Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet – A Forgotten Love Story?
When you think of Pride and Prejudice, especially in terms of it being a love story, everyone immediately thinks of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. While I am not taking anything away from the great love story that it is, there is another love story, Pride and Prejudice, that is often forgotten and overlooked and that is the story of Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet.
When Mr. Bingley and Jane first meet at a dance in Meryton, it is definitely a case of love at first sight as far as he is concerned and this is always a romantic start to a love story that has a happy ending. . He is immediately impressed by her beauty and immediately invites her to dance once they have performed. He dances with other ladies that night, but it is obvious that Jane is way above her favorite, as she dances with her more than any other young lady. She communicates it to Mr. Darcy that night telling him that she is the most beautiful creature he has ever seen and then challenges Mr. Darcy to make him think bad of Miss Bennet. It may not have been a case of love at first sight for Jane, but it is clear that she likes him very much as she talks about him in a very positive way to Elizabeth the next day telling her that.
Bingley and Jane will see each other a lot in the coming weeks and it is obvious that both are falling in love and everyone believes that a commitment between them is imminent. Mr. Bingley hardly noticed any other young women and we are told that several young women were very upset at the Netherfield ball because Mr. Bingely did not invite them to dance.
Bingley’s biggest flaw is that he is too easily persuaded by his sisters and Darcy. When Bingley leaves Netherfield to go to London for a few days, his sisters and Mr. Darcy, who are quite concerned about his affection for Jane Bennet, see the opportunity and follow him to London. They persuade him that Jane is not in love with him, they convince him to stay in London for the winter, and they hide the fact that Jane is in London from him.
We are told nothing about Mr. Bingley from the time he leaves Netherfield in November to the time he meets Elizabeth in Derbyshire in the summer. All we know is that he was in London most of that time. In London he would have gone to many balls and assemblies and met many lovely young ladies and yet he cannot forget Jane Bennet and we know that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot forget him. When Mr Bingley sees Elizabeth in Derbyshire, he is glad to see that he knows exactly how long it has been since they have seen each other, as the last time he saw her was also the last time he saw Jane. He also tries to get as much information about Jane from Elizabeth as possible without asking for her directly. When he returns to Netherfield, he visits the Bennets often and it is not long before he proposes to Jane and confesses that he has always loved her. She does not hesitate to accept him, as she has never stopped loving him.
A wonderful love story, one of true love that does not die. It contradicts the saying “out of sight, out of mind.” Mr. Bingley would have had many distractions in London, but what we learn later in the story is that his love for Jane was so strong that she was never far from his thoughts.
The love story of Bingley and Jane Bennet affects the best known of Elizabeth and Darcy. Mr Bingley introduces Jane to her sisters at the ball in Meryton and she is soon invited to Nethferfiled which is when she falls ill and this causes Elizabeth to spend several days in Netherfield to care for her sister, but she also gets to meet Mr Darcy in this. hour. Elizabeth learns that Mr. Darcy was the one who convinced Bingley not to marry Jane and this is one of the reasons she gives for rejecting her first proposal. Finally, because Mr. Bingley is so eager to see a lot of Jane when he returns to Hertfordshire and then becomes engaged to her, it means that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth see each other a lot and because Jane and Bingley are not interested in nobody but each other, too. it means that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have a lot of time together alone, which leads to Mr. Darcy’s second proposal.
So while the story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy is a great and famous love story, let’s not forget the story of Jane and Mr. Bingley, a charming and romantic story of everlasting love that also had many effects on the story of love we all know so well.