"Marriage then, ideally is a love match, and still ideally, more isinvolved- the character and fortune of the lover."

Elizabeth thinks heis too confident and if he had of been kinder maybe Elizabeth wouldhave liked him form the start and they would not of had to go throughall the awkward times which followed them later in the story. Later onin the story Darcy begins to fall in love with Elizabeth and thenmakes excuses to hide his feelings. This is shown when he stares ather after she leaves Mr Bingley’s and when is asked on her feelingsfor Elizabeth he replies criticizing her and then changes the subject.After a while they do begin to fall in love and it becomes clearerthat Darcy is in love with her more then she is. This is shown in thetext when it says, “ was a very long time since he had the pleasure ofseeing her.” This shows us that he falls in love with her very quicklyand that she likes the pleasure of seeing her. It also shows us thathe cannot stand being away from her for a long time and when he doessee her, he has great pleasure in doing so. However Elizabeth soonfalls in love with Darcy quickly after seeing Pemberly when she says,“to be mistress of Pemberly won’t be too bad at all.” This shows usthat Darcy has slowly began to show his more admiring parts and what aman he can truly be and by seeing Pemberly it makes her fall in lovewith him more and she cannot bare to be with anyone else but him.In light of Jane Austen’s quote, they do have a love match and havegrown to love each other in the time they have got to know each other.Darcy has a good fortune and they have financial security. Theircharacters are very different which will help them as they will notget bored of each other and will always have something to talk about.Elizabeth and Darcy are a good couple and in Jane Austen’s quote theyfit it perfectly. This marriage is a big step forward for Elizabeth asthis moves her up the social status ladder, which is a big stepforward for her.However not all of the marriages in Pride and Prejudice fit JaneAusten’s quotation perfectly. One example of this is the marriagebetween Mr and Mrs Bennet. Mr Bennet is seen to tease his wife andthey do not seem to get along. This is seen very early on in the bookwhen Mr Bennet replies to a question Mrs Bennet has asked him. Hereplies, “ you want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearingit.” The tone of this quotation is very sarcastic. When he uses‘objection to hearing’ this shows us that he will not stop his wifefrom telling him what she has to say, but he will not listen to whatshe has to say, as it seems he is not interested. This shows us thathe is not very interested in what she has to say and in a way isteasing because he is exploiting her intelligence by criticizing herand she does not seem to notice. They do not spend very much timetogether and avoid each other. Mr Bennet spends most of his time inhis libury and uses it as a way to spend time away from Mrs Bennet.This echos the way Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins spend theirmarriage. Mr and Mrs Bennet are like two strangers living together.They obviously do not love each other and have very differentcharacters. In light of Jane Austen’s quote this is not a perfectmarriage as they do not love each other and it seems obvious Mr Bennetis not very wealthy. They have not looked into the long-term effectsof their marriage and the way it will affect them in the future.A further example of a ‘bad’ marriage in the light of Austen’squotation is between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte viewsher marriage with Mr Collins as a way to secure her life with a goodhome. She does not expect a “love match.” She says to Elizabeth “I’mnot a romantic; I never was. I only ask for a comfortable home.” Thetone of this quotation is like she is talking about a business and theway she seems to have financial security. When she says ‘I am not aromantic’ this shows us that there was no intention of love and shewas never in love to begin with. When she uses the term ‘considering’this tells us that she has found an all right marriage and thinks shehas a good deal. The word ‘connections’ tell us that she is onlyinterested in climbing the social ladder and this will give her a goodwindow in what she wants to achieve. When she says ‘I am convinced’this is telling us that she has had to force herself into thinkingthis is the right marriage and that there is no better deal out therefor her. This quotation demonstrates that Charlotte was not lookingfor love but only for financial status and moving up the socialladder. However Mr Collins views this marriage as a way to impress hispatron, Lady Catherine de bough. He does not think he is in love andhe only went to visit Mr Bennet to find a wife. It seems he wasbullied by Lady Catherine de bough because she was the one who said heshould go out and look for a wife.Another example of a marriage, which fits Jane Austen’s quote, is therelationship between Jane and Bingley. From the start when they firstmet each other they immediately fell in love. This is shown by the wayBingley reacts to Jane after meeting her at the ball. Bingley says“oh! She is the most beautiful creature I ever beheld!” the tone ofthis is as if he is surprised and shocked. He repeatedly says ‘oh!’this shows us that there is a lot of surprise and love in this as heis amazed that there id anyone so pretty on this earth. The word‘beautiful creature’ tells us that there is no one as pretty andamazing as her and that he hopes to be with her always. This is alsoshown when he says ‘I ever beheld’ this also gives us the impressionthat she is perfect and she is the only one for him. This shows us howBingley is amazed at her beauty and he cannot see how any person canbe as beautiful as her. He obviously hopes that he can one day marryJane and be with her for many years. Jane is also amazed at the wayshe is in love with Bingley and cannot see her life with anyone elsebut him. She says, “How shall I bear so much happiness.” The tone ofthis quotation is very happy and almost like a dream come true. Thewhole quotation tells us that she cannot be any happier even if shetried. ‘Bear so much happiness’ tells us that this is the happiest shehas ever been and she does not know how to cope with all the joy sheis feeling. This shows us that she is totally in love with him and shecannot spend anytime away from him, as she is too happy with him. Thisshows us that if she is with him for the rest of her live, then shewill not be as happy as she in now. The only flaw in theirrelationship is that they never see badly in anybody and will alwaysfind the best part of a person. They have a good character and Bingleyhas a good fortune. In the light of Jane Austen’s quote they have agood relationship and are in love with each other. Fortune did notcome into it as much as they fell in love with each other’spersonality. This marriage is a good step forward for Jane as it movesher up the social ladder significantly, in Jane Austen’s time socialstatus was a very big thing, and the higher your social status thebetter.The last marriage in Pride and Prejudice is between Lydia and Wickham.This marriage in the light of Jane Austen’s quote is a ‘bad’ marriage.Lydia believes shehas married out of love for Wickham, but she has only married to spiteher sisters and to become the first one of the family to go intomatrimony. Wickham however has gone into this marriage for financialsettlement. This is shown when it says, “Wickham never intended to gothere, or to marry Lydia at all.” The tone of this is very criticaland even a sense of shock. The term ‘never’ shows us that Wickham onlyplanned to use her and was never expecting to be forced into marryingher. He planned on using this relationship as a business to get out ofdebt. This shows us that Wickham never wanted to marry Lydia and thatif he had to marry her it would be used as a financial settlement.This marriage has got him out of many debts, which he had on his head,but now he has complete financial security for the time being. InAusten’s quote, they are not a very good couple. They do not love eachother and they have got completely different characters. Wickham isnot very wealthy and they are both socially disapproved of. Theircharacters are both selfish and irresponsible, and like Mr and MrsBennet they have not looked ahead to the long-term effects of theirmarriage and how they are going to be in 20 years time. Their marriageback then would have been perfectly acceptable and not uncommon for afifteen year old to marry a thirty year old, however these days theirmarriage would be seen as perverted and very unacceptable because ofhow times have changed.Pride and prejudice is based around marriages and in the way JaneAusten herself views marriage. The marriages in pride and prejudiceshow how some marriages can turn out very well and how others can turninto complete failures. These marriages show us how it can sometimestake a while to get to know someone and that how jumping into marriagewithout getting to know someone can turn our to be complete failures.These were shown perfectly in the way she based the marriages of Darcyand Elizabeth, as they got to know each other before marrying, and themarriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet, as they jumped straight into marriagebefore getting to know each other.Jane Austen was a romantic person and she thought marriage should bebased on love and not just on fortune. She does not believe thatmarriages just based on money are a very good idea and that it willsoon turn out to be a very big mistake. Austen did not think that themarriage system was fair and that if you did not marry you wouldbecome a social outcast.My view on this is that some marriages can turn out to be a very goodand if you put in the time and effort it will be one of the bestthings, which can happen to you. I think that Austen’s quote is veryaccurate and that if you do not have love and character a marriagecannot work. The way this quote works with the 21st century is verydifferent. Now it is not essential to marry and you are not considereda social outcast if you do not marry. Even though it is legal to marryyour cousin it is frowned upon and it is very uncommon to do this.Marriage these days is based on love more then just money andcharacter is important. Women do not have to marry for financialsecurity these days as they earn as much as men. Marriage has changeda lot since Jane Austen wrote pride and prejudice but there are stillcertain aspects of it that remain the same. These include marrying forlove and beauty, which was the marriage structure for Jane andBingley, and Elizabeth and Darcy. Some marriages are still basedaround fortune and financial security in the 21st century. Themarriages of charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins was a financial marriageand so was the marriage between Lydia and Wickham as this got Wickhamout of many debts he had.Pride and prejudice is a decent book if you can get into it and itshows the way marriages have changed over the years. It shows us howyou cannot just marry for fortune, you have to marry for loveotherwise your relationship will fail. The main purpose of this bookis to demonstrate the way marriages work and fail.