Jane Austen Attitude

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Recommended: Analysis of the book, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Tyela Segar
Mrs.Betz
English 11
March 14th 2014
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen’s attitude towards marriage in in the novel Pride and Prejudice reflect those in her personal life. She fell in love two different times, but her lack of wealth kept her from being an eligible match. So Though Austen was never married she feels as though it is “dishonorable to enter into wedlock without affection.” Jane Austen’s attitude toward marriage, love, and money is complicated and critical, and in Pride and Prejudice she demonstrates this through her characters. The best Characters marry for love but are fortunate enough to get money too.
The marriage between Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins shows that marriage for love is not always possible. While speaking to Elizabeth about Jane happiness with Mr. Bingley Charlotte says " Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance ...and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person whom you are to pass your life " (ch.6 pg. 32-33) Charlotte is saying if you have to marry to be comfortable then it is better to leap before you look It’s a complicated situation because you are getting married to a person whom you don't even know. However some women have little choice. As much as the characters would like to be married for love some have no other choice. As Mr. Collins is proposing to Charlotte Jane Austen says "Without thinking highly of either men of matrimony, marriage, had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservation from want." (pg. 146) This quote describes how Charlottes complicated situation. Unfortunately she had to just had ...

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...is married however to anyone whom is not her brother. This is a complicated situation because Mr.Bingley is very naive and let's Darcy and his sisters walk all of we him. Since they told he Jane and he should not get married because of her wealth he listened to them letting outside factors and money stand in the way of his true love for Jane.
In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice there are a plethora of relationships that show how the institution of marriage can be complicated yet critical when dealing with money and love. We are influenced throughout the novel to agree with her attitude towards her contempt for society. Austen does not approve of society's ideas at the time of women being looked down upon because they do not marry and are dependent on the male. She feels as though one should marry for love and not money but understands that it's not always possible.

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