Jane and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice are a great example of the traits found in the middle and eldest children in a family, and they interact well together despite their differences.
Jane acts like the eldest child because she is cautious, intelligent, experienced, and mature. For example, she does not want to bother Bingley and his family when she becomes sick, thus showing her maturity and empathy for others. As a more introverted type, she thinks through her actions and words beforehand so to be polite. This is not only because of the conservative society at the time but also because of her intelligence and maturity. However, this does not come in handy when courting with Bingley.
On the other hand, Elizabeth acts very much like a middle child because she is very extroverted, outgoing, instinctive, and sometimes brash. While Jane has the weight of her family's expectations on her shoulders, Elizabeth does not have as many expectations (except marriage), so this allows her to be the "wild child". Instead of considering Darcy's point of view from the beginning, she only takes into account her judgments and acts on those. This, of course, leads Elizabeth into trouble later on with Darcy and others.
Despite Jane and Elizabeth's differences, they are perfect as sisters. Their differing personalities fit them well and compliment each other nicely. For example, Elizabeth brings out the fun and spontaneous side in Jane, especially when accepting Bingley's offer of marriage. Elizabeth can go to Jane with her thoughts and problems (Darcy) and will always find a willing ear to listen and thoughtful advice.
The characters of Jane and Elizabeth Bennet display a supportive and loving relationship between sisters. The two characters are innately different from one another, yet they each provide something that the other needs. To answer the question: how do they complement and contrast one another, we need to first look at each woman’s defining characteristics.
First, we have Jane, who is the eldest of the Bennet daughters. As the eldest, she holds the most responsibility of any of the daughters to marry well and provide for her family. This responsibility weighs on Jane and she is fully aware of her role. Jane is described as the most beautiful of the Bennet daughters by her mother and other characters. Jane, however is very humble and unaware of her own beauty. Jane’s most notable characteristics are that she is gentle, sweet, humble, and shy. In fact, it is her shyness that causes Mr. Darcy to doubt her affections towards Mr. Bingley. She is also described as naïve by Elizabeth, who comments that upon the engagement of Jane and Mr. Bingley that they will be generous, but taken advantage of by everyone that they meet. Often, in the chapters, we see Jane taking the slow road. She never jumps to conclusions and always sees the best in people, even when Elizabeth clearly points out their flaws. Even in her “courtship” with Mr. Bingley, she progresses in the relationship very slowly and never assumes that he even has feelings for her. Jane is also very forgiving and holds no one to blame, or even thinks ill of them when her relationship with Mr. Bingley is suddenly ended.
Second, we have Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a woman whom we would say, “walks to the beat of her own drum.” Elizabeth jumps to conclusions about people and is all too quick to cast her judgement, particularly regarding Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth understands that for her family’s future welfare that she and her sisters must marry well. Yet, early in the book, we see that she has little interest in ensnaring a husband and will only marry for the deepest kind of love. Elizabeth often does not follow social norms, but instead does what she desires. We see this especially when she chooses to walk to the Bingley residence to visit Jane. Her petticoat gets drenched in mud, which is not appropriate for a young lady and is criticized by Bingley’s sisters. Yet, despite her “wilder” spirit, Elizabeth cares deeply for her family and her younger sisters, this is the strongest characteristic that she and Jane share.
Jane and Elizabeth’s conflicting characteristics complement one another because while Jane is milder and meeker, Elizabeth is outspoken and energetic. Each woman needs their counterpart to balance their own personality. Elizabeth pushes and encourages Jane to step outside of her norm and to look at things in a unique way, even if that means seeing the fault in someone. Whereas Jane keeps Elizabeth “in-check” and acts as a calming voice of reason for Elizabeth. The conflicts of their differences, only serve to help the other.
Elizabeth is much more prone to show her emotions and to jump to quick judgments than Jane. Elizabeth easily becomes prejudiced against people, as the title of the novel indicates. The chief person who earns her wrath is Mr. Darcy, who insults her when she overhears him saying she isn't pretty enough to dance with. This leaves her open to believing without question Wickham's false tales of being wronged by Darcy.
Jane is more cool and cautious, both about showing her emotions and about judging people. This can be both good and bad. As Charlotte Lucas warns, if Jane doesn't show more warmth and affection for Bingley, he is likely not to understand how interested she is in him. Darcy certainly underestimates the strength of Jane's feeling when he advises Bingley not to get any more entangled with her.
In Elizabeth's case, showing her passions is both good and bad: her high spirits and open disrespect for him cause Darcy to fall in love with her, but when he proposes marriage to her the first time, her fury gets the better of her, and he ends up with a tongue lashing she later regrets when she finds out the Wickham lied about him. Likewise, Jane's coolness and reserve keeps her from making snap judgments or losing her temper, but also leads Bingley to thinking she is not truly in love with him.
The two complement each other because Elizabeth urges Jane to more passion and Jane urges Elizabeth to more caution. They are very close to each other and, despite their flaws, more intelligent than the other females in the family.
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