Pride and Prejudice: The Importance of Marriage

Pride and Prejudice: The Importance of Marriage

Pride and Prejudice is written by Jane Austen with the purpose of positioning us, as the readers, to share her attitudes on the importance of marriage. Austen had extremely radical views for her time. She believed that marriage should not occur on the grounds of superficial feelings, pressures to marry, or wealth and social status. The author believed that one should only marry for love. Austen uses characters as literary devices to show the readers the juxtapositioning between relationships who have married for love and relationships which have married for alternative reasons. By influencing the readers to believe that marriage should only be for love we begin to realize that it is this, and only this, which can enable the characters of the novel to be happy.

іIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wifeІ (pg5). The first sentence of the novel Pride and Prejudice highlights the importance of marriage within the world of the novel. The sentence suggests that the sole purpose for marriage was to increase the characters social and financial ranking. The quote mentions nothing of love yet it provokes the feeling in the minds of the readers that the purpose of marriage is to merely create security. Finding a suitable marriage for the female characters who lived in a patriarchal society often became the solace of their lives. The character of Elizabeth Bennet does not fit this generalization.

Elizabeth Bennet is a literary device used by Jane Austen to represent her values and attitudes on the importance of marrying for love. We often see the world through Elizabeth№s eyes and we are positioned to empathize with her opinion on the absurdity of marrying for reasons other than love. Elizabeth is a free-spirited individual who differs substantially from the other female characters of the novel. Elizabeth refuses to be wed to a man to whom she does not love. Elizabeth, although often guilty of prejudice attitudes, always acknowledges and learns from her mistakes. She is a heroine.

Mr Collins№ introduction to Elizabeth is not a pleasant one although he is too ignorant to notice. Elizabeth finds Mr Collins іa conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly manІ (pg 115). Her observation is quite correct. Elizabeth№s rejection of Mr Collin№s marriage proposal was a revolutionary landmark in the context of the novel. Although rejecting a man who you do not love is a self-evident truth for us in today's

society, in 1813, it was a far less obvious matter. Mr Collins was socially desirable, he would provide Elizabeth a home, respectability and long term stability for the Bennet family. However, on a personal level, Elizabeth realizes that Mr Collins would have brought her to insanity and that she could never love such a man. As the readers we are positioned to feel empathy towards Elizabeth. We are influenced to agree with her attitudes on marrying only for love and we realize that our heroines fate can never be happy until she has married for the correct purposes.

The marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth reveals the characteristics which constitutes a successful marriage. One of these characteristics is that love cannot be brought on by appearances, and must gradually develop between the two people as they get to know one another. Darcy№s immediate opinion of Elizabeth is that she is іtolerable but not handsome enough to tempt meІ (pg 13). Mr Darcy was not remotely attracted to Elizabeth and yet when he learns of her true personality he admits that іMy feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love youІ (pg 157). From Darcy not being remotely tempted by Elizabeth he grows so passionate for her that he believes his love is strong enough to spend the rest of his life with her. This proves that he does not love her for his physical desires towards her but instead, he loves her for her personality. The relationship between the two characters reveals Austen№s values on love not being centered around beauty or immediate attraction but rather, knowing the personality of your partner before you devote your life to them. Darcy and Elizabeth are amongst the few characters within the novel that marry for love. They are also among the few characters who find happiness. Austen represented her beliefs on the importance of marrying for love through Darcy and Elizabeth and uses the Darcy-Elizabeth relationship to prove to the audience that happiness in marriage can only be achieved if the couple feel love for one another.

Austen uses the relationships of Wickham and Lydia, Mr and Mrs Bennet and Charlotte and Mr Collins in juxtapositioning with the relationship of Darcy and Elizabeth. The most fatal of