Throughout the book there are four marriages but reasons for these marriages are very different. Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas are the first to marry and their marriage shows a typical marriage of the times. In those days marriage was more for convenience and for economic gain rather than for love. Charlotte is marrying Mr Collins not for love. She doesn’t have any romantic ideas of marriage, “I am not romantic you know, I never was!” she is happy to be with Mr Collins to have her own home and for his connections. Charlotte is 27 years old and would have been considered an old bride. She realises that love has past her by and Mr Collins is her only chance. She doesn’t want to be left on the shelf and Mr Collins is as good a man as any, “I only ask a comfortable home and considering Mr Collins 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 the marriage state.” Here she is trying to justify to herself and others that she married him for the right reasons. But we see that she is happy to be with Mr Collins as all these things compensate for the lack of love between them. She is happy to have the life Mr Collins can give her but she prefers to be out of the presence of Mr Collins, she sees very little of him and often avoids him. “Without thinking highly of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want”.
The relationship and marriage of Lydia and Wickham is the complete opposite of all other marriages seen in Pride and Prejudice. Their relationship is based on pure lust and would have been extremely frowned upon in those days. They run away together and this was one of the worst things you could do in those days in terms of yours and your family’s reputation. There is no love in this marriage either. Wickhams interest in Lydia is purely sexual and Lydia is infatuated by his good looks. The only reason Wickham stays with Lydia and marries her is because Mr Darcy offers him money to do so. Jane Austen uses this marriage to show a model of a bad marriage. It is based on lust and money and it disgraces the Bennett’s, which they don’t care about. Lydia is very young and naïve as we see in her letter she writes to tell Harriett that she has ran away and how what a surprise it’ll be to her family, “what a good joke it will be!” also she says she didn’t think she would be married while away with Wickham and saw it as “very good fun” if she did. If Wickham hadn’t married her it would have had disastrous consequences for the Bennets. Their marriage will probably be quite unhappy for Lydia, as there is no love or respect from Wickham in the relationship at all.
The next two marriages are based on love but both have a lot of hurdles to overcome before they can be together. When Jane and Mr Bingley first meet there is an instant attraction between them and Bingley says she is the “most beautiful creature I have beheld”. They share the same sunny disposition and good nature. Their marriage is one based on real affection and romantic love, and their feelings are mutual and genuine. Elizabeth is convinced that Jane has found happiness with Mr Bingley, “they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super-excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.” Their marriage contrasts to that of Darcy and Elizabeth. Their love does not come so easy and they both have to overcome their feelings of pride and prejudice before they can realise the others true character. But their marriage comes across as the picture of a good and successful marriage. They match each other well, and Elizabeth being witty and lively could not be happy with a man who didn’t share her talents and understanding. She has found that in Darcy and their marriage is based on respect, intellectual equality and common sense.
In conclusion I have discussed Jane Austen’s portrayal of marriage and found that she has covered various types of marriages and reasons for them. Austen’s portrayal of marriage is quite cynical throughout the book, which is shown in the amount of loveless marriages in the book, in cluding Mr and, Mrs Bennett’s. She uses characters like Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins to show that love doesn’t always dictate marriage. But the central characters in the book both marry for love and the book ends with the picture of a successful marriage based on love, respect and common sense.