​Muirhead 1

Meredith Muirhead

Mrs. Lindquist

English 10 Advanced

07 February 2018

Role of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

In many past and present societies, marriage has been a big focus of the culture, but

hardly for love. Marriages are often arranged for a son’s/daughter’s status to be raised or to

ensure a stable life for a son or daughter. Parents and matchmakers tend to overlook whether

the son or daughter is in love, or does not wish to be married. In Jane Austen’s ​Pride and

Prejudice​, the theme of marriage is seen on both sides- with love and without love. The

theme of marriage is developed throughout the story using both facets of marriage, using the

Elizabeth/Darcy and Jane/Bingley relationships for the love facet, and the Charlotte/Collins

and Lydia/Wickham pairings for the social facet.

True love is rather like gold- desired by many, found by few, and when found,

found in unexpected places. When Elizabeth Bennet first meets Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, it is

not a classic “love-at-first-sight” meeting. Rather, Darcy is refusing to dance with Elizabeth,

saying that she is “tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt ​me​.” (Austen) Elizabeth

immediately sees Darcy as a snobby, conceited man, and refuses to open her mind towards

him. On the other hand, Jane Bennet and Charles Bingley share a mutual attraction from the

minute they meet at a ball in Meryton. Jane acts shy and plays hard to get with Bingley,

prompting him to doubt for a while whether he should marry Jane or not, but in the end they

do marry. Their love is nurtured by how much they have in common with one another:

cheerful goodness, gentle nature, and always ready to think the best of others. The romance
 ​Muirhead 2

between Jane and Bingley is the exact opposite of Darcy and Elizabeth’s, which comes after

overcoming the obstacles of Darcy’s pride and Elizabeth’s prejudice. Both relationships

though, are looked down upon by the man’s family because the Bennet daughters are

considered members of a lower-class family; however, the couples are married nevertheless

because of the love they have for each other.

The other facet of marriage is the social value, which has nothing to do with love

whatsoever. The couples who are married for social value do not care for love as much as

they just want someone who can help them run their estate, pay off their debts, or just to have

a spouse because that is the way the society works. Charlotte Lucas is considered an “old

maid,” being twenty-seven years old and single. Her thoughts on marriage are that a

happiness in a marriage is just a side factor, and it doesn’t matter as long as the marriage is

socially appropriate. At this point in her life, she just wants to have a husband and run an

estate, so after Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth and is rejected, he turns to her and soon they

are married and set to inherit the Bennet estate when Mr. Bennet dies. Lydia Bennet, on the

contrary, is merely fifteen years old, but is the “wild child” of her family and cannot wait to

be married just to be married. When charming but good-for-nothing George Wickham comes

along, he is looking to marry a Bennet sister, or anyone who can pay off his debts. First,

Wickham tries Elizabeth, but she learns of his disreputable past and rejects him. Seeing that

Lydia is willing to marry just about any man, he elopes with her.

It doesn’t take a psychic to know which kind of marriage will be happier. The Bennet

parents are a clear example of how a social marriage ends up- Mr. Bennet makes the best of

his marriage by teasing his unintelligent wife, and Mrs. Bennet exists simply to marry her

daughters off. Throughout the story, Austen uses these couples to develop the theme of

marriage using the superficial facet and the romantic facet. The characters who are superficial
 ​Muirhead 3

choose the superficial marriages, and the more instinctive characters choose the real

marriages that they know will be substantial.