Compare And Contrast Anna On The Mercy And The Delicacy Of Marriage

The Delicacy of Marriage

Marriage is a powerful union between two people who vow under oath to love each other for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. This sacred bond is a complicated union; one that can culminate in absolute joy or in utter disarray. One factor that can differentiate between a journey of harmony or calamity is one’s motives. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners, where Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor Mr. Darcy’s love unfolds as her prejudice and his pride abate. Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” explores class distinction, as an impecunious young woman marries a wealthy man. Both Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” utilize

Financial freedom fascinates Anna and, as soon as she realizes she has access to lucre, she gains a sense of entitlement where she no longer treats her family or husband the same. Anna feels superior and empowered as she ultimately surrenders to the psychological effects of wealth. Furthermore, Austen and Chekhov use symbols to illustrate their characters’ marital developments as Austen discloses Elizabeth’s enlightened nature, while Chekhov highlights Anna’s corrupt fantasy. Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Austen employs Pemberley, Darcy’s estate, as a symbol of Elizabeth and Darcy’s growing love. Austen describes the estate as “a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front, a stream of some natural importance [swells] into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks [are] neither formal nor falsely adorned” (Austen 225). As Elizabeth visits Pemberley, her feelings for Darcy intensify. Darcy, like Austen’s description of his estate, is a pompous man, whose hubris overpowers his natural eminence. However, this excessive pride coincides with his genuine nature. Elizabeth increasingly grows fonder of

Anna and Elizabeth both come from humble beginnings; however, Elizabeth marries for love, while Anna desires to marry solely for financial need. Elizabeth rues her decision to decline Darcy’s proposal once she becomes cognizant of her love for him. Elizabeth contemplates, "A man who has once been refused! How could I ever be foolish enough to expect a renewal of his love? Is there one among the sex, who would not protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman? There is no indignity so abhorrent to their feelings!" (Austen 308). Elizabeth progresses as a character as she is no longer naive to her feelings for Darcy and is wishful for another proposal. Austen emphasizes that love supersedes one’s need for social status as Elizabeth only accepts Darcy’s proposal once she genuinely knows she is in love and, as a result, lives a fulfilled life. Anna is the antithesis of Elizabeth as when she visits her family after her marriage, “Her father and the boys [look] at her in a peculiar way, as though just before she came in they had been blaming her for having married for money a tedious, wearisome man she [does] not love; her rustling skirts, her bracelets, and her general air of a married lady, [offends] them and [makes] them uncomfortable” (Chekhov 3). Anna parades her ostentatious new life, reminding her family of her fortune. Despite Anna’s apparent