Proposals of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Proposals of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is an enduringly popular 19th century novel

written by the English author Jane Austen. The general theme through

this book is marriage as it focuses mainly upon different types of

marriage and the proposals leading up to them.

In Pride and prejudice there are at least eight different marriages.

The main marriage is Mr and Mrs Bennet's. Their marriage was based

upon youthful infatuations. Mr Bennet chose to marry Mrs Bennet

because she was good looking. This isn't why you should choose to

marry someone. You should marry someone because you have similar

interests or you have things in common, you should love them for who

they are and you should love their personality. As Mr Bennet soon

found out that there was more to Mrs Bennet than her looks, what lies

beneath Mrs Bennet's looks is a personality held together with

opinionated expressions and stubbornness. This is an example of

marriage, which Mr Bennet wants his daughters to learn from.

The Bennet family consist of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five girls,

Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Lydia and Kitty. Jane is the beautiful girl

while her father favours Elizabeth as she has the brains. Mary is

musical and Lydia and Kitty are the youngest of them.

It is Elizabeth's parents' marriage, which is a prime example to what

she does not want in life. Elizabeth wants a man who will love and

respect her. She does not want simply to marry a man with good fortune

or wealth but a man that she can talk to and who will respect her

intelligence. This is why Elizabeth turns down both proposals given by

Mr Collins and Mr Darcy.

Mr Collins is the man who is next inline to inherit the Bennet estate

since the Bennets have had no male children. Mr Collins sends a letter

to Longburn (Bennet's family estate) announcing his visit, where and

when it will be. It is on this visit that he meets the daughters of Mr