Discuss the Various Attitudes to Marriage and Courtship That Jane Austen Presents in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Essay Example
Discuss the Various Attitudes to Marriage and Courtship that Jane Austen presents in ‘Pride and Prejudice’
In Jane Austen’s book ‘Pride and Prejudice’ she shows various attitudes of marriage and courtship through each character. Some of these attitudes to marriage and courtship are very different to the attitudes of most people today. This book is mainly about marriage so it is very easy and interesting to compare the opinions of marriage from the early nineteenth century to life now. Jane Austen mentions marriage for the first time, in Pride and Prejudice, in the very first sentence:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Chapter 1, page 51)
This is possibly the most important quote in the book because it sets the tone for the rest of the novel and it is where we first discover that the book is actually about marriage. Marriage was more of a business arrangement then. For young women it was very important, particularly for the Bennets, that you married a man who was as rich as possible. The amount of money that men had and the lifestyle based on that amount played a very important part in the decision of who to marry. How much love played a part in the equation was a lot smaller than how much the money did.
Mrs Bennet, throughout the book, we can see is a very loud, impolite woman. Her character could be described as being a caricature. We first hear of Mr Charles Bingley when Mrs Bennet is telling her husband, Mr Bennet, about him. We don’t learn too much about him other than the fact that he is very wealthy and he is in the area. Mr Bennet asks at this point to Mrs Bennet if he is married or single. She replies:
“Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!”
(Chapter 1, page 51)
From what Mrs Bennet says we can instantly see that she is very excited at
In Jane Austen’s book ‘Pride and Prejudice’ she shows various attitudes of marriage and courtship through each character. Some of these attitudes to marriage and courtship are very different to the attitudes of most people today. This book is mainly about marriage so it is very easy and interesting to compare the opinions of marriage from the early nineteenth century to life now. Jane Austen mentions marriage for the first time, in Pride and Prejudice, in the very first sentence:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (Chapter 1, page 51)
This is possibly the most important quote in the book because it sets the tone for the rest of the novel and it is where we first discover that the book is actually about marriage. Marriage was more of a business arrangement then. For young women it was very important, particularly for the Bennets, that you married a man who was as rich as possible. The amount of money that men had and the lifestyle based on that amount played a very important part in the decision of who to marry. How much love played a part in the equation was a lot smaller than how much the money did.
Mrs Bennet, throughout the book, we can see is a very loud, impolite woman. Her character could be described as being a caricature. We first hear of Mr Charles Bingley when Mrs Bennet is telling her husband, Mr Bennet, about him. We don’t learn too much about him other than the fact that he is very wealthy and he is in the area. Mr Bennet asks at this point to Mrs Bennet if he is married or single. She replies:
“Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!”
(Chapter 1, page 51)
From what Mrs Bennet says we can instantly see that she is very excited at