Pride and Prejudice by Jane

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a book that details the lives of married couples. It is a novel that describes the life and times of people in an era where marriage was a central part of society. Although this rings true even today, it was very important to women of that time. For them, marriage was a way to sustain one's self financially and socially. It was a way to reach independence away from one's parents and a way to reach adulthood.

To marry a person for the wrong reasons meant leading an unfufilled and miserable life. Marrying someone for the right reasons, being prudent when choosing a spouse, meant leading a life worth living. The novel in many ways discusses how and what comes across when entering a marriage. It also discusses, through examples, what becomes of a person after he/she is married.

The three couples that provide these examples are Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy (who represent a couple possessing mutual respect and esteem), Jane and Mr. Bingley (who possess a mutual ove and friendship ) and Lydia and Mr. Wickham (who represent the negative side of marriage through eloping). In this essay their relationships will be analyzed in order to understand what it is marriage meant to Austen and how Austen viewed marriage in general. Austen believed in the importance of marriage, but herself did not fancy the idea of marriage and certainly did not see it a gateway to bliss. Marriage in many ways for women of her time was a means to stability.

It was emphasized early on for women to marry young and bare children young. Austen mentions in the book the importance of choosing the right person not just for herself but for her family to keep up reputation and sustain a high position in society. She also discusses the idea that marriage is how families moved up or maintained status, that a man was in one way or another the key to a woman's "freedom." In chapter 1 she mentions this directly: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters." (Austen 2)"Although Jane felt the need to show love as a proper means of marriage, she also understood the reality of marriage and its meaning. The meaning was that marriage was a necessity, not just a romantic whim.

Along with relationships Jane Austen used characters to say what she thought of marriage. She thought it as a duty more so than a way of creating joy. In chapter 6, she uses Charlotte Lucas and Lizzy to discuss her thoughts on happiness in marriage. "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well-known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life." "You make me laugh, Charlotte; but it is not sound. You know it is not sound, and that you would never act in this way yourself." (Austen, 42) This quote exemplifies the general feelings on marriage for the period and the people in upper-class England. They saw it as a job more so than a joy.

Marriage was indeed central for all characters in the novel: not just daughters and sons, but everyone in the immediate circle (friends and family). There were many instances in the novel that depicted the marriages affecting not just the people married, but the people around them. People who did not treat marriage as a responsibility and duty were seen as unhappy and people who did were seen as virtuous and good. Chapter 50 shows this in the gossip and the interest people partake in of the relationship of Mr. Wickham and Lydia. "How Wickham and Lydia were to be supported in tolerable independence, she could not imagine. But how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue, she could easily conjecture." (Austen, 596)

Good marriages, at least in the eyes of the characters, were comprised of people who were careful in selecting their partner, but were also aware of their responsiblities in their relationship. Jane and Mr. Bingley are very similar in their viewpoints and mannerisms and thought well of everyone and were kind, sociable, and respectful of themselves and each other. Going into the marriage they knew what was expected and what they could offer. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, opposites in certain ways, (he is more reserved and serious, she is more outgoing humorus) still shared things in common. For instance, they are both intelligent, generally understood other people, and remained cautious when dealing with others. Knowing each other before hand and knowing what they themselves were capable of, in Austen's eyes, allowed for a marriage to work. Not to be confused with the previous quote, Austen didn't believe so much that a good marriage led to happiness, but that a good marriage led to a decent life.

She shows that if marriages entered into by both parties were made for the betterment of everyone and not just as a sole obligation or business deal lasted because everyone knew from the beginning what they wanted and what they could offer. Rushing into relationships for convenience, passion, or money, like with Lydia and Wickham, created shallow foundations for relationships. In chapter 19 Austen references this in the charater's refusal to marry quickly and rather, waiting until she found the right person. "I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such young ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. I am perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am convinced that I am the last woman in the world who could make you so." (Austen 210)