There are mixed views on marriage in the novel, while Sir Walter, Lady Russell, Mrs Clay and their friends all share similar views. Anne is different; early in the novel we learn she is sensible, much more so than the rest of her family. So when we learn the story of Anne and Captain Wentworth, and how they were deeply in love we are surprised that she was dragged into her families’ vain self-importance views. As Anne left the man she was happily in love with because her family convinced her that he was not important enough for her or wealthy enough and she was persuaded enough to do so as it says “She was persuaded to believe the engagement a wrong thing- indiscreet, improper and hardly capable of success and not deserving it.” But it is soon made clear that Anne is very regretful and is very aware of her huge mistake, as he is the only one she has ever loved and even though having a marriage proposal from Charles Musgrove after, Anne refused. Her loss of Wentworth resulted in “her attachment and regrets had, for a long time, clouded every enjoyment of youth; and an early loss of bloom and spirits had been their lasting effect.” When Anne is reunited with Wentworth, her feelings are still the same as the when she first fell in love with him.
We see Austen’s views again in the novel when it says about Anne and Captain Wentworth the first time they were together “A short period of exquisite felicity followed, and but a short one. Troubles soon arose. Sir Walter on being applied to thought it a very degrading alliance.” Austen here shows to us that when the public discover the news the relationship turns bad. Sir Walter by calling Anne and Wentworth’s relationship an “alliance” shows that he believes it should be no more than a business relationship. Austen’s tone of “He thought it a very degrading alliance” scorns this opinion of Sir Walter’s as we already know from chapter one that Sir Walter’s views are not of great value, which leads us to believe that Austen also believes Sir Walter’s views are not helpful or correct and through her tone we know that she believed he was at some fault for the failure of the relationship. Although Austen is harsh towards Sir Walter in her writing, Austen has a different tone towards Lady Russell. Austen says “Anne Elliot, with all her claims of birth, beauty, and mind, to involve herself at nineteen in an engagement with a young man who had nothing but himself to recommend him, and no hopes of attaining affluence.” This sounds as if she is judging Anne in the way Lady Russell would and this Austen confirms that her judgements of Anne and her behaviour regarding Captain Wentworth are of value. This judgement does however, talk about marriages of class and wealth as being two of the most important factors concerning marriage and through Austen adopting the tone of Lady Russell we can see that Lady Russell has Anne’s best interests at heart.
The theme in the novel of marriages based just upon class and wealth could also be seen as a criticism of English society at the time on Austen’s part who seems to believe in love and seems to understand the concept of romance when writing “rapidly and deeply in love.”
We see more opinions of marriage in chapter eleven between Mrs. Croft and Mrs. Musgrove. Mrs Croft says “I would rather have young people struggle with a few difficulties together, than be involved in a long engagement.” This shows that Mrs. Croft believes that happiness and love are more important than class and wealth in a marriage. This opinion held by Mrs. Croft is different from Mrs. Musgrove who says “ there is nothing I so abominate for young people to be engaged, if there is a certainty of their being able to marry in six months.” This conversation shows opinions held by women of different social classes. Mr. and Mrs. Croft although not high in social rank, are happily in love, whereas Mrs. Musgrove is of a higher social status. Perhaps here Austen is condemning the upper classes for marrying in the absence of love and it shows that Austen agrees with Mrs. Croft opinion as during the novel, we see that Anne looks up to the marriage of Mrs. Croft and Admiral Croft the residents of Kellynch Hall. Anne sees that they are a married couple that look after each other and are not too concerned with status and importance. An example of this is when Admiral is steering the carriage and makes a mistake and nearly crashes but Mrs. Croft takes hold and guides them to safety, and Anne sees it as how the marriage works, with Mrs Croft steering through the mess-ups.
In conclusion, marriage is one of the main themes in the novel and it is mainly related to social status and importance. In the novel, marriage directly compares social ranks in society. Individuals, classes and titles are measured and weighed in the possibility of marriage. Austen’s tone is condemning when talking of marriages based on money, which on one hand shows her recognition of romance and sentimentalism but on the other can be seen as her being bitter and angry towards the upper class and the rest of society that judged marriage based on wealth and importance.