How Society Viewed Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

How Society Viewed Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and spent most of her life in the

countryside in a village called Steventon, Hampshire. She was the

daughter of a clergyman, Reverend George Austen and her mother was

called Cassandra Austen. She had a brief education starting at the age

of seven and ending at eleven, when she settled at home. Like women in

Austen’s society, she had little education due to the beliefs at the

time; the only education she would have received would likely have

been to up her social status, through marriage. She wrote “Pride and

Prejudice” to portray society’s views of love and marriage to the

reader and to shoe that marriages take place for different reasons. We

see throughout the novel the excessive number of marriages and

courtships that take place.

The opening sentence “It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a

single man in the possession of a good fortune must be in want of a

wife” introduces the theme of love, marriage and money in an ironic

way. The irony is contained in the fact that marriage is meant to be

about love and happiness but clearly revolves around wealth and social

standing. In the novel we see two established marriages take place;

The Bennet’s and the Gardiner’s. Throughout the novel four other

marriages take place; Lydia and Mr Wickham, Charlotte Lucas and Mr

Collins, Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Mr Bingley.

The marriage between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas is purely based on

financial and social security not love or appearance, It was extremely

common fro women in Austens era to marry and save themselves from

spinsterhood and social security and to gain, the above mentioned,

financial...

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...however, that Darcy is her ideal match.

Intelligent and forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too hastily

and harshly, and his high birth and wealth make him overly proud and

overly conscious of his social status. When he proposes to her, for

instance, he dwells more on how unsuitable a match she is than on her

charms, beauty, or anything else complimentary, “not handsome enough”.

Here Darcy is reflecting society’s views of love and marriage because

many people married for higher social status and financial status

rather than for love and beauty.

Pride and prejudice is a love story but does not reflect the romantic

side. It gives the reader a sense of all the different kinds of

relationships, none of them are the same. It shows that the ideal

couple is difficult to find, the established marriages in the book

being The Bennet’s and the Gardiner’s.