Love, Marriage, and Money in Pride and Prejudice
This essay examines Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as a courtship novel that uses five distinct marital relationships to explore the intersection of love, social status, and financial security in eighteenth-century England. Through close reading and secondary scholarship, the paper analyzes the failed marriages of the Bennets and the Wickhams, the pragmatic union of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins, the compatible but wealth-dependent match of Jane and Bingley, and the ideal partnership of Elizabeth and Darcy. The essay argues that financial stability emerges as the primary determinant of marital success in Austen's world, with emotional compatibility playing an important but secondary role.
- Introduction: Marriage in Austen's England: Historical context for women, marriage, and financial security
- The Unsuccessful Marriage: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet: Financial strain and emotional disappointment in the Bennet marriage
- The Marriage of Passion: Lydia and Wickham: Lydia's impulsive elopement and Wickham's mercenary motives
- The Marriage of Convenience: Charlotte and Mr. Collins: Charlotte's pragmatic choice of security over affection
- The Successful Marriage: Jane and Bingley: Compatible temperaments supported by Bingley's wealth
- The Ideal Marriage: Elizabeth and Darcy: Elizabeth's growth, misjudgment corrected, and Darcy's fortune
- Conclusion: Money, Status, and Marital Success: Wealth ranked above love as predictor of marital success
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper uses a clear comparative framework — five distinct marriages — to build a cumulative argument about the relationship between wealth and marital success, making the thesis easy to follow and evaluate.
- Direct quotations from both the novel and secondary critics are well integrated, with brief attributions that keep the analysis grounded in textual evidence rather than unsupported assertion.
- The conclusion draws together all five examples into a coherent ranking that reinforces the central claim, giving the essay a satisfying analytical payoff.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of literary analysis through pattern identification: rather than summarizing plot, it organizes characters into typological categories (passion, convenience, success, ideal) and uses each category as evidence for a single overarching argument. This moves the essay from description toward genuine literary argumentation.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with historical context establishing why marriage mattered for women, then devotes one section each to five marriages arranged in ascending order of success. The conclusion synthesizes all five cases to confirm the thesis that financial security outweighs emotional compatibility as a predictor of marital success in Austen's novel. Works Cited follows MLA format.
Introduction: Marriage in Austen's England
In eighteenth-century England, women had very few choices. Aside from perhaps obtaining a position as a governess, their career options were severely curtailed. In Austen's era, marriage for women was less a matter of physical desire than it was of social position and financial security. In a letter written in 1861, Austen wrote, "Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony" (Gast, 1). The greatest achievement that most women aspired to was attracting a suitable mate and making a successful marriage. Gast states, "A woman's unmarried girlhood was often the decisive period of her life, and her decision about marriage was probably the most important one she would ever make" (3). However, if the marriage suffered financially, it also suffered emotionally.
In Jane Austen's classic courtship novel Pride and Prejudice, the author explores the idea of marriage and its connections with social standing and financial security by examining five different examples of marital relationships through the eyes of her main character, Elizabeth Bennet.
The Unsuccessful Marriage: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet
Phelan notes, "While the novel seems to promise a marriage plot, it also shows that it has no illusions about the inevitability of marital bliss" (293). For example, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have experienced a less than satisfactory marital relationship that left both partners feeling bitterly disappointed. In a discussion with his daughter Elizabeth, Mr. Bennet warns her, "My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about." By this statement, he is referring to his marriage with Mrs. Bennet. McMaster states, "Married to a stupid woman whom he has ceased to love, he is a man whose emotional life has evidently been a painful failure" (730). According to Sherry, "For having lost all respect and esteem for his wife, Mr. Bennet has now lost any respect he might have had for the name and character of the man who was fool enough to marry her" (618).
Financial issues contributed greatly to the failure of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's marriage. Mr. Bennet was not as well-to-do as some of his neighbors, much to the dismay of his wife. His net worth was only five thousand pounds. His home had been willed to Mr. Collins, who, as Mr. Bennet stated, "when I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases" (45). Mrs. Bennet felt that she had been disgraced in social status and deprived of financial security because of her marriage. Mr. Bennet felt that Mrs. Bennet's failure to give birth to a son had greatly contributed to their woes. In summary, the relationship was an emotional failure rooted primarily in their financial difficulties.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. United States: Barnes & Noble, 1993. Print.
Crowe, Marian. "G.K. Chesterton and the Orthodox Romance of Pride and Prejudice." Renascence 49.3 (1997): 209–221. Print.
Gast, M.A. Nicole. Marriages and the Alternatives in Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice.' 2005. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.
Green, Katherine Sobba. "The Heroine's Blazon and Hardwicke's Marriage Act: Commodification for a Novel Market." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 9.2 (1990): 273–290. Print.
Hinnant, Charles H. "Jane Austen's 'Wild Imagination': Romance and the Courtship Plot in the Six Canonical Novels." Narrative 14.3 (2006): 294–310. Print.
McMaster, Juliet. "The Continuity of Jane Austen's Novels." Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900 10.4 (1970): 723–739. Print.
Morgan, Susan. "Intelligence in 'Pride and Prejudice.'" Modern Philology 73.1 (1975): 54–68. Print.
Lowder-Newton, Judith. "'Pride and Prejudice': Power, Fantasy, and Subversion in Jane Austen." Feminist Studies 4.1 (1978): 27–42. Print.
Phelan, James. "Character, Progression, and the Mimetic-Didactic Distinction." Modern Philology 84.3 (1987): 282–299. Print.
Sherry, James. "Pride and Prejudice: The Limits of Society." Studies in English Literature 19.4 (1979): 609–616. Print.
Weisser, Susan Ostrov. "Brontë, Jane Austen and the Meaning of Love." Brontë Studies 31.2 (2006): 93–100. Print.
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