THE THEME OF LOVE AND MARRIAGE IN JANE

AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

The novel pride and prejudice is the most popular novel written by Jane

Austen. It was received well by her contemporary reading public. It won the love and

admiration of the generations to come. And even in the twentieth century, when the

English novel has considerably developed and the readers have become more

knowledgeable and fastidious Pride and Prejudice has not lost any of its appeal.

Pride and Prejudice remains Jane Austen’s most brilliant novel’, the one with the

most exciting story’ and the wittiest and most spirited heroine.

Jane Austen began to write Pride and Prejudice, when she was barely twenty-

one. The novel was written in the epistolary style under the title First Impressions.

First Impressions is one of the key phrases in the terminology of sentimental fiction.

It signifies the truth and strength of one’s immediate emotional responses, usually

love at first sight. Jane Austen wanted to give ironic implications to this title. She

agreed that the First Impressions is of paramount importance, but she wanted to show

that they could be negative and critical and not always positive and sympathetic as

usually happens in the first encounter of the hero and heroine of a romantic novel.

There are a few important themes which are treated again and again in Jane

Austen's novels though in each case the novelist is able to import something of

freshness and novelty to the treatment. The business of getting people engaged and

married is one of the important themes which the novelist takes up for treatment in

novels after novel.

In fact, Jane Austen's interest on young people and in their loves courtships in

never exhausted or diminished. In novel after novel, we come across young men and

woman who are grouped into pairs of lovers and the story of the love and marriage of

the most important of these pairs is made the theme of the story, with the stories of the

lovers serving to complete the interest of character and plot. It is evident from the

novels that Jane Austen had certain deep convictions about love, courtship and

marriage. These are brought out by the success or failure of the kinds of loves and

marriages which she depicts in her novels.

Lord David Cecil has started Jane Austen's views on love and marriage in one

sentence pregnant with meaning. He says, "It was wrong to marry merely for money,

but it was silly to marry without it"

Jane Austen, sharing the opinion commonly held by her contemporaries and

satisfied with the conniptions that prevailed, was of the view that a young woman

should marry, for love certainly, but in satisfactory conditions. This was the most

natural thing to do she gives object-lesson to show how careful a young woman

should be in marrying well, by describing the miserable condition of living in the

Portsmouth home of Fanny Price's family.

The attempt is to present the universal theme of love and marriage. Through a

detailed discussion of five marriages, four new ones and a fifth old one, Jane Austen

tries to define good reasons for marriage and bad ones. Mr. Bennet had been lured

into marriage by the captivating looks of Mrs. Bennet. He had forgotten for a while

that she was a woman of 'weak understanding and illiberal mind', or in the heat of

sensuous love, he had failed to notice her vanity and stupidity. He was disillusioned

sooner than he might have suspected and their marriage was totally wrecked.

Respect, esteem and confidence vanished from their life and Mr. Bennet was forced
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to take refuge in his library to seek some peace of mind. He also become casual and

indifferent to his family. Mrs. Bennet was reduced to a bundle of nerves. Their

incompatibility had a very disastrous effect on their daughters. With their mother

stupid but indulgent and their father havinggrown irresponsible, their mental

development was jeopardised. The second marriage to be discussed is that of Collins

and Charlotte. They marry each other because of prudent considerations. For

Charlotte, marriage is ' the pleasantest preservation from want '. Mr. Collins seeks just

a wife, and to him it is immaterial whether that wife is Jane, Elizabeth or Charlotte.

Charlotte never gets happiness from her life. In fact, at Hunsford parsonage, where

the two live, she feels easy only when her husband is away from home. Lydia and

Wickham get married because Lydia is infatuated with him and he needs some

material relief. Any affection that ever existed between them is soon changed into

indifference.

Thus these three couples get married for wrong reasons and their marriages

are utter failures. It is only Jane and Elizabeth, who marry where they ought to and

they are to find happiness in their life. Of these two also, Elizabeth, who has first

gone through a kind of emotional crisis and has developed understanding of her

husband is more likely to succeed in her life than Jane, who just falls in love with the

right man and feels happy.

The theme of love and marriage happens to be one of the major themes in

Pride and Prejudice. Through five marriages, four new ones and a fifth old one, Jane

Austen tries to define good reasons for marriage and bad reasons. Charlotte Lucas and

Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham, Jane and Bingley, and Elizabeth and Darcy are the

four newly-weds. The old marriage to be discussed is that of Mrs. And Mr. Bennet.

Mrs. and Mr. Bennet are poles apart in their natural dispositions. Mrs. Bennet is sharp
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and witty. Mrs. Bennet is vulgar and indiscreet. Together they constitute a very ill-

matched couple. In Jane Austen discusses their marriage:

Her father (Mr. Bennet), captivated by youth and beauty, and that

appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had

married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very

early in their marriage put and end to all real affection for her. Respect,

esteem and confidence had vanished for ever: and all his views of

domestic happiness were overthrown. (p.165)

It is clear that Mr. Bennet married for beauty. Little did he realize that once

the initial fascination of ephemeral beauty subsided, Mrs. Bennet, on account of her

intellectual bankruptcy and narrowness of vision, would not make him an ideal wife.

His disillusionment came a bit too soon. He tried to drown his disappointment in his

two principal enjoyments-nature and books. The author makes a very pertinent

remark here, “To his wife, he was very little otherwise indebted, than as her

ignorance and folly had contributed to his amusement. This is not the sort of

happiness which a man would in general wish to owe to his wife……”

When the story begins, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have been married for twenty-

three years. It is not hard to imagine that the two have enjoyed the marital bliss

arising out of emotional compatibility and intellectual understanding between two

partners. The gulf between the two has gradually widened and now it is beyond

abridgement. Mr. Bennet grows to be an odd mixture of ‘quick parts, sarcastic

humour, reserve, and caprice’. He also becomes indolent and irresponsible. He not

only ridicules Mrs. Bennet himself but even exposes her to the contempt of their five

daughters. As a result, Mrs. Bennet becomes a nervous wreck. She was ever a woman

of means understanding and little information. Now her world narrows down just to

match-making for her daughters. The disadvantages of such an unsuitable marriage

attend the daughters also. Elizabeth and Jane become what they are almost in spite of

their parents. But the other three girls definitely reflect the disastrous effects of

having an indifferent and irresponsible father and a stupid but indulgent mother. Mary

becomes a vain and affected pedant with neither talent nor taste. Lydia grows into a

selfish and unprincipled flirt who brings disgrace to her family by eloping with an

equally selfish and unprincipled rake. The empty-headed and weak-spirited Kitty

assiduously follows Lydia’s example and flirts with the military officers at Meryton.

Charlotte and Mr. Collins are the first to get married in the course

of the novel. And it Begins with a description of Mr. Collins: Mr.

Collins was not sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had

been but little assisted by education or society. (p.48)

Mr. Collins made his proposal, stating three reasons for his having decided to

marry: The first reason is a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances to

set the example of matrimony in his parish. The second reason is convinced that

marriage would add very greatly to his happiness. The third reason is the particular

advice of his patroness Lady Catherine. He made much of his magnanimity in

selecting a bride who could bring no dowry with her.

He was fortunate enough to get the living Hunsford under the patronage of

Lady Catherine. Having now a very good house and very sufficient income he intends

to marry. He visits the Bennets to choose a wife from among the Bennet girls (that is

his way of making amends for being a heir to their father’s estate). The first choice is

naturally Jane. But a hint from Mrs. Bennet that she is to be very soon engaged,

makes him shit immediately from Jane to Elizabeth. That love nowhere features in

Mr. Collins’s concept of matrimony is suggested by Jane Austen with a delightful

stroke of irony: he changes from Jane to Elizabeth ‘while Mrs. Bennet was stirring

the fire’.

In when Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, he sets out in detail his

reasons for marriage:

My reasons for marrying are, first that I think it a right thing for

every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example

of matrimony in his parish. Secondly, that I am convinced it will add

very greatly to may happiness, and thirdly – which perhaps I ought to

have mentioned earlier, that it is particular advice and recommendation

of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness.

(p.73)

Mr. Collins is wrong both in his reasons for marriage and in his singling out

Elizabeth, for he does not feel the need of respect and affection for and compatibility

with the girls he intends to marry. Elizabeth declines the proposal – rightly of course.

Mr. Collins shifts as complacently to Charlotte Lucas as he had shifted earlier

from Jane to Elizabeth. Charlotte is herself eager to accept his proposal, so when he

comes to propose, Charlotte ‘instantly set out to meet him accidentally in the lane’.

The author gives us a peep into Charlotte’s mind also:

Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his

society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary.

But still he would be her husband. – Without thinking highly either

of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it

was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women

of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must

be their pleasantest preservative form want. (p.85)

Obviously Charlotte also does not think of love. She accepts Mr. Collins

under economic pressure, with full awareness that she is going to marry an ass. She

is, in fact, eager to fix an early date for marriage.

When the homely and plain Charlotte decided to marry Collins, she was only

satisfied, without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always

been her object, and we can see it was the only honorable provision for well-educated

young women of small fortune. In fact what Charlotte asks is only a comfortable

shatter, a higher social position and a better wealth. she once explained to Elizabeth, "

I am not romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and

considering Mr. Collins, character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced

that my chance of happiness with him is as fair, as most people state". For Collins, he

is man who does not know what love is at all. When Mr. Collins first proposed to

Elizabeth, much to her mother's displeasure and her father's joy, she firmly and

promptly rejected him. He almost immediately transferred his affections to

Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte Lucas, who 27 and somewhat homely, accepted at

once his offer of marriage. Collin's decision to marry Charlotte is only because of

Elizabeth's refusal to him. What he needs is just a wife who helps him not to be a

single man any longer.

Elizabeth is also one of a large family. She also is confronted with the fear of

dying an old maid. The chances of another offer of marriage being made to her also

look bleak. And Mrs. Bennet has already threatened that she will not be able to

maintain her after her father’s death.

Yes, insensibility of danger is not security for happiness. Charlotte says she is

not a romantic, nor, for that matter, is her creator Jane Austen a romantic. But she

would not like to recommend such a marriage.

The next to be married are Wickham and Lydia. They get married before they

elope, and their marriage is a very complex affair. Compatibility and understanding

are once again conspicuously absent. Lydia is captivated by the external glamour of

Wickham’s personality and the superficial finesse of his manners. She thinks she is

passionately in love with him, but she is only infatuated with him. Wickham, having

been involved in heavy gambling debts is under great economic pressure. In Elizabeth

is thinking about this relationship:

Wickham’s affection for Lydia was…..not equal to Lydia’s for

him…..their elopement had been brought on by the strength of her

love, rather than by his; and Elizabeth would have wondered why,

without violently caring for her, he chose to elope with her at all, had

she not felt certain that his flight was rendered necessary by distress of

circumstances: and if that were the case, he was not the young man to

resist an opportunity of having a companion. (p.212)

Lydia and Wickham we know that, in the novel, Lydia, as Mr. Bennet's third

daughter, was spoilt by her mother, so she was very concitage except for his attractive

physical appearance. In his opinion, love is just recreation. Due to he was trouble

with a large debt, he entices Lydia and gets her love easily. When their love does not

get the permission from the parents, they elope. When Elizabeth hears the news, she

believes that their love does not have a happy ending. Indeed, Wickham would not

marry Lydia, because she was no charming and has nothing to attract him. He does

not love her but the wealth of her family.

Their elopement betrays Lydia’s want of judgment and responsibility, and

Wickham’s sensuality. When Mr. Darcy meets them in London, Lydia is very serious

about her marriage but Wickham, it is found, still cherishes the hope of marrying
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more advantageously in some foreign land and thus mending his fortunes. If he is

ultimately persuaded to marry Lydia, it is only because he is unable to resist the

temptation of immediate financial relief. Their marriage is bound to fail. That it does

fail is clearly suggested in the last chapter of the novel:

Jane and Bingley are of course sincerely in love with each other. Jane and

Bingley Jane was the oldest of Mr. Bennet daughter, a pretty girl of sweet and gentle

disposition. Bingley was an immediate success in local society. At the first ball, Jane

has a good impression of Bingley, and it is the same to Bingley. They were attracted

to each other at once. After the ball, "When Jane Elizabeth were alone, the former,

who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister

how very much she admired him". For Bingley, he had a good temper. He was so

modest and had no opinion about his own marriage. No matter how obvious his

attachment to Jane was, he believed Darcy's representation of Jane's indifference was

true. Because Mr. Bingley's two sisters didn't like Jane, they thought Mr. Bingley

should choose Darcy's sister as his wife, who was of cause "superior" to Jane. Under

the influences of his sisters and Mr. Darcy, Bingley began to bout Jane's affection to

him. Finally, he thought Jane didn't love him, so he left her without saying goodbye.

Later, when all the misunderstanding clarified, he came back to Jane at Darcy's

assistance. Bingley's indecisive character determines his happiness and results that

this life was controlled by others. Later on a visit to Bingley’s, Jane's love affair with

Bingley is advanced. Even Bingley is apparently on the point of proposing to Jane is

attracted by his gentle manner. They love each other. There also exists between them

great emotional compatibility. By nature, both of them are sweet and gentle. Both of

them are free from malice, ill will, pretentiousness and duplicity. But above all, both

of them are easy-going, unsuspecting, undemanding and willing to forgive readily.

Bingley is comfortably well-off but he is not a snob to despise Jane’s low

connections. His modesty and pliancy of spirit assure him smooth sailing in life. Jane

is ever-reluctant to think ill of anyone and there is such an element of serenity in her

nature that she can preserve her equanimity even in face of most disturbing

circumstances. There is every likelihood that they will lead a happy married life.

Jane and Bingley fell in love with each other. I think the main reason is that

two characters have a lot of similarities between them. For example, Mr. Bingley is a

gentle man and Jane is a gentle girl. Jane is very friendly with others and she always

has good idea about other people. Even others are intolerable, she is patient and she

tries not to look only at the good sides, Mr. Bingley has almost the same ideas and he

is also friendly and he likes to meet with other people. The relationship of Jane and

Mr. Bingley had a smooth progress. Sometime, there were some problems but most of

the time it did not have any problem. For example, at first Bingley likes Jane and this

relationship become stronger but Bingley had to leave area and suddenly there was a

distance but in the end again Bingley came to Jane and relationship grew to stronger.

One important thing to note here is that Jane and Bingley had never and serious

argument or quarrel. Their relationship was more influenced by outside people. The

good thing about Jane was that Bingley sister did not dislike Jane although they

disliked the family of Jane. They could not tolerate the bold attitude of Elizabeth.

However, even their marriage is precarious fragile. Jane is undemonstrative.

She was sincerely in love with Bingley. But neither Bingley nor the usually

perceptive Darcy could be certain of it. One wonders if she is even a little frigid.

Bingley, on the other hand, is too flabby and weak-willed. In spite of being so deeply

in love with Jane, he does not take any initiative and allows himself to be directed by

Darcy and the designing Caroline and Mrs. Hurst. Their temperamental harmony
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lacks the strengthening support of intellectual understanding and maturity. They will

be happy because Bingley is too good to offend consciously and Jane is too good not

to forgive even if some offence is causes.

If servants can cheat them so easily, it is not difficult to imagine what would

happen if some maliciously designing friends or relatives tried to create

misunderstanding between the two. One only hopes that they gain some strength from

Elizabeth and Darcy.

Elizabeth marries last, ad marries most desirably. Mr. Collins’s is not a very

attractive proposal, but it promises, at least, the comfort and security of an

establishment. The reasons for which Charlotte accepts him are equally valid for her

too. But she withstands the pressure and turns down his offer. Her visit to Hunsford

proves that she is right.

Darcy and Elizabeth As the heroine of this novel, Elizabeth's love so very

important. At the beginning, Elizabeth refused to accept Darcy's pursue. Because in

Elizabeth's mind, Darcy is very cold and extremely proud, he is rich and has high

social status, and he look down upon the middle-class girls. In particular, he insulted

Elizabeth Bennet, a girl o spirit and intelligence and his father's favorite. But as time

goes by, Darcy began to admire Elizabeth in spite of himself. For Elizabeth, love is

the most important element of marriage. She does not accept a marriage which is not

based on love. She does not love Collins, so she refused the future heir to the manor

and wealth. And at first she thought Darcy was too arrogant, so she also refused the

wealthy gentleman. As they knowing each other further and further, Elizabeth cleared

the misunderstanding between them, and Mr. Darcy see the disadvantages in himself,

they fell in love with each other on the basis of love. This is the best ending for them.
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When Darcy makes his first proposal, he has no doubts of a favorable answer.

In fact, his whole attitude is that he is offering a prize which no when they are given

to believe that Darcy and Elizabeth are soon to be engaged, react in the same way.

Mr. Collins writes to Mr. Bennet:

This young gentleman (Darcy) is blessed…… with everything the

heart of mortal can most desire,-splendid property, noble kindred,

and extensive patronage. Yet, in spite of all these temptations, let

me warn my cousin Elizabeth, and yourself, of what evils you may

incur, by a precipitate closure with this gentleman’s proposal,

which, of course, you will be inclined to take immediate advantage

of. (p.224)

Lady Catherine also tells Elizabeth, “Do not imagine, Miss. Bennet, that your

ambition will ever be gratified.” Even Elizabeth herself, when she first sees

Pemberley, thinks, “And of this place I might have been mistress.” Mrs. Bennet’s

exclamation, on getting the news of the engagement, is in the same key, “Oh, my

sweetest Lizzy! how rich and how great you will be!” It is clear that all the other

characters believe Darcy to be a prize and think that Elizabeth, in accepting him, is, in

reality, falling for or aspiring to his wealth. Both Jane and Mr. Bennet, unaware of her

changed feelings for Darcy, warn her against marrying for position, if there is no

affection. They had as well spared their warning, for Elizabeth, in rejecting Darcy’s

first proposal has already rejected the lures of mere material opulence.

Elizabeth and Darcy begin with prejudices and gradually move towards

understanding. Elizabeth helps Darcy to shed his pride and be really the gentleman

that he thought he was. Darcy in turn acts valiantly and magnanimously to win her
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love. There gradually develop between them mutual affection and regards that form

the basis of a sound marriage. In Jane Austen writes:

Elizabeth has to assure Jane that she loves Darcy and Mr. Bennet that she

respects him. Love and respect, these are the two values that count most in a

matrimonial alliance, and having secured them both, Elizabeth does not make any

false or exaggerated statement when she says, even though, half-mockingly, “It is

settled between us already that we are to be the happiest couple in the world.”

For Hardy and Swinburne love was a terrible thing; sweet for a space, then all

mourning-mourning. In Hardy and Somerset Maugham love is treated as a

consummating passion. Dickens on the contrary present love as a domestic bliss.

David loves Agnes, marries her and afterwards lives very happily with her. But in

Miss Austen’s novels, love is neither a terrible thing nor a very deep passion. It is just

a necessity of life at a certain age, say youth. Passion are unknown to Miss Austen

does not deal with the illicit love. Love is always terminated in marriage. Even the

eloped Wickham and Lydia are excused because the get themselves married.

Jane Austen could approve only a sensible husband to a sensible wife and

foolish one to the foolish. Mrs. Bennet gets what she deserves, Mr. Collins chooses a

companion unlike himself, while Jane and Elizabeth select persons agreeable and

suitable to their temperament and personality. Jane and Bingley both are of good

nature and so deserve to be each other's partners.

Elizabeth and Darcy form another pair of lovers whose nature is more or less

similar. Both are remarkably intelligent and both are given to critically examining

men and their manners. Elizabeth becomes unduly prejudiced against Darcy, partly
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because of his pride and partly because of the false presentation of his character by

Wickham. But as the story progresses, Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy and

Darcy's pride against Elizabeth are removed, and eventually they are married. In their

case again, Jane Austen approves of the marriage of good persons of similar nature

and temperaments.

In the world of Jane Austen, heart must be controlled by head, feelings must

be subordinated to reason. She is angry with a character who is led away by his

feelings, howsoever, she does not despise that Elizabeth is fascinated by the sweet

manners and charming personality of Wickham. But, on the sound advice of her aunt

Mrs. Gardiner, she controls her feelings. Lydia has neither sense not character to put a

check on her feelings. She elopes with Wickham at the first opportunity, bringing

disgrace on herself and her family.

The marriage of Mr. Collins may be unsuitable in a sense because Mr. Collins

is a fool while his wife charlotte is gifted with good sense. But she is too practical in

her outlook and takes pleasure herself in marrying a fool so that she could dominate

him. So Jane Austen sympathizes with charlotte.

"Poor Charlotte! - It was not melancholy to leave her to such society. But she

had chosen it with her eyes open; and though evidently regretting that her visitors

were to go, she did not seem to ask for compassion. Her home and her house-keeping,

her parish and her poultry, and all their dependent concerns, had not yet lost their

charms."

The real object of marriage according to Jane Austen is not home and house-

keeping, parish and poultry, but something higher. It is companionship, and

intellectual and emotional association between husband and wife, and she would not
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approve of a marriage where such as association is wanting. David Cecil remarks,

"She had little sympathy for romantic imprudence on credulous good nature. She was

impatient of people with hearts of gold and heads of wood. And though she was not a

slave to worldly considerations she thought it a mistake to overlook them entirely. It

was wrong to marry for money, but it was silly to marry without it."

However, for Jane Austen, life is a game of matrimony. she is busy in all her

novels in finding out suitable husbands for her heroines, although she could not find

one for herself.