Pride and Prejudice- Discuss how society viewed the ideas of love and marriage in the early 1800's.
Jane Austen was born in 1775 and spent most of her life in the countryside in a village called Steventon, Hampshire. She was the daughter of a clergyman, Reverend George Austen and her mother was called Cassandra Austen. She had a brief education starting at the age of seven and ending at eleven, when she settled at home. Like women in Austen's society, she had little education due to the beliefs at the time; the only education she would have received would likely have been to up her social status, through marriage. She wrote "Pride and Prejudice" to portray society's views of love and marriage to the reader and to shoe that marriages take place for different reasons. We see throughout the novel the excessive number of marriages and courtships that take place.
The opening sentence "It's a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in the possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" introduces the theme of love, marriage and money in an ironic way. The irony is contained in the fact that marriage is meant to be about love and happiness but clearly revolves around wealth and social standing. In the novel we see two established marriages take place; The Bennet's and the Gardiner's. Throughout the novel four other marriages take place; Lydia and Mr Wickham, Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins, Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Mr Bingley.
The marriage between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas is purely based on financial and social security not love or appearance, It was extremely common fro women in Austens era to marry and save themselves from spinsterhood and social security and to gain, the above mentioned, financial and social security. In this type of marriage Austen illustrates that women who submit themselves are largely willing to suffer emotional distress in silence. "... Mr Collins to be sure neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be a husband..." This reflects the social beliefs of, at least, the middle classes at the time. Evidently all that Charlotte wants out of life is a comfortable home and enough wealth to sustain this. " I'm not a romantic girl you know. I never was, I only ask for a comfortable home ...". The use of the word "only" emphasises the fact that Charlotte wants this and nothing else. The consequences of her not marring well would be to severely limit her options i.e. she would have to become a governess or an old maid for a wealthy couple, but this would not support her once she had reached an age at which, she could no longer work. When Charlotte Married Mr Collins she seemed happy in their relationship, even though its not based on love :- she has all that she wants out of marriage. She does however ignore her husbands silliness and does not have any bad words to say about him. " When Mr Collins said anything of which his wife might reasonably, which certainly was not unseldom... once of twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear". From this we gather that the orthodoxy of society has been embedded in her behaviour. She possibly perceives that she is happy because society deems that now she is married she should be happy.
Jane Austen was born in 1775 and spent most of her life in the countryside in a village called Steventon, Hampshire. She was the daughter of a clergyman, Reverend George Austen and her mother was called Cassandra Austen. She had a brief education starting at the age of seven and ending at eleven, when she settled at home. Like women in Austen's society, she had little education due to the beliefs at the time; the only education she would have received would likely have been to up her social status, through marriage. She wrote "Pride and Prejudice" to portray society's views of love and marriage to the reader and to shoe that marriages take place for different reasons. We see throughout the novel the excessive number of marriages and courtships that take place.
The opening sentence "It's a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in the possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" introduces the theme of love, marriage and money in an ironic way. The irony is contained in the fact that marriage is meant to be about love and happiness but clearly revolves around wealth and social standing. In the novel we see two established marriages take place; The Bennet's and the Gardiner's. Throughout the novel four other marriages take place; Lydia and Mr Wickham, Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins, Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Mr Bingley.
The marriage between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas is purely based on financial and social security not love or appearance, It was extremely common fro women in Austens era to marry and save themselves from spinsterhood and social security and to gain, the above mentioned, financial and social security. In this type of marriage Austen illustrates that women who submit themselves are largely willing to suffer emotional distress in silence. "... Mr Collins to be sure neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be a husband..." This reflects the social beliefs of, at least, the middle classes at the time. Evidently all that Charlotte wants out of life is a comfortable home and enough wealth to sustain this. " I'm not a romantic girl you know. I never was, I only ask for a comfortable home ...". The use of the word "only" emphasises the fact that Charlotte wants this and nothing else. The consequences of her not marring well would be to severely limit her options i.e. she would have to become a governess or an old maid for a wealthy couple, but this would not support her once she had reached an age at which, she could no longer work. When Charlotte Married Mr Collins she seemed happy in their relationship, even though its not based on love :- she has all that she wants out of marriage. She does however ignore her husbands silliness and does not have any bad words to say about him. " When Mr Collins said anything of which his wife might reasonably, which certainly was not unseldom... once of twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear". From this we gather that the orthodoxy of society has been embedded in her behaviour. She possibly perceives that she is happy because society deems that now she is married she should be happy.
