Mrs Bennet, on the other hand, has a very different view of marriage. She is an extremely stereotypical, mercenary, superficial caricature, and is meant to be annoying and silly. She is completely devoted and obsessed with getting her daughters married, “She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper… The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace visiting and news…” it didn’t matter to her whether her daughters were happy in their marriage; material possessions were the only thing that she had any interest in. Jane Austen called it “her business” to get her daughters married, as if she lived only to see her daughters married and had no life of her own.
Mrs Bennet is meant to be a very unsecure character; she desperately wants to be in a higher position in society, as she is driven by status and strongly follows the expectations of the class system. Because of this, she has a very shallow view of happiness and is exceptionally small minded. This makes her judgemental about people, especially Darcy, as he is the object of so much gossip; the only other thing of interest in her life. She doesn’t understand what it means to be in a happy marriage, as she has never been in one. This is shown very strongly by Jane Austen as she could relate to her own life and how it could have been, when she writes about this marriage. She wrote a letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, on the 30th November 1814, “Nothing can compare to the misery of being bound without Love, bound to one and preferring another”. This shows that her view was rather marry in love than marry for money and regret it, as Mr and Mrs Bennet did. The word “Love” is in capitals, as it is within Keats, which shows that love was a significant part of her life, and that she wouldn’t marry without it.
The second marriage that you come to in Pride and Prejudice is the Charlotte Lucas/Mr Collins marriage. Both Charlotte and Mr Collins do not marry for love, but they are content, as the marriage suits both of them, for different reasons.
Mr Collins had three reasons for wanting to marry, but it is obvious he has no strong attachments or affections for his wife; he changed his mind from Jane to Elizabeth, and then three days later, Charlotte. His first reason was that he wanted to “set the example of matrimony in his parish”. This shows that he is quite mercenary, and that one of his only wishes is to look good and to set a good example; to follow society’s rules, and not to marry for love. His second reason was that is would “add very greatly to [his] happiness”. Nothing is mentioned about his wife or her happiness. He is conceited and only thinks about himself within the marriage. His “design” is for him to be as happy as possible without any inconvenience to himself, his parish or Lady Catherine. His third reason was that Lady Catherine had told him twice that he had to marry, “Mr Collins, you must marry”. This is highlighted as the most important reason to him; Lady Catherine is the most important person in his life, his wife comes second, only to her. It is clear that Mr Collins is a weak individual as he is very unsecure. His main reason for marriage is that someone else told him to – love is not a factor to him.
He is pompous, obsequious, and unselfaware, “Mr Collins was not a sensible man”, “I am very sensible, madam”. Even though he is self centred and conceited, he could, for some people, be considered a “catch” as he has money and stability; he realises this.
There was no possible way that Lizzy could marry Mr Collins. Their marriage would have ended up exactly the same as her parents; Lizzy mocking and ridiculing Mr Collins’ manner, dialogue, connection and obvious attachment to Lady Catherine De Bourgh.
For Charlotte, however, it was a perfect match. She did not believe in marrying for love, “I am not a romantic you know. I never was. I ask only for a comfortable home”. She uses marriage as a way to secure a good home and income as her goal in life was not to marry, but to set up her own home, but the only way for her to do this was to marry. It is obvious that she doesn’t want to marry for love as she does not even think it is wise to get to know the person she is going to marry, “it is better to know as little as possible of the person with whom you pass your life with”. Once she gets married to Mr Collins, she copes by persuading him to stay out of the house as much as possible, and by having her own parlour to spend time in, so she doesn’t have to spend too much time with him. Most of the quotes concerning charlottes marriage, such as “Miss Lucas, who accepted him solely from the pure disinterest desire of an establishment”, are focused on material things such as houses, money and security instead of love. Jane Austen realised the need for all of these things, and uses Charlotte to portray the other side of marriage, where material goods are important to live happily (letter to her niece on the 13th march 1817), “Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor – which is one strong argument in favour of Matrimony”, people that marry for money shouldn’t be looked down upon as it is their choice in life.
This marriage was a typical type of marriage in Austen’s day, but it was not a good example. Charlotte is used as an accessory for Mr Collins, and Mr Collins is used by Charlotte to gain security and material possessions. However, “everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both” and they were both content with the match. “Miss Lucas’ scheme” and “Mr Collins design” ensured that they both got what they wanted out of the marriage.
The most important marriage in Pride and Prejudice is Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage. Both Lizzy and Darcy had to change and learn throughout the book to get to the marriage at the end.
When Darcy is first seen he is extremely rude, obnoxious, and uncomfortable in society; despite the fact that he is extremely rich and handsome, Jane Austen has manipulated us to believe, as Lizzy does, that he is horrible. He believed that marriage was a trap, and therefore would only accept the most “accomplished” of women. This meant they had to be able to read, write, draw, paint, play piano, speak foreign languages, and many other things. He used this as a reason for never marrying or falling for a woman; until he met Lizzy. He was surprised that she didn’t flirt with him because he was rich, as most women did, which made him intrigued by her, “Darcy had never been bewitched by any women as he was by her. He really believed, that were it not for the inferiority of her connections, he should be in some danger”. Darcy did realise that, even though he really liked her, Lizzy was not a suitable partner for him; she was of a lower class and her mother, in particular, did not have enough connections. However his want to marry for love overcame this when he decided to defy convention and propose for the first time.
Because of his awkwardness in public, his lack of time spent around Lizzy and the forced view of society, Darcy’s first proposal was not likely to work at all. It was extremely abrupt, and he proposes whilst still expressing society’s view, instead of talking about his own feelings, “why… you chose to tell me that you like me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character”. He is very similar to Mr Collins in the way that he only thinks and talks about himself, society, and that he is extremely surprised when she refuses him, as if he is above rejection.
However, in his second proposal, Darcy is the complete opposite of Mr Collins. His proposal is completely focused on Lizzy, and his feelings towards her. He breaks out of all his restraints; both his feelings that he tries to hide throughout the book, but also his language, and the way he speaks to Lizzy, “my affections and wishes are unchanged”, show that he, himself, has changed for the better, and that he know sees Lizzy as an equal to him. I think that this is one of the main reasons Lizzy agrees to marry him, as she needs to “respect” her husband as well as love him, and she couldn’t respect anyone who didn’t treat her as an equal.
Lizzy is the main character in Pride and Prejudice; Jane Austen uses her as the heroine, and represents her views about marriage through Lizzy. She believes that it is important to be happy, have respect, and be in love with the person you marry, as marriage is for life. Lizzy is easily the easiest character to relate to as her views on marriage are similar to the modern world views; she is an individual and wants to marry for love not for material possession, “my feelings in every aspect forbid it”. Marriage is not seen as a goal in her life – Lizzy wants to be happy, and will only marry if she feels she will be happy with her partner. She also does not follow the pressure of society, and therefore, is comfortable wither place in society. Unlike her mother and sister, Lydia, she is not obsessed with trying to elevate and her way of life. She was extremely angry with Lydia’s attitude towards marriage, “I’m sure all my sisters must envy me. I only hope they have half my good luck”. Lydia did not marry Wickham for love, but because she wanted to elevate herself above her sisters by being the first one married. Elizabeth is realistic, and appreciates the need for money, but she doesn’t want to end up like Lydia. She realises that her parents’ marriage is not a good one, so she looks up to Mr and Mrs Gardiner, her aunt and uncle, as their marriage is also one of love, not just a practicality.
She refused both Mr Collins and Mr Darcy for similar reasons. Neither of them express any thought about her happiness within the marriage, both of them expected to her accept, and were surprised when they got turned down, and both were extremely abrupt proposals; she barely knew either of them and therefore couldn’t love them. She could not bring herself to marry without love, so even without Mr Collins’ pompous manner, and Mr Darcy’s pride and treatment of Jane; I believe that she still wouldn’t have accepted either of them when they proposed.
Mr Darcy’s second proposal was, however, completely different. She had become a good influence on Darcy, which helped him to break out of his shell so she could get to know him. She realised that her treatment towards him at his last proposal was unfair, “Elizabeth was too embarrassed to say a word”, and that she too had to change to make any marriage work. As both Lizzy and Mr Darcy broke away from society’s rules, they also broke out of any language restraints. Lizzy was lost for words and her language is “not very fluent”. They are both completely focussed on each other and what the other person is saying, “they walked on, without knowing in which direction”. Everything that is said in this proposal is about each other, and not what society’s view is. It is also a much understated proposal which could be showing that they are happy together and that they don’t need the grandeur of material possessions to connect them because they are in love.
For Jane Austen, Lizzy and Darcy’s marriage is meant to be the prefect match. Lizzy represents all of Austen’s views about marriage, especially, that love is the most important aspect in any marriage. Darcy is meant to be the perfect gentleman; she never got married as she never found someone she loved, but Darcy is her way of representing that person.
Even though she believes in marrying for love, she is not so modern that she dismisses marriage altogether, and even though she has modern views, she realises the restrictions of her time. She also realises that material possessions are also important in a marriage, as shown by the representation of Charlotte Lucas who uses marriage as a practicality.
Lots of the storey is written in a very self conscious style of writing. This could be because she didn’t have much experience in happy marriages so she didn’t know how to portray one within her story. She also uses satire and irony to express her views, especially when she is writing about men. This is because she didn’t know a lot about men and their way of expressing their feelings. There are also no scenes with just men, as she didn’t know what they did when they were on their own, and she was not sure how they conversed. Darcy, in particular, finds it difficult to express his feelings. There could be two reasons for this: one is that it is his character to find it difficult to open up to people, and the other is that Austen found it difficult to articulate a men’s point of view.
Societies view on marriage during Jane Austen’s time would have reflected Lady Catherine de Boughs views, Mrs Bennet’s views, and Mr Collins’ views. Lizzy and Darcy represent Austen’s view of marriage, and how her modern day views contradicted the society that she lived in.
Lydia is used to show the worst possible idea of marriage. The audience in the 19th century would have been fully aware of the shame that Lydia would have brought upon herself and her actions by her elopement and marriage to Wickham. Elizabeth’s disagreement and anger at Lydia was meant to enforce the idea that her view on marriage was the correct one. The audience responded to Austen’s writing because marriage was a main theme during her era; not everybody would achieve a happy marriage, but reading about the best and the worst of marriages would be of interest. People are always interested in things that will never happen to them, and things they never want to happen to them. Austen used this to write about the different classes and characters views on marriage.
Nothing can compare to the misery of being bound without Love, bound to one and preferring another.”