The first couple that get married off in the novel are Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte Lucas is a friend of Elizabeth and a realist. She knows that her financial status is poor, so she marries purely for economic reasons. Mr. Collins is a cousin of Mr. Bennet and upon Mr. Bennet’s death; he will inherit the Bennet house. Mr. Collins is a weird type of man, he is pompous, insensitive, a fool and practically in love with his social standing as a clergyman, under the wing of his patroness ‘Lady Catherine de Bourgh’. Mr. Collins arrives at the Bennets’ house to take home a wife. He first lays his eyes on Jane Bennet and discovers that her intentions are engaged on someone else, he turns his eyes to Elizabeth Bennet, who refuses to marry him. He then turns his so-called ‘affections’ towards Charlotte Lucas, who, for financial securities, agrees to marry him! Later Mr. Collins announces to Elizabeth that he is ‘the happiest of men’. Charlotte, however, explains to Elizabeth that she ‘never was a romantic, I never was. I only ask a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’s character, connections and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering marriage state’. This relationship is extremely comical and yet devastating. It is clear that neither partner has little or any affection for the latter. Once married Charlotte does her duty as Mr. Collins’ wife and keeps on good terms with Lady Catherine de Bourgh and cleverly manoeuvres her day’s schedule so that she and Mr. Collins only had to endure each other’s company for a few minutes each day! Austen uses this relationship to highlight, yet again, that marrying on false grounds will never bring any couple happiness. Charlotte married Mr. Collins for practical and economic reasons, so the readers realise that she will never be happy.
The second couple to get married in the novel are Lydia Bennet and Mr. Wickham. Lydia is the youngest Bennet daughter and her character is strikingly like her mother’s. She is a self-centred girl and only finds amusement in clothes, dances and good looking officers. Lydia is also very childish in her attitude towards people, especially officers, whom she has a great fancy for. She is foolish in her judgement, and is taken in by Mr. Wickhams’ handsomeness. Mr. Wickham is an officer stationed near Longbourn, where the Bennets live. He is a handsome man, charming and manages to deceive Elizabeth with his story of being mistreated by Mr. Darcy and he draws sympathy from her. His true character is revealed later on by Mr. Darcy. Wickham has great debts, which he has not paid off and he is a liar. He and Lydia eloped before they got married, which is a great scandal. He was forced to marry Lydia when Darcy agreed to pay a great sum of money for him to marry her. When Lydia and Wickham are married, they do not change. It seems that Lydia likes him better than he likes her. Lydia seems unaware of all the problems that she has caused her family by running away with Wickham; in fact she is extremely proud of being the first to get married. She is described by Elizabeth as ‘ignorant, idle and vain’. This opinion is seconded by the author, it is clear that she detests this type of marriage and in her opinion this marriage is also heading for clear disaster.
Next couple to get engaged are Jane Bennet and Mr. Bingley. Jane is the eldest Bennet daughter and the ‘most beautiful and well admired’. She is a character who appears calm and sweet-natured. She and Elizabeth have a beautiful sisterly relationship and Jane often has to slow Elizabeth down, when she makes hasty conclusions about people. Jane’s only visible flaws are her naivety and her want of finding good in everybody; this is shown when she was trying to judge both Darcy and Wickham ‘they have both been deceived, in some way or another, interested people have perhaps been misrepresented to each to the other, without actual blame on either side’. Jane is very good at hiding her feelings for Mr. Bingley and this is one of the factors that Darcy picks up on and warns his friend of this, which causes Mr. Bingley to move back to London. Mr. Bingley is a rich, agreeable and handsome man. He is very sociable and his character is in striking comparison to Mr. Darcy and his sister. Jane and Mr. Bingley are very suited to each other; they both have the same type of personality, although they are both quite naïve and there is plenty of love between them. The author approves of this type of relationship as both the partners are marrying for the ‘right’ reasons and it is clear to the readers that they will have a long and happy life.
Lastly, I come to the heroine of the novel: Elizabeth Bennet. This relationship, at first, is full of hateful prejudices and hurt pride. Elizabeth Bennet is the second Bennet daughter and the most intelligent. She is intelligent, lively, witty and full of life. She can hold conversation with people of both her intellect and people below her intellect. She is a very strong character and shows that she is extremely affectionate, especially towards her sister, when she hears about Mr. Bingley’s reason of departure from Colonel Fitzwilliam (Darcy’s cousin) and later when it is confirmed by Mr. Darcy. Austen shows that Elizabeth has wisdom above her parents, especially when her father agrees to let Lydia go away to Brighton, she contradicts him and tires persuading him not to let her go. This is a mistake, made by Mr. Bennet, for which the family pays a heavy price for. Elizabeth is a very perceptive person and has a great ability to judge people for what they are. The exception is, of course, when she takes Wickham’s (by whom she gets flattered) word for the atrocious way that he was treated by Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth is a proud woman, Mr. Darcy, hurt her pride and in doing so affected her opinion of him and she was ready to believe anything about him. After Wickham relates his story to Elizabeth, she tells him, ‘I knew Mr. Darcy to be proud, but I did not believe him this bad’.
But is Mr. Darcy ‘this bad’? At first he appears to be a proud and obstinate man and everyone gets the impression that he is very proud and thinks that he is superior to everyone else. He hurts Elizabeth’s pride by telling Mr. Bingley that she is not ‘handsome enough to tempt me’. However, later on, he eats his words, as it is soon clear to the readers that he soon becomes very attracted to her. He has a sharp tongue and has no hesitation in putting people in their places if they step over the line. He later tells Elizabeth that his proud manner towards people is down to his shyness ‘We neither of us perform well to strangers’. Mr. Darcy is very concerned with Elizabeth’s inferior background and Mrs. Bennet’s very embarrassing behaviour. We do not see Mr. Darcy’s good qualities until Elizabeth goes to Pemberly. In his natural habitat she sees the side of him that very few people see: a good landlord, a nice master and a loving brother. He becomes more humble, modifies his behaviour and even helps Elizabeth’s sister out with all the business with Mr. Wickham.
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s marriage is the most ideal marriage in the full novel. Even though Elizabeth rejects Mr. Darcy the first time that he proposes to her, we know that in the end this relationship will definitely come up as the best out of the full novel. We know that the course of this love was not smooth and that’s what makes this relationship so beautiful. This is not love at first sight and this love is not only for physical desires. Darcy’s immediate opinion of Elizabeth is that ‘she is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me’. Once he gets to know the real Elizabeth he admits that ‘My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I love and admire you’. For Mr. Darcy not being interested in her at first viewing, he grows to love her passionately and enough love to spend the rest of his life with her. This proves he doesn’t just love her for her beauty, but also for her personality, qualities, which Austen believes need to be combined to make a good marriage. Elizabeth and Darcy represent Austen’s views about marriage, they both marry for love, a love that they feel very passionately for each other, not just based around beauty, but combined with personality. Darcy says near the end of the novel, it was the ‘liveliness’ of Elizabeth’s ‘mind’ that first attracted him, and she said that she first started loving him from seeing him in his grounds at Pemberly. From all the couples in the book, I believe that these two will be the happiest!
Jane Austen’s main purpose of this novel was to share her views on marriage with the readers. She gives her opinion and backs them up with evidence using her characters to prove what she says is right. Austen’s use of language and dialogue has been used carefully throughout the whole novel. The comparison between speeches is ingenious. From senseless speech of Mrs. Bennet to the witty and mocking speech of Mr. Bennet; from Mr. Darcy’s measured, considered speech to Elizabeth’s witty, intelligent and cheerful speech. Mr. Collin’s speech revealed a lot about himself through his speech, mostly when he sings praises about ‘Lady Catherine de Bourgh’. Dialogue is also used cleverly because a lot is said about the characters through it. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s household situation is revealed through their dialogue ‘My dear Mr. Bennet, you delight in vexing me’, ‘I confess I do’. Dialogue adds a dramatic note to the story, especially when two strong characters clash e.g. Darcy and Elizabeth. Dialogue brings characters to life and Austen uses it to expand her view on characters. Jane Austen also uses irony (e.g. Elizabeth telling Mr. Darcy about being sure of somebody’s character before judging them) and wit to great effect. These points are portrayed a lot through Elizabeth, whom Austen uses as a literary device. Elizabeth’s wit matches no other character in the full novel with her ‘lively, playful disposition’.
Pride and Prejudice is a great novel, which greatly involves readers being influenced by the author’s views on marriages. She describes marriages of all kinds: superficial marriages, which never end up happy (e.g. Lydia and Wickham) and true love (e.g. Elizabeth and Mr Darcy). She believes that you should throw away physical attractions and financial status and find true love by exploring each other’s personalities. She knows that marriage should be based on love between partners and her novel greatly criticises people who are ignorant and fools, even though they have a great ‘social standing’. The major themes of this novel are love, courtship and marriage. Jane Austen knows the disadvantages of being unmarried, but she also highlights the disadvantages of marrying for the wrong reasons. From the first sentence of the novel to the last, the novel is so engaging. The characters leap out at you from every page and they are so well defined that the readers are able to picture each character vividly. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is described as the ‘best novel written by Jane Austen’ and I believe that it definitely lives up to its reputation as a master class.
