In the story “Pride and Prejudice” women had many obligations and few choices. Women were complete controlled by men their whole life. The whole purpose of women in the 1800s and in the story is to find a husband, have his kids and to spend the rest of their life serving their husband. There were many rules that the women had to follow that affected the marriage. Woman who did not marry could really only look forward to living with her relatives as a dependent so that marriage is pretty much the only way of ever getting out from under the parental control.
Although it is true that Emily never married and became very selective about the company she kept. Emily was far more sociable than most descriptions would have readers believe. She frequently entertained guests at her home and the home of her brother and sister-in-law during her 20's and 30's. Also, Dickinson kept up a huge correspondence with friends and family. Only recently are biographers beginning to recognize the role of Emily's sister-in-law, Susan Dickinson, in Emily's writing.
She wrote for pleasure, not for fame or money, read out her stories to young nieces, published her novels anonymously, and never married a man without persuasive suppliance of reason which she never got. Then whatever Jane Austen was devoid of she supplied it to her characters. Her novels uphold her as a woman who was a staunch supporter of marriage, not of courtship. But in life Jane Austen never married, she remained unmarried till death. She rejected proposals- first from the man she had a brief relationship with (Tom Lefroy) who had no money and later the proposal from a man who had money (Harris Bigg – Wither) but could not win Jane’s love.
Web. 16 Mar. 2011. "Time Line of Major Events in Miss Austen's Life." Austen.com | Jane Austen Novels, Fan Fiction, Andmore.
Austen herself never married, something that was very untraditional for her time. She went against normalcy and knew that marriage was for love, not money as many people often recognized it as. This viewpoint from the author is drawn out for us through a major idea in the novel. The theme of women and marriage traditions in the nineteenth century is clearly demonstrated through many of the characters in Austen's novel. The opening sentence reveals the theme to the reader quite straightforwardly.
Yet with all of this Edna is not fulfilled. Edna never took time to examine her life to see what she wanted out of it. After marriage, Edna wanted the freedom to explore her mind, find herself and find what this person liked. In the following I will defend the actions Edna took to find her happiness as irrational as they may seem. This story took place in the late 1800's when women's liberation was never heard of.
Jane Austen says of Charlotte, Chapter 22, after she had accepted Mr. Collins proposal: `Without thinking highly of either men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well educated young women of small fortune and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.' I think Jane Austen had mixed views on marriage. She never got married herself, as she only believed in marrying for love. She fell in love when she was young with an Irish Barrister, but they were unable to marry, as neither had any money. Jane received one more proposal, but declined it.
The two separate works My Mother Never Worked by Smith-Yackel and The Storm by Chopin hold similarities in their themes such as motherhood, womanhood, and being housewives. However the details, with in the stories themselves, hold many differences. A Mid-western American woman works are and makes multiple sacrifices to hold her family together during times of hardships in My Mother Never Worked. A Créole American woman takes a chance against her family to relive the passions of her younger days during The Storm. Though both women in My Mother Never Worked and The Storm are mothers and housewives, their morality drives them down different paths.
Still many women married to their advantage; there was still a very rigid class system although a new middle class was beginning to emerge. The alternative was life as a governess, which was not one of great social status. Jane Austen believed that marriage was "The only honourable provision for well educated young woman of small fortune." This wasn't a romantic union; it was a contract. A character that does value the importance of marriage for her daughters is Mrs. Bennet. "
This implies that the marriage could be a happy or unhappy time depending on how well the characters know each other beforehand. Austen created many single female characters in Pride and Prejudice and she put each of them in a bad light, which is ironic as she never married herself. Austen says in Pride and Prejudice that a woman who never marries could only look forward to living with relatives and therefore being dependant on them, as women didn’t have their own careers; the only path open to them was marriage. This is why when Charlotte Lucas marries Mr Collins at age 27, her brothers are glad that she won’t ‘die an old maid’. Women also married because they inherit nothing from their parents (except when there are no other male relatives), so to marry well was a necessity to support their lifestyles.