All of these marriages have their different attributes, some have more than others. Jane Austen had very strong opinions on what is needed for a marriage to work. These elements are as follows; mutual understanding, good disposition, similar tastes, affection, good manners and money. When looking at all five couples, the pair with the most mutual understanding I conclude are Darcy and Lizzie. This is because for them to be able to come together in the end they had to go through so much and find out more about themselves. They are both well educated and are well read. This is unlike Mr and Mrs Bennet as Mr Bennet is an intellectual and Mrs Bennet’s mind was less well developed. The next factor for a good marriage is having a good disposition. The couple that I think have the best disposition are Jane and Bingley.” “ Their manners are both exquisite, they hardly ever have a bad word to say about anyone. This is all very well but because of their eagerness to see the good in people this may be their slight down fall in times to come. This then leads me on to money. Obviously, the more money that a couple has, the more materially comfortable they will be, but over all, all couples are at least living comfortably as the novel ends, but it is easy to tell from Wickham’s character that there will be troubles with money sometime in the near future, and they’ll be running back to either Lizzie or Jane who both have very large estates.
The way that Jane Austen perceives Charlotte and Mr Collins marriage is very much harder to judge than her ideas on the other marriages. The Bennet’s, Lizzie and Darcy’s, Jane and Bingley’s and Lydia and Wickham’s marriages are quite clear cut, they are either bad or good, whilst Charlotte and Mr Collins’ works well for them but is not what many people would see as happy. Theirs is a marriage of convenience. Both parties are satisfied and happy. Mr Collins needed a wife who would look after his house and be a companion to him. His patroness, Lady Catherine De Bourge, was a great influence when he went about choosing a wife. His eagerness to please Lady Catherine was apparent when moving quickly between Jane, Lizzie and finally settling upon his choice of Charlotte. He is summed up very well by Elizabeth when she says that he is ‘conceited, pompous and narrow minded’. Our first introduction to him is through his impertinent letter, and his presence through out the novel is an endless illustration of Elizabeth’s judgements. His unending praises of Lady Catherine is no less sickening than her enjoyment of it. He has such an air of self importance, with his long winded speeches and ponderous attempts at social acceptance, that even his wife had the feeling of embarrassment now and again. She however is content in her marital arrangements. She has material comforts, a man to look after her and social status. Elizabeth is shocked by this settlement but Charlotte does not possess Jane’s beauty nor Elizabeth’s confidence. She has seemed to compromise all sensible principles in search for her security and comfort. Even though Lizzie takes pity on Charlotte’s decisions, it must be weighed more highly than the fickle and itinerant lifestyle of Lydia and Wickham.
Both Lydia and Wickham possess selfish natures and each only thinks of their own pleasure. Lydia portrayed to us as having ‘high animal spirits’. She has a confident provocative manner which makes her very attractive to men, but is also very vulnerable. Whilst Wickham is a very similar character to Lydia, she cannot see the faults in him. She is ‘unguarded and often uncivil’, making her very similar to her mother. Wickham is Manipulative and deceitful. His unsavoury nature shows through when he first tries to elope with Georgina Darcy and his actual elopement with Lydia, both of whom are attractive young women in their mid-teens. In both cases, it is Darcy who saves the girls from ruin. Even when the couple finally get married Lydia is still blind to the fact that their elopement could have been devastating to the other girls’ future happiness Elizabeth knew that if they did not get married, then she and Darcy ‘should never see each other again’.
Lydia even thought of it as being great fun. Her selfish attributes show through even more in the letter written to Lizzie at the end of the novel saying ‘I hope you think of us’. They always spent more than they ought, and their affection did not last long. ‘His affection for her soon sunk into indifference’
Jane and Bingley’s relationship however is one of great strength. Charles Bingley is a ‘single man in possession of good fortune’ as mentioned in the first sentence. Although it is not his wealth which is admirable, but his ‘good manners’ and assuming character that impresses. Unlike his friend Darcy and sister Caroline he is devoid of snobbery, although he is too easily influenced, which leads to the separation of Jane and himself. Jane is the eldest of the Bennet’s, and the most beautiful. She has a peaceful personality that always sees the best in everybody, but proves to her own distress when she mistrusts Caroline Bingley leaving her exposed and naïve of the true reasons of Bingley’s absence.
When they first met, they were instantly compatible. Their physical attraction was immediate, with Bingley declaring ‘she is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld’. This feeling was mutual. At the balls they were able to dance and converse. These were very important in society since they were able to allow private conversation in public. Their separation though did not seem to phase their relationship. They still loved one another and with Darcy’s intervention were able to be reunited at the end of the novel.
When looking at Lizzie’s and Darcy’s relationship, their dislike for each other is so obvious at the beginning that it seems so unexpected that they would come to love each other so deeply. The way they over-come this hatred for one another is by learning more about themselves. Lizzie had always thought that she was a good judge of character and could tell what people were like. ‘She was absolutely ashamed of herself’, and had thought herself ‘blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd’. Darcy, although seen as proud by many, was a gentleman in his own right. He intervened in many occasions, but did not want, or need the glory of his assistance.
Darcy’s affection toward Lizzie was prominent much earlier on than Lizzie’s. She was clouded by the image that Wickham had portrayed of Darcy. Wickham’s charm and manners had persuaded Lizzie that he was of true character. She had been ‘pleased of the preference of one, and offended by the neglect of the other’. Lizzie once Darcy had given her the letter that al she had thought of him before had been false. She then finally realised that Darcy was the one for her. When she was taking to Jane, she joked that she first knew she loved him when she saw Pemberley. But although meant as a joke, this statement had some meaning. If Darcy wanted to marry her, she knew that he would be marrying beneath her. What he had said about her family in the letter was all true, and she felt ashamed and embarrassed, although he also compliments Jane and herself on how well they had turned out, with such a family like theirs. ‘Till this moment I never knew myself.’
Darcy as well had found himself. As a child he was not taught how to correct his temper. This had made him proud, through no choosing of his own. He had been selfish and taught to ‘think meanly of the rest of the world’. Elizabeth had changed him. She had taught him a hard lesson. He thought she was different from other women who had not their own minds, or if they had they were to timid to express them. She had shown this to Lady Catherine when she had told Lizzie that she must not marry Darcy and to some extent when she was staying with Charlotte. Lizzie behaviour at
Jane Austen’s views on a successful marriage were all shown in the marriage between Darcy and Lizzie. They had not been quick to show affection to one another like Jane and Bingley. They had to work at their relationship towards each other, and come through various trials and tribulations to be together in the end, even though they were both physically attracted to start with. They both had very similar interests and were both intelligent, unlike Mr and Mrs Bennet who were very different. Mr Bennet liked reading and was a intellectual, whilst Mrs Bennet loved gossiping and was abit simple.
