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Jane Austen 's Pride And Prejudice

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Outer class marriage was rare during the nineteenth in order to maintain the family name and image. True love was obstructed at the time and often ignored for the sake of wealth and fortune. Social status is something the Bennett women obsess over in Pride and Prejudice, especially Mrs. Bennett; she wants her daughters to live good lives and marry well. She is not worried about true love or even their happiness; she only worries about their image, money, and the name they will make for themselves. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen illustrates, through Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, how wealth and social status interfere with true love during the middle nineteenth century.
Marriage, during the middle nineteenth century, was often based on …show more content…

In Pride and Prejudice the Bennett girls dream of throwing a ball for all of their friends. The Bennett girls have to marry a wealthy man in order to afford to put together such an extravagant night. The normal thing for a woman to do was to look for a man of wealth and one with social status. Mrs. Bennett wishes Jane will marry Mr. Bingley and wishes Elizabeth accepted Mr. Darcy’s proposal. “Without thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want,”(Austen Chapter 22). However, the normal thing for a man of wealth to do was to look for a woman of equal or more wealth in her family to create a bigger and better name for himself. This is why Lady Catherine, Mr. Darcy’s aunt, disapproves the marriage of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett. People wanted to be rich so that they were able to move up in social class ranking because the rich and powerful get what they want (Johnson 108). Social class was based on education; it was a “proxy” for determining what level one fell into (Johnson 136). One’s behavior and one’s manners were also an obvious indicator of social class. “…and so uncouth in behavior as most of the family were, even on occasion Mr. Bennett himself.” It was easy to distinguish between people in different

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