Love and Marriage Between Wickham and Lydia
Love and marriage between Wickham and Lydia
Pride and Prejudice is the most successful and popular novel written by Jane Austen. It revolves around the intricacies of courtship and marriage between members of social classes, which, in this case, is her own class – the middle class. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen describes many different loves and marriages. Whereby, she can express her viewpoint that one’s character often reflects his or her marriage and attitudes towards love. In this essay, I want to focus and analyse the sex-oriented marriage between a dissolute Wickham and an empty-minded Lydia.
Wickham first appears as a very charming fellow. As an officer in the regiment stationed at Meryton, Wickham is quickly judged to be a perfectly good and amiable man because of his friendliness and the ease of his manners. Initially, his sexual fascination is so great that Elizabeth, who is normally very critical in judging people, sees at first absolutely nothing in him but makes him seem the most charming man she has ever met. Wickham’s constant attention to Elizabeth makes her feel sure that she is in love with him. He even makes Elizabeth to be inclined to believe his made-up story about Darcy. However, his true nature, on the contrary, gradually shows itself to be mean and wicked. “A curious degree of sexual attraction often goes with a lively, unreliable disposition, which may either be somewhat superficial but perfectly well-meaning, or driven by circumstance which it has not the strength to withstand, become that of a scoundrel.” (Douglas Bush, 1956)Wickham’s love was short-lived. After being realized the real person by Elizabeth, he is immediately reported to court another lady, Miss King, who possesses ten thousand pounds. A sharp contrast emerges between his agreeable appearance and mean character. He regards love as nothing but a tool to acquire wealth.
His elopement with Lydia is very sudden. It really leaves us some rooms to contemplate his real
Pride and Prejudice is the most successful and popular novel written by Jane Austen. It revolves around the intricacies of courtship and marriage between members of social classes, which, in this case, is her own class – the middle class. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen describes many different loves and marriages. Whereby, she can express her viewpoint that one’s character often reflects his or her marriage and attitudes towards love. In this essay, I want to focus and analyse the sex-oriented marriage between a dissolute Wickham and an empty-minded Lydia.
Wickham first appears as a very charming fellow. As an officer in the regiment stationed at Meryton, Wickham is quickly judged to be a perfectly good and amiable man because of his friendliness and the ease of his manners. Initially, his sexual fascination is so great that Elizabeth, who is normally very critical in judging people, sees at first absolutely nothing in him but makes him seem the most charming man she has ever met. Wickham’s constant attention to Elizabeth makes her feel sure that she is in love with him. He even makes Elizabeth to be inclined to believe his made-up story about Darcy. However, his true nature, on the contrary, gradually shows itself to be mean and wicked. “A curious degree of sexual attraction often goes with a lively, unreliable disposition, which may either be somewhat superficial but perfectly well-meaning, or driven by circumstance which it has not the strength to withstand, become that of a scoundrel.” (Douglas Bush, 1956)Wickham’s love was short-lived. After being realized the real person by Elizabeth, he is immediately reported to court another lady, Miss King, who possesses ten thousand pounds. A sharp contrast emerges between his agreeable appearance and mean character. He regards love as nothing but a tool to acquire wealth.
His elopement with Lydia is very sudden. It really leaves us some rooms to contemplate his real