Although marriage increased status, it was still unusual to get married to someone who was not at your status. Seeing as the Bennets did not have as much status, and Bingley and Darcy did, it was strange for any of the couple to mix.
This was Darcy’s reason of trying to keep his friend and Elizabeth’s sister Jane, away from each other. He even admits this to Elizabeth when he says,
‘I have no wish of denying that I did everything in my power to separate my friend from your sister, or that I rejoice in my success. Towards him I have been kinder than I have been towards myself’.
The reason that Darcy did not care to look for a wife at the same social and financial status as him was because he was extremely rich and therefore did not feel the need to.
He still breaks the rule of getting married to someone of the same status, because he marries Elizabeth Bennet.
As I have mentioned, Darcy was very rich. For this reason, Caroline Bingley wished to marry him. Having a lot of money meant that he had a high social status. This would have been quite pleasing to any woman.
When Lady Catherine De Bourgh found out that Darcy wished to marry Elizabeth, she got very angry. She wanted her own daughter to marry him, seeing as this would increase their status and wealth a lot. In addition, Darcy was Lady Catherine’s nephew, so all the wealth would stay in the family.
Lady Catherine told Elizabeth that she did not wish for her and Darcy to get married because Elizabeth’s family did not have a lot of wealth and status.
A woman travelling alone is also not a good way of increasing status. When Elizabeth walked to Netherfield by herself, everyone looked down at her,
‘To walk three miles, or four miles or five miles whatever it is above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone’.
By the repetition of the word ‘alone’ shows how bad it is for women to travel alone.
Another thing that deeply brings down the status is running away with someone. An example of this in the novel is when Lydia runs away with Wickham. If anyone had found out about it, it would have deeply cut the Bennet’s reputation. The only way they could make up for it was to get married to the person you ran away with.
In the eighteenth century, it was looked at as rude to introduce yourself. In the novel Mr Collins makes this mistake when he introduces himself to Mr Darcy. Everyone who notices looks at him as though he should be embarrassed. Mr Collins does not seem to notice that he has done anything wrong.
‘Mr Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been little but assisted by education or society’.
This shows us that Mr Collins does not think before he does things, and this makes him very irresponsible.
In the past, inheritance was thought of as the best way to gain money. Mr Darcy inherited a lot of money from his father, so he was respected for his financial status.
Inheriting money gave status to the heir. For example, if Anne De Bourgh, the daughter of Lady Catherine De Bourgh, had married Mr Darcy, their family would have gained a lot of respect. Their marriage would affect all their relatives because Darcy and Anne were already in the same family - they were cousins.
Trade and work was considered the worst way of gaining money. When the Bingley sisters discovered that Jane’s uncle worked in London, they mocked at her behind her back. This scene shows us that people who worked for their money, in the past were looked at degradingly.
Through analysing ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and all of its characters, I can confirm that wealth and status were extremely important at the time that the novel was written.
Jane Austen is constantly showing us examples of its importance. I have spoken about many of them in my essay. Using all the examples, we can imagine life in the eighteenth century. Gaining money and wealth was a difficult task but losing it was quite much easier. This meant that the people would have to watch every step they took.
If you ever lost your status, it would be very hard to get it back. This would have an affect on the marriages of the families that are to take place in the future.
The ending of the novel is ironic because the marriages that take place at the end are breaking society’s rule of not getting to someone at your own status.
