‘”I see no occasion for entailing estates from the female lines.
-It was not thought necessary in Sir Lewis de Bourgh’s
family.”’ (Chapter 29, page 129)
She is against entailment as she inherited Rosings.
As soon as the novel starts it launches into the motif ‘marriage’ and there is a focus on feminine subjects, such as balls and dancing. Also, men are never depicted without women because Austen wouldn’t have known what men say to each other without women around.
The first marriage we are presented with is Mr and Mrs Bennet. Mr Bennet says that he fell in love with Mrs Bennet at first sight, which proves how unsuitable it is as he now doesn’t love her at all and thinks of her as stupid; this is shown by Mr Bennet constantly reading in his library, while Mrs Bennet would rather gossip about suitable husbands for her daughters.
In chapter 42, it says:
‘Respect, esteem and confidence had vanished for ever;
and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown.’ (Chapter 42, page 183)
It also says that Mr Bennet:
‘Had married a woman whose weak understanding and
illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end
to all real affection for her.’ (Chapter 42, page 183)
Mr Bennet obviously doesn’t hold Mrs Bennet in very high esteem, which is also shown by the constant irony he uses with her. When he does this and Mrs Bennet becomes ‘discontented’ she says she is having trouble with her nerves:
‘When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous.’ (Chapter 1, page 7)
They are not very good role models to their daughters.
The first time Mr Collins visits the Bennet family, he makes it clear that he is looking for a wife. To begin with, he wants to marry Jane as she is the eldest sister and the most ‘handsome’. However, Mrs Bennet states that Jane and Mr Bingley will be engaged soon. When he hears this, he sets his sights on Elizabeth and proposes to her. In reply she says:
‘”I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals,
but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than
decline them.”’ (Chapter 19, page 86)
This is an example of Elizabeth’s pride as one of the reasons she declines his offer is because of his stupidity, and he always says the wrong thing.
He then moves onto Charlotte Lucas and proposes to her, which she accepts. They both see this marriage as a business arrangement and approach it logically. There is evidence that there may have been pressure from Charlotte’s family for her to marry:
‘The boys were relieved from their apprehension
of Charlotte’s dying an old maid.’ (Chapter 22, page 98)
This suggests Charlotte may have rushed into marriage without thinking it through properly. She knows that she will probably not get a better offer, however, as she is twenty seven and not very pretty, as well as being quite poor.
Mr Collins says that the main reason he wants to marry is because of Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s advice:
‘”It is the particular advice and recommendations
of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of
calling patroness.”’ (Chapter 19, page 85)
This shows that he wants to please Lady de Bourgh.
Charlotte’s life with Mr Collins is somewhat trivial:
‘Her home, and her housekeeping, her parish and
her poultry, and all their dependant concerns, had
not yet lost their charms.’ (Chapter 38, page 168)
This is also an example of Austen’s well balanced and structured sentence work. She contrasts pairs of words and poultry ends on a note of bathos.
Charlotte is not entirely happy with Mr Collins, but she was willing to take that chance.
Mr and Mrs Gardiner have an excellent marriage, with many children to show for it. They even treat Jane and Elizabeth as their own children in their times of need. For example, they take Jane to London with them when she wants to follow Mr Bingley there after he leaves Netherfield.
They take Elizabeth to Derby (where Darcy is) and so bring them closer together. When Darcy meets Mr and Mrs Gardiner he gets on very well with them, despite the fact that they got their money through trade:
‘With the Gardiners they were always on the most
intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really
loved them; and they were both sensible of the
warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by
bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means
of uniting them.’ (Chapter 61, page 299)
This shows that the Gardiners really care for Elizabeth.
Lydia Bennet and Wickham met when Wickham’s regiment came to Longbourne. Lydia is immediately attracted to him because of his good looks and his officer’s uniform. Wickham has a sexual attraction with Lydia and elopes with her when she is staying with Colonel Forster. We know that at first Wickham has no intention of marrying Lydia as he is very irresponsible; but he says if Mr Bennet gives them £100 per year, he will marry Lydia:
‘Enter into an engagement of allowing her, during
your life, one hundred pounds per annum.’ (Chapter49, page 231)
This shows that there is no real love and that neither of them have any morals. Their marriage is based on looks alone, which, along with them having no children, indicates a bad marriage, as one of the reasons people get married is to have children.
Jane Bennet and Mr Bingley are extremely alike; neither of them is proud or prejudiced, and neither of them holds a grudge against other people. When Jane is in London and Miss Bingley doesn’t visit when she says she will, Jane makes excuses for her to Elizabeth:
‘She must feel that she has been acting wrong,
and because I am very sure that anxiety for her
brother is the cause of it.’ (Chapter 26, page 117)
This shows how nice Jane is and how she would blame herself before someone else; the same goes for Bingley. During Pride and Prejudice, neither of them changes and they come to no new self-discovery. However, this doesn’t matter as they are so alike.
With Elizabeth’s lively nature and Darcy’s seriousness, they complement each other perfectly. At first, Elizabeth despises Darcy because she thinks he is very proud and has treated Wickham wrongly. When she questions him about his pride and vanity, he admits he is vain:
‘”Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed, but pride
-where there is a real superiority of mind, pride
will be always under good regulation.”’ (Chapter 11, page 48)
He is saying that it is fine to be proud if the person is well educated and has something to be proud of. He then finds fault with Elizabeth and says that she misjudges people:
‘”…Is wilfully to misunderstand them.”’ (Chapter 11, page 48)
Therefore, they both need to overcome their defects to understand each other and make their relationship work. This knowledge of each other continually makes their relationship stronger and more interesting. They both change immensely during the novel, and each overcomes their pride and prejudice.
Elizabeth is observant and mischievous, while Darcy is extremely self-conscious making them opposites and well suited.
During Pride and Prejudice, the various couples we meet have very individual relationships. Lydia and Wickham have an unstable relationship based on sexual attractions; Jane and Bingley are very alike and in love; Mr and Mrs Gardiner have many children to show how much they love each other; Mr Collins and Charlotte got married as a business arrangement; Elizabeth and Darcy have to overcome their pride and prejudice to make their marriage work and make it interesting; Mr and Mrs Bennet fell in love at first sight and now don’t love each other at all.
I think that people should only get married if they are sure they will be happy with each other and it is the right step for them to take together. For example, Elizabeth didn’t agree to marry Darcy until she knew him well enough to know he would make her happy. A contradiction to this is Mr and Mrs Bennet as they thought they would be happy together but they aren’t.
To conclude, I agree with Charlotte’s statement ‘happiness in a marriage is entirely a matter of chance’ as nobody knows how a marriage will turn out.
