Marriage In Pride and Prejudice

Marriage In Pride And Prejudice

Even from the first sentence, we can already tell that the novel will

be focusing on the essential issues of marriage and wealth. It

stresses a society where marriage is a very important and essential

preoccupation. Marriage and wealth are closely linked together; the

richer a man was, the more probable it was that single women would

want to marry him. Austen tries to summarize the two main issues in

her opening sentence "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a

single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a

wife." This doesn't appear to be the author's own 'voice'. She seems

to put it in a very sarcastic way. The writer says, "it is a truth

universally acknowledged..." this appears extremely exaggerated since

she expresses that this is a fact recognized by the whole universe,

which is highly unlikely. The next part of the opening sentence that

sounds ironic is "a single man in possession of a good fortune, must

be in want of a wife". She uses the word 'must' to put across the

certainly in her statement. However, this isn't true of all rich,

single men; not all wealthy, single men are seeking a wife. Her tone

of voice seems to be very satirical, in the sense that she exaggerates

everything to make it look extremely foolish, because she clearly

disagrees with it. To some extent, she distances herself from society

and this is very evident in her choice of words. The words 'truth' and

'must' indicate an ironic voice and already, from this first sentence,

we can ultimately tell the kind of society the characters live in and

what their concerns about life, marriage and wealth are. The view put

forward is what other people in her society believe and she...

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...ot marry for money, but for love. The

opinion formed of the Gardiners is totally opposite to those formed of

Wickham and Lydia.

The connection between Bingley and Jane is the first that is spoken of

as a possibility of a marriage, but it nearly doesn't happen because

Jane doesn't show her feelings as picked up by Charlotte Lucas. The

marriage between Bingley and Jane succeeds because they both share

similar interests and intellect.

Elizabeth and Darcy are the central focus throughout novel and it is

possibly the best example of a good marriage. They have to overcome a

lot of difficult situations before they finally get engaged. Two of

the main obstacles were prejudgement and pride.

Austen is trying to say that marriage should be given careful thought

and consideration. It should not be solely for money and status, but

for intellect and true love.