s6]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 6050-6060 — Jane's letter after Caroline's cold visit (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s7]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 5844-5847 — Jane accepts Mrs. Gardiner's invitation to London (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s8]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 8657-8659 — Jane's sympathy for Darcy on hearing of the refused proposal (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s9]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 10263-10271 — Jane's first letter reporting Lydia's elopement (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s10]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 10297-10306 — Jane's second, more urgent letter (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s11]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 8739-8740 — Jane argues against exposing Wickham publicly (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s12]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12807-12813; 13058-13060 — Jane's protestations of indifference before admitting her happiness (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s13]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 12951-12953 — Bingley's proposal and Jane's joy (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s14]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 13953-13959; 14008-14009 — Jane's incredulity, then joy, at Elizabeth's engagement (ingested 2026-07-16)
[^s15]: [raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt](../../raw/pride-and-prejudice.txt), lines 14412-14417 — Jane and Bingley's move near Derbyshire (ingested 2026-07-16)
