Jane Bennet Character Analysis

portrait likeness of Jane Bennet
The eldest of the Bennet sisters, Jane is widely regarded as the sweetest and prettiest. Mrs. Bennet speaks of her daughter having “the sweetest temper I have ever met with.” At the Meryton ball Mr. Bingley describes her at “the most beautiful creature I ever beheld.”

Jane is more reserved and less critical of other people and the way they act than her sister Elizabeth. The gentle and kind-hearted Jane looks for the best in others.

Elizabeth tells Jane: “To take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone.”

But Jane’s blindness to other people’s faults comes back to hurt her, as in the case of her false friend Caroline Bingley. Jane fails to see through the manipulative Caroline’s efforts to split her brother Charles from Jane.

Jane has a very close and loving relationship with Elizabeth and they support and confide in each other.

Five important quotes with analysis that give an insight into the kind-hearted Jane with her incorruptible good nature:

“He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners! – so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”
“He is also handsome,” replied Elizabeth, “which a young man ought likewise to be, if he possibly can. His character is thereby complete.”

Chapter 4. Jane and Elizabeth discuss Charles Bingley after their first meeting with him at the ball. Jane who was previously cautious in her praise of Bingley now tells her sister how much she admires him. While Darcy seemed snobby and rude to them, his friend Bingley appears polite and well-mannered – character traits that were very important in Austen’s day. The positive first impression Bingley has on Jane foreshadows their close relationship later in the story. Elizabeth agrees with her sister, jokingly saying that Bingley is also handsome which makes his character “complete.” The dangers of relying soley on first impressions are highlighted here, as this eligible bachelor is later shown to have one important character flaw: in matters of the heart he is too easily persuaded by family and friends.

You Never See a Fault in Anybody

“Oh! you are a great deal too apt, you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.”
“I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone; but I always speak what I think.”
“I know you do; and it is that which makes the wonder. With your good sense, to be so honestly blind to the follies and nonsense of others! Affectation of candour is common enough – one meets with it everywhere. But to be candid without ostentation or design – to take the good of everybody’s character and make it still better, and say nothing of the bad – belongs to you alone. And so you like this man’s sisters, too, do you? Their manners are not equal to his.”

Chapter 4. After the ball in Meryton Elizabeth and Jane hold a post mortem, during which they discuss Charles Bingley’s interest in Jane and also what Elizabeth says is the bad behavior of Bingley’s sisters. Elizabeth accuses Jane of being too quick to see the good in everybody and being blind to people’s faults. But Jane is reluctant to criticize the Bingley sisters and tells Elizabeth that she is too quick to judge others harshly. Elizabeth’s suggestion that her sister’s judgment of people is flawed turns out to be ironic, since Elizabeth turns out to be a poor judge of Mr. Darcy’s and Mr. Wickham’s characters, which almost costs her her happiness. This exchange is also foreshadowing of how Jane will put her own happiness at risk by failing to see the bad intentions of her manipulative false friend Caroline Bingley.

“They have both,” said she, “been deceived, I dare say, in some way or other, of which we can form no idea. Interested people have perhaps misrepresented each to the other. It is, in short, impossible for us to conjecture the causes or circumstances which may have alienated them, without actual blame on either side.”

Chapter 17. Jane says this to Elizabeth, when she hears from her sister of George Wickham’s accusations about Darcy. Wickham alleges that Darcy used a loophole in a will to stop Wickham getting money left him by Darcy’s father to pursue a career in the ministry. However, Jane prefers to keep an open mind and suggests that they both have been deceived. She turns out to be right about Darcy. But she fails to see the true character of Wickham, who is an unprincipled liar and deceiver.

“He may live in my memory as the most amiable man of my acquaintance, but that is all. I have nothing either to hope or fear, and nothing to reproach him with.”

Chapter 24. Jane Bennet tries to put a brave face on it, after Charles Bingley quits Netherfield for London. A letter arrives from his sister Caroline to say that they they are have all settled in London for the winter. But Jane as usual only sees the bright side, tells Elizabeth that Bingley has not wronged her.

“Do anything rather than marry without affection.”

Chapter 59. Wondering if Elizabeth really loves Darcy enough, Jane advises her sister to never marry without affection. Jane believes that the primary reason for getting married should be love. This echoes Jane Austen’s own advice to her niece Fanny, whom she once told in a letter: “Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without affection.”