Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

             Many motives besides love seal the bond of matrimony in Jane Austen's masterpiece Pride and Prejudice. The pivotal theme in the novel is that marriage is important to individuals and society. Throughout the novel, the author describes the various types of marriages and reasons behind them. The marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth are the outcome of true love between well-matched persons. This is one of the only relationships centered more on love than the transition of material wealth. This marriage is more contemporary in that one could see a similar relationship in today's society. The other end of the spectrum is displayed in the relationship between Charlotte and Collins who marry out of economic compulsions and not for love. Charlotte's marriage is completely different in nature from the marriage of her cousin Elizabeth. Of all the marriages in the novel, Darcy's marriage to Elizabeth is the greatest display of love conquering all. The novel opens with a line that tells us that marriage in England during the 1800's is a very different institute than it is in today's society. Austen writes, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (3). This "universal truth" causes marriage to be a very different type of institution than it is in modern America. Because of this, wealth, estate, and family status are often put before love when a marriage is arranged. While some couples, such as Darcy and Elizabeth, were fortunate enough to marry purely out of love, most were forced to marry based on the principles of gaining wealth and status. An example of this is the marriage of Collins to Charlotte. These two marriages are distinctly different as are the relationships between the spouses.
             First, let us look at the class politics of these marriages. In both cases, the man married a woman of lower class. This may be expected, as Mr. Bennet was a man of only two thousand pou...

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Marriage in Pride and Prejudice. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 10:58, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/70890.html