Urgency to Marry in 18th

Urgency to Marry in 18th Century vs. 20th Century as seen in Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is all about love. However, while love may be a many splendored thing, it is not always easy. One of the most significant things we learn from the novel is how society placed such urgency on marriage. It is safe to assume that being single is not a viable option for young women. While the urgency to get married is practically non-existent in the twenty-first century, the urgency associated with marriage in the eighteenth century is comparable to a lifeline for young women. Husbands helped define their wives and without a husband, a woman seemed to be less of a person. While Darcy is a character that does not fit the mold of the typical eighteenth-century woman, her character is utilized to emphasize how different she is from those around her. She is better suited for the twentieth century where women are free to make up their own minds.

In the eighteenth century world, marriage is as complicated as it is today but for different reasons. Women during this time could see the choice of a husband as the most important choice they would make in their lives. In fact, for most of their lives, young women were devoted to preparing to be someone's wife. Women in this era did not work per se, and if one did not become a wife, one seemed destined to live a life of loneliness. The Bennett's angst over husbands for their daughter illustrates this point. With five girls that needed husbands, Mr. And Mrs. Bennett had plenty to worry about. Age was a major issue in that teenage girls were considered for wives. Interestingly, love was not a primary reason to wed - instead, women married for status or security and love was a by-product that could be hoped for but not always attained. We can see such an arrangement with Charlotte and Lydia.

Charlotte's marriage is a devastating one. Mr. Collins suffers from low self-esteem and seems to take it out on his wife. He does not love Charlotte because he admits to loving Elizabeth just a week before he married Charlotte. Charlotte is aware of this and marries him anyway. She makes a choice to marry for status and security rather than love and while it is perfectly fine to do that, one must always be able to live with consequences of such a choice. Mr. Collins can be unbearable and being his wife proves to be a difficult task. Through their relationship, we see how Charlotte decided to marry him because she did not want to be left alone and without anyone at all.

Pride and Prejudice allows us to see the different types of marriage through each relationship. Not all marriages are equal and husbands and wives are never easy to understand. Lydia marries Wickham and their marriage is shallow as the two are inexperienced in the ways of a healthy relationship. Lydia may be a beautiful woman but she is ignorant when it comes to her husband and his behavior. Lydia's relationship with Wickham weakens over time and the two grow apart. From this couple, we can see how a good marriage takes hard work and commitment. Things will not improve if each partner goes his or her separate ways and the couple spends more time apart than they do together. This frustration is viewed by Jane as "tolerable independence" (232). Additionally, she thinks "how little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue" (232). This statement serves as a warning to those that might consider marrying someone for convenience or security rather than love. We also see how the pressure to marry is so great that one will marry just to be married. In other words, it is easier to be in a difficult marriage than it is to be alone and thought a spinster.