KHUDIRAM BOSE CENTRAL COLLEGE

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

Discuss How Austen Examine Marriage And Property in

‘Pride And Prejudice’

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of B.A.

(Honours , Semester – IV) under the University of Calcutta.

Registration No.- 222-1211-0133-19

CU Roll No.- 192222-11-0060

Name Of The Supervisor :

Rajdeep Mandal

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 • ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:-

I would like to thank the faculty members specially my

project supervisor Rajdeep Mandal whose valuable guidance has beenthe ones that
helped me patch this project and make it full proof success. Her suggestions and
instructions has served as the major contribution towards the completion of the
project.

Then I would like to thank my parents who have helped me

with their valuable suggestions and guidance has been helpful in various phases of the
completion of the project.

Last but not the least I would like to thank my classmates

who have helped me a lot.

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 • TABLE OF CONTENTS:-

TOPIC NAME PAGE NO.

• Abstract 4

• Title Of The Project 5

• Introduction 6

• How theme of marriage

And property is described

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in Jane Austen’s Pride and

Prejudice

• Conclusion 11

• Reference 12

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 • ABSTRACT :-

The present paper deals with How Austen examine marriage and
Property in Pride and Prejudice. This paper describes vividly the value of marriage
and money and concentrates on different types of marriages , specifically revealing
the differentiation between them and the role of property in the marriages. It also
explores the social causes of different phenomenon in depth in order to seek for a
wider social vision out of Austen’s small -scale and law- angel writing.

• KEYWORDS :-

Marriage , Property , Different , Money

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 HOW AUSTEN EXAMINE

MARRIAGE

&

PROPERTY

IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

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• INTRODUCTION :-

“ With the coming of Christianity . . . marriage become a sacrament and therefore

life long.”

----- Marriage and Morals [ Ber Russel]

Marriages during the Victorian era were simply business in which both groom and
Bride were chosen for social, financial and humanistic purposes. As the Nineteenth
Century society was totally dominated by men, all of the revolution happened because
of the fear of men who were not able to lose their power over the society.
Fortunately, there was a female writer who was able to challenge her society. Jane
Austen, the most prominent nineteenth century English female novelist, describes
vividly the value of marriage and money of female at the time. Her magnum opus
Pride and Prejudice demonstrates the theme with the most powerful and exhilarating
extension, which lays a strong foundation of being the widely recommended works
ever since it has been published. This novel shows a mixture of situations in which
our society can identify who is getting married because of love and who is getting
married because of social issues. The themes of love and marriage as handled by
Jane Austen have their own sociological, psychological, and artistic implications.
Hence, marriage which is a social institution is not handled by Austen as the ultimate
Result of love however it generates. Matrimony in Pride and Prejudice always
Involves the role of property.

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 Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s merry go round of
marriage, love , property and marriage in Pand P is neither primitive love nor courtly
love, nor love of Laura or Beatrice, nor love at first sight as between Orlando and
Rosalind, nor Donne’s soulful love sublimated in term of animation of souls. The
marriage theme in novel revolves not round any romantic as in Wuthering Heights,
idealistic in Historical background as in Tale Of Two Cities, futility of utilitarianism
pitted against Industrial Revolution as in Hard Time. The marriage theme in Jane
Austen’s novel is absolutely based on realistic economic-social class consideration,
status awareness and profit and loss consideration, pride, prejudice, envy, jealousy,
passion, vanity, ego, sensibility, sanity, gratitude, platitude all play with their roles
from the time of love breaking elopement to adjustment, conciliation and settlement.
Marriage has been looked upon as the best social harbour and honourable peace and
happiness.

The first sentence of the novel hits on the theme of marriage:

“ It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good

fortune must be in want of a wife.”

The first sentence ironically turns itself inside out thus it is not the young man of
good fortune who is at all worried about marriage but he becomes the marked target
of the match making mothers and her flirting daughters. In Charlotte’s view happiness
in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. To Charlotte home and security will be
more important than love and understanding. Mr. Collins is not a spiritually advanced
rector. In fact, he is very worldly minded and engrossed by matters like social rank,
family connection and money. He is dictated by another snob lady Catherine.

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 “ Money can’t buy happiness ,” is often what we’re told. Property
is merely a monetary object such as estate, though it can be the sole purpose and
motivation of something as big as getting married, according to Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen. Money plays a central role to the plot of the novel. Because of the
entail, the Bennet women will have a bleak financial future after Mr. Bennet dies.
Translating the monetary realities that the characters of “Pride and Prejudice” face
into modern equivalents helps readers to better understand the characters’ motivation
and the significance of their actions. Austen describes people’s financial situations
throughout Pride and Prejudice in terms of actual monetary amounts.

Mr. Bingley, a rich single man enters the neighbourhood of the

Bennet sisters, seemingly ‘ in want’ of a wife. The role of property highly affects the
girls’ want and desire of getting married :

“… He is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their

daughters.”

Mr. Bingley’s obligation to get married, Mr. Collin’s proposal to marry one of the
Bennet sisters, and different laws of this time period display the role of property. The
desire of the Bennet family to pursue Mr. Bingley seems to be a result of the need
to inherit property:

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“ Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in
love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes.”

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are counting on Mr. Bingley’s desire to marry one of their
daughters, as there would be one of their daughters to share his wealth and property.
Property and inheritance are given a larger role than the actual happiness of the
daughters when it comes to meeting Mr. Bingley.

Marriage is the most important theme of Pride and Prejudice.

There are seven sets of marriage in the novel. The marriage between Mr. and Mrs.
Lucas, between Mr. and Mrs. Gardiners are not discussed in detail. The five
marriages are brought to the fore front : Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s, Jane and Bingley,
Elizabeth and Darcy, Charlotte and Collins and Wickham and Lydia. Garrulous and
silly Mrs. Bennet is conscious of hr daughter’s marriage. She is irritated with Mr.
Bennet, her ill-assorted husband, indifferent to every and anything and engages
himself only in reading books in his library. Wickham – Lydia marriage begins and
ends with euphoria ending in boredom, misery, mutual distrust and bickering. The
stout well grown fifteen years old Lydia is full of animal spirit. She flirts with
young military officers and finally she is seduced by a loveless scoundrel Wickham.
Jane Austen exposes the futility of the brainless, emotional, hasty and sex pert marriage.

Besides these imperfect marriages, we have two marriages

that may called ideal in the context of the circumstances. These are marriages
between Bingley and Jane and Darcy and Elizabeth. Jane – Bingley relationship is
“rationally founded” and has “for basis the excellent understanding and super-
excellent disposition of Jane and a general similarity of feeling and taste between
her and himself.”

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The best relationship is that between Darcy and Elizabeth. This relationship sprouts in
negative circumstances, through mutual dislike. But as the story progresses, we can
see that they both realises their mistakes and gradually fell for each other. The
marriage between the two porters will be based on time-tasted love and is, therefore,
likely to be stable. The relationship, confirming what Sheridan says in The Rivals :

“Tis safest matrimony to begin with a little aversion.”

There were many obstacles in Jane-Bingley and Elizabeth-Darcy marriage, like

economic status of the Bennet family, of Lydia- Wickham elopement, Darcy’s dislike
of Jane-Bingley union, Darcy’s haughty nature and Elizabeth’s prejudice. But all the
obstacles are overcome and we share triumph of love with the happy couples.

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• CONCLUSION :-

Marriage is a continuous process --- a result of the combined factors

of sexual urges, psychological choice and good fortune. The over balance of under
balance of those factors often mars or overwhelms the happiness of the conjugal
relations. To Austen love is the perennial validity of life that proceeds though the
circular process of projection, combination, disillusionment and self-education. The
same marriage theme engaged Austen’s attention in other novels- Sense and
Sensibility, Emma and Northanger Abbey. In Pride and Prejudice marriage theme
thrives through two balls, there dinners, two suppers, six visits and six kisses.

“ Trip me further, pretty sweeting

Journeys end in lover’s meeting.”

[ Twelfth Night, Shakespeare ]

Curiously, while Austen gives weight to the social importance of the personal
relationship, she does not seem to advocate that society should be deciding force in
love and marriage not that only money, as Mrs. Bennet believes, should be the
prime consideration for a good marriage. After all, it is heart that matters, and after
the hearts are mutually responsive, the social factor is taken into consideration. Pride
and Prejudice achieves the concord in a complex pattern that began in an atmosphere
of discord and divergence. Austen is a sober authoress writing about personal
relationships in a society whose principal aim is to see people living happily. And
the source of happiness is primarily money, not withstanding the importance of a
good marriage that would produce ideal citizens.

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• REFERENCE :-

Austen , Jane. Pride and Prejudice. The World Library Publishing House, 2003,Print.

Bloom , Harold. Jane Austen. New York : Infobase Publishing, 2008, Print.

Wang , Xiteng. The Attitude Towards Marriage And Money In Pride And

Prejudice.

dpi-proceedings.com 25th October , 2020.

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