Jane Austen 's Pride And Prejudice

In the novel Pride and Prejudice, Austen conveys her opinion about marriage. Through Lydia Bennet and George Wickham, Austen clearly shows how a relationship on the basis of infatuation contributes to an unsuccessful marriage. Lydia is an immature, foolish young woman who presents a relationship based on physical gratification. Wickham too, is similar - he is self-indulgent, manipulative and would never deny any pleasure. Just like Wickham, Lydia has an aspiration to “attach herself to anybody,” as she experiences a passion for men in uniform. As a result of Lydia 's immaturity, she demonstrates that her love towards Wickham is only for enjoyment and imprudent motives; he being part of the regiment is the only reason her affections fluctuate for him. Despite the absence of admiration in their marriage, Lydia and Wickham suffer the consequences of their marriage with indifference for one another. They live a short period of happiness as their marriage is based on convenience, attraction and passion rather than love and

After Charlotte’s marriage, she hosts Elizabeth at her new home. Charlotte also is pregnant as the novel draws to a close, in part because she feels like it is her duty. Once Lydia is married, the reputation of the family is mended, and although she has not gained wealth, she has gained social status. When Lydia marries before her older sisters she feels that she is special. Elizabeth benefits from her marriage with Darcy by gaining wealth. She knows by the time she marries that not all wealthy people are proud, and she does not plan on becoming proud. Elizabeth has gained financial security by

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

This stands in stark contrast to what Miss Elizabeth Bennett wants. Mrs Bennett wants her daughters to marry because it’s thea only way for them to solidfy that they will have food on their plates and a roof over their head. Mr. Collins is Mr. Bennetts brother and is set to inherit his estate when he dies. He comes to visit in the middle of the book and his main intentions are to ask on of the daughters to marry him and to observe what he will in time own. Mrs. Bennett says in response to all this “Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousnd a year. What a fine thing for our girls!” (57, Austen) The single man she speaks of his Mr. Collins, the Bennett kids uncle. Austen describes Mr. Collins as a self retious kind of man who thinks he is above the Benntt’s just because he is set to inherrit their estate. This gives him a villeness quality. Austen is commenting on the blindness of Mrs. Bennett to the qualitys of Marraige. She only shes Mr. Collins as money but Elizabeth sees him as a bad person to spend the rest of her life with and theirfore turns down his marraige purposal. Which causes trouble between her and her mother. This is the best example of the contrast in what the two women see as the meaning of Marriage.

“while Mrs. Jenkinson was arranging Miss de Bourgh's foot-stool, that she said, ‘Mr. Collins, you must marry. A clergyman like you must marry’”(Austen 97). He says this while he is trying to propose to Elizabeth. In this part of the novel Elizabeth turns him down,and it is understood that she wants to marry for love and not necessarily for financial gain. This is ironic, in a way, because she doesn’t have the mindset of most women in this time

or other, and we can never expect her to do it with so little expense

Personal compatibility is one of criteria Austen uses for choosing the right mate, however it is not the criteria that most people follow when choosing their mate. Austen shows couples that choose not to marry a mate that are personal compatibility with them and couples that do. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett are one of the couples that Austen uses to represent not choosing personal compatibility as a criterion for finding the right mate. Mr. Bennett says, he married his wife for her “youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour, which youth and beauty generally give, had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her. Respect, esteem, and confidence, had vanished for ever.” (Austen 155). They do not have the happiest of marriages, but they do stay together for “twenty years at least” (Austen 4). Another couple that Austen uses to represent not choosing this criterion when selecting a mate are Lydia and Mr. Wickham. Lydia is young and “silly” (Austen 20) while

Her marriage to Wickham helps to set up her future happiness, not from love, but because it avoids her alienation from society. In the romantic era, any woman who was caught or was rumored to have had an extramarital affair was ostracized from society. This is a big concern for the Bennet girls (whom before the quick elopement, none were married), because it reflects badly on the family and the other girls. When Mr. Collins found out about Lydia’s choice, he expressed his deepest condolences. He wasted no time in expressing his knowledge to Mr. Bennet that “the death of your daughter would have been a blessing compared to this” (281); because, at least with the death of Lydia, the family would have been spared the embarrassment of raising a harlot. Some of the societal disgrace is avoided with Lydia’s marriage, it would have been worse for the family had she not been found and forced to wed. Her marriage illustrates the reality of the pressures young woman felt to marry. Lydia is too immature to understand her the consequence of her actions, but her sister Mary acknowledges the implications of Lydia’s choice. She tries to explain the lesson that all the Bennet girls will learn “that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behavior towards the undeserving of the other sex" (275).

The view that women should marry for love is incomprehensible to Mr. Collins, who thinks of marriages as something that helps women climb the social ladder and provide them with financial stability. Elizabeth rebels against the ideas of the time by being adamant on marrying for love, and by rejecting pragmatic marriages, which would suffocate an independent woman like Elizabeth. Elizabeth defies the expectations for women again when she turns down Mr. Darcy’s first

Her dislike of him grows as his liking of her increase until whilst she is visiting her recently married best friend Charlotte, and her husband, Elizabeth’s cousin Mr Collins, Mr Darcy proposes. Elizabeth refuses, however when she discovers she was mistaken in her view of him her feelings towards him warm, particularly after she finds out he saved her sister from disgrace by paying Mr Wickham (Darcy’s adversary and the man who had eloped with her sister) to marry Lydia. They finally put aside their differences and marry, to Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Miss Bingley’s disgust.

Many concepts that were very strictly followed during the 18th and 19th century are challenged or rethought by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice such as the rules and regulations of domestic ideology. This ideology confines a woman to her home and cements her to her husband. It is the notion that a woman’s worth is defined by her motherhood and her spousal abilities, that her interiority has no merit to her value, and that her sole desire in life should be to serve her family. Throughout the entirety this text, Elizabeth Bennet is a very strong opponent of this concept and consistently has rejected men’s advances that do not suit her personal beliefs on marriage and how a woman should be viewed. In this scene, Mr. Darcy is offering his second proposal, his first unsuccessful offer being in chapter XI. This passage’s proposal occurs directly after it has been made apparent to Lizzy all that Darcy had done for her sisters: paying for Lydia’s wedding as to save her from complete shame and social destruction, and bringing Jane and Mr. Bingley back together (in contrast to having separated them to begin with, right before his first proposal). Lizzy and Darcy have gone for a walk during Darcy’s visit to Longborne when this passage occurs. The clear difference between this offer of marriage and the previous is Lizzy’s altered feelings for Darcy; she changes from a passionate decline to eager acceptance. This proposal surpasses the ideas that had been presented about Darcy’s

Austen states that the aristocracy’s view of holy matrimony no longer reflects the natural love between two people, dropping their status below Elizabeth’s.Austen humorously disparages Charlotte’s superficial view of marriage by starkly contrasting them with Elizabeth’s to expose Charlotte’s low status. Charlotte believes that “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance” and that “very few of us have heart enough to be really in love without encouragement” (14). This indicates that Charlotte believes love is not essential to the success of marriage and therefore she lacks status. Her satire commends Elizabeth’s rebellion against class hierarchy, and commends her refusal to marry without love even if it means passing up the most sought after bachelors, and thus raising her status above Charlottes.

“I have found the one whom my soul loves.” Men and women, since the beginning of time, have always dreamed of quoting this line. People show and express love in all sort of ways and for numerous reasons. As seen in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, men and women in the 19th century expressed their love for one another very differently than we do today. American society’s views on love have emerged into something completely different than what they were two hundred years ago. The formal courtship, simple engagement, and development of marriage in the 19th century were vastly contrasting than in the present day.

Similarly, Mary's awkward and reclusive actions promote her as an agreeable suitor; this makes her the only Bennett sister to not have the opportunity to be married. The two oldest sisters contain the most agreeable and independent personalities among the Bennett sisters, which foreshadows their successful relationships. Jane’s positive attitude causes Bingley to be attracted to her, but Darcy questions Bingley’s choice. By the end of the novel, Bingley realizes that he made a mistake to leave Jane. Jane’s marriage is the first marriage bring prestige to the Bennetts. As for Elizabeth, her personality first comes across unagreeable to suitors, but suitors realize that she is the next respectful Bennett sister besides Jane. Darcy's entitled personality clashes with Elizabeth's prideful attitude; eventually, Darcy discovers that Elizabeth's odd behaviors results from taking care of her family. He admires her commitment; like Elizabeth, Darcy values his sister more than anyone. Darcy and Elizabeth family values cause them to find common ground away from their previous views of each other. Austen wrote the Bennetts' family dynamics to foreshadow the success of the sisters’ future marriage; they also demonstrate the importance of family values in a relationship.

If she married a man with enough money and respectability, then she could look forward to a comfortable life. If she did not marry, then she was doomed to be homeless and indigent, as there were little to no job options for women at the time. In this time when women were fully dependent on men for survival, Elizabeth still manages to stay true to her beliefs by not being eager to marry. If she is to be married, Elizabeth would want it to be out of “true affection”, which could then grant her much “felicity” (Austen, 75). She would never want to marry a man solely for financial security, as society expects many women to. Elizabeth doesn’t let societal pressures hinder her beliefs on what constitutes a successful, worthwhile marriage. When Mr. Collins proposed to Elizabeth, she confidently turned him down by saying it was “impossible for [her] to do otherwise than to decline” his offer (Austen, 81). She had long decided that Collins was a ridiculous man who she had little respect for. She would not give up her independence to spend the rest of her life with him, even if it would have kept the Bennet property within the family. Declining this opportunity of marriage is rather courageous of Elizabeth because she is risking never being proposed to again, putting her chance for a stable life at risk. The Bennets could only afford a small dowry, which would not attract many suitors. With that in mind, Elizabeth shows her