Regency Era Marriage

Many had differents views and thoughts about marriage during the Regency Period, but none of them really did want to end up alone, no matter how intolerable the man or woman they ended up with was. Although some thought of marriage as a gateway only to money and wealth, all characters in the book Pride and Prejudice seemed to have different thoughts and viewpoints of courtship and marriage. Some became exceptionally overwhelming to others such as Elizabeth in a way where they were very independent and headstrong. Though the Regency Period’s view on marriage was mainly that its purpose was to obtain financial gain, there were others that saw it as a way of commitment and showing of love. Elizabeth, although a fictional character, was a good
Although the hunt for money in marriage wasn’t only related to one gender, some men, although hardly many, found marriage to a wealthy woman highly approachable. Isabelle Goddard says, “The hunt for a husband in Regency England was a serious business and upper class families invested large sums of money to give their daughters a 'season' in London. An unattached woman had no occupation other than to find a husband but on no account must she signal that this was her goal” (Goddard, “Courtship and Marriage”). A couple example of these kind of people were Mr. Wickham and Charlotte Lucas. In the end Mr. Wickham marries Lydia Bennet, Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins, and Elizabeth Bennet marries Mr. Darcy. Mr. Wickham seems to be a man who consistently tries to persuade women to marry him, so that he can get to their money. His charm and gentle kindness seems to be a
Wickham, Charlotte Lucas, and Elizabeth Bennet, all have very different ideas when it comes to marriage, some see it as finacial gain, either in a selfish or social way, and some see it as means of a commitment to love and to each other. For many it was hard to find love like Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, so we can’t really look down upon on Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Wickham as foul people, because they were merely trying to survive for the most part. Back then everyone was exepected to marry, and without marriage they lost so much, but although many opinions formed in that Era of marriage, it really seemed to come together in the end to make many generations. From these generations they would change the status quo of marriage into something that is made of love instead of