Jane Austen’s Concept of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

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Jane Austen’s concept of marriage in Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice explicitly revolves around the theme of matrimony. Many among us interpret her subject matter and ideas in the novel as a reflection of her own private life affairs. It is suggested that the theme of marriage and relationships in her novels appears more like a depiction of her own personal experiences in life but one still remains indecisive about it because the author never got married unlike the romantic stories she wrote with a ‘living happily ever after’ endings. However, all agree that the way she presents the idea of love, courtship and romance in her novels is very realistic.

Jane in her novels very effectively brings forth a clear representation of the social norms and concerns in relation to the institution of marriage during the 19th century. She has also well portrayed the harsh reality of the fears and the problems faced by parents who owned unmarried daughters in that era. Through her novel, she has brought home to us the notion that how every young woman has a longing to acquire a well established life and strives to build a better future for herself.

The opening words are quite revealing, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” These lines set the entire tone of the novel. Furthermore, they also act as a mirror image of the plot that the author has produced. One gets an insight of the story that follows. Jane has focused mainly on the issue of marriage and through her characters she has successfully attempted to create a virtual concept about it. The Bennet family has been the most highlighted subject throughout...

... middle of paper ...

...for happy and successful marriages.

Appendix

Cover image of Jane Austen’s book, Pride and Prejudie.

Works Cited

Connor, O, A. (August 25, 2009). Marriage in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Yahoo! Voices. Retrieved from(http://voices.yahoo.com/marriage-jane-austens-pride-prejudice-sense-4099437.html )

T, Ivan. ( April 17, 2012). Love and Marriage in Jane Austen’s novel. Jane Austen- Her Life And Works. Retrieved from ( http://janeausten-herlifeandworks.blogspot.com/2012/04/love-and-marriage-in-jan-austens-novels.html ).

Different Attitudes to Marriage in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; Literary Articles. n.d. 28 March 2014. Retrieved from(http://www.literary-articles.com/2010/02/different-attitudes-to-marriage-as.html ).

Austen, J. (1813). Pride and Prejudice. Great Britain: Penguin group, 1994.

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