Marriage Situations In Austen's Novel Contrast example essay topic

Q. Discuss Jane Austen's presentation of love and marriage in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen's nineteenth century novel, "Pride and Prejudice" focuses primarily on the theme of love and marriage in an English society. Austen lived in a time when a woman's reputation and future, both socially and economically was fully dependant upon finding a husband. In "Pride and Prejudice", Austen presents three contrasting instances of love and marriage situations, either challenging or endorsing each through her construction of the characters and the outcome of their actions. Through doing so she holds a mirror to nineteenth century British society, revealing the values they held in regard to the pertinent issue of matrimony.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". This is the opening sentence of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" and it introduces the main theme of love and marriage that characterises the novel. The first example relating to this central theme occurs in the complex romance and eventual marriage of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, as well as Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley. The authorial voice is most strongly represented here, and Austen appears to endorse the situation of these two characters above all the others. Her characterisation of these four characters displays her endorsement of their matches by having them represent a romantic ideal. Their marriages are marriages of "love, like minded and genuine affection".

Austen has constructed them in such a way that they are of a perfect match intellectually. Both Elizabeth and Darcy have fiery, witty natures, forever trying to out do each other with smart remarks. Jane and Bingley are ideally matched. Bingley had a "pleasant countenance" with "easy, unaffected, happy manners". Jane is described as seeing "all the world as good and agreeable". Jane Austen has matched these two couples to present to the reader the ideal vision of a perfect love, and the outcome of these marriages is the best out of all matrimonial situations observed in the novel.

Austen conveys the notion that a truly happy marriage can be based only on an intellectual match, containing true affection. She has portrayed a true romance between these characters, particularly in the case of Elizabeth and Darcy. They overcame their personal prejudices of class difference, and Darcy was the true romantic hero when he saved the situation of Wickham and Lydia, rescuing the Bennet family's dignity and respect, and gaining the love of Elizabeth. Jane and Bingley were kept apart by Darcy, despite their love for each other, and in the end all was overcome and they were happily married. Austen has shown the reader exactly how limiting class boundaries were in the nineteenth century, and is perhaps sending out a silent plea to the world, holding a mirror up to British society, asking for the idealistic vision of love and marriage to be realised. She describes the joy it could bring when she talks of Darcy's "heartfelt delight" in Lizzy's acceptance of him, and Jane was "the happiest creature in the world".

By the outcome of their marriages, and the ideal romance of the couples, along with their being perfectly matched, the reader is convinced that the author condones this marriage of "love, like minded and genuine affection", as she has presented it in such a favourable manner. The other marriage situations in Austen's novel contrast strongly with this idealistic vision, and it is evident that she does not endorse their occurrences. The second marriage situation observed in Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is one of convenience, an occurrence common to marriages in the nineteenth century. Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins purely to avoid "poverty and loneliness". To marry him would be "practical and advantageous", and would secure both her future and her reputation, as she was almost past what was considered the appropriate age to be married. Mr. Collins was most probably her only hope of security in her old age.

Jane Austen has presented this situation to the reader in such a way that they are convinced that she acknowledges that these circumstances existed and had to exist for women of that time, however she does not appear to fully endorse its occurrence. The marriage between Ms. Lucas and Mr. Collins is not one built on love, but rather upon "worldly advantage". They barely knew each other, and indeed Charlotte was only Mr. Collins second choice after his proposal to Elizabeth was rejected. Jane Austen does not challenge this marriage situation, and Charlotte's decision to marry Mr. Collins is justified by the fact that her "chance of happiness" with him was "as fair, as most people can boast on entering the marriage state". Austen has constructed Charlotte's character to reflect the characters of many women who had resigned themselves to this situation. She had never thought highly "of either man or matrimony" and marriage 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".

The outcome of their marriage is that Charlotte has "a comfortable home" and although she must bear with the "conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man" that is her husband, she will remain comfortable, secure and respected for the rest of her days. There is no disrepute, impropriety or scandal in the matrimonial state, and Austen remains neutral in her approach to their situation in the novel. This contrasts profoundly to the author's attitude towards the final example of a marriage circumstance in her novel "Pride and Prejudice". The third example of love and marriage in "Pride and Prejudice" is one that is obviously not given much credence to by Austen through the way she presents it in the novel.

The relationship between Lydia Bennet and George Wickham is one of scandal and disgrace. This relationship is built on lust and physical description, and is doomed from its beginnings. Wickham is attracted only to Lydia's liveliness and charms, whilst the two are not at all intellectually matched. The lust that is the basis of their attachment leads them to elope. This situation brings disgrace to the Bennet family, and could potentially ruin the other sister's marriage opportunities. Whilst Darcy persuades Lydia and Wickham to get married when he offers them financial help, they will not have a happy life.

The reader is convinced of Austen's disapproval of their situation by the way she sums up he results of their marriage, saying that Wickham "soon sunk into indifference", Lydia's "lasted a little longer; and in spite of her youth and her manners she retained all the claims to reputation which her marriage had given her". In Austen's time it was scandalous for unmarried people to take off together with no chaperone and no promise of engagement. Lydia and Wickham's behaviour was thoughtless and immature and they gave not thought to the repercussions on the reputations of Lydia's family. The marriage that Lydia and Wickham enter into is reflected in the marriage of the older Mr. And Mrs. Bennett. The reader has a clue that their relationship was built on physical attraction when Mr. Bennet alludes to his wife's past beauty, saying "you are as handsome as any of them" and saying that other women "had not much beauty to speak of". The two are completely wrong for each other.

Mr Bennett was an "odd mixture of quick parts, sarcastic, reserve and caprice", and "twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character", implying that this marriage is certainly not based on intellectual likeness. His wife was "a woman of mean understanding, little information and uncertain temper" and her life's "solace was visiting and news". They argue throughout the novel, and it is evident that Jane Austen is silently ridiculing their marriage. Out of the three incidences of marriage situations portrayed in "Pride and Prejudice", this appears to be the least credible type of marriage. Austen emphasises this by revealing the unsuitability and unhappy outcomes of the marriages. In conclusion, Jane Austen has successfully portrayed three different love and marriage situations in her novel, "Pride and Prejudice".

The reader understands by the end of the novel that the marriage based on true love and a meeting of minds that occurs between Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Bingley is endorsed above all by Austen, and will provide couples with the happiest possible outcome. She conveys the idea that true love can conquer all when class differences and other such prejudices are overcome. Austen acknowledges that practical marriages had to exist for many people in nineteenth century England, and does not condemn them, justifying them by the fact that they had to exist to protect a woman's future and reputation. Charlotte and Collins will be comfortable and satisfied, if not completely happy in their relationship with each other. Austen presents the disgraceful situation of Lydia and Wickham in such a way that turns the reader against this type of relationship, and deems that the two shall suffer an unhappy and turbulent marriage for the rest of their days. The reader has been presented with three different marriage situations, each being opposed or endorsed by Jane Austen through the characters she constructs and each of their stories.