Most women, till this day seek to marry men with money, In order to live a life of stature. One would rather stay at home and raise children than work and sustain themselves. In The novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, in the eyes of women, the same ideals persevere to this day. That "Smart women marry rich".Mrs. Bennet 's sole purpose in life is to marry off her five daughters; Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Mary and Kitty.Through all the trials and tribulations shown through the characters, Austen clearly shows that marriage should be a combination of passion and reason.
In Austen 's eyes marriage should not entirely be based on passion, because over time passion may die out. Lydia is the youngest out of the Bennet’s, who bears no common sense.
Collins is the prime example as to why wedlock should not be solely for utilitarian purposes. Mr. Collins is the “neither sensible nor agreeable” cousin of the Bennets. Who 's entitled to inheriting Mr. Bennett 's property after he passes away. When Collins comes to visit the bennets, he sets his eyes on Jane the oldest who is the prettier one of the five sisters. When he hears that she is soon to be married to Bingley. He quickly acted “to change from Jane to Elizabeth while Mrs Bennet was stirring the fire”. He later on proposes to Elizabeth who rejects his request with certainty. He ends up proposing to her best friend Charlotte who quickly accepts his marriage solely on reason. As a 27 year old, Charlotte is considered a “old maid”,and believed she couldn 't waste this opportunity in fear of not having another chance. “Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. She had gained her point, and had time to consider of it. Her reflections were in general satisfactory. Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly either of men or matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at the age of twenty-seven, without having ever been handsome, she felt all the good luck of it”. (85) This narrative illuminates the necessity of matrimony in 19th century England. Here we witness Mr. Collins’ disinterest in Charlotte, however continues to propose merely due to societal pressure to marry. Contrastly Ms. Lucas accepts his proposal exclusively because of his potential in raising her social worth and refining her already wilting public image. Moreover, this societal pressure to
In Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, the necessity of marrying well is one of the central themes. In Austen’s era a woman’s survival depended on her potential to acquire an affluent partner. This meant a choice of marrying for love and quite possibly starve, or marry a securing wealthy person, there was a risk of marrying someone who you might despise.
Austen reinforces this point in Mrs. Bennet's subsequent dealings with daughters Elizabeth and Lydia. It would be preferable to sacrifice Elizabeth to the ridiculous Mr. Collins and Lydia to the ignoble Mr. Wickham rather than see them unmarried. She interferes out of pride. But she also does so out ...
Within the novel four proposals to the Bennets take place, two of which are received by Elizabeth. The world is often seen through her eyes and as an audience we are positioned to empathise with her opinion on the absurdity of marrying for reasons other than love....
Collins’ marriage proposal. Of course, this was in the time period where women were supposed to be in complete subordination to men, and a proposal from a clergyman, who was to inherit Longbourn, was thought to be an easy decision. Although every notion that society could have given her was to say, “Yes” she ultimately stayed true to herself and what she believed. True love was meant to be in the fabric of marriage, not an individual’s bank note, however, as Mrs. Bennet so gracefully reminds her daughters and dear husband throughout the novel, money is king in the culture that society created during that era. Elizabeth Bennet is an independent character, and not one to push over when society blew its influential wind. In addition to Elizabeth’s perceived ungrateful attitude to a clergyman, she also had quite the discussion with Lady Catherine De Bourgh at the end of the novel. During the Regency Era, respect was not earned by the content of an individual’s decisions, but by how much money they had. With that being said, no
Marriages are considered to be based on economic and social backgrounds, rather than how much someone truly loves another human being. She shows how marriage was often looked at as a type of financial security, saying in her novel, why do they need love when they have money to cover up any problems? Many marriages in the novel seek that one’s heart does not always dictate marriage in other words, the marriages in the novel are mostly based off of money not love. “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.” (15) This provides a great example of how Austen expresses her own emotions about marriage through Elizabeth. When Mr. Collins was turned down by Elizabeth in the book, this shadowed a rare occurrence because it was not often a woman turned down a man because she did not like his appearance. Usually back then all love was about was money or
Collins is interested in Elizabeth as well, and wants to marry her for several reasons which he deems proper and just. Mr. Collins is certain that he is worthy of Elizabeth’s acceptance because of his connection to the family of Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and his position as a clergyman, but also because he will inherit her family’s estate when her father dies. He has no notion of love or lifelong happiness, which Elizabeth finds ideal in a marriage. He tries to understand her refusal, crediting it to her “wish of increasing [his] love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.” Elizabeth, for the sake of his understanding fully, says, “Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart” (108). Austen demonstrates how Mr. Collins considers marriage to him a perfect solution to the problem of the entailed estate, while Elizabeth knows marriage to him would make her miserable. He later finds an acceptable match with the practical Charlotte
She does not need even a pleasing manner from her husband, as is evident from her choice in Mr. Collins. She does not believe that love is necessary for marriage and thinks that a woman should take the first opportunity offered to her in marriage, and, possibly it could lead to love. This is evident from her comments to Lizzie in reference to Jane and Mr. Bingley.
Jane Austen, also criticizes marriage based on convenience and money. She criticizes through the experiences of Charlotte and Collins. The characters Charlotte and Collins are “perfect” for each other, they are both fake, selfish and scheming. In the nineteenth century, “most” not all women had this mindset where they wanted to marry successful and rich men to secure their futures. Love meant nothing to these types of women. Materialistic things meant everything. Charlotte Lucas is a character that only got married to secure her future. “Miss Lucas perceived him from an upper window...and instantly set out to meet him accidentally in the lane” After Charlotte finds out collins had been
...r life. Jane Austen’s time and nowadays sees the same situation. Not all marriage is based solely on love. As shallow as it might sounds, when considering marriage, most, if not all people, consider wealth and the reputation of their partner. The norms of Jane Austen’s time in relations to wealth, reputation and marriage are much more elaborated by each individual's upbringing.
Collins is the next one developed in Pride and Prejudice. The reasons for this ‘courtship’ are staged and written in an almost comical nature which emphasizes just how absurd Austen feels about an alliance of this sort. In this couple Austen offers up Mr. Collins as an example that men also feel great pressure to marry. In fact, Mr. Collins felt the pressure so strongly that he proposed to two women in the span of three days. His proposal to Elizabeth in chapter 19 is a hilarious speech that states laughable reasons for marriage, ``My reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances to set the example of matrimony in his parish. Secondly, that I am convinced it will add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly -- which perhaps I ought to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness”. Charlotte’s reasoning for the alliance was similarly bland. In chapter 22 she states, “Mr. Collins to be sure was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small
It is not unusual for an individual to disagree with social customs or expectations. Some people are only happy when they can rebel against society. Most mature adults eventually realize that compromise is necessary to achieve happiness. This is the case in the early nineteenth century England setting of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. In the novel, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is a lively, independent woman, whose family's financial situation and whose strong mindedness suggest that she may never marry. Mr. Darcy, is a rigid and proper man, who falls in love with Elizabeth, despite their differences. By the end of the novel, Elizabeth and Darcy learn to compromise, and, in doing so, become truly happy. In marrying, they not only fulfill themselves as individuals, but also affirm the principle values of society. The marriage at the end of the novel shows Jane Austen's ideal view of marriage as a social institution.
The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love for his daughters while, on the contrary, Mrs. Bennet’s love is over-acted and conditional. Both parents help to shape their daughters’ characteristics and beliefs: Lydia reflecting Mrs. Bennet’s flighty and excessive behavior while Elizabeth inherits Mr. Bennet’s pensive and reflective temperament. Looking past their dissimilar personality traits and contradicting convictions, both parents hold the family together and play an integral role in the household structure.
Elizabeth is so upset about charlotte marrying Collins because she is afraid if being forced into a similar marriage or ending up as having no money, no marriage .Concerning the civil status and economic right of woman , Austen is hitting at the patriarchal society. The nightmare of not marrying is worse than marrying someone like Mr. Collins.
...: Charlotte Lucas. It is most obvious that this marriage is not based on love, as it could be argued that Mr Collins may have had loving feelings for Elizabeth only days before; therefore making it highly improbable that both he and Charlotte could have developed feelings of love for one another in such a short space of time. Charlotte’s swift acceptance of Mr Collins’ offer shows that she is anxious to get married to gain both social and financial security. From this point on, Austen ensures that the reader is made aware of the very likely possibility that Charlotte may never have loving feelings towards Mr Collins, and vice-versa. However this should not prove to be a problem for Mr Collins, as he only desires a wife so to conform to the status quo.
Pride and Prejudice is the most enduringly popular novel written by Jane Austen. It talks about trivial matters of love, marriage and family life between country squires and fair ladies in Britain in the 18th century. The plot is very simple. That is how the young ladies choose their husbands. Someone said that "Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of the novel, flatly rejected William Collins' proposal, who is the heir of her father's property and manor, and refused the first proposal from the extremely wealthy nobleman Fitzwilliam Darcy later,"(1) all this makes it clear that Elizabeth "seeks no fame nor fortune, but self-improvement and high mental outlook."(1) It's right. From the view point of Austen, Elizabeth's marriage, who finally marries Darcy, as well as Jane-Bingley's, composing money and love, is the ideal marriage people should after. But in other marriage cases in this novel, we can see that if money and love can't be held together in one marriage, love would always make a concession to money because of the special social background. After reading through the whole book, we will find that money acts as the cause of each plot and the clue of its development. It affects everybody's words and deeds, even Elizabeth Bennet. Tony Tanner once said, "Jane Austen, as well as other authors, is very clear that no feeling could be extremely pure and no motive could be definitely single. But as long as it is possible, we should make it clear that which feeling or motive plays the leading role." (2)