Mr Collins shows us how the higher class are not always as you expect them to be. He is also the reason why Mrs Bennet wants to get one of her daughters married to him. In the nineteenth century, if no male heirs were born to a man then his property was entailed off to the next male in the blood line of the family. Mr and Mrs Bennet didn’t have any sons, so Mr Bennet’s ownership of the Longbourn estate was entailed to Mr Collins. With this marriage, Austen is seen to support her era’s view of marriage. However, she covertly criticises it. Both Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas are seen as happy before they marry and then unhappily married later in the book. Austen purposely does this as a social criticism on the nineteenth century view of marriage.
The next marriage shows what happens when you marry on the basis of looks alone. Mr Bennet married Mrs. Bennet because of her looks. Only after the marriage did he realise it was a ludicrous mistake because she doesn’t have any common sense. She tends to embarrass everyone around her but not her self. For example:
“She [Mrs. Bennet] concluded with many good wishes that Lady Lucas might soon be equally fortunate [with her own daughter’s marriage] though evidently and triumphantly believing there was no chance of it.” This is an example of when Austen uses bathos; she contrasts Mrs. Bennet’s words with her thoughts. “Evidently” and “triumphantly” suggests to us that Mrs. Bennet breaks the rules of social politeness. However, it was typical for women to be competitive over the marriages their daughters’ are going to be/are in. The fact is, although she is incapable of embarrassing herself, she constantly brings embarrassment to those around her. Austen’s criticising her era’s view on marriage as women were not meant to be seen as impolite and a traditional woman would not cause such social impoliteness and embarrassment to those around her. Austen is being critical because society is making women be competitive when it comes to marriage.
Mrs Bennet tends to want her daughters to marry rich, upper-class men: “‘[Any] single man with a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’” She also believes that if one of her daughters marries a rich man then “that will throw the girls into the path of other rich men.” Ironically, her lack of sensitivity repels upper-class men from her daughters. Austen believes that this is not the right approach and that is why so many male characters that are exposed to Mrs. Bennet’s daughters are not in her company at the time.
Although Mrs. Bennet just wants her daughters to be married, Mr. Bennet wants them to make a good match and be happy with whomever they marry. This is shown when Elizabeth refuses Mr Collins’ proposal. Her mother is sick with worry that her daughter will become a spinster and will be frowned upon by society. She gets Mr. Bennet involved and, instead of agreeing with Mrs. Bennet, he states: “‘from this day onwards you must be a stranger to one of your parents.’” As a consequence of this Mrs. Bennet becomes infuriated but because Mr. Bennet is the man of the house she must, under social expectations, listen to and do what he says.
This is another marriage that covertly criticises Austen’s era’s view on marriage. It suggests that if you don’t get to know the person you marry then you will be unhappy. It also shows us that if you are impolite in public then it will be hard to find respectable suitors for your daughters.
The succeeding marriage shows what happens when you are stupid and senseless. It is also seen as a warning to the other Bennet sisters. Lydia Bennet is an incredibly foolish girl and George Wickham is impeccably sly. This marriage was never meant to happen and Wickham was forced into it by Darcy. Darcy does this to prove his love for Elizabeth and to show her how much his feelings have changed. He also doesn’t want to bring shame into her family because he is planning to marry into it. This links into the nineteenth century view of marriage as no man would marry into a family that has had shame brought down onto their name.
Lydia believes she is marrying for love but she is an uneducated, impetuous girl that takes after her mother because she has no sense. She isn’t perturbed about how her actions will affect her family. With this marriage Austen supports her era’s view on marriage. It was seen as socially unacceptable to marry without the knowledge of your family. She supports this viewpoint because Lydia and Wickham’s marriage in the novel is seen as disgraceful and unacceptable. This is shown through the letter sent to Elizabeth from Jane. In the letter Jane states “Imprudent as a marriage between Mr. Wickham and our poor Lydia would be, we are now anxious to be assured it has taken place.” The use of the word “Imprudent” suggests that the marriage is unwise and shouldn’t happen.
Jane and Bingley’s marriage is seen as too good to be true because they always see the good in other people. When talking to Elizabeth, Jane states; “A marriage where either partner cannot love or respect the other that cannot be agreeable… to either party.” This clearly shows us that Jane wishes to marry for love.
In the novel, Mr. Bingley is persuaded by Darcy to ignore Jane. Although he does leave Netherfield in chapter twenty-one he returns in chapter fifty-three. This is because nothing can keep him and Jane separated because they are so deeply in love with each other.
When Jane and Bingley first met at the ball in Netherfield they instantly fall in love with each other. Their love for each other is genuine. This is shown through the fact that when they met for the first time they danced twice which was quite unusual, unless you were planning to get married.
Due to Lydia’s actions, Jane’s chances of marriage are almost destroyed. Also, as she is the eldest Bennet daughter there is an additional pressure for her to be married. Although this is the case, Jane doesn’t give in and marry for convenience and social advancement. She stands for what she believes in and gets to know and fall in love with the person she wants to marry - Bingley. Austen does criticise her era’s view on marriage with Jane and Bingley because when you married to someone in the nineteenth century, you didn’t marry for love. If you was in love with the person you married it was seen as lucky. She shows that it is possible to marry for both social advancement and love and it is what people should strive for
The final marriage in the novel is the most controversial marriage. Both characters want to marry for love but are too proud to admit it. In the novel, Elizabeth completely goes against the conventions of a typical nineteenth century woman. Normally, a nineteenth century woman was seen as inferior but Elizabeth is extremely strong minded and makes sure her opinion is voiced. This is shown when she refuses Mr. Collins’ proposal and Mr. Darcy’s first proposal. This is one of the most radical acts in the novel. It is radical as nineteenth century women were expected to accept the first marriage proposal that they get because they might not get another one.
When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth the first time he openly criticises her family by saying ‘“…it goes against my better judgement.’” For this reason Elizabeth refuses his proposal. However, when Lady Catherine de Bourgh comes to Longbourn, after hearing about Darcy’s and Elizabeth’s rumoured engagement, it is seen that she has the same views: “Are the shades of Pemberley to be this polluted?” This shows exactly how the upper-class society let arrogance control their decisions and taint their opinions about people that have a lower social status than them. Austen is critical of this because she shows that even though the higher class people disapprove of certain marriage proposals they can be ignored and people can marry without their permission.
Later on in the novel, Darcy proposes to Elizabeth again. This time Darcy’s proposal is in complete contrast to his previous proposal and Mr. Collins’ proposal. Darcy states: “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” This shows us that he has overcome his pride and needs Elizabeth to know how much he loves her. This is not typical of nineteenth century proposals as men only proposed once and then didn’t propose again after there first proposal was turned down.
This marriage, being the most radical, does criticise the nineteenth century view on marriage. It was seen as disrespectful and impolite for women to turn down proposals, yet this is exactly what Elizabeth does. Also, men were meant to marry a woman with the same social status and links with authority but Darcy does not do this. As both of them overcome their pride and marry for love, this is a social criticism of nineteenth century marriage.
To conclude, Austen does criticise her era’s view on marriage. The only marriage in which she supports the view fully is Lydia and Wickham’s marriage, all of the other marriages are criticised in one way or another. At the time when “Pride and Prejudice” was written it was seen as a very radical text. However, other books were written and they got more and more radical. For example, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” written in 1892 by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was an extremely radical text. It is the story of how a man locks his wife in a room and he becomes more and more psychotic and eventually she turns mad. This shows us how Austen became the starting point of radical texts and criticisms on her era’s view of marriage.
