Love and Marriage in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

toward his wife. As a young woman she had all the charms of 'youth and

The romantic era in literature was characterized by many different authors, male and female. Jane Austen was only one of many authors in that era, and one of the longest lasting; through her many novels, she shows various views on love and marriage. In Jane Austen’s critically acclaimed novel, Pride and Prejudice, Austen spares no character, male or female, in her criticism of the understood custom that the only route to happiness was marriage.

In her opening statement, Austen illustrates the the reasoning for marriage at this time, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen 9). For nearly everyone in the eighteenth century,marriage was seen as a business. A man seeked a wife solely because it was seen as a requirement to be viewed as a resectable addition to society. Once a man asked a woman for her hand in marriage, the woman would almost always immediately accept, as it was valued as an honor for a woman to be desired for this type of role. Her family was to pay her future husband a sum of money in which he saw suitable. Austen’s protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, contradicts this belief. She finds it ridiculous and in a way humorous that men and women actually find a status such as this something of honor. In contrast, Elizabeth Bennet feels marriage should be something that holds greater value than a price tag and a measurement of one’s worthiness for a good reputation, but rather she feels it should be based off of feelings that a man and woman share for one another. As said by Elizabeth herself, “The true perfection of man lies not in what he has, but in what he is.” Jane Austen constructs a way in which Elizabeth Bennet mocks marriages formulated in the ways in which she disagrees

The progress between Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship, in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) illustrates and explores several the key themes in the novel. Their relationship highlights class expectations, pride and prejudice, and marriage, and how they play a major role in determining the course of their association. These are outlined through their first prejudiced dislike of each other when they first meet, the stronger feelings for Elizabeth that develop on Darcy’s side, her rejection in Darcy’s first proposal, then her change of opinion and lastly the mutual love they form for one another. Pride and Prejudice is set up as a satire, commenting on human idiocy, and Jane Austen

During the time period of the 1800s in England, not only was the economic situation different but the social norms were differently. Jane Austen depicts this greatly in her novel pride and prejudice, not only was the social classes a big deal, but the marriage between families was a bigger deal. Throughout the novel many of the characters encounter this problem of, love in marriage or money in marriage, and many of the families and females within this time period choice money in marriage. The author Jane Austen feels that the idea of marring for money rather than love is preposterous and expresses this through the character Elizabeth

Jane Austen's Portrayal of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice Marriage plays an extremely important role in Jane Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice'. The novel begins with the 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 single sentence extremely significant in the fact that it is strongly connected with one of the main themes of the novel, and introduces a powerful irony that clashes with the events that unfold during the progress of the novel. In Jane Austen's day, women of high status were almost entirely dependent on men.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”(Austen 1). Austen gives us the insight of what it was like back in the 1800s when marrying was not done for solely love but more for money and that only a man of good class and fairly good amount wealth can have a wife. Elizabeth Bennet, A character brought to life by Austen in Pride and Prejudice, fights against the norms of her time and marries for love, even though there was a lot of money that along with it love was the main reason. Jane Austen novels

Austen addresses this issue by showing how women were obligated to marry men for convenience rather than love. She also shows how men of higher class looked for wealthy women to marry in order to keep money in the family. She recognizes the struggles of middle class women trying to marry off before the entail took away their chances. Through this evidence, the reader is able to see the issues of women's oppression in

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen introduces the major thematic concept of marriage and financial wealth. Throughout the novel, Austen depicts various relationships that exhibit the two recurring themes. Set during the regency period, the perception of marriage revolves around a universal truth. Austen claims that a single man “must be in want of a wife.” Hence, the social stature and wealth of men were of principal importance for women. Austen, however, hints that the opposite may prove more exact: a single woman, under the social limitations, is in want of a husband. Through this speculation, Austen acknowledges that the economic pressure of social acceptance serves as a foundation for a proper marriage.

Jane Austen’s novel is commanded by women; Pride and Prejudice explores the expectations of women in a society that is set at the turn of the 19th century. Throughout the plot, Austen’s female characters are all influenced by their peers, pressures from their family, and their own desires. The social struggle of men and women is seen throughout the novel. Characters, like Elizabeth, are examples of females not acting as proper as women were supposed to, while other women like Mrs. Bennett allow themselves to be controlled by men and society. Mr. Collins is a representation of the struggles males deal with in a novel dominated by women. The theme of marriage is prominent during Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Marriage can be examined in

In Austen’s novels, the successful proposals indicate that the man asking a genuine question. This is obvious in Darcy’s second proposal to Elizabeth even though his speech does not contain a question mark, but it implicates a question. Darcy says, “You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever”(458). His speech indicates that he waits for Elizabeth’s answer. Similarly, in Emma, Mr. Knightley, as Darcy, asks Emma a genuine question if she accepts his offer or not by saying, “Tell me, then, have I no chance of ever succeeding?.... My dearest Emma,….tell me at once. Say ‘No,’ if it is to be said”(1034). These two previous examples show how Austen through asking a marriage proposal gives her female characters freedom of choice.

In Pride and Prejudice Author Jane Austen claims that marriage should be between a man and women who love each other equally. Austen's disgust of Marriage and decorum in British culture is written through the eyes of main the main character in Pride and Prejudice, Miss Elizabeth Bennett. It is sad to think that marriage could be bought or in Elizabeth Bennett’s case not afforded. Marriage shouldn’t be the only measure of worth for women. Someone should not feel “repugnance” for a marriage due to situation.

The settings portrayed in “Pride and Prejudice” provide readers with a sense of distinction between the country and the city of London. Jane Austen employs the two settings throughout the novel to reveal the contrast of values and traits from the characters living in the country and from characters living in the city. In doing so, Austen successfully masters reflecting the overall purpose behind her work, which is to ridicule and reveal how society in that time period viewed the importance of marriage. She also intends to reveal the true behaviors of the royalty and how their position in society made them the way they were. To begin with, the two settings reflects the values brought forth by the characters of the country and the city.

Examine Austen’s presentation of what is called in the novel, ‘women’s usual occupations of eye, and hand, and mind’. In Jane Austen’s society, the role of women was controlled by what was expected of them. In most cases, marriage was not for love, and was considered as a business arrangement, in which both partners could gain status and financial reassurance. Though Austen opposed the idea of none affectionate marriage, many

Through the use of literary devices, Pride and Prejudice reveals Jane Austen’s attitude towards the novel’s theme of true love through the actions of the suitors; the process of courtship in the 1800s articulates characterization, foreshadowing, and irony. The novel opens with the line, “it is a truth acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of wife,” (Austen 1) which foreshadows the conflict of finding a significant other . During the Victorian age, men and women courted others of the same education, wealth, and social status; it was considered uncommon for someone to marry beneath them or to marry for love. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth Bennett’s encounters with different characters of varying