Explore how the theme of marriage is presented in 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'The Yellow Wallpaper'.

Unlike Jane’s marriage to Bingly, Elizabeth’s  marriage is very unusual for a woman of her class as she is not marrying Darcy for his fortune.  A middle class woman, such as herself would be responsible for raising the social status of her family, this is seen in Mrs Bennet’s wish top get her daughters well married off, ‘Jane’s marrying so greatly must throw them in the way of other rich men’. This suggests that, for a middle class family such as the Bennets, although fondness is important, love isn’t essential in a marriage. In this quote Mrs Bennet assumes that these potential suitors are right for her remaining un-married daughters based entirely on their class and not their personality.  This attitude is mirrored when Mrs Bennet first hears of the Bingly family moving into Netherfield. Her begging to her husband to organise a visit shows how important it is to her, possibly because she feels it is her duty. For the middle classes, marriage is the only way to ‘move up’ and mothers such as Mrs Bennet  grasp this chance with both hands, love in a marriage is a luxuary. This attitude upolds the opening text: ‘It  is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife’. This statement forms the judgement that

"happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance”