19th century England had some serious social problems left over
             from the heyday of Royalty and Nobility. One of the most significant of
             these was the tendency to marry for money. In this basic equation, a
             person sought a spouse based on the dowry receivable and their allowance.
             This process went both ways; a beautiful woman might be able to snag a
             rich husband, or a charring handsome man could woo a rich young girl. In
             these marriages, money was the only consideration. Love was left out,
             with a feeling that it would develop as the years went by. In Pride and
             Prejudice, Jane Austen comments that marriage in her time is a financial
             contract, where love is strictly a matter of chance.
            
             Lady Catherine states the fact that happiness in marriage is
             strictly a matter of chance. This holds true in the conception of
             marriage held in the novel. All of the marriages in the book formed under
             the bonds of money rather than the bonds of love end up unhappy or
             unsuccessful. The whole novel outlines attempts to dance around love for
             the combination of a wealthy person with an attractive person.
            
             The first line of Pride and Prejudice, "It is a universally
             acknowledged fact that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be
             in want of a wife", sets the tone for the rest of the novel. We interpret
             it to mean that a wealthy man either actively pursues a wife based on his
             knowledge that no one would turn down a wealthy suitor, or attractive
             women use their beauty to their advantage to attract a rich husband.
             Confident in his knowledge of his own wealth and magnificence, Darcy's
             less than romantic first proposal to Elizabeth is a good example of the
             first of these truths. Darcy marches into the room, and after stating all
             the reasons why a wealthy man such as himself should never marry a "
             socially inferior" person such as Elizabeth, he proposes to her. He is
             totally confident in the k...