The novel was written in 1797 and published in 1813. Pride and prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English Literature, is an ironic novel of manners. It tells a story about the Bennet family. Mr and Mrs Bennet have five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Kitty, Lydia and Mary. Mrs Bennet was pressured by the society to get her five daughters married, “the business of her life was to get her daughters married”. Mrs Bennet wants her daughters to have a fair chance and marry a rich and respected men. Mrs Bennet was worried for her daughters because “Mr Bennet's property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two thousand a-year, which unfortunately for his daughters was entailed”. According to the laws of the 19th century property and land was passed down to the next man in the family in the form of an inheritance. This means that after Mr Bennet the man next in line is Mr Collins-Mr Bennet's nephew. The Bennet girls would not inherit the property.
The theme of women and marriage traditions in the nineteenth century is demonstrated through characters as literary devices to show the positioning between the main relationships (Darcy and Elizabeth, Jane and Mr Bingley Wickham and Lydia, Charlotte and Mr Collins, Mr and Mrs Bennet). Austin presents various lessons of marriage; importance of marrying for love, marrying out of youthful ignorance and marriage on practicality before romance.“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”. Back in Jane Austen's time, women should get married before they are twenty seven. If they are not then they are classed as spinister. Women attracted husbands in many different ways, through their appearance, accomplishment. Accomplishments were additional skills that a woman had which could attract men into marrying them. Accomplishments were important in the time at which Jane Austen was writing in. Firstly it helped women who were not seen as beautiful to find a husband and secondly it meant that women was skilled in music. Drawing and dancing. Certain accomplishments that women gained were the ability to draw, sing, play music or speak modern language such as French and Italian. The purpose as such accomplishments were often only to attract a husband. In the novel, Darcy makes the remark that beside the accomplishments, a woman “must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading”.
Charlotte Lucas is unromantic. She believes you should marry a man who could give you fortune and social status, love is something that shall form between the two of you after marriage and so when choosing a partner you should not look at whether you are in love with him but see what he can give you. She is a typical woman in the Victorian time and she follows the society rules. “where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married; and if I were determined to get a rich husband or any husband I dare say I should adopt it”. This quote suggests that Charlotte doesn't believe in love. she feel as if she is a burden on her parent, because she is the oldest from her sisters and still not married. In Jane Austen's time the eldest daughter should get married first then the second eldest and so on. Mr Collins has established himself by working for Lady Catherine de Bourgh, an extremely wealthy women. Also once Mr Bennet dies, Mr Collins is due to inherit his entire estate. Therefore, a man who is supported by that amount of money would seem to be quite a catch, to someone with less money. However, after listening to him talk, it is quickly revealed that he is utterly ignorant. On the other hand , Charlotte is his complete opposite. Charlotte is an extremely sensible and intelligent girl, but she has little money. Although Mr Collins could obviously never satisfy Charlotte as a husband, Charlotte agrees to marry him for his money and she feels she may not have another proposal. Charlotte believes “when she is secure of him there will be leisure for falling in love”. This shows us that she doesn't believe in love and she also believe that you should know very little about the person you are marrying so you don't know all their bad habits and are put of them. Charlotte is conformed to society by following the rules of etiquette.
Elizabeth Bennet is a lively, independent woman. She is not like the other 19th century women, she believes in love and she proves this by turning down Mr Collins. Even though Mr Collins could have helped Elizabeth and her family but she still said no because she don't love him. Elizabeth had three reasons for turning down Mr Collins, the first one was because she don't love him, the second reason was that the only reason Mr Collins was marrying Elizabeth was because he was inheriting her dad's property, but Elizabeth didn't want him to marry her just because he feels sorry for her and the third reason was that she was in a lower class than Mr Collins and she said that she thinks and say different from Mr Collins. Mr Darcy believes that woman would marry him for his wealth and status no matter what. Therefore, when he falls in love with Elizabeth he does not treat her with the same condescending and proud manner as he would any other person. After all, all good wives are in want of a wealthy man. Darcy soon changes his philosophy when he propose to Elizabeth and she turned him down. Elizabeth didn't accept his proposal because he insulted her at the party. “she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me”. At the end Elizabeth falls in love with Mr Darcy and marry him.
In my essay I am going to conclude what I have learnt about life for women in Jane Austen's time. I have learnt that women had to be beautiful and accomplished in order to find a husband. They could not inherit their dad's property because they had no rights. In pride and prejudice four marriages happened-Jane, Lydia and Elizabeth married for love, but Charlotte did not married for love. Women from today are a lot different from women in Jane Austen's time, for example the way we talked, walked, we have rights to do stuff that women in Jane Austen's time couldn't do. In modern days you don't have to be accomplished to find a husband but we still have women like Elizabeth and Charlotte in the 21st century. Some women still believe in marriage first then love.
