love and marriage

[laydee]

how does jane austen portray love and marriage in pride and prejudice, what techniques does she use. i have to write over 800 words for an essay on this but my first draft just seemed to retell the marriage proposals and the different kinds of love and marriages throughout the novel.

[quasimodo1]

Dear laydee, Of all the female authors that i've encountered, Austen is the most mysterious and least understood. Maybe that old tendency of lit. majors to read more into a work than is really there, that could be it but still I'd rather try to write in greek than do an essay on this writer. Should qualify this remark by mentioning that history and non-fiction is my forte and poetry, a goal. RJS

[olichka]

how does jane austen portray love and marriage in pride and prejudice, what techniques does she use. i have to write over 800 words for an essay on this but my first draft just seemed to retell the marriage proposals and the different kinds of love and marriages throughout the novel.


I think the different types of love and marriage that you mentioned in your draft is already an example of the way Austen portrays them. In any case, it's a good starting point to describe the different types marriage, then you can concentrate on the techniques.

[sciencefan]

how does jane austen portray love and marriage in pride and prejudice, what techniques does she use. i have to write over 800 words for an essay on this but my first draft just seemed to retell the marriage proposals and the different kinds of love and marriages throughout the novel.
I have to admit that I am not sure what a "technique" is.

Jane Austen portrays love and marriage in Pride & Prejudice by showing us several relationships at various levels from infancy to maturity.

Mr. & Mrs. Bennett married 25 years.

Newly acquainted and newly married.
Charlotte & Mr. Collins
Lydia & Wickham
Elizabeth & Darcy
Jane & Bingley

New Relationships:
Elizabeth & Darcy
Jane & Bingley
Charlotte & Mr. Collins
Lydia & Wickham


We are made intimately acquainted with the societal attitudes concerning finding a mate and marriage:
Mrs. Bennett
Caroline Bingley and her sister Mrs. Hurst
Darcy
Lady Catherine
Mrs. Gardiner (concerning Wickham & Elizabeth)
Charlotte
Elizabeth

There are other long-married couples- the Gardiners, the Lucases- but I don't recall any commentary about their relationships.

If it would help, I would be glad to read your draft,
and give you feedback.
You cannot PM it to me since we are limited to 2000 characters per PM.
Send me a PM and I will give you my email address,
if you would like to accept my offer.

[Newcomer]

That the theme of Pride and Prejudice is marriage, is a given. Love is the obvious ingredient that Jane Austen writes from the perspective of the four couples: Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham, Jane and Bingley and finally Elizabeth and Darcy, of whom the juveniles swoon. Austen's sense of propriety limits any discussion of passion, even as innocent as the marriage ceremony and definitely of the connubial bed. We know that Mrs Benett had five daughters but are left to our own imaginations of the fruitfulness of the four couples.
So sciencefan, according to your alias, here is an interesting viewpoint to ponder, that of propagation of the species. Did Jane Austen have an innate understanding that Darwin arrived at only by study? From such a perspective, the romance of the women can be condensed to:
1.Charlotte, a desire for a comfortable and independent home.
2.Lydia, that of immediate sensation without any comprehension of the future.
3.Jane, that of being loved by a wealthy husband.
4.Elizabeth, ???? that is the interesting question.

I will argue that unless instructed by Lady Catherine, Mr.Collins will not produce a heir. Lydia and Wickham, probably will but the children will not survive due to neglect and lack of intelligence of the pair. Jane and Elizabeth marry into security but there is a great difference in the men that they choose. Mr. Bingley is a nonentity and when comfortably settled, remain such. Mr Darcy first bound by upper class conventions modifies his character to suit Elizabeth. Namely he adapts to the circumstances, the criterion of a successful species. At first Elizabeth rejects Darcy in spite of his money and only through experience grows to love him. That is in understanding that Darcy is adaptable, not prejudiced by environment.
In P&P Austen makes her preference known and was this preference based on more than just love and money?

[sciencefan]

That the theme of Pride and Prejudice is marriage, is a given. Love is the obvious ingredient that Jane Austen writes from the perspective of the four couples: Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham, Jane and Bingley and finally Elizabeth and Darcy, of whom the juveniles swoon. Austen's sense of propriety limits any discussion of passion, even as innocent as the marriage ceremony and definitely of the connubial bed. We know that Mrs Benett had five daughters but are left to our own imaginations of the fruitfulness of the four couples.
So sciencefan, according to your alias, here is an interesting viewpoint to ponder, that of propagation of the species. Did Jane Austen have an innate understanding that Darwin arrived at only by study? From such a perspective, the romance of the women can be condensed to:
1.Charlotte, a desire for a comfortable and independent home.
2.Lydia, that of immediate sensation without any comprehension of the future.
3.Jane, that of being loved by a wealthy husband.
4.Elizabeth, ???? that is the interesting question.

I will argue that unless instructed by Lady Catherine, Mr.Collins will not produce a heir. Lydia and Wickham, probably will but the children will not survive due to neglect and lack of intelligence of the pair. Jane and Elizabeth marry into security but there is a great difference in the men that they choose. Mr. Bingley is a nonentity and when comfortably settled, remain such. Mr Darcy first bound by upper class conventions modifies his character to suit Elizabeth. Namely he adapts to the circumstances, the criterion of a successful species. At first Elizabeth rejects Darcy in spite of his money and only through experience grows to love him. That is in understanding that Darcy is adaptable, not prejudiced by environment.
In P&P Austen makes her preference known and was this preference based on more than just love and money?

I spent at least a half hour yesterday looking for the place in the book which is portrayed in Wright's film near the beginning where Jane and Elizabeth are talking about marriage. They're in their bedroom. I'm beginning to think it's not there!
Jane talks about wanting to marry for love if at all possible, and Elizabeth shares her own views, which I can't specifically recall.

Can you find it?
I don't have the movie here, so I can't look at it.

[mazz]

hi newcomer it's mazz from the antipodeas. Just wanted to refute what you said about the Collins, " I will argue that unless instructed by Lady Catherine, Mr.Collins will not produce a heir." In fact they are expecting "a young olive branch". Don't underestimate Charlotte, she was able to "procure" her man and her own home.

[Newcomer]

Half an hour! A very modern woman – I want it all and I want it now!
Please forgive the attempt at humor. I scanned the book up to the Netherfield ball, ch. 17 of the 1st. volume and could not find the bedroom scene of Jane and Elizabeth as in Wright's dramatization. The closest is ch.4,”When Jane and 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.” Followed by a few lines from the novel as used by Wright when the two sisters under the sheets have a girlish giggle But there is no sharing of views on love. In ch.6, in the conversation between Charlotte and Elizabeth - '”your plan is a good one.”replied Elizabeth,”where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married; and if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it. But these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design.'”A but an indirect reference to your subject.
I saw the scene as a subplot that Wright used to indicate the initial closeness of the two sisters which is strained by experience as Elizabet's understanding of Darcy deepens. Especially after the first proposal and her experience of sensuousness at Pemberly.. I would say as she matures as a woman.
I did check the BBC's version and there is the bedroom scene where Elizabeth speaks to Jane - ' If I were to love a man who would take me for a mere 50 pounds a year.' which is closer to the meaning that you cited but again that is not in the novel. I think that is where the Wright's scene of intimacy under the sheets originated. It is quite surprising how many such borrowings there are in the Wright's version. However by chronologically rearranging and visually restructuring them he extracts an emotional intensity not present in the BBC's dramatization.

[sciencefan]

hi newcomer it's mazz from the antipodeas. Just wanted to refute what you said about the Collins, " I will argue that unless instructed by Lady Catherine, Mr.Collins will not produce a heir." In fact they are expecting "a young olive branch". Don't underestimate Charlotte, she was able to "procure" her man and her own home.
Quite right! Excellent detective work!
In the letter from Mr. Collins to Mr. Bennett, chapter 57, a young olive branch is mentioned.

[sciencefan]

Half an hour! A very modern woman – I want it all and I want it now!
Please forgive the attempt at humor. I scanned the book up to the Netherfield ball, ch. 17 of the 1st. volume and could not find the bedroom scene of Jane and Elizabeth as in Wright's dramatization. The closest is ch.4,”When Jane and 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.” Followed by a few lines from the novel as used by Wright when the two sisters under the sheets have a girlish giggle But there is no sharing of views on love. In ch.6, in the conversation between Charlotte and Elizabeth - '”your plan is a good one.”replied Elizabeth,”where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married; and if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it. But these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design.'”A but an indirect reference to your subject.
I saw the scene as a subplot that Wright used to indicate the initial closeness of the two sisters which is strained by experience as Elizabet's understanding of Darcy deepens. Especially after the first proposal and her experience of sensuousness at Pemberly.. I would say as she matures as a woman.
I did check the BBC's version and there is the bedroom scene where Elizabeth speaks to Jane - ' If I were to love a man who would take me for a mere 50 pounds a year.' which is closer to the meaning that you cited but again that is not in the novel. I think that is where the Wright's scene of intimacy under the sheets originated. It is quite surprising how many such borrowings there are in the Wright's version. However by chronologically rearranging and visually restructuring them he extracts an emotional intensity not present in the BBC's dramatization.
Sorry to have sent you on a wild goose chase!
You found it. I was thinking of the 1995 BBC version directed by Simon Langton and featuring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.
Of course, the reason I could not find it in the book is because it was not there.
I was looking up all the key words I could think of, to no avail, in the online text here on this site. (I might have spent more than a half hour, but I was not timing myself.) ;)

You're right, the scene I was thinking of was the one that included the line:
'If I were to love a man who would take me for a mere 50 pounds a year.'

Too bad that's not in the book, it's good. :D

I was going to suggest that place as a reference of Elizabeth's views on marriage, but since it doesn't exist, that won't work.

[Newcomer]

I was going to suggest that place as a reference of Elizabeth's views on marriage, but since it doesn't exist, that won't work.

That was not my sense of the question posed. I do not think that you will find it in the novel. Its meaning lies somewhere between connotation and denotation in Elizabeth's words. Not in what Elizabeth says about love and marriage but in what she does when faced with the immediate that calls for a commitment to necessity.
It seems to me that for the four couples the path to marriage is like a cascade in a Russian doll. Each shell revealing a character trait.
The outermost is the active/passive response of courtship. Charlotte and Lidia depicting the active, Jane and Elizabeth the passive. The active where the woman initiates, makes known her feelings and passive where she holds back, conceals her feelings while being courted.
On this subject Elizabeth responds to Charlotte “if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it. But these are not Jane's feelings; she is not acting by design.” This cautious, gradual falling in love is Austen's view of the behavior of a lady. If not without some ironical misunderstandings, as in Darcy's observation,”Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening's scrutiny that, though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.” Later as Elizabeth reflects on Darcy's letter of explanation, she thinks “Neither could she deny the justice of his description of Jane. She felt that Jane's feelings, though fervent, were little displayed, and that there was a constant complacency in her air and manner not often united with great sensibility.” On this level of active vs. passive display of feelings Austen seems to be ambivalent.
The second shell may be viewed as love vs. fortune. Austen knew very well the cost of things. How much was a pair of silk stockings, the cloth for a day dress made at home and a party dress made by a seamstress, the cost of keeping a cook, the cost of keeping a carriage. She was very conscious of the difference that an income of 2000, Mr. Bennet's, and of 5000 of Mr. Bingley's allowed. The former required the turning out the cloth of a dress while the latter was of gentilities ease and comfort. To sharpen the choice of love vs. fortune Austen posits the entailment of patrimony. One of the sisters has to marry for money to insure the remaining from poverty. This is wonderfully emphasized in the film adaptation where Elizabeth declares
“If I were to love a man who would take me for a mere 50 pounds a year.” Thus placing a priority on love while Jane is willing to marry for fortune yet hopes for love. How ironic that Elizabeth turns down the proposal of Darcy's ten thousand a year while protesting that she has the welfare her sister foremost. Is the explanations hinted in ch. 5 “That is very true”, replied Elizabeth, “and I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” ? As when Darcy in the proposal in ch 24 says, “Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your connections? To congratulate myself on the hope of relations whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?”
The third shell is the experience of love vs companionship.
In the Bennet's marriage, the stimulus of intellectual companionship was absent. “Had Elizabeth's opinion been all drawn from her own family, she could not have formed a very pleasing picture of the conjugal felicity or domestic comfort. Her father, 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 an end to all real affection for her.”
At first Elizabeth rejects Darcy but after the second avowal of his affection, she informs a skeptical Jane “There can be no doubt of that. It is settled between us already, that we are to be the happiest couple in the world. But are you pleased, Jane?”
And Jane replies “Oh lizzy! Do anything rather than marry without affection. Are you quite sure that you fell what you ought to do?”
Is this the case of Charlotte's observation 'that we are all fools in love'? and is Jane's doubt, that Elizabeth is marrying for fortune?
“In understanding, Darcy was the superior. Bingley was by no means deficient, but Darcy was clever.” Darcy was 'clever' to overcome his prejudices, he was able to change and in recognizing this ability that Elizabeth's love was able to flower. Fortune yes, love, yes but the criterion was companionship of a like mind.
Austen finishes the novel with “Gorgiana had the highest opinion in the world of Elizabeth; though at first she often listened with astonishment bordering on alarm at her lively, sportive manner of talking to her brother. He who had always inspired in herself a respect which almost overcame her affection she now saw the object of open pleasantry. Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen in her way. By Elizabeth's instructions she began to comprehend that a woman may take liberties with her husband which a brother will not always allow in a sister”
In Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen has created a very intricate structure. A structure that can be likened to a kaleidoscope, as your view bounces of her characters you get a different perspective. As you turn the kaleidescope ever so slightly, your understanding changes.

[sciencefan]

Excellent, Newcomer.