The Story, Day by Day
From a bachelor's arrival at Michaelmas to the double wedding in autumn — the events of Pride and Prejudice unfolded in their proper order.
Jane Austen seldom gives an exact date, yet the novel's action is anchored firmly in time — by Michaelmas, by Easter, and by the turning seasons. Following those anchors, the whole story of the Bennets unfolds across barely thirteen months, from the autumn of 1811 to the autumn of 1812. This chronicle traces it from beginning to end, event by event.
Volume I
Before Michaelmas · Sept 1811
Mr. Bingley, a wealthy and amiable young man, takes Netherfield Park, a great house in the Bennets' Hertfordshire neighbourhood. Mrs. Bennet, with five unmarried daughters and an entailed estate, sees all their futures brighten at once.
Tuesday 15 October 1811
At the assembly ball, Bingley dances twice with Jane and is plainly charmed. His friend Mr. Darcy — rumoured to be twice as rich — refuses to stand up with Elizabeth, and is overheard declaring her merely tolerable.
“She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.”
Late October 1811
As Jane and Bingley grow mutually attached, Darcy begins to find Elizabeth's fine eyes dangerously bewitching — a fascination he resolves to suppress before it overmasters his pride.
Tuesday 12 November 1811
Jane is invited to dine at Netherfield; her mother sends her on horseback, hoping the rain will keep her overnight. She is soaked and falls dangerously ill, and Elizabeth walks three miles through muddy lanes to nurse her.
13–17 November 1811
Nursing Jane at Netherfield, Elizabeth endures Caroline Bingley's jealous barbs while Darcy, ever more drawn to her, quietly struggles against his feeling — and against the alarm the Bennets' behaviour begins to cause him.
Monday 18 November 1811
Mr. Collins — a pompous clergyman who will inherit Longbourn under the entail — arrives at Longbourn. At the command of his patroness Lady Catherine de Bourgh, he means to choose a Bennet daughter for a wife, and fixes upon Elizabeth.
Tuesday 19 November 1811
In Meryton, the Bennet sisters are introduced to the pleasing militia officer George Wickham, newly arrived with the regiment quartered in the town. Wickham and Elizabeth are immediately taken with one another.
Wednesday 20 November 1811
Over supper at the Philipses', Wickham confides that Darcy cheated him of his inheritance. Elizabeth, her prejudice already primed, believes him without reservation — and her dislike of Darcy hardens into something nearer detestation.
Tuesday 26 November 1811
Bingley gives a ball. Elizabeth and Darcy dance and spar; Mr. Collins addresses Darcy with absurd ceremony; and Mrs. Bennet with her younger daughters expose themselves before the whole assembled neighbourhood.
Wednesday 27 November 1811
Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth and is refused outright — to her mother's fury and her father's quiet relief. The very same day, Bingley and his party quit Netherfield for London, intending only a brief absence.
Saturday 30 November 1811
To Elizabeth's astonishment and dismay, her friend Charlotte Lucas accepts Mr. Collins, choosing security and a home of her own over romantic affection. Collins returns to his Hunsford parsonage in Kent, and invites Elizabeth to visit in the spring.
Volume II
December 1811
A letter from Caroline Bingley informs Jane that the Netherfield party do not mean to return that winter, and pointedly hints at a match between Bingley and Darcy's sister Georgiana. Jane's quiet heartbreak is mistaken by Elizabeth for resignation.
Monday 30 December 1811
The kindly Gardiner relations arrive for Christmas at Longbourn and take Jane to London for the winter. There she is coldly received by Caroline Bingley and never once encounters Mr. Bingley.
Thursday 9 January 1812
Charlotte marries Mr. Collins and removes to Hunsford parsonage, hard by the grand Rosings Park of her new patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. She renews her invitation for Elizabeth to visit in the spring.
Early March 1812
As the regiment prepares to quit Meryton for Brighton, Elizabeth bids Wickham a cordial farewell and travels to London, en route to Kent with Sir William and Maria Lucas.
5–19 March 1812
Elizabeth visits Charlotte at the Hunsford parsonage. Through endless visits to Rosings she endures the condescension of Lady Catherine — and the silent, increasingly frequent company of Mr. Darcy, who is plainly drawn back to the parsonage by her.
Monday 23 March 1812
Darcy and his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam arrive to visit their aunt at Rosings. Darcy calls often at the parsonage and seeks Elizabeth out, his former reserve softening into evident, unwilling tenderness.
Thursday 9 April 1812
Colonel Fitzwilliam inadvertently lets slip that Darcy separated Bingley from Jane. That very evening Darcy, agitated, proposes marriage — dwelling at painful length upon her inferior connections. Elizabeth refuses in fury, accusing him of ruining Jane's happiness and Wickham's prospects.
Friday 10 April 1812
Darcy hands Elizabeth a letter revealing the truth of Wickham — a profligate who squandered his legacy and attempted to elope with the fifteen-year-old Georgiana Darcy — and owning, though not regretting, his part in separating Bingley and Jane. Reading it alone, Elizabeth's long prejudice begins at last to crumble.
Late April 1812
Elizabeth returns to Longbourn, humbled and reflective, telling no one — not even Jane — of the proposal or the letter, and resolving to know her own mind better hereafter.
Volume III
May–June 1812
The regiment quits Meryton for Brighton, and Colonel Forster's young wife invites Lydia to accompany them as a friend. Against Elizabeth's earnest warnings, Mr. Bennet permits the flighty girl to go — a decision he will bitterly repent.
c. 3 August 1812
On a summer tour of Derbyshire with the Gardiners, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, Darcy's magnificent estate — believing him to be away in London — and hears the faithful housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, praise her master's goodness and generosity.
Wednesday 5 August 1812
Darcy arrives unexpectedly at Pemberley and, far from the proud man of Hertfordshire, treats Elizabeth and her tradesman relations with marked, gentle courtesy — and promises to introduce his sister Georgiana. His altered manner overwhelms Elizabeth with feeling she can scarcely name.
c. 6 August 1812
Two express letters from Jane arrive at the inn at Lambton: Lydia has eloped with Wickham from Brighton. Elizabeth, distraught, confides the disgrace to Darcy and hastens home — while he, unseen by her, at once sets about finding the fugitives.
August 1812
The Bennet household is plunged into disgrace and Mr. Bennet searches London in vain. After an agonising interval, word comes that Wickham will marry Lydia — a rescue secretly engineered and paid for by Mr. Darcy, known at first only to the Gardiners.
Late August 1812
Lydia and Wickham, now married, visit Longbourn insolently and depart for his new post in Newcastle. From Lydia's heedless slip Elizabeth learns that Darcy was present at the wedding — and Mrs. Gardiner's letter confirms his secret, costly generosity on the Bennets' behalf.
September 1812
Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield. Within days Bingley renews his addresses to Jane, and to her quiet, long-suffering joy is accepted — Darcy having now withdrawn the objection that once parted them.
c. September 1812
A week after Jane's engagement, Lady Catherine de Bourgh descends unannounced upon Longbourn — having heard a rumour of Darcy and Elizabeth — and demands that Elizabeth promise never to marry him. Elizabeth, admitting no engagement, flatly refuses to make such a promise.
October 1812
Darcy, encouraged by his aunt's report of Elizabeth's defiance, proposes to her a second time as they walk together — and is, at last, accepted.
October 1812
Jane weds Bingley and Elizabeth weds Darcy. The Bingleys settle at Netherfield; the Darcys repair to Pemberley — and, in Austen's closing assurance, are in person and disposition truly happy.
Dates follow the established calendar of MacKinnon and Chapman, which is derived from the novel's own internal time-references. Every event corresponds to a chapter of the text, which remains the source of truth.
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