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Marriage view in pride and prejudice
Pattern of marriage in pride and prejudice
Marriage view in pride and prejudice
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In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays a world in which choices for individuals are very limited, based almost exclusively on family wealth, social rank, and connections. A woman in such a world had little choice for her future; marriage presented the only option for leaving her family, and her response to a marriage proposal provided her only input in the outcome of her life. Although members of the upper class, the Bennet sisters and Charlotte Lucas have no inheritance, making marriage their only option for attaining wealth and maintaining or increasing their social standing. While Charlotte chooses to marry for security, Lydia marries impulsively to pursue her simplistic notion of love and marriage. Elizabeth Bennet illustrates an ideal form of marriage, as she refuses to trade her independent spirit for financial comfort and will only consent to a marriage based on love. …show more content…
Collins, castigating the impetuous marriage of Lydia and Wickham, and praising the marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane Austen argues that the ideal marriage is one based on
In Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, the necessity of marrying well is one of the central themes. In Austen’s era a woman’s survival depended on her potential to acquire an affluent partner. This meant a choice of marrying for love and quite possibly starve, or marry a securing wealthy person, there was a risk of marrying someone who you might despise.
Marriage in Pride and Prejudice It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen provides subsequent argument with the first line of her novel, Pride and. Prejudice. The.
The central theme of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice is marriage, as indicated in the opening line of the book:
Austen makes it clear throughout her writings that marriage for mercenary reasons such as for money, attraction, a home or rank is a bad idea and the ending of Pride and Prejudice is witness to this: Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins end up avoiding each other, Mr. Bennet continuously takes amusement at his wife's expense, and Lydia soon loses Wickham`s affec...
would be a very gallant thing for him to do to marry one of his
Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is well noted for its ability to question social norms. Most importantly, Austen explores the institution of marriage, as it was in her time, a time where many married for security rather than love. Her characters Elizabeth and Charlotte are renowned even more for their outspoken nature and different views on marriage. Though both Elizabeth and Charlotte yearn for a happy marriage, Charlotte has a more pragmatic and mundane approach while Elizabeth is more romantic and daring with her actions. Through the romantic involvements of both Elizabeth and Charlotte, Austen shows that happiness in marriage is not entirely a matter of chance, but is instead contingent on an accurate evaluation of self and others
Psychologist Robert Sternberg developed the "Triangular Theory of Love" which defines the three components of love needed for a "perfect" relationship as commitment, passion, and intimacy (companionship) (Wikipedia). "The amount of love one experiences depends on the absolute strength of these three components, and the type of love one experiences depends on their strengths relative to each other" (Wikipedia). In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, she introduces five couples which enter into marriages in all different types of love. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have an infatuated love that fades to no love at all, Charlotte and Mr. Collins enter into an empty love, Lydia and Mr. Wickham fall into a fatuous love, Jane and Mr. Bingley focus on a companionate love, and finally, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy find an all consummate love for each other. Throughout the novel, Austen uses these five variations of love to employ characters and define their futures.
Marriage is an important theme in the novel ‘‘Pride and Prejudice’’ by Jane Austin and it is portrayed in many different ways. Even the very first line displays this theme, as it says ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,’ which is said by the narrator. This is a clever opening as it brings you straight into the main theme of marriage, while also introducing the subtle theme of satire. The irony of the line is that the truth, and the plot of the book, turns out to be a complete reversal of this phrase, with the point being that it is a single woman of little fortune who must be in want of a husband, preferably of good fortune. One way in which marriage is displayed in the book is the way Austin uses the different characters to display all the various views on marriage in her time and then uses this to show her opinion through the characters. For example, Mrs Bennet has, in Austin’s opinion, rather silly views on marriage so her character is shown as a silly person to represent this, and Mr Collins is satirised throughout the book as Austin uses this to display her opinion of his views as well. Mrs Bennet’s attempts to get her daughters married are also satirised throughout the book to create an ironic parody of people’s aims and of the way they lived at the time.
Throughout the novel, characters where faced and forced to overcome obstacles of love. Views of marriage differed from character to character. Women where not educated and where forced to conform to the society’s expectations which kept them from being independent. Therefore, Elizabeth Bennet’s mother, Mrs. Bennet forced marriage upon her daughters. Elizabeth’s engagement to Darcy was criticized because many did not feel the couple was a good match for each other because he was a “proud” individual, and their economic differences and stature also prohibited the couple to be a good match according to society. Mrs. Bennet was happy when she heard about Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth stating, “How rich and how great you will be!”… what pin- money, what jewels, what carriages you will have!” (Austen 325). Mrs. Bennet’s focus of life revolved around her daughters or at least one of her daughters marrying wealthy, so that not only that daughter will be cared for, but Mrs. Bennett and any unwed sisters will be provided for, as well. Mr. Bennett agreed that, “the business of her life was to get her daughters married; i...
Marriage serves to unite two people, and although it can bring joy and happiness to those who marry for true love, it can be an inescapable burden to those who marry for wealth and status. Many times, struggles with societal influences and family names impact decisions in matrimony. The novel Pride and Prejudice provides a great contrast between couples who seek out marriage for the right and wrong reasons. Some characters, such as Elizabeth, find great harmony and happiness in their choice of partner, while others, such as Charlotte and Lydia will reap the consequences for marrying for monetary value and status their whole lives.
Jane Austen makes all of those other marriages seem shallow and contrived (and granted, they are), but she makes marriages about true love seem the best. The union between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy is one of the most famous examples of true love, on par with Romeo and Juliet in terms of literary significance. Ironically, they hated each other to begin with. Mr. Darcy was an antisocial, proud man and much as Elizabeth tries, he would never break his countenance. The first time he proposed, Elizabeth, without equivocation, rejected him. After he gave his condescending speech, Elizabeth hits him with a smashing rebuttal: “...[Y]our manners, impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form the groundwork of disapprobation on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike,” (188). Jane Austen doesn’t sugarcoat the conflicts of a relationship. She writes ups and downs, this being a certain low point. The pair, thankfully, developed over time, which signifies how Jane Austen really cared about developing the characters and showed how deep and complex those relationships get. In the novel, a noblewoman named Lady Catherine De Bourgh tried to tell Elizabeth off marrying Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth flat out
single man in the possession of a good fortune must be in want of a
Love and Marriage in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813 during the Regency period. From a woman’s point of view, marriage was seen as “the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune”. Marriage was seen as the only way of securing a home and a decent living. If a woman wasn’t married she would have the life of a spinster, and depend upon a family who may not always support her. The only other choice was to become a governess, where once again a woman would be dependent on a family.
In the novel, 'Pride and Prejudice,' by Jane Austen, many views are based on the controversial opinions of marriage and the characters who express an interest in it. Three characters in the novel share a very different view of marriage. The main character, Elizabeth Bennet, marries for purely love, Charlotte Lucas, the best friend of Elizabeth, only wants to marry for a comfortable home and to be financially secure, while Mr. George Wickham, a ruthless man, marries for money and prosperity.
The societal pressure to marry someone other than Elizabeth is strong throughout the novel, but Austen demonstrates that love can overcome these obstacles through the evolution of Darcy’s character; at first, he is resistant to ideas that challenge the view that he must marry rich but over the course of the novel he becomes more willing to make his own choices and choose love rather than status; in effect, he is finally taking his feelings into account more than those feelings and expectations of others and making his own choice. This theme has been incorporated into countless tales of star-crossed and forbidden lovers, and is seen often in the choices that people in love make in the real world. Austen’s narrative highlights the importance of making decisions in love that will ensure an individual’s best interests rather than blindly following the wishes of everyone else. Pride and Prejudice stands as a literary reminders to ordinary people who are protagonists of their own love stories that when two people are meant to be together, holding on to that love is far more critical than conforming to the expectations of others. So while Austen writes that it is “a truth universally acknowledged” (1) that people look to marry, for whatever reason, the more important truth is that individuals steer the wheel of their own fate, and that the happiest people steer it in the direction of