Pride and Prejudice
is one of the most popular novels of Jane Austen due to its multi-dimensional
versatility of themes. Andrew H. Wright remarks: “ She (Jane Austen)
develops themes of the broadest significance, the novels go beyond social
record, beneath the didactic, to moral concern, perplexity and commitment”
One of the most
important themes of Pride and Prejudice, love and marriage, is also the central theme
of the novel. The oft-quoted opening sentence of the novel demonstrates this
basic theme: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in
possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”
It is true that the
chief preoccupation of Jane Austen’s heroines is getting married and life is a
matrimonial ceremony for them. Pride and Prejudice dramatizes the economic
inequality of women, showing how women had to marry undesirable mates in order
to gain some financial security. Marriage was a significant social concern in
Jane Austen’s time and she was fully conscious of the disadvantages of being
single as she wrote to her niece Fanny Knight, “Single women have a dreadful
propensity for being poor….which is one very strong argument in favour of
matrimony”.
Through five marriages, Jane Austen defines
good and bad reasons for marriage. Charlotte – Collins, Lydia – Wickham, Jane –
Bingley and Elizabeth – Darcy are the four newly-weds. The old marriage is that
of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.
The marriage of Mr.
and Mrs. Bennet is the
worst example of its kind in the novel. They are pole apart in their thoughts
and temperaments. Their marriage is shown to be a disaster, with the wife
playing the part of a fool and the husband retreating to live an uninvolved
life. Jane Austin says about this
marriage:
" Her (Elizabeth’s) father captivated by youth and beauty … had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her “. Their marriage lacks "emotional compatibility and intellectual understanding". The Bennet’s marriage ends in mutual forbearance.
" Her (Elizabeth’s) father captivated by youth and beauty … had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her “. Their marriage lacks "emotional compatibility and intellectual understanding". The Bennet’s marriage ends in mutual forbearance.
Charlotte and Collins are the first newly-weds. Charlotte agrees to marry Collins solely for her financial security. It is relatively her advancing age that hastens her engagement. Charlotte tries to justify her position by giving argumentative reasons to Elizabeth: “I am not romantic you know, I never was, I ask only a comfortable home”. Thus, to Charlotte, marriage is an economic transaction undertaken in self-interest.
The runaway
marriage of Lydia-Wickham is based on mere superficial qualities as sex,
appearance, good looks and youthful flirtation. The passion between the
unprincipled rake, Wickham and the flighty Lydia is bound to cool, and in their
unhappy conjugal life, mutual toleration is the nearest approach that can be
expected.
The marriage between Jane and Bingley is a
successful marriage of its kind. Jane Austen expresses her opinion about this
marriage through the words of Elizabeth:
"All his (Bingley) expectations of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between them."
However, unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, there is no planning in their relationships. Both the characters are too gullible and too good-hearted to ever act strongly against external forces that may attempt to separate them. So, their marriage is in between success and failure.
"All his (Bingley) expectations of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between them."
However, unlike Darcy and Elizabeth, there is no planning in their relationships. Both the characters are too gullible and too good-hearted to ever act strongly against external forces that may attempt to separate them. So, their marriage is in between success and failure.
The fifth and final example of marriage is
that of Elizabeth and Darcy. It is a kind of an ideal marriage based on the true
understanding and cross examinations. According to Jane Austen , the
courtship of Darcy and Elizabeth is a perfect union which sums up the purpose
of her novel. Although it begins with the pride and prejudice; it passes through
many stages as "it converts from
full hatred to complete admiration and satisfaction" . For Darcy, Elizabeth
is no longer the woman who is "not
handsome enough to tempt (him)", as he admits that “…
it is many
months since I have considered [Elizabeth] as one of the handsomest women of my acquaintance.”. Also for Elizabeth , he is no longer "the last man in the world whom (she)
could ever be prevailed on to marry" but he becomes the "man who in disposition and talents ,
would most suit her" .
Thus the theme of love
and marriage is very aptly exemplified in Pride and Prejudice. Beginning with
the arrival of Bingley and Darcy, both single men “in possession of a good
fortune”, the novel traces the courtship of Jane-Bingley and
Elizabeth-Darcy through various misunderstandings and hindrances, before they
are happily married to each other. We can sum up above discussion in the words
of Elizabeth:
“There
can be no doubt that it is settled between us already that we are to be the
happiest couple in the world.”