Pride and prejudice is Austin’s great work. Through the discussion of the different marriages and love, the writer demonstrates her concept about love and marriage: love and marriage is closely associated with property and society, however, love and marriage can not only be decided by the property and social status. An ideal marriage should be based on mutual affection, respect and the same interest. She rejects the marriage based only on wealth.
Different people have different ideas upon marriage. By the description and discussion of the four marriages in the novel, we can see that Austen fully expresses her views on love and marriage. Only by appreciating the marriage founded on the basis of mutual understanding and true love, but also by satirizing the marriage founded on the basis of origin and desire.
The marriage based on social position and money can’t bring happiness in life. Aimless marriage and love are unpractical.
Everything goes wrong for poor couples. Marriage based on wealth is not a fault. At least, it can offer us a better condition of life. Property is not everything in the life but without it, we can do nothing. This is called reality. But if you only married for wealth, you sell your liberty. The rest of your life might be miserable, and your marriage will filled with endless bitterness.
The first sentence in this book is impressive. It reads: “It is a truth well known to all the world that an unmarried man in possession of a large fortune must be in need of a wife”. The undertone is very clear: the foundation of the marriage at that time is not emotion but possession.
People always think that Austen was an expert at telling love stories. In fact, the marriage in her book is not the result of love, but the result of economic needs. After reading this book, I know the truth is that a poor woman must be in need of a husband, a wealthy man.
I couldn’t forget how eager Mrs. Bennet wants to marry off her daughters. If you want to know why she is so crazy about these things, I must mention the situation in Britain at that time. Only the eldest son had the privilege of inheriting his father’s possessions. Younger sons and daughters who are used to luxurious lives have no choice but marry a man or woman in possession of a large fortune to continue their comfortable lives. Thus, we can see that getting married is a way to become wealthier, particularly for women without many possessions. Jane Austen told us that money and possession determined everything, including marriage and love in her century.
In “Pride and Prejudice”, the sister of Mr. Bingley strongly opposed his plan of marrying Jane because the Bennets don’t have many possessions and their social positions are much lower than them. From this, we can see there are a lot of obstacles for a not very rich woman to marry a wealthy husband. The society, the relatives would not allow them to get married.
In modern society, although the marriages of economic needs have decreased rapidly, the concept of “money determines everything” is still rooted in some people’s mind. A lot of parents try hard to interfere their children’s marriages. Education background, possessions, jobs remains the main reason that may influence one’s marriage. Marry for money is still a big problem in our society. We can’t help thinking: can money determine everything?
Austen left this problem for us to think. The genius of Jane Austen lies in this perfect simplicity, the simplicity that reflects big problems. Although Austen was only 21 when she wrote “Pride and Prejudice”, her sharp observation of social lives makes the style of this book surprisingly mature and lively. The plots in her works are always very natural. The development of the plot is as inevitable as a problem in mathematics. I think the depth of Pride and Prejudice is the reason that makes this book prominent and classic. Today, her book still can be the guide telling us the economic relationships both at her time and in modern time.
