The Theme of Marriage in Jane Austens Pride And Prejudice Essays

The Theme of Marriage in Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice One of the main themes in Pride And Prejudice is marriage. Throughout the novel, the author describes the various types of marriages and reasons behind them. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. The novel demonstrates how many women need to marry men they are not in love with simply in order to gain financial security. The first instance of marriage seen in the novel is that between Mr and Mrs Bennet. However it is far from perfect, with the couple barely speaking to each other. Mr Bennet's extreme sarcasm that is seen throughout the book makes Mrs Bennet seem incompetent to hold a conversation and indeed at times a relationship. "They are silly and ignorant, like other girls". Austen uses the Bennet's relationship to illustrate at the beginning of the book that clearly many did not marry because of love or connection but merely for social and financial acceptance. The Longbourn estate is an extreme hardship on the Bennet family; it produces a hurdle in Mrs Bennet's goal to get all of her children married. The entailment of Mr Bennet's estate leaves his daughters in a poor financial situation, which both requires them to marry and makes it more difficult for them to marry. It might be correct in assuming that Mrs Bennet felt social and financial pressure to get all of her children married. Her husband's estate was entailed to his nephew, Mr. Collins. Therefore, Mrs. Bennet wanted her daughters to have financial stability elsewhere in case of their father's death. "If you go on refusing eve... .... Austen creates a character that is not special in any particular way but is yet so perfect to fulfil the role of a wife. We see that she is well dressed, educated, and creative. It is these qualities that attract Darcy as well as Elizabeth's apparent unwillingness to actually marry. Ultimately Elizabeth wants to marry for love. She turns down Mr Collins, even though he could have offered her a comfortable position in life and Mr Darcy, even with his fortune of  £10 000 a year. Austen uses different characters and their relationships to represent to the reader different aspects of marriage. Austen wants to create the perfect marriage but in doing this shows the reader that no marriage is perfect. She highlights how money and social status was far more desirable in the 19th century then true love and appreciation.