Funnily enough, however, Jane Austen never actually got married herself. She was proposed to several times. She declined all but one of the proposals, but then declined that one the next day. It is thought, though, that she may have wanted to marry a previous composer.
In the 19th century, when Pride and Prejudice was written, women were under a lot of pressure to get married. There were very few occupations they could do. One of which was to be a governess (being employed to teach children whilst living with them). Even so, this was not a highly respected job.
As a result, it was difficult for a woman to get money, unless she inherited it or married.
What’s more, an unmarried woman was expected to live with her family for the rest of her life.
In Pride and Prejudice, Lady Catherine de Bourgh makes this clear: ‘Young women should always be properly guarded and attended, according to their situation in life.
If this were the case, then a woman would be considered an ‘old maid’. You would become an ‘old maid’ in your early twenties, as Lydia pointed out about Jane: ‘Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty!’
That was the reason why Charlotte Lucas married Mr Collins. One would wonder why one could marry such a pompous nincompoop, when he had proposed to your best friend just one day earlier.
Charlotte, though, was already twenty-seven, and wasn’t amazingly attractive. She felt that Mr Collins’ proposal was the only chance she would have of matrimony, as he designated ‘it is by no means certain that another offer may ever be made to you’. Charlotte’s main reason for marrying Mr Collins, though, was for financial security and comfort. When she tells Elizabeth why she agreed to marry him she says ‘I ask only a comfortable home’. It was Charlotte’s choice to marry Mr Collins because she felt that it was the only way she could be happy.
But as I said, Mr Collins had proposed to Charlotte’s best friend, Elizabeth, the day before. The chapter in which this happens is most hilarious. After being forced by her mother to stay in the room alone with insensitive fool, Elizabeth listens to Mr Collins’ reasons for wanting to marry her. His first reason is that he thinks ‘it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like himself) to set the example of matrimony in his parish’. As you can see, this reason has nothing to do with his feelings for Elizabeth. His second reason is that he is ‘convinced it will add very greatly to (his) happiness’. The idiotic clergyman clearly hadn’t considered whether Elizabeth could benefit from the marriage, which shows his egotism and insensitivity for other people’s views and feelings. Mr Collins’ final reason was that it was ‘the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom (he) has the honour of calling patroness.’ In saying this he is referring to his idol, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He is basically telling Elizabeth that it wasn’t his idea to propose to her! This clearly shows that he isn’t seriously attracted to her.
Mr Collins then goes on to subtly insult Elizabeth by quoting Lady Catherine de Bourgh ‘ “not brought up high, but able to make a small income go a good way” ’.
Elizabeth, quite rightly, tries to let Mr Collins down gently: ‘Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them.’
The scene then becomes even more comical when the clergyman says that he thinks Elizabeth is playing ‘hard-to-get’ and that he is an expert in female psychology ‘I am not now to learn that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man who they secretly mean to accept’; ‘I know it to be the established custom of your sex to reject a man on the first application.’ This is terribly amusing because he thinks that he is right, but in fact he is making an utter fool of himself.
We can safely say that Mr Collins sees marriage in terms of materialism. He thinks that Miss Bennet will marry him because he has a lot of money, a large house, and has a good connection with Lady Catherine de Bourgh, despite the fact that he is arrogant and callous. ‘…or that the establishment I can offer would be any other than highly desirable. My situation in life, my connections with the family of de Bourgh are circumstances highly in my favour’.
Elizabeth and Mr Collins had totally different views on marriage, and Elizabeth was wise enough to see that and decline his proposal.
The two main characters in the novel are clearly Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy. We are kept in suspense by these characters throughout the whole novel, because we know how Darcy feels towards Elizabeth, but it is not until the end of the story that he makes it known to her.
At the beginning of Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth loathes Mr Darcy because she is prejudiced against him, due to a lie that Wickham told her. Mr Darcy is also not attracted to Elizabeth. He says he finds her ‘tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me’.
At the next ball in Netherfield, however, Darcy begins to grow fond of Elizabeth, especially when she refuses to dance with him – her pride attracts him. He later described her to Bingley as having ‘a pair of fine eyes’ and being ‘pretty’.
As the story goes on, Mr Darcy becomes more and more lovesick for Elizabeth. He becomes even more enchanted by her when she is sitting quietly as Caroline Bingley coquettes him. But what Darcy finds most attractive in Elizabeth is the fact that she ‘gives (her) opinion very decidedly for so young a person’. Elizabeth speaks her mind and is not at all intimidated by Darcy’s fame and fortune. Elizabeth is still detests her admirer – even after Darcy has proposed to her, and he writes a letter to her explaining what really happened between him and Mr Wickham.
Miss Bennet is convinced and determined not to fall in love with Darcy. It is funny that, although Miss Elizabeth is portrayed as a sensible, intelligent young woman, we see a slightly materialistic side to her when she sees Pemberley. As soon as she sees Mr Darcy’s wealth, she has confirmed it in her mind that she likes him.
Eventually, after seeing each other unexpectedly, saying goodbye to each other and thinking that they would never be together, Darcy comes to Netherfield with Bingley. It is not until now that Darcy expresses his true feelings for Elizabeth, and finally proposes to her. Austen subtly tells the reader that the couple were mutually suited to each other, as opposed to having physical passion, by describing how Elizabeth and Darcy never actually made eye contact during their conversation: ‘Had Elizabeth been able to encounter his eyes, she might have seen how well the expression of heartfelt delight diffused over his face became him; but, though she could not look, she could listen’. Also during this time, they talk about what had happened in their past together, and both took the blame for their pride and prejudice.
Jane Austen clearly thought that Mr Darcy and Miss Bennet’s marriage was the most moral out of all four weddings in the book. She wrote this wedding for the heroine of the story, because she must have felt that a non-physical, non-financial marriage is most important in life.
