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 was unheard of and not as common as it is today.
Marriage is also a central for all characters in the novel; not only for the daughters, but also for the fathers, mothers, sons and everybody else who has some interest in the subject. It is was not right for the daughter to choose whomever she liked for her husband and any woman who wanted a happy marriage would not have done this. In the case of the elopement of Wickham and Lydia, this is very much looked down upon and as something rather radical and misfortunate for the family.
Austen represents the high-society of her time from an observational point of view, ironically describing human behaviour. She describes what she sees and adds her own view in a very light and easy way. She never seems to be arrogant or cold in her criticism but applies it in a playful manner. This playfulness, and her witty, ironic comments on society are probably the main reasons that make this novel still so enjoyable for readers today.
There are eight marriages in total portrayed to us by Austen, but some of them are more significant than others. Austen’s techniques and how she uses them to show us the marriages influences how we see the marriages. She manages to pass her own view onto the reader but she isn’t telling us what to think, it’s by the way she shows the marriages that is crucial.
We see many incidents through Elizabeth’s eyes; even when we first meet Wickham, we see that he is never really shown to the reader as a potential partner for her. Her first potential partner is in fact Mr. Darcy, who at the first ball “drew the attention of the room” and Elizabeth, with his “fine tall person and handsome features”. Unfortunately, for his reputation and Elizabeth’s, he refuses to dance with her. She overhears him speaking to Mr. Bingley, saying that she is “tolerable” but then he also says that she “is not handsome enough to tempt me.” Because of this, throughout the novel, Elizabeth misreads his forthcoming behaviour. After hearing through his letter that she had been deceived by Wickham, she quickly changes her opinion of Darcy and realises her error in misjudgement. Austen has a clever way of revealing things to us slowly and gradually.
Jane and Bingley and Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner are two examples of particularly good marriages. They get on well and share the same interests, humour and tastes. Elizabeth believes that marriage should not be about wealth or money, but love. This reflects exactly what Austen feels towards marriage.
The marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet shows us a lot about what Austen thinks. This is clearly not a good marriage. It is a marriage that required compromise on both parts in order to work. Mr. Bennet constantly indulged in his wife and likes to agitate her on purpose.
Austen’s individual style of writing has a habit of showing us characters in action, conversations, social scenes, gatherings and characters interacting and we notice things about the way they speak, their tones of voice, and how they come across to us. This makes us judge them. For example, Mr. Collins: we have a low opinion of him because of the way he talks and because of his constant reference to Lady Catherine de Bourgh. However, at the end of each section, Austen confirms the opinions we have already formed. This causes us feel cleverer and allows us to become more involved in the novel and therefore we enjoy it more. It’s giving the illusion that we are thinking ahead of the author and it makes us contemplate more; it makes us want to read on more. This is a clear tactic throughout the novel. The narrator makes good use of an ironic voice whereby the reader understands a meaning other than that portrayed on the page. She gives us a lot of marriages and this makes us start to compare them. It generates us to start to think more logically about what makes a good marriage. It refers back to opening sentence. This is a very clever tactic because it draws our attention back to the beginning of the novel and what the novel is actually about. It gives structure to the novel and rounds it up nicely.
Austen stresses to maximum effect that marrying for money and status was foolish but she still regards these things as quite important, as well as the different people’s interests, intellect and love.
In the novel, four out of the eight marriages shown to us are extant. These are Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiners, and William and Lady Wickham. Four of the marriages are solemnised and happen throughout the course of the novel. These are Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas, Wickham and Lydia, Darcy and Elizabeth, Bingley and Jane. Because of the amount of marriages in the novel, this allows us to compare, contrast and judge them.
Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are very different from each other in many ways. They are seen as incompatible in terms of interests and intellect. Mrs. Bennet is keen on fashion, gossip and getting her daughters married. Mr. Bennet mocks Mrs. Bennet and takes every opportunity to tease her. This is clearly not a healthy marriage. At the end of the first chapter, Austen confirms what we have seen.
Mr. Bennet is portrayed as a man of “a mixture of quick wit” and sarcastic humour. Mrs. Bennet is seen as “a woman of mean understanding”. Mr. Bennet doesn’t act when Elizabeth talks about the consequences of Lydia going off with Wickham. Elizabeth is clearly aware of the situation but Mr. Bennet seems very relaxed about the whole ordeal until it gets out of hand. In some ways, Mr. Bennet is shown as irresponsible. While this is all taking place, Mrs. Bennet doesn’t react at all, instead, she takes to her bed and moans. Elizabeth immediately starts to regret her prejudgement of Wickham and more importantly, her prejudgement of Darcy. If she didn’t have any other marriages to look at, she would think that marriage was a negative thing.
The marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Hurst is not a successful one. Mr. Hurst is indolent, indulgent and sleeps too much. This is clearly a compromised marriage on both parts.
The marriage between Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas is also a marriage of compromise. It is the first marriage that occurs in the novel. Charlotte was not renowned for her beauty and was relatively plain. She was pragmatic rather than practical; she wants to be financially secure rather than idealistic. She was only 27 years old, so her chances of getting married were getting further away; she took her chance when it came before it was too late.
The marriage between Wickham and Lydia is all about getting back on people. They’re attracted to each other physically. Wickham is fickle, shallow and inconstant. He can’t seem to stay with any of the many women he’s had. This marriage is frowned upon by the society of that time. Lydia is so childish that she can’t see anything that’s going on. She wants to marry Wickham and doesn’t see that maybe he doesn’t and that he was only having a bit of fun. She is blind in her love towards Wickham and has a low opinion formed of her by both the society of that time and the reader. Wickham and Lydia’s marriage is one of little “understanding of one another’s characters,” no “good dispositions,” no “similarity in feeling and taste” and as we later find out, there is no “financial security” either. The initial attraction was based on good looks and affection for one another. But after the initial attraction, Wickham becomes disinterested in Lydia and this is even more of a problem. Lydia doesn’t understand the shame she has brought upon her family and boasts that all her sisters should “look up” to her because she is a “married woman”.
The marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner is clearly a positive marriage. Mr. Gardiner used to be in the trade, but is considerate towards other people and so is Mrs. Gardiner. This is one of the reasons why they are so compatible. Elizabeth has a good opinion of them, Darcy has a high opinion of them when he first meets them and this therefore drives the reader into having a high opinion of them too. It also reflects what the author feels is a good marriage because Mr. Gardiner was seen as a man of slightly lower status, but that didn’t distract Mrs. Gardiner from being attracted to him. This marriage shows that they did not marry for money, but for love. The opinion formed of the Gardiners is totally opposite to those formed of Wickham and Lydia.
The connection between Bingley and Jane is the first that is spoken of as a possibility of a marriage, but it nearly doesn’t happen because Jane doesn’t show her feelings as picked up by Charlotte Lucas. The marriage between Bingley and Jane succeeds because they both share similar interests and intellect.
Elizabeth and Darcy are the central focus throughout novel and it is possibly the best example of a good marriage. They have to overcome a lot of difficult situations before they finally get engaged. Two of the main obstacles were prejudgement and pride.
Austen is trying to say that marriage should be given careful thought and consideration. It should not be solely for money and status, but for intellect and true love.