Explore Austen's Presentation Of Marriage In

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Joanne Hua 10 Jupiter Ms. Pomeroy

28th February 2003

Explore Austen’s Presentation Of Marriage In “Pride And Prejudice” 

        Even from the first sentence, we can already tell that the novel will be focusing on the essential issues of marriage and wealth.  It stresses a society where marriage is a very important and essential preoccupation.  Marriage and wealth are closely linked together; the richer a man was, the more probable it was that single women would want to marry him.  Austen tries to summarize the two main issues in her opening sentence “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”  This doesn’t appear to be the author’s own ‘voice’.  She seems to put it in a very sarcastic way.  The writer says, “it is a truth universally acknowledged...” this appears extremely exaggerated since she expresses that this is a fact recognized by the whole universe, which is highly unlikely.  The next part of the opening sentence that sounds ironic is “a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”.  She uses the word  ‘must’ to put across the certainly in her statement.  However, this isn’t true of all rich, single men; not all wealthy, single men are seeking a wife.  Her tone of voice seems to be very satirical, in the sense that she exaggerates everything to make it look extremely foolish, because she clearly disagrees with it.  To some extent, she distances herself from society and this is very evident in her choice of words.  The words ‘truth’ and ‘must’ indicate an ironic voice and already, from this first sentence, we can ultimately tell the kind of society the characters live in and what their concerns about life, marriage and wealth are.  The view put forward is what other people in her society believe and she is trying to mock this to show how wrong and illogical it is.  

The novel successfully portrayed the views of that time through each of the characters and their involvement in the societies of England.  The story concentrates on the process of self-deception in both the hero and heroin’s case and their realisation for their error in judgement, presumptions too unthinkingly made and criticisms too freely given.  

Firstly views of marriage and social class in the society of 19th century England were very different from views in modern society of today.  In 19th century England there were two main concerns about marriage; to marry for wealth and financial security.  In the novel, Jane Austen stressed that marriage was not an act of love for most people in that age, but merely an act of survival, high ranking and a place in society.  Strong evidence, which very well illustrates the general feelings against marriage for the period, is the marriage of Charlotte Lucas to Mr. Collins.  As she quoted: “I am not romantic you know.  I never was.  I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’ character, connections and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness is as fair, as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.”  Charlotte Lucas has ridiculous views about marriage.  She just wants to get married and she doesn’t care whom to, as long as her future is financially secured.

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Such concern with marriage also represented the social weakness of women and the clear distinction between male and female roles in society.  Women could not be self-sufficient and no professions were open for women of the gentile classes, so women were almost never independent.  The only profession open for women was that of being a governess, which meant educating the daughters of a family, but this was a job with low working conditions and was lowly paid.  Therefore, women had to marry their life into money, happiness and a secured future.  Marrying well was a serious business and divorce ...

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