Austen's Diverse Presentations of Marriage Proposals in Pride and Prejudice

Bennet and she sees it as imperative that her daughters are married off. In Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet receives two proposals of marriage the first from her cousin the bumbling Mr. Collins. The Bennet family had received a letter prior to his arrival; the impression put across is that Mr. Collins is long winded and all over a bit of a fool. This letter prepares the family and the reader for the arrival of a pompous egotist.

Austen opens the novel by telling us, “It is a truth universally acknowledge, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”(7) The act of marriage during this time period an act of comfort rather than love. A woman married a man when it was ensured she would live a prosperous and wealthy life. Affection was not enough for women to marry; however, Elizabeth knew that in order for her to be happy, love must be there. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth was promised of a comfortable life by three gentlemen but turning all three down because her affection was

A hastily drawn conclusion one might make about Pride and Prejudice is that it appears to reinforce the sexist stereotypes of women during the 18th century. The first sentence of the book reads “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 1). Dorothy Van Ghent described this opening sentence as being “read as the opposite-a single woman must be in want of a man with a good fortune” (Van Ghent 301). This also introduces one of the central themes of the novel and that is Mrs. Bennet’s desire to see her daughters married “Her mind was less difficult to develop she was a woman of mean understanding little information and uncertain temper when she was discontented she fancied herself nervous the business of her life was to get her daughters married” (Austen 3). Marriage was crucial to ensure a woman’s

The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love

Bennet exclaims, “Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls” (2). Considering Mrs. Bennet’s lines, the reader acknowledges Austen’s first claims on marriage. Mrs. Bennet not only exemplifies the opening statement of the novel, but also justifies the effect it has on mother figures. As Mrs. Bennet’s character develops, the reader recognizes her obsession with the marriage of her daughters. Mrs. Bennet understands the importance of marrying ‘well’ in order to maintain a high standing in the social realm. However, understanding the consequences directly affects Mrs. Bennet’s desperate behavior. This interpretation becomes an inevitable experience for each of Mrs. Bennet’s daughters.

Austen’s character, Mr.Collins, mainly focusses on himself when he is proposing, which causes him to come across as selfish and unemotional. Mr. Collins thinks that “It is the right thing” for him to get married to “set the example”(2). This suggests that Mr. Collins wants to be married because he feels he needs to set the example for his parish

Austen is mocking the meaning of marriage during the late 18th century through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennett. At first Miss Bennett rejects the proposal from Mr. Collins, her uncle. Meaning that Austen doesn’t believe women should fall into

In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, Mr Collins is shown as a comical man, who we as readers are not expected to take seriously throughout the novel. Mr Darcy is a much deeper character, and Austen uses him to portray divisions between classes. She uses their proposals firstly to highlight the difference in the attractions the men have towards Elizabeth, but secondly to emphasise the importance of social class within a marriage proposal. This is seen in the form she writes in the content of the proposals (dialogue in Collins’s proposal versus free-indirect discourse in Darcy’s), and the structure of the proposals.

Collins to ensure herself a safe home, a steady income, and a peaceful home environment. During Austen’s era, women of the same class of Charlotte had the options of becoming a teacher, a governess, or to marry. Choosing marriage as the “career” she would take on, Charlotte believes that matrimony is merely a typical, but an essential, occurrence because for Charlotte, “without thinking highly either of men or matrimony marriage had always been her object; it was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness… At the age of twenty-seven without having ever been handsome, she felt all the good luck of it” (Austen 65). Since Charlotte has never been considered beautiful, and has a small fortune, the chances of receiving a marriage proposal is not in her favor.

Jane Austen’s novel is commanded by women; Pride and Prejudice explores the expectations of women in a society that is set at the turn of the 19th century. Throughout the plot, Austen’s female characters are all influenced by their peers, pressures from their family, and their own desires. The social struggle of men and women is seen throughout the novel. Characters, like Elizabeth, are examples of females not acting as proper as women were supposed to, while other women like Mrs. Bennett allow themselves to be controlled by men and society. Mr. Collins is a representation of the struggles males deal with in a novel dominated by women. The theme of marriage is prominent during Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Marriage can be examined in

fortune. No man would want to marry a woman who has a family with a

Jane Austen shows the readers within the first sentence what the plot and main theme of Pride and Prejudice is and what social ideas she plans on presenting through this novel. The first sentence of Pride and Prejudice stands as one of the most famous introductory lines in literature. It states, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 5). This statement puts the novel in motion by showing that the novel will deal with the pursuit of single wealthy men by various female characters. By stating this, Austen reveals that the reverse is also true in the nineteenth century English society, which is that single women of

While Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice has been categorized as a romance novel for centuries, it has also served as a mechanism for understanding love, analyzing the effect of first impressions, and establishing gender norms for both men and women in 18th century England. As readers follow the Bennet daughters through their expedition to find a spouse, we find that the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, stands apart from her sisters. Rather than pursuing money or even simply attention from a man, she is more selective in deciding who to marry. I argue that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s defiance of gender norms for both women and men, respectively is what makes them compatible. I will prove this by revealing how Lizzy doesn’t conform to the

In the romantic novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Mrs. Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, and Caroline Bingley are three characters that fit completely into the gender roles of their time period. These three share a common interest of marrying a man, and almost handing their free will away at the expense of security in life. These characters would rather be sheep on a farm than expose their true feelings and become the one that leads the mob, not the one following everyone else.

Jane Austen's Portrayal of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice Marriage plays an extremely important role in Jane Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice'. The novel begins with the sentence "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. " This single sentence extremely significant in the fact that it is strongly connected with one of the main themes of the novel, and introduces a powerful irony that clashes with the events that unfold during the progress of the novel. In Jane Austen's day, women of high status were almost entirely dependent on men.