Another theme found in the novel is that of pride and prejudice in the class system. Like reputation, people are expected to follow certain norms and refusal to do so will mean that they will be mocked and looked down upon by anyone of equal of higher social standing. We see this when Lady Catherine de Bourgh shows extreme prejudice to Elizabeth because she behaves without care of the restrictions thought of as compulsory in the Upper Class. Pride comes in when someone’s high social standing makes them incredibly vain, for instance, at the ball in Meryton, Darcy declares that Elizabeth Bennet is ‘tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me’ due to her social inferiority.
Austen cleverly merges the above themes with that of love and marriage. This can be seen with the theme of reputation when Lydia elopes with Wickham without the consent of her father of the bond of marriage. Her reputation is so shattered that she would never have a chance of marriage with another man. Austen combines the topic of pride and prejudice in the class system with the theme of love and marriage frequently in the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy. This is seen when Darcy proposes to her for the first time; he states that he found it very hard to overcome his prejudice towards her bad connections and lower position in society to propose to her.
The relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy is without doubt the most important in the book. Austen includes almost all the main theme in their convoluted relationship. Darcy shows a large amount of pride in his social standing. This can be seen in his antisocial behaviour when he refuses to dance with anyone because they are a lower class at the ball in Meryton, though he attributes this to shyness.
He also shows prejudice against the people of Elizabeth’s (lesser) social standing, which hurts her pride, and in turn makes her prejudice against him. It is due this prejudice that Elizabeth believes with such ease the story told by Wickham later on in the novel. Love is also included in the relationship, but for them to love each other they first had to overcome their pride and prejudice.
Though love and marriage is the largest theme in the book, the word love does not appear very often in the book. When it does, Austen is cynical of its meaning; this can be seen when she describes the phrase ‘violently in love’ as ‘hackneyed, doubtful and indefinite.’
A much bigger topic in Pride and Prejudice is the theme of marriage and how people select their partners to do so.
I believe that there are three different types of marriage in this book. Firstly, there is a marriage of convenience or one that is based solely on economic backgrounds.
This is seen in the marriage of Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte believes that happiness in marriage is ‘purely a matter of chance’ and economic security should be the main concern. Mr Collins simply desires a respectable lady (one who is in the same class as him). There is no love of any kind in this relationship; in fact, they have so little feelings for each other that Charlotte reorganises the room in Hunsford to ensure that she hardly sees him throughout the day.
In contrast, the second type of marriage is one based solely on physical attraction. We can see the problems with this form of marriage with Mr and Mrs Bennet. They found that once age sets in and beauty begins to fade the two people left dislike each other and do not even understand each other. Austen shows us another example of this in the relationship between Wickham and Lydia, which was started in a flurry of passion and physical attraction.
Austen believes that the ideal relationship is ‘rationally founded’ and is based on ‘general similarity of feeling and taste’. This is embodied by the relationships between Jane and Mr Bingley and Elizabeth and Mr Darcy. As well as sharing the above qualities they also share similar temperaments, interests and intelligence. There is love in both these relationships, but it is not the key factor and both relationships are very secure financially.
In conclusion I believe that while love and marriage is a very large theme in Pride and Prejudice, it would be wrong to say that it is the book on only love and marriage. I believe that there are strong commentaries on pride and prejudice in the class system and the importance of reputation, and that Austen uses the twists and turns of love and marriage as a way of getting her point across on the other themes as well.
