In the novel there are four main marriages amongst others; Charlotte's to Mr.Collins, Lydia's to Wickham, Jane's to Mr. Bingley, and Elizabeth's to Mr.Darcy. These marriages are used by Jane Austen to portray a clear view on what makes a good marriage.
Longbourn, the home of the Bennet family is entailed to the cousin of Mr. Bennet, Mr. Collins, as he is Mr. Bennet's only male relative. When Mr. Collins comes to stay at Longbourn, his intentions are obvious, he plans to return home engaged to one of the Bennet daughters. As soon as Mr. Collins meets the girls, he singles out Jane instantly as his future partner but as soon as he realises that Jane is soon to be engaged, he instantly focuses on the second eldest daughter, Elizabeth. Of course Mr. Collins inevitably lies about this to the characters in the story who are none the wiser, but for the reader this deepens the plot further. “Almost as soon as I entered the house I singled you out as the companion of my future life” This shows that Mr. Collins does not care for love or beauty, he is deceitful and prepared to do anything to obtain what he wants, also it backs up the point that men did not marry for love because he was forced to change his potential partner from Jane to Lizzy in a matter of minutes. During the proposal from Mr. Collins to Elizabeth Mr. Collins gives many reason why he thinks Elizabeth should marry him “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” Mr. Collins obviously has no feelings for Lizzy and has no respect for her opinion. His expectations for her to accept his proposal are very high and when Lizzy refuses him, he cannot accept it and states that it is quite common for a young lady to refuse their first proposal. “that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of them man whom they secretly mean to accept…”
Further into the story, Mr. Collins is forced to come to term with the fact that Elizabeth has rejected him and consequently he swiftly moves onto Miss. Charlotte Lucas. These two satisfy each others needs as Mr. Collins requires a wife to satisfy Lady Catherine and Charlotte Lucas is in great need of a husband to survive socially as well as financially. This type of marriage can be classed as one of the most common sort from that era, the marriage was very convenient because Charlotte gets a home and Mr. Collins is pleased because he has satisfied the great Lady Catherine de’ Bourgh. It is obvious to the reader that Elizabeth is unable to understand why two people can be married without even the smallest amount of love for one another, a reason for this may be that she is mindful of the fact that she has been bought up with a mother and father who show absolutely no affection for one another.
The result of Elizabeth refusing Mr. Collins proposal does not help Mrs. Bennets plans to find suitors for her daughter, she is still left with five daughters un-married. Jane is still getting to know Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth has no prospects and two of the three younger sisters are busy chasing the officers who are staying in the village. Unfortunately when everything is beginning to fall into place for Jane, Mr. Bingley leaves Netherfield for London. This results in a huge problem for the family. Elizabeth leaves for London to stay with her aunt and Jane leaves also with another aunt to go and see Mr. Bingley. On top of all this, Lydia leaves for Brighton with the Colonel and his wife. While Elizabeth is away, she learns that it was Mr. Darcy who prevented Jane’s and Mr. Bingleys relationship from developing any further, his reason being because of Jane’s rather weak social standing.
Suddenly an event happens that could change the lives of the Bennet family forever. Lydia has run away with Mr. Wickham and her actions are threatening the likeliness of any of the daughters from being respectably married. Running off with a man during this time, was not tolerated by anyone and the family were sure to be outcasts. Lydia was very naive to run off with Wickham as it is obvious to her family that Wickham has no real love for Lydia but no-one seems to be able to work out why Wickham would want to elope with Lydia as all she can offer is her health as she has no money. The couple have no real love for each other and neither has any money.
At least Charlotte and Mr. Collins marriage fulfil each other's needs for security. The marriage of Lydia to Wickham will be pointless. They have nothing in common, and neither can provide anything the other needs. There are many reasons why the marriage should not take place but it unfortunately has to, in order to save the reputation of all the people involved. As Mr. Collins said in his letter to Mr. Bennet “The death of your daughter would have been a blessing in comparison to this.” And “I am not only joined by Mrs. Collins, but likewise by Lady Catherine and her daughter.” This suggests that Mr. Collins is actually enjoying the thought of the grievance that the Bennet family are going through as he has not held back from telling Lady Catherine.
By now we know that Mr. Darcy loves Elizabeth and in a battle to save the reputation of the Bennet family, Darcy manages to locate Lydia and Wickham and return them to Netherfield. Elizabeth does not realize this. As far as she knows, she believes it was her uncle, Mr. Gardiner, who solves her family's problems. From the beginning of the novel we know that Lizzy thought Mr. Darcy to be rude and arrogant because of things he said about her “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me.” Unfortunately for Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth overheard him saying this and she despised him ever since Mr. Darcy thinks quite the opposite of Elizabeth and he became extremely fond of her when she stayed at Mr. Bingleys when Jane was ill. Unfortunately Elizabeth’s strong opinions and set views caused great pain for both herself and Mr. Darcy. Darcy is unaware of Elizabeth’s dislike of him but when he makes his first proposal of marriage to her, he becomes aware of it very quickly when Elizabeth refuses him and tells him everything she thinks of him. “But I have other provocations… Had not my own feelings decided against you… I have every reason in the world to think ill of you” In the novel, Elizabeth is very open about her feelings and she has no problem in telling Mr. Darcy exactly what she thinks. From here Darcy writes a small letter to Elizabeth explaining all his true feelings and hands it to her in person. The letter is the turning point of the whole novel and Elizabeth who wishes to marry for true love, reads the letter and she becomes "absolutely ashamed of herself" Up until this point Elizabeth always thought that she had the ability to make out people’s personalities, she realises that all this time she has been ignorant, biased, and prideful, therefore driving “reason away” Up until now, we were unaware of the vanity involved in all the judgments Elizabeth made of people. She expresses sincere remorse for her bad judgment, a fact which makes us feel sorry for her.
Lady Catherine was a friend of Mr. Darcy’s mother and when Lady Catherine’s daughter and Mr. Darcy were babies, Lady Catherine and Darcy’s mother made an agreement with each other that Mr. Darcy and Lady Catherine’s daughter would be married when they were older. This was so the wealth from both families could be kept together instead of both families having to use money towards separate marriages. When Lady Catherine got wind that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth may be engaged, Lady Catherine visited Elizabeth at once. “Has he, has my nephew, made you an offer of marriage?'' Lady Catherine is very forward in her questioning to Elizabeth and shows some spitefulness towards Lizzy. She tries to tell Elizabeth that she will not marry Darcy but Elizabeth is strong and totally denies any such happenings “If I have, I shall be the last person to confess it.”
When Darcy returned to Netherfield he bought with him, Mr. Bingley. Mrs. Bennet refused to want anything to do with Mr. Bingley but as soon as she realised that he was there to see Jane, she changed her mind quickly. Elizabeth was ashamed now Mr. Darcy was there, she was unsure how to act or what to say.
When Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth were walking into the town it was obvious that Elizabeth’s feeling towards Mr. Darcy had changed since he gave her the letter. As the two were walking their conversation moved onto the letter that Darcy had given Elizabeth Mr. Darcy asked, “If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.” Here Mr. Darcy shows much more respect for Elizabeth than in his first proposal, he considers her feelings, and he tells her his feelings Throughout the novel Jane Austen clearly conveys her judgment of the characters and their actions through their marriages. She does not like characters who do not abide by the general characteristics of the era as the only marriage she completely denounces is Lydia’s to Wickham. Through Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage, Austen shows that romance is not the key to falling in love, it is your respect for others.
