What do we learn about the theme of love and marriage in the first 45 pages of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice?

We learn in the first 45 pages of 'Pride and Prejudice' of a character called Mrs Bennet who a mother of five daughter who she desperately wants them to get married. We see this in the first couple of pages. Her determination to find the girls all husbands. But not all the girls are so determined as she is. The main reason she wants them to get married is not for love its to benefit her because she doesn't have any money to support the family. During these times there were rare occasions for women to have close contact with men. There was no such thing as 'go into town'. But as we read on through the novel a prefect occasion comes along for Mrs Bennet to set her daughters up with men. Along come a dance where the will be a hand full of men from the richest to the middle class. Mrs Bennet's has a great expectation for her daughters to get the best.

One of the daughters, Elizabeth, who is known by everyone as the silly and load character, is introduced to a gentleman called Mr Darcy, a wealthy aristocrat. At first sight, Elizabeth decides that Mr Darcy is an arrogant and unpleasant man. He is equally horrified by the vulgarity of her relations. There are also other gentlemen such as Mr George Wickham, a dashing and unscrupulous officer and her obsequious cousin, the Reverend Mr William Collins, also pursue Elizabeth.

Elizabeth is unimpressed by the "stateliness of money and rank" but shows a keen interest in studying individual's behaviour, as she remarks herself those complex characters are the most amusing, "... Intricate characters are the most amusing". Unlike the character of charlotte, who is on a manhunt from the word go! A lot of people in those days viewed marriage in different ways. Charlotte who has high pride in herself but is not seen by anyone except her. She unlike anyone else she views men as objects and her view to marrying them is for a financial stability. She ends up marrying a "fool" named Mr Collins.

Elizabeth totally disagrees with what charlotte thinks. Lizzy believes that the first impressions are changeable therefore getting to know the person first is the more sensible approach. She tries hard to platy the role of hard to get.

Lizzy manages to elude Mr Wickham and Mr Collins's advances, and slowly she comes to realise that she is hopelessly in love with Mr Darcy.

All through the opening 45 pages Mrs Bennet tries to come up with plan to get her daughters married. She forces the men on to them introducing her daughters to the richest at the dance. As well as this she sets up smaller other occasions of close intercourse with men such as not ordering a carriage.

We could relate to her as a "planner".

You also have Jane a really quite and shy character who tries not to show here feeling towards any of the other man character.

My whole view on marriage and love during the first 45 pages is that some of the female characters are playing a whorish role because the more money the better man. This is even seen with Lizzy even though she plays hard to get at first. My overall view that she finally falling in love with Darcy was because of the money he had.

Some of these scenes of marriage are also seen in today's relationship but its not a noticeable and not as rare.