Jane and Elizabeth Bennett are the two eldest and without a doubt the two closest of the Bennett children, all girls raised by the tireless match-maker-mother Mrs. Bennett. As Jane 23 and Elizabeth 20 are still unmarried they most certainly have a close bond rooted in their shared plight of being unmarried in their twenties in a society where Elizabeth's friend Charlotte is a burden on her parents being unmarried and almost 27. Charlotte in a sense provides us the general belief of society, that a woman should secure a good marriage before she worries about falling in love with her husband. Jane and Elizabeth, along with baring the same social and familial pressures for marriage are effectively two sides of the same coin in their personalities. As their ages and single status would suggest they are the same in their unwillingness to marry any eligible man that fits their mother's bill of approval, but their personalities are quite opposed. Elizabeth is very open about her feelings and expresses them eagerly with her friend Charlotte, but Jane is far more reserved and shy, she keeps her feelings to herself. This plays out in their interactions with their respective romantic partners and also exacerbates them, as Jane's demur concealment of her feelings for Mr. Bingley is seen as indifference, while Elizabeth's passionate and outspoken nature leads her to express her disdain for Mr. Darcy without pause. Their personalities balance and compliment each other and we can see that Elizabeth understand's her sister's feelings even when she keeps them concealed.
The most poignant expression of the closeness between these two sisters is perhaps when Elizabeth says to Mr. Darcy that even if she liked him she could not be tempted to "...accept the man who has been the means of ruining, perhaps forever, the happiness of a most beloved sister..." Elizabeth would turn down even a man she held affection for if he had ruined Jane's happiness. These two sisters have a bond that is more important than society and expectations. Elizabeth's more outspoken tendencies are the catalyst for ultimate resolution of the misunderstandings between both Elizabeth and Jane's prospective partners. It is because these sisters are so different and yet so bonded that in the end they are both happily married, and well-off, with men they love.
Jane and Elizabeth Bennet are two of the closest Bennett sisters, both in age and in emotional disposition. They are very attached to one another and willingly sacrifice for the other. The beautiful, humble, and sophisticated Jane (age 23) is an apt role model for her four younger sisters. Elizabeth (age 20) is also beautiful. However, she is more assertive and spunky. She is also less diplomatic in social situations and more judgmental (hers is arguably the "prejudice" of Jane Austen's title). Despite their differences, the two sisters have compatible (even complementary) personalities, and they are mutually supportive of one another.
Representative behaviors of each sister include Jane's rejection by her love interest, Mr. Bingley, who seems to lead her on without proposing (although we later learn it is Mr. Darcy who compromised Bingley's interest in pursuing Jane). Jane is resigned to the situation without bitterness.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, is so embittered on behalf of her sister that, upon learning that Mr. Darcy intervened in the courtship between Bingley and Jane, she refuses Darcy's marriage proposal herself. Mr. Darcy later explains in a letter that his personal reservations about the marriage owed simply to Jane's reserved behavior.
While both couples (Jane and Mr. Bingley and Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy) end up together, the differences between Jane's and Elizabeth's personalities account for the irony that characterizes the developments of both relationships.
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