“… I have respect for your nerves they are my old friends…”. Mr. and Mrs Bennet also have different opinions and ideas of their daughter’s future “… Your mother will never see your face if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do…”. You can tell that this is a marriage based on physical attraction because Mr. Bennet advises his daughter not to make the same mistake that he did my marring Mrs. Bennet “…I know that you could be neither happy nor respectable to your husband, unless you truly esteemed your husband…. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect you partner in life…” he is in a way hinting that he cannot respect his wife. Mrs. Bennet is unaware of this as she dose not know her husband very well. Mrs. Bennet’s character is very similar to the character of Lydia. Both like officers and both act loud and hastily.
The marriage between Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas’s is based on convenience. Mr. Collins’s character is very arrogant and pompous. He is obsessed with Lady Catherine de Bourgh. He never tires of praising her. Charlotte Lucas’s character is very plain. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is one of the reasons of this marriage. Lady Catherine de Bourg had advised him to get married “…She had even condescended to advise him to marry as soon as he could…”. Mr.Collins has initially intended to marry one of his cousins however he was refused and married Charlotte instead. The reason why Charlotte married him was for convenience “… I am not an romantic you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home and considering Mr. Collin’s situation in life I am convinced my chance of happiness with him is as most people…”. However you can sense the hostility between them. Charlotte is sometimes embarrassed by Mr. Collins “... Once or twice she could disconcert a faint blush…”. You can see that the marriage is not due to attraction as Charlotte encourages Mr. Collins to work in the garden in the hope that he would lose weight and stay away from her.
The relationship between Lydia and Mr. Wickham is partly based on physical attraction and partly mercenary. Mr.Wickham’s character is very manipulative and scheming. Lydia’s character is very loud, silly and childish. Mr. Wickham’s aim is to gain money. He had planned to run away with Miss. Darcy in order to get her money.
The only reason why he agreed to marry Lydia was because Mr. Darcy agreed to pay off all his debts and pay him thousands of pounds. You could see that Mr. Wickham has no feelings for Lydia “… Mr. Wickham’s affection for Lydia was just what Elizabeth had expected to find; not equal to Lydia’s for him…”. You could see that they were not very compatible. Lydia married Wickham because she was attracted to him. She wanted to marry an officer and to be the first one married out of her sisters “… Ah! Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am the married one …” . She is also trying to imply to her sisters that her status in the family is higher as she is the first one to be married “…Is he not a charming man? I am sure my sisters must all envy me…”.
The marriage between Jane and Mr. Bingley was based on Love.
Mr.Bingley’s character was friendly and gentleman-like. Jane’s character was also very friendly and forgiving. Both of them were very similar and very compatible. From the beginning of the novel you can see the attraction and bond between them. Jane describes Mr. Bingley“… as what an young man ought to be, good humoured, lively; and I never saw such happy manners…”. There was an instant connection as in the ball Mr. Bingley danced with her twice and described her as “the most beautiful creature I ever beheld…”. You could see that they cared for each other, when Jane was ill Mr. Bringly repeatedly checked how she was and tried to make her feel better.
The marriage between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy also is based on love. Elizabeth’s character is very intellectual, she has a bit of pride and she is very witty “… he is a gentleman and I am an gentleman’s daughter…”. Mr.Darcy’s character is very reserved, he does not like to socialise with people and also had a strong sense of pride. At first Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy did not like each other. Elizabeth thought of Mr. Darcy as rude and arrogant and Mr.Darcy thought of her as “tolerable” .However you could soon start to see Mr.Darcy slowly start to fall in love with Elizabeth “he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expressions of her dark eyes…”. Mr. Darcy also defended her from the abuse of Miss. Bingley and Mrs.Hurst when Elizabeth walked through the mud to see Jane. Mr.Darcy is prepared to give up is status and his reputation to marry Elizabeth. Elizabeth has far less connections and has an uncle living in Cheapside (London) who works for a living.
He is prepared to put all of his reputation at risk for his love. Elizabeth’s attitude towards Mr.Darcy also starts to change when she finds out about the truth of Mr.Wickham “ She grew absolutely ashamed of herself- of neither Darcy nor Wickham could she think, without feeling that she had been blind, partial prejudice absurd…”.She also starts to admire him when she finds out more about his personal life and she starts to find out about the other side to him “…he is certainly a good brother, whatever gives his sister any pleasure is sure to be done in a second…”. She starts to see Mr.Darcy’s love when he tracks down Lydia and Wickham and makes him marry her “… her heart did whisper that he had done it for her…”. You can see that this is a marriage of love as both really care about each other.
There were many marriages in this novel. There are marriages of love, convenience, physical attraction and mercenary. The marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Bingley was a balance between the head and the heart while the marriage between Charlotte and Mr. Collins was not love. The marriage between Mr. and Mrs Bennet was neither, the marriage between Mr.Wickham and Lydia was partly head and passion.
Jane Austen’s view on marriage was very simple; the key to a successful marriage was a right balance of the head and the heart. However Jane Austen or her sisters never got married themselves.
I personally think that Jane and Bingley’s marriage and Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage is most likely to be successful as both of the people in this marriage understand and love each other. I agree with Jane Austen’s view on marriage. She put her point across to the reader by showing that first impressions are not always true. People who believe in love tend to believe in love at first sight however in this novel the main character, Elizabeth judges some people wrong and some right e.g. she thought Mr. Wickham was the victim. This shows that there is something more than love that makes a relationship successful.
