Pride and Prejudice

Examine Jane Austen’s presentation of marriage in the novel pride and prejudice taking into consideration the social, cultural and historical significance of marriage at this time.

Pride and Prejudice was written in the 19th century by Jane Austen. The novel Pride and Prejudice is based on social classes and how important marriage was. Mr Bennet who is the father of the main family in the novel has no sons therefore his money and property would be entailed to the nearest male in the family if he was to pass away, leaving his daughters with nothing. The background of this novel reflects on Jane Austen’s life itself. She believed that you should not marry for money or security, you should marry someone if you truly love them in the novel she shows how people in the 19th century had different opinions on marriage. The themes of the novel consist of love, family, relationships, marriage, social class and money. In this novel their views on marriage are different from today, as the men would only meet and talk to the women at balls and the high classes would be the ones dancing, the other social classes weren’t dancing they were known to not get married as it wasn’t right for them because marriage was all about marrying into wealth. They believe that you should marry for money and security not a lot of people married for love. Jane Austen shows the different opinions on marriage by focussing on the Bennet family; she uses the characters of Elizabeth and Jane to challenge people’s opinions on marriage, she tells the story as the omniscient narrator. Mrs Bennet is the mother of the family she has a different view to what marriage is compared to Elizabeth, Jane and her husband Mr Bennet. In this essay I will be discussing what different kind of views of marriage also how Jane Austen speaks through her characters of what she truly believes.

Jane Austen starts off her novel with this quote; “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife.” This is basically saying that a man that is financially well off but with no one to share his wealth with should be in search of a wife. Jane Austen is using this as she is making light of what they believed in the 19th century. It could be argued that Mrs Bennet is saying this because she agrees strongly that her daughters should get married for security and wealth. Mrs Bennet sees marriage as being arranged or a necessity in life she calls marriage an “establishment”. Mrs Bennet’s view is that she wants her daughters to marry so they are financially secure although her eldest daughters want and will marry for love. She has a strong belief on marriage and implies that it is very important and they shouldn’t care about anything else than marrying into wealth so their family can be better off. “If I can but see one of my five daughters happily settled at Nether field…and all the others equally married, I shall have nothing to wish for.” This quote backs up my thoughts and opinions on what she believes; it is implying that her daughters getting married are all she wants in life. This also shows what women thought in the 19th century and how Mrs Bennet is stereotypical. Mr and Bennet’s relationship can also back up my opinion on women’s thoughts on marriage in the 19th century as their relationship is based on looks they don’t really show any affection or love in the relationship; they also have different opinions on marriage this shows that Mr Bennet is more in love with Mrs Bennet than she is with him. The author later comments on their relationship “her father captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour, which youth and beauty generally give, 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.” Meaning that Mr Bennet married Mrs Bennet because of her beauty and appearance of good humour, also in their early stages of marriage he knew he has no real affection for her therefore he did not love her for who she was but for what she looked like.

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In chapter 6 we see two other different views of marriage, Jane Austen uses a conversation between Elizabeth and Charlotte in this novel telling us about their characters and their views on marriage. Charlotte feels that you should secure your man before deciding whether you love him or not mainly because he is wealthy and will make your family ‘better off’ “When she is secure of him, there will be leisure for falling in love as much as she chuses”, this quote tells us what Charlottes views on marriage are and how she feels that marriage is based on wealth, she advises Jane to secure Bingley before knowing him because of his wealth, whereas Elizabeth feels that you shouldn’t marry anyone unless you truly love them and can commit yourself to them. Elizabeth says “it’s a good idea if you want nothing more than to be well married but it doesn’t guarantee happiness”, meaning that marriage doesn’t always include you being happy. Charlotte then says “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance”, This quote is telling us that happiness in marriage is given if you are lucky, it is stated as only being a chance in some marriages.

As mentioned in the introduction Elizabeth is basically used to portray what Jane Austen felt showing her views and attitudes on the importance of marrying for love. We see the world through Elizabeth¹s eyes and we are positioned to understand her opinion of marrying for reasons other than love. Elizabeth is a free-spirited individual who differs from the other female characters of the novel. Elizabeth refuses to marry the man whom she does not love. Her views on marriage are not typical of young women at this timeso when Mr Collins proposes to her she has to decline. Mr Collins starts the proposal by giving Elizabeth compliments “Almost as I entered the house I singled you out as the companion of my future life” What Mr Collin is saying is that he thinks she is women of his future and as soon as he set eyes on her he knew he would fall in love with her. Mr Collins is only proposing to Elizabeth so he can justify inheriting her house when Mr Bennet passes away, we know this because he says “As I am to inherit this estate after the death of your honoured father... I could not satisfy myself without resolving to choose a wife from among his daughters” he also says “I think it is the right thing for every clergyman… to set the example of matrimony in his parish” this means he is proposing to her to set a good example to his parish also because it would impress Lady Catherine. AND WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF HIS REASONING In my opinion he is only proposing to Elizabeth because he has to and it is the right thing to do as he is to inherit her father’s fortune. Mr Collins introduction to Elizabeth as we can see was not a pleasant one, Elizabeth finds Mr Collins a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man. Her impression of him is quite correct. Rejecting a man who you do not love is a self-evident truth for us in today’s society, however in the 19th century; it was a big problem. Unlike Elizabeth, Mrs Bennet is delighted when Mr Collins enters the room and asks to speak to Elizabeth, all she wants and cares about is her daughters to getting married and for their family to be better off, when Mr Collins asks Elizabeth to marry him as you know she declines, she’s doesn’t want to marry for money. She believes that only if you truly love someone you should marry them. Elizabeth tells Mr Collins “You cannot make me happy; I am convinced that I am the last person in the world who would make you so”. We learn from the interaction between Elizabeth and Mr Collins that Elizabeth views on marriage are completely the opposite, she states she would not marry him no matter what he did. However, to Elizabeth Mr Collins should have been socially desirable; he would provide Elizabeth a home, and long term stability for the Bennet family; Elizabeth realises that Mr Collins would have brought her to insanity and that she could never love him so refuses to accept his offer.

Elizabeth is shocked when Charlotte then agrees to marry Mr Collins. The readers are not as surprised because of their conversation they had before hand. On the other hand Charlotte who is Elizabeth’s best friend is a typical woman in the 19th century; her views on marriage are like most women’s views in this century. Charlotte believes that you should secure your man before deciding whether you love him we know this as many women in this century also had this view on marriage. Charlotte says “it is better to know as little as possible about the defects of the person whom you are to pass your life” meaning that its better to not know your future husband inside out as it is better to spend your time with him when you are married getting to know him, this was a typical thought of many woman at this time, these marriages in the 19th century could be said to have been arranged marriages if it were set in the 21st century. Mr Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas hours after proposing to Elizabeth after being rejected this implies that he is desperate for marriage and in search of a wife. When Mr Collins proposes to Charlotte, charlotte agrees to marry him, in my opinion I think she agrees because she thinks she wont have another chance for happiness and she is scared to be a burden in the family as it was a rule to in the 19th century to marry before you were 25 and she didn’t want to let her family down, “I ask only for a comfortable home; and considering Mr Collins ‘Character and connections, and situations in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state”. Chapters 22 and 23 give the reader a view on how marriage was considered the most important thing in the 19th century, as I have mentioned before it was also common to marry at a young age as it would have been difficult to find a partner at later time.

Elizabeth and Darcy relationship is a bit of a tricky one although it is portrayed that they seem to have a strange attitude towards each other I think what they really feel is revealed in the later chapters. We can see as soon as they set eyes on each other they fell in love but not one of them could admit it or show there true feelings. When Elizabeth and Darcy first meet at the Meryton Ball, they both tend to give each other poor first impressions as Elizabeth thinks Darcy Stuck up, cold man as a result of him her shes shows this when she says he’s a "tolerable, not handsome enough to tempt me", and this "remained with no very cordial feelings towards him." Elizabeth’s observation of his character is given in a small amount of time although she is correct he is a cold minded man who only thinks cares for himself which makes Elizabeth’s statement understandable. Darcy is blamed for his actions and how he made his first impression on Elizabeth, as they say “you only get one chance to make a first impression” which in this novel can strongly back up. Elizabeth then is left with this fixed judgement on his character. Darcy asks Elizabeth to dance with him “I would be very happy if you would do me the honour of dancing with me, Miss Bennet” Elizabeth then replies, “Thank you, but excuse me ... I am not inclined to dance” This shows Elizabeth’s opinion on Mr Darcy as she didn’t want to get involved with such an ignorant man. However throughout the novel we start to see a different side to both Elizabeth and Mr Darcy, they both start to show their feeling towards each other, their relationship is seen as pride and prejudice Chapter 36 portrays their true feelings towards each other. Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship differs from the majority of the relationships in the 19th century, for the reason that Mr Darcy was a rich man who was in a higher class then what Elizabeth and her family were, and it was not right for a Higher social class man to be married or even talking to a lower social class woman such as Elizabeth. As we know Darcy was not in love with Elizabeth or did not know his true feelings towards Elizabeth at first, as he would criticise her, his first impression of her is later on erased as he becomes charmed by Elizabeth and falls in love with her intelligence and inner beauty, his first impression immediately becomes replaced by affection, as this happens he is able to realise that Elizabeth is the one he wants to spend then rest of his life with and he later on proposes to her.