Women and Marriage in Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice...

Women and Marriage in Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice And they lived happily ever after... Or did they? Pride and Prejudice, a captivating novel written by Jane Austen, is the story of Elizabeth and her adventure challenging society and ending up deep in true love. Pride and Prejudice takes place in a town outside of London called Hertfordshire, where the reader follows Elizabeth, her friends, and her family as they search for love in the nineteenth century. The author writes of Elizabeths journey of not only finding herself, but finding true love with Mr. Darcy in the end. 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†¦show more content†¦Because the statement is so candid, the reader can immediately recognize that it is an important theme in the novel. To further illustrate this thought, Austen then displays it in a conversation between Elizabeths parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Mrs. Bennet is speaking of well-off, si ngle Mr. Bingley and says, But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it would be for one of them (3). This suggests that the union of a man and woman is seen merely as an establishment, not a matrimony of two people in love. Instances such as these show the theme of the novel very clearly to the readers. A conflict between character personalities demonstrates this theme yet again in the novel. When Elizabeths friend Charlotte becomes engaged to a man named Mr. Lucas, the topic of marriage views becomes evident once again. Charlotte does not have an extremely high income, and she feels that marriage is the simple answer to her quest to live a desirable lifestyle. She has no passion to spend the rest of her life with someone whom she actually loves. The narrator states, Without thinking highly either of men or 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 (166). Because of this statement, the reader understands that these were the conventional ideas ofShow MoreRelatedComparative Study: Letters to Alice and Pride and Prejudice1502 Words   |  7 Pagesportrayed in Pride and Prejudice are creatively reshaped in Letters to Alice. The two texts, Letters to Alice and Pride and Prejudice, mirror and contrast the central values shared and explored by evaluating them; presenting them against Jane Austens context and that of Fay Weldon. Mirroring Austens novel, Weldon presents the central values for women such as the social values of moral behaviour, independence, and, literary values of reading and writing, from Pride and Prejudice and adapts themRead MoreJane Austen and Her Feminism1158 Words   |  5 PagesJane Austen and Her Feminism ---analyzing of feminism revealed in Pride and Prejudice Introduction It is universally acknowledged that Jane Austen was a major woman novelist in English; but it is also a truth that almost as universally ignored that Jane Austen was a feminist. By intensively reading her six novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion) and studying feminism, I have found some significant and fresh thingsRead MoreJane Austen s Pride And Prejudice1693 Words   |  7 Pagesthe reflections of illicit and explicit similarities and differences in the values and attributes presented. Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice and Fay Weldon’s 1993 epistolary text Letters to Alice, both challenge the worth of their time as contexts change, but values are upheld. Weldon’s reflection on Austen’s nineteenth century environment, conveys to responders how marriage, gender roles and social class continue to be relevant issues in both regency times and the modern world. ThroughRead Mor eSocial Commentary on Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin1734 Words   |  7 PagesPride and Prejudice Love and Marriage Jane Austen shows the readers within the first sentence what the plot and main theme of Pride and Prejudice is and what social ideas she plans on presenting through this novel. The first sentence of Pride and Prejudice stands as one of the most famous introductory lines in literature. It states, â€Å"it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife† (Austen 5). This statement puts the novel inRead MorePride and Prejudice Values Juxtaposed Letters to Alice1228 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Pride and Prejudice† and â€Å"Letters to Alice† contains many similarities yet some obvious differences even when considering the fact that they were written hundreds of years apart. Both texts provide strong perspectives on a variety of issues and are very blunt in their approach. The key issue throughout both novels is the ideology of marriage in the sense of whether one should marry for love or financial st ability and standing. Both novels are written in an epistolary format providing a differentRead MoreJane Austen s Pride And Prejudice1418 Words   |  6 PagesMarriage is a fundamental topic in Jane Austen’s famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. Readers become invested in the lives of the Bennet sisters who are constantly dreaming of relationships. Still unknown, however, is Austen’s reason for writing this novel that is so extremely concentrated on marriage. Some critics believe that Austen wrote the novel to portray how different social classes affected the lives of women such as the Bennet sisters. Others, however, believe that the novel was writtenRead MorePride And Prejudice: Love And Money In Holy Matrimony .1396 Words   |  6 PagesPride and Prejudice: Love and Money in Holy Matrimony Imagine a present day society where young women were only encouraged to seek a husband for their financial purposes and to gain a reputable status in the social class system. Today, who can fathom a happy marriage between two individuals without love? Well, that’s exactly what was expected in the life of the middle class families during the early nineteenth century, like the Bennet’s daughters in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. The novelRead MoreJane Austen s Pride And Prejudice1697 Words   |  7 PagesElizabeth Bennett: Outspoken in an Oppressive Society Jane Austen once said, â€Å"it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife† (Austen 1). In other words, women of the nineteenth century were deemed dependent on men. They were to join an advantageous marriage to remain respectable and achieve a higher social class. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice concerns the social norms of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries—a patriarchalRead MoreJane Austen’s Novel Pride and Prejudice Essay874 Words   |  4 Pagesmain theme of an advantageous marriage for the English novelist, Jane Austen. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics (Southam). Austen’s major novels, including Pride and Prejudice, were composed between the years 1795-1815. During those twenty years England was at the height of its power facing many historical landmarks (Thomson). It is no coinc idence that Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, coincides directly with theRead MoreJane Austen s Pride And Prejudice1211 Words   |  5 PagesJane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was greatly influenced by the time period in which it was written, This novel follows the story of Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters as they are faced with marriage proposals. The marriage and roles of women in this time period are shown throughout this story. During the time Austen was writing this novel, a woman’s role for her family changed. Daughters started to become a way for their family to achieve more money. Because their family depended on this financial