Discuss the presentation of love and marriage in "Pride and Prejudice".

Sarah Lavin

Discuss the presentation of love and marriage in “Pride and Prejudice”

Marriage in general is presented as a central theme in the novel, “Pride and Prejudice,” and love often has to do with marriage but not vice versa. “Pride and Prejudice” itself is a light-hearted tale of love and marriage in very early 19th century England. From reading the novel, we can get a clearer understanding of what life was like for men and women at this time. The first line of the novel suggests that marriage is a central theme when we read:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Love and marriage in the novel centre and revolve mainly around the two elder Bennet daughters, Jane and Elizabeth. Their personalities in the novel as well as the roles of pride and prejudice play a large part in the development of their individual relationships. The novel shows love and marriage as a state of admiration between men and women, finally resulting in marriage.

From the novel, we learn that marriage in this time is very different from marriage now. Nowadays, in most cases, couples marry for love. However, in the early 19th century, when this novel was written, we learn that marriage is not always for love. It becomes more of a competition between mothers who are obsessed with trying to marry their daughters off and they often take it to extremes. It is evident from the novel that marriage is more to do with wealth than anything else and that the mothers are only interested in upper class men with large fortunes rather than whether their daughters will be treated fairly. The mothers just want their daughters to achieve or accomplish something in life and they think that wealth is the answer. However, this is proved not always be the case. Throughout the novel, Mrs Bennet is in close competition with other mothers. The outcome that they all want is to marry their daughters off to a wealthy man and then get on with their life satisfied with the fact that they have given their daughters the best thing in life. At the beginning of the novel, Mrs Bennet is excited at the fact that Bingley has arrived nearby and she immediately thinks of her daughters and marriage even though she has never met the man. This can be seen in a conversation with Mr Bennet when she says:

“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!”

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“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!”

Society at this time meant that women should marry. It was unheard of that a woman should reach the age of thirty and still be single so marriage and looking for a husband is all everyone thinks about in the novel. We are also made aware that women are respected more in society when they are married, especially if they are married to a well-liked and respected man. People suddenly think of the women as high class in society. Lady Catherine is respected and so is Miss Bingley because they have well-liked and highly respected men associated with them in the novel such as Mr Darcy and Bingley. People think of these women as higher class because they have money so people think more of them in society.

In the novel, Elizabeth and Mr Darcy have to overcome obstacles such as his pride and unworthy attitude to the people around him before they are able to discover their true feelings for each other. Jane Austen presents this at many different intervals throughout the novel as Darcy often behaves snobbishly and rudely towards other characters, especially in the first half of the novel. When Darcy and Elizabeth’s feelings are out, their characters change dramatically towards each other. The fact that they have to work at their relationship will perhaps make their marriage stronger than any other marriages in the course of the novel. Jane Austen suggests this as the two do not always see eye to eye throughout the course of the novel even though they love each other deep down. Austen also suggests the fact that the two compliment each other and this is made more obvious when their true feelings are out.

Wickham and Lydia’s marriage shows that there is little understanding of each other and Jane Austen makes us more aware of the fact that it is not true love. It is mainly just romance and lust. For a short while, the flirtatious teenager had her eye on the officers. We are also made more aware by the way that Jane Austen perceives this in the novel as when Wickham shows Lydia a little bit of attention, she fell in love and that is how the marriage evolved. This can be shown in the novel in the lines:

“ She was convinced that Lydia had wanted only encouragement to attach herself to anybody. Sometimes one officer, sometimes another had been her favourite, as their attentions raised them in her opinion”

They are perceived very differently as characters and appear to the reader, not to have much in common as far as personality. The initial attraction between Lydia and Wickham was based on good looks more than caring for each other deeply. Their marriage causes deep pain to the rest of the Bennet family by the attitude Lydia has to the marriage and when she decides to elope with Wickham. Mrs Bennet is upset and embarrassed because Lydia, being the youngest, is the first to marry and Mrs Bennet is worried about what other people will think about this as well as the fact that Lydia has eloped. She thinks that the reputation that she has built for the family will be ruined and that people will think of it as scandal. Lydia caused pain to the whole Bennet family, not just Mrs Bennet. They are all very distressed and annoyed with her after she eloped and this can be seen after Lydia sends a letter telling her family that she has eloped and Lizzy says the line:

“Oh thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia”

The love that occurs between Jane and Bingley at the beginning of the novel appears to be genuine. They long for each other for a while. He is handsome, rich, kind and well liked. He and Jane have complementary personalities. They appear to be pleasantly matched and also appear to share a happy life together. They met at the ball and it appeared to be love at first sight. Both characters appear contented throughout the novel. This can be seen in the lines:

“It was generally evident when they met, that he did admire her, and to her it was equally evident that Jane was yielding to the preference which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a way to be very much in love.”

Elizabeth Bennet has very strong views about whom she loves and whom she does not love. She refused Darcy’s proposal which showed that her view of love and marriage is that love has to be very deep before accepting marriage, and money and a large fortune are not as important as looks and true deep feelings for the man. She has a clear understanding of who she is and what will make her happy. This is made more obvious when she refuses to marry Mr Collins.

Jane Austen uses the Bennet family to illustrate the good and bad reasons behind marriage.

The Bennets’ marriage was not ideal. Mr Bennet had married his wife because she was beautiful in her youth and for her ability to supply him with children. Eventually, though, her beauty faded and so did their enjoyment of each other. Jane Austen may be showing the reader that marriage for physical reasons is wrong. We can tell that the marriage is not very deep because Mr Bennet does not seem very interested in what his wife has to say at the beginning of the novel when he says:

“You want to tell me, and I have no objection of hearing it”

Charlotte Lucas marries Mr Collins for money. She accepted him for inheritance of his establishment and his wealth. Charlotte wanted nothing out of life apart from financial stability, which is what she got from marrying Mr Collins. Charlotte and Mr Collins were not in love at all in my opinion but they are content in each other’s company. Charlotte Lucas is Elizabeth Bennet’s best friend in the novel however Charlotte still accepted Mr Collins’ proposal of marriage even though he had earlier proposed to her best friend and she declined his offer. This shows that she did not think about how it would affect her friendship with Lizzy before she accepted as she probably thought that she was probably only thinking of the wealth she would inherit. The couple are content with each other but not head over heels in love like Jane and Bingley. Mrs Lucas, like Mrs Bennet only wanted her daughter to marry in life. Maybe Charlotte married Mr Collins to please her family. Another reason could be that her mother had pushed her into marrying Mr Collins. This could be because of the fact that if Charlotte married him, the Lucas family would be respected more in society or simply the fact, that by marrying him, Charlotte could have a better future. Mrs Lucas may also just want to show Mrs Bennet that her family could marry rich men too. However, the fact is that Charlotte married Mr Collins for money and not love.

By the end of the novel, three of the Bennet daughters are married off to respectable men with large fortunes and Mrs Bennet is content. The daughters also seem to be very contented. Jane and Bingley seem very happy with each other’s company and it is obvious that they are very much in love. Lydia and Wickham are married but show little understanding of each other and are not truly in love like Jane and Bingley. Darcy and Elizabeth did not always see eye to eye during the course of the novel but by the end after their marriage, they seem very much in love and contented. Charlotte and Mr Collins are also contented with each other’s company however they are also not completely and truly in love. However, there has been a lot of love in the novel, which has proved to be true and genuine. The Gardners have been role models to the other families in the novel throughout. Their love is definitely genuine and their marriage is very strong. Overall, at the end of the novel, most are contented with each others company and from their marriages, the women now all have a very stable outcome in life and have a better chance of getting whatever it is that they want for their futures. So, at the end of the novel, everyone who is in love or married is happy. Everyone’s best sides are shown especially Darcy, who turns out to be a polite and warming character and it is evident that he has managed to overcome his pride and self-importance to make himself happy in his marriage to Elizabeth.

It is evident that the other characters are also just as happy in other ways and much happier than they were at the beginning of the novel. In my opinion, Jane Austen has finished the novel on this note so that the reader also feels contented with the outcome.