How Society Viewed Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Aus

How Society Viewed Love and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane AustenJane Austen was born in 1775 and spent most of her life in thecountryside in a village called Steventon, Hampshire. She was thedaughter of a clergyman, Reverend George Austen and her mother wascalled Cassandra Austen. She had a brief education starting at the ageof seven and ending at eleven, when she settled at home. Like women inAustens society, she had little education due to the beliefs at thetime the only education she would have received would in all likelihood havebeen to up her favorable status, through marriage. She wrote Pride andPrejudice to portray societys views of love and marriage to thereader and to shoe that marriages take position for different reasons. Wesee throughout the novel the excessive number of marriages andcourtships that take manoeuvre.The opening sentence Its a truth universally acknowledged, that a integrity man in the possession of a good fortune must be in want of awife intr oduces the theme of love, marriage and funds in an ironicway. The irony is contained in the fact that marriage is meant to beabout love and happiness but clearly revolves around wealth and socialstanding. In the novel we see two established marriages take placeThe bennets and the Gardiners. Throughout the novel four othermarriages take place Lydia and Mr Wickham, Charlotte Lucas and MrCollins, Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Mr Bingley.The marriage between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas is purely based onfinancial and social security not love or appearance, It was extremelycommon fro women in Austens era to marry and save themselves fromspinsterhood and social security and to gain, the above mentioned,financial... ...however, that Darcy is her ideal match.Intelligent and forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too in hasteand harshly, and his high birth and wealth make him overly proud andoverly conscious of his social status. When he proposes to her, forinstance, he dwells more on how unsuitable a match she is than on hercharms, beauty, or anything else complimentary, not handsome enough.Here Darcy is reflecting societys views of love and marriage becausemany people married for higher(prenominal) social status and financial statusrather than for love and beauty.Pride and prejudice is a love story but does not reflect the romanticside. It gives the reader a sense of all the different kinds ofrelationships, none of them are the same. It shows that the idealcouple is difficult to find, the established marriages in the bookbeing The Bennets and the Gardiners.