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MA English Super Notes: Theme of Love and Marriage in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels of Jane Austen due to its multi-dimensional versatility of themes. Andrew H. Wright ...

MA English Super Notes

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Friday, 6 June 2014

Theme of Love and Marriage in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels of Jane Austen due to its multi-dimensional versatility of themes. Andrew H. Wright remarks: “ She (Jane Austen) develops themes of the broadest significance, the novels go beyond social record, beneath the didactic, to moral concern, perplexity and commitment”

One of the most important themes of Pride and Prejudice,  love and marriage, is also the central theme of the novel. The oft-quoted opening sentence of the novel demonstrates this basic theme: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”

It is true that the chief preoccupation of Jane Austen’s heroines is getting married and life is a matrimonial ceremony for them. Pride and Prejudice dramatizes the economic inequality of women, showing how women had to marry undesirable mates in order to gain some financial security. Marriage was a significant social concern in Jane Austen’s time and she was fully conscious of the disadvantages of being single as she wrote to her niece Fanny Knight, “Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor….which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony”.

Through five marriages, Jane Austen defines good and bad reasons for marriage. Charlotte – Collins, Lydia – Wickham, Jane – Bingley and Elizabeth – Darcy are the four newly-weds. The old marriage is that of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet is the worst example of its kind in the novel. They are pole apart in their thoughts and temperaments. Their marriage is shown to be a disaster, with the wife playing the part of a fool and the husband retreating to live an uninvolved life.  Jane Austin says about this marriage:

" Her (Elizabeth’s) father captivated by youth and beauty … had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her “. Their marriage lacks "emotional compatibility and intellectual understanding". The Bennet’s marriage ends in mutual forbearance.

Charlotte and Collins are the first newly-weds. Charlotte agrees to marry Collins solely for her financial security. It is relatively her advancing age that hastens her engagement. Charlotte tries to justify her position by giving argumentative reasons to Elizabeth: “I am not romantic you know, I never was, I ask only a comfortable home”. Thus, to Charlotte, marriage is an economic transaction undertaken in self-interest.

The runaway marriage of Lydia-Wickham is based on mere superficial qualities as sex, appearance, good looks and youthful flirtation. The passion between the unprincipled rake, Wickham and the flighty Lydia is bound to cool, and in their unhappy conjugal life, mutual toleration is the nearest approach that can be expected.

The marriage between Jane and Bingley is a successful marriage of its kind. Jane Austen expresses her opinion about this marriage through the words of Elizabeth:

"All his (Bingley) expectations of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between them."

However, unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, there is no planning in their relationships. Both the characters are too gullible and too good-hearted to ever act strongly against external forces that may attempt to separate them. So, their marriage is in between success and failure.

The fifth and final example of marriage is that of Elizabeth and Darcy. It is a kind of an ideal marriage based on the true understanding and cross examinations. According to Jane Austen , the courtship of Darcy and Elizabeth is a perfect union which sums up the purpose of her novel. Although it begins with the pride and prejudice; it passes through many stages as "it converts from full hatred to complete admiration and satisfaction" . For Darcy, Elizabeth is no longer the woman who is "not handsome enough to tempt (him)", as he admits that “… it is many months since I have considered [Elizabeth] as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”. Also for Elizabeth , he is no longer "the last man in the world whom (she) could ever be prevailed on to marry" but he becomes the "man who in disposition and talents , would most suit her" .

Thus the theme of love and marriage is very aptly exemplified in Pride and Prejudice. Beginning with the arrival of Bingley and Darcy, both single men “in possession of a good fortune”, the novel traces the courtship of Jane-Bingley and Elizabeth-Darcy through various misunderstandings and hindrances, before they are happily married to each other. We can sum up above discussion in the words of Elizabeth:

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Discuss how Pride and Prejudice engages with the theme of love and marriage

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Discuss How Pride And Prejudice Engages With The Theme Of Love And Marriage

Posted By: Myexamsolution July 08, 2022 Leave A Reply

 Discuss How Pride And Prejudice Engages With The Theme Of Love And Marriage

Pride and Prejudice engages with the theme of love and marriage - Pride and Prejudice depicts five marriages in all. Charlotte Lucas, Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia and Mrs Forster are the brides and all of them marry to their advantage, elevating themselves socially. If Jane and Elizabeth have escaped Charlotte’s fate, it is because of their beauty which gives them a somewhat wider choice in the marriage market. Charlotte is 27, not especially beautiful and without an especially large “portion”. It is therefore her advancing age that hastened her engagement to Collins “solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment”. When marriage as an institution has been commodified, she observes that it is not sensible to marry for ‘love’. Thus, to Charlotte, marriage is an economic transaction undertaken in self-interest.

Austen, meanwhile, poses countless smaller obstacles to the realization of the love between Elizabeth and Darcy, including Lady Catherine’s attempt to control her nephew, Miss Bingley’s snobbery, Mrs. Bennet’s idiocy, and Wickham’s deceit. In each case, anxieties about social connections, or the desire for better social connections, interfere with the workings of love. Darcy and Elizabeth’s realization of a mutual and tender love seems to imply that Austen views love as something independent of these social forces, as something that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape the warping effects of a hierarchical society.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”The arrival of Charles Bingley a young man with a fortune at Netherfield Park, sends the neighboring Bennet household into a flurry of excitement. Mrs. Bennet with five marriageable daughters, has fond hopes of arranging a match between the eligible suitor Charles Bingley and any one of her daughters. After the customary introductory visits, there is the occasion of the ball from which proceeds the Jane Bingley love story as well as the story of Elizabeth’s prejudice and Darcy’s pride which keeps them apart initially until they come closer gradually and eventually marry at the end.

By the time we have reached the end of the novel, not only the hero and heroine, Darcy and Elizabeth, but most of the young people have succeeded in pairing off in marriage. However, it is from the courtship of the hero and heroine that the story derives much of their tension. Though, marriage is the end of her novel, yet it involves more than the conclusion of a simple love story. There is a depth, variety and seriousness in Jane Austen’s treatment of these topics.

Marriage – An Important Social And Economic Concern

Marriage was an important social concern in Jane Austen’s time and she was fully aware of the disadvantages of remaining single. In a letter to Fanny Knight she wrote:

“Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor-which is one very strong argument in favour of matrimony.”

Jane Austen, tells us bluntly, that Charlotte ‘without thinking highly of either men or of matrimony‘ had always had marriage as her object because it was the only honorable provision for well-educated, young women of small fortune, and while it may not have provided happiness, it would at least have protected them from want. The only option for unmarried woman in Jane Austen’s time was to care for someone else’s children as Jane Austen herself did; as there were no outlets for women in industry, commerce, business or education. The novels of Jane Austen- especially Pride and Prejudice dramatize the economic inequality of women, showing how women had to marry undesirable mates in order to gain some financial security.

There are seven marriages in Pride and Prejudice Novel, all of them undoubtedly intended to reveal the requirements of a “good” and “bad” marriage. Three marriages that of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Charlotte and Collins and Lydia and Wickham reveal the ‘bad’ marriage and the importance of good judgment and proper feeling in determining a couple’s future happiness.

Mutual respect, the basis of a sound marriage is lacking in the Bennet’s marriage. Prudence alone should not dictate, as it does in Charlotte’s case, nor should it be disregarded, which is what Lydia does. Thoughtless passion leads only to disgrace and misery for the families concerned. Esteem, good sense and mutual affections are the right ingredients for a successful marriage as the Darcy-Elizabeth marriage indicates. Jane Austen firmly believed that to form a right judgement, one must have right principles and right perception of the nature of other people.

Unhappy Marriage or Social Marriage - Jane Austen’s view is the marriage based on economics, such as that contracted by Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas. As a result of Charlotte’s need for financial security, she is willing to destroy her own life by linking herself to a pompous ass.

The second kind of “bad” marriage is marriage based on such superficial qualities as sex, appearance, good looks and youthful vivacity- the runaway marriage of Lydia and Wickham. The passion between the unprincipled rake Wickham and the flighty Lydia is bound to cool and in their unhappy married life mutual toleration is the nearest approach to affection that can be expected.

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Theme of Love and Marriage in "Pride and Prejudice

"Love and Marriage" is common theme of Austen's novels. "Pride and Prejudice" is a clear representation of theme of "love and marriage".

Theme of Love and Marriage in “Pride and Prejudice

Posted on September 9, 2019

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Theme of Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen is famous for talking about love relationships. Her novels start with love and ends with marriage. She gives every novel a happy ending. “Love and Marriage” is a common theme of her novels including family life and class besides other themes of “Pride and Prejudice”. She depicts good and bad marriages in this novel. In fact, each type of marriage has been presented by her. Ironically, she sheds light on pros and cons of all types of marriages as she uses irony in Pride and Prejudice. Novel is about a society in which women are dependent on men. They are bound to household activities. Every girl of her era including Jane Austen spent her life in serving her family. “Pride and Prejudice” is a clear representation of her own society with an additional theme of “love and marriage”.

Pride and Prejudice Quotes | With Page Numbers

Relationships and “Theme of Love and Marriage” in “Pride and Prejudice”:

Jane Austen shows theme of love and marriage in “Pride and Prejudice” through five types of marriages. However, we cannot say that every marriage is based on love. Most of the couples are compelled to live with each other whereas remaining earn their respect in the eyes of their beloveds for marriage. Nevertheless, theme of “love and relationship” in “Pride and Prejudice” is based on following five couples:

Mr and Mrs. Bennet

Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas

Wickham and Lydia Bingley and Jane Darcy and Elizabeth

Every love relationship and marriage depicted in “Pride and Prejudice” is distinct. First marriage is old, second is based on compulsion, third is based on disrespectful love affair, fourth is settled and fifth is based on pure love. Let’s discuss them in detail to know more about primary theme of “love and marriage” in “Pride and Prejudice”.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet:

Jane Austen talks more about human psyche though not directly. She teaches us how to behave in a particular situation. Hence, her novels also share the theme of mannerism. Mrs. Bennet is a lady who is portrayed by the writer as absurd and ridiculous. She lacks manners. She is a humorless and a mean kind of woman. Mr. Bennet on the other hand has a good sense of humor. His nature is entirely opposite to her in every manner. It seems that he married her for beauty expecting that she would become a good wife with the passage of time. However, in more than twenty-three years of marriage they never enjoy a single day of marital bliss. We find a marriage but no love in their story.

Jane Austen compares them in start of the novel. Here are some differences in their relationship that Jane Austen shows in “Pride and Prejudice”.

Mr. Bennet has good humor whereas Mr. Bennet has weak understanding

She is liberal whereas he is illiberal

He is intellectual whereas she is stupid

He is broad minded whereas she is narrow minded

Mr. Bennet after his marriage soon realizes that he has committed a mistake. It is, therefore, he tries to veil his disillusionment through books. He enjoys cracking jokes on her wife. Jane Austen is of the view that no man wants this type of enjoyment through marriage. Cracking jokes and teasing life partner is alien to love relationship. In her eyes, respect is necessary for love. Nonetheless, this is the worst kind of love and marriage that she has shown in “Pride and Prejudice”.

Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas:

Their story is very concise and short. Mr. Collins shares some of the natural attributes of Mrs. Bennet. He visits Bennet family and ridiculously purposes Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet wants her daughter to accept this marriage so that they can save their property but Elizabeth flatly rejects his proposal. Thereafter, he proposes Charlotte Lucas and she accepts him as her husband. This marriage is also not based on love. Charlotte accepts proposal because she is coming of age. She has no other choice. Hence, this marriage is based on oppression of not finding any other suitable husband in future. Charlotte is a good and intellectual lady. She understands human behavior better than Elizabeth. Mr. Collins is not a suitable husband for him. She deserves better but she is victim of circumstances. Jane Austen though this couple shows a strange type of love relationship and marriage in “Pride and Prejudice”.

Wickham and Lydia:

It is one of the most important premature love relationship and marriage in “Pride and Prejudice”. Lydia is a teenage girl who meets Wickham and falls in love with him. He is not serious about her. Lydia shares attributes of her mother to the extent of intellectuality. She elopes with Wickham without realizing that it would bring shame to her family. Wickham on the other hand does not want to marry her. He just flirts with her. Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice forcibly arranges their marriage. This type of marriage is disrespectful. Jane Austen in clear words rejects it. Regardless of that theme of love and relationship is presented in “Pride and Prejudice” through this couple too.

स्रोत : askliterature.com