Anna Chancellor and Lucy Robinson as Caroline Bingley and Louisa Hurst in the 1995 mini-series
Louisa Hurst (née Bingley) is the wife of Mr. Hurst, the sister of Charles and Caroline Bingley, and the sister-in-law of Jane Bennet Bingley.
Biography
Early Life
Louisa was raised in luxury, and was accepted into the higher social circles of London, even though the Bingley family garnered most of its wealth from trade. She was raised as a gentlewoman and attended one of the first private seminaries in town.
She married Mr. Hurst, a man who was more fashionable than he was wealthy. Money was not an issue, as both Louisa and Caroline were settled with dowries of 20 thousand pounds.
Arrival at Netherfield
Louisa and her husband come to stay with her brother, sister, and Mr. Darcy at Netherfield Park. Both Louisa and Caroline scorned the neighbors and were quite snobby. They disliked the Bennet family, but pretended a friendship with Jane, although Elizabeth Bennet saw right through them—but Jane did not. Louisa wished for a marriage between her sister and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and were acquainted with Mr. Darcy's much younger sister, Georgiana. Both sisters also wished that their brother would turn his sights away from the eldest Miss Bennet to Miss Darcy.
Personality and traits
However, both sisters had a habit of spending more than they ought, and were proud and conceited, being humourous and agreeable only when they choose to. Both also love to associate with people of rank, and their senses of entitlement caused them to think meanly of those whom they deem to be their social inferiors.
Though she was not as prominent a character as Caroline was in the novel, Louisa is still as selfish, hypocritical, and two-faced as her sister, though in her situation, her negative qualities are fuelled by the desire of increasing her family's wealth and position by ensuring that her brother made an advantageous match. Though she also started off by professing a great friendliness for Jane Bennet, and acknowledged that she was a sweet girl, she later conspired with Caroline and Darcy to separate Jane from Charles, especially when it became evident that Charles was truly in love with Jane. It could be said that she, like Caroline, was hoping that Charles would turn his affections to Darcy's sister, Georgiana, instead. One of the reasons why she looks down on the Bennets - which she shares with Caroline - is their connections in trade, which is, ironically, also the very source of her own family's wealth.
Though it was not mentioned as to how she thought and felt over the marriages of Charles and Jane, and Darcy and Elizabeth, it is presumed that she - like Caroline - was forced to accept the facts.