Vanity Vs. Morality : From Victorian England

Two main focuses that encompass life are love and money. Since the invention of money, it has been a competition to see who can become the wealthiest and therefore the most successful. But are people really successful if they are unhappy without a person to love in their lives? This essay will investigate the importance of love and money in the novels The Great Gatsby and Pride and Prejudice. Therefore, the essay will focus on the research question: “What effects do love and money have on the authors’ portrayal of the main female characters in the novels The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen?”

They define themselves on the basis of their wealth and are obsessed with being of high status in society because of the upkeep of their material objects. Austen portrays the economic significance of marriage and how fortunes and economic security was built through pressure from family alliances.

Jane Austen was a Georgian era author who was best known for her novels that commented on social issues and class, and Northanger Abbey is no exception. Austen’s social commentary is apparent in this novel’s plot, as the reader follows a seventeen-year-old protagonist, Catherine Morland, as she matures and forms intimate relationships with fellow characters in an England town called Bath. Marriage between characters in the novel is heavily based on wealth, and because of England’s unstable economy at the time, marrying into wealth meant maintaining a high social class and economic stability for the characters. The importance of economic prosperity and social rank heavily influenced marriage in 19th century England, and this idea bourgeoisie classism and marrying for wealth is contradicted by Austen in her novel, Northanger Abbey.

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen introduces the major thematic concept of marriage and financial wealth. Throughout the novel, Austen depicts various relationships that exhibit the two recurring themes. Set during the regency period, the perception of marriage revolves around a universal truth. Austen claims that a single man “must be in want of a wife.” Hence, the social stature and wealth of men were of principal importance for women. Austen, however, hints that the opposite may prove more exact: a single woman, under the social limitations, is in want of a husband. Through this speculation, Austen acknowledges that the economic pressure of social acceptance serves as a foundation for a proper marriage.

Pride and Prejudice illustrated financial wealth as the decisive factor for marriage in the 19th century, because marrying a wealthy

To marry for money and not love is frowned upon as a social norm, but is also seen as an opportunity for women to rise in the social hierarchy. Though, love is to be the reason why bonds like marriage exist. Being a woman in the nineteenth century limits social advancement and makes it seem impossible without wealth, a background of family fortune, or matrimony to a man labeled high class. Emma Woodhouse, from the novel Emma written by Jane Austen, defines what it means to seek stature through marriage and how couples can aid in contexts such as social groups. Austen clearly covers social groups in her novel, but making the novels focal point circumvent around Emma. We look beyond how class enables opportunity for women and see just how

The Victorian Era was known for its propriety, and for its social standards that could be as strict as the caste system in India. Citizens in England of low social regard faced many prejudices and limitations that could be almost insurmountable to overcome. Much like the caste system, people considered to be the dregs of society were often alienated and had little room for opportunity. In Charlotte Bronte’s novel Jane Eyre, the main character, Jane, suffers social prejudice because she is a simple governess, revealing much about the social stigmas about the working class during the Victorian Era. Jane’s social status limits her not only from being with the one she loves, but also hinders her endeavor to achieve true autonomy.

During the time period of the 1800s in England, not only was the economic situation different but the social norms were differently. Jane Austen depicts this greatly in her novel pride and prejudice, not only was the social classes a big deal, but the marriage between families was a bigger deal. Throughout the novel many of the characters encounter this problem of, love in marriage or money in marriage, and many of the families and females within this time period choice money in marriage. The author Jane Austen feels that the idea of marring for money rather than love is preposterous and expresses this through the character Elizabeth

The novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald can be compared by what is valued by each character in the novel. Prestige, wealth, and education are some of the few things deemed important in each novel. In Jane Eyre, there is the notion that social status is analogous to wealth. During the novel, Jane is a poor girl who never holds any distinguished positions. As she is planning her wedding, Jane is worried because she can't offer Rochester beauty, money, or connections, but when she discovers her cousins and receives an inheritance, she slowly moves into a position of equality with her true love, Edward Rochester. However, in The Great Gatsby, there is a separation

In the brief years of the Regency Era from 1811 to 1820, the social scheme was revolutionized by elegant balls, intermingling prominent families, and inevitable drama that spread quickly throughout the towns. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice presents a rare fusing of two socially indecent girls and two wealthily distinguished young men that everyone in town would be talking about for months. Wealth is the most significant theme in this period, and Austen challenges it well with love as its rival. Through the character of Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice tests the Regency notion of marriage and social classes in order to reveal that social hierarchies cannot overcome real love.

It is truly impossible to believe that relationships have not changed at all since Austen’s time. Pride and Prejudice took place in a setting where the male had complete authority over the female, and primogeniture decided who received the family fortune. However, most of Austen’s main points about personal relationships still ring true today. For instance, Austen begins her novel by saying, “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). People in

Pride and Prejudice, a Jane Austen novel, is one of the most classical pieces of literature in history. It has been evaluated and critiqued a countless number of times, and has been adapted into several films. It can be argued that there is a lot to be retained by readers from this literary work, an important message that can be passed down from generation to generation. During Jane Austen’s time, in the early 1800’s, women were around to be married off, bear children, and cater to their man. Men were meant to work and instruct their women, and the more money you had, the more respected you were. A woman’s goal in life was to marry

Love is the greatest gift God could give to mankind. Its’ sole intention is to bring people together to a time called forever. However, love is the reason behind Daisy Buchanan and Clarissa Dalloway’s unhappiness in life. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan is married to a man named Tom, but her heart belongs to a man named Gatsby. Similarly, in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa Dalloway is in love with a man named Peter, however is married to a man named Richard. Both women give up their true love in order to marry a wealthy man, and subsequently live a life full of doubt.

Through the use of literary devices, Pride and Prejudice reveals Jane Austen’s attitude towards the novel’s theme of true love through the actions of the suitors; the process of courtship in the 1800s articulates characterization, foreshadowing, and irony. The novel opens with the line, “it is a truth acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of wife,” (Austen 1) which foreshadows the conflict of finding a significant other . During the Victorian age, men and women courted others of the same education, wealth, and social status; it was considered uncommon for someone to marry beneath them or to marry for love. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth Bennett’s encounters with different characters of varying

Jane Austen’s well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice, discussed multiple social themes in the 19th century. Austen mainly criticized marriage during her era, when she says that, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 3). As she explains that it was valuable to women since it provided them with security and a social title. The author explored the diverse motives behind matrimony in her time period by using a humorous and romantic plot to discuss the social issues. For instance, Charlotte Lucas’s unreasonable marriage to Mr. Collins is a vital example of how women needed to secure a future and attain social status. To conclude, Lydia Bennet’s meaningless marriage to George Wickham shows that entering the marriage estate could have also been for mainly financial purposes. Contrastingly, Jane Bennet, the heroine’s older sister, marries Charles Bingley for love, security, and a social ranking. On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet marries Fitzwilliam Darcy after months of misunderstandings and romantic drama for none other than true love. Thus, Austen uses her leading characters’ marriages in Pride and Prejudice to exhibit the various attitudes and reasons for marrying in the 19th century. (Lane 2015)