[Pride & Prejudice] any comparison and contrast on marriage issues?

[piscespaul]

i'm doing a research paper on P&P.
and i badly need your help.
any comparison and contrst that i can talk about of the novel?
does Jane Austen apply this kind of tactic in P&P
if so, how?
especially on marriage issues and love affairs
i focus on the four marriage, two Goods, two Bads (or too good and too bad)
Elizabeth vs. Darcy Jane vs. Bingley
Lydia vs. Wickham Charlotte vs. Collins
how does Austen make comparison and contrast?
i really need your help
thanks!!!!!!!

[Gladys]

any comparison and contrst that i can talk about of the novel? All the characters in any novel invite comparison.


i focus on the four marriage...how does Austen make comparison and contrast? By showing us the background, behaviour and attitudes of her characters.

[nevertooold]

As far as I could get, Austen had a firm belief that a marriage could only be successful, or have any meaning at all, if the two people married had the same intellectual abilities, tempers, thoughts, etc. They had to have the same understanding of the world, or at least the same ability to understand, to truely value and respect each other. The 2 good marriages had this quality. The partners loved each other for their natures and characters, which they understood well, and had an inclination to know even better. They complemented each other. Their marriages added to their knowledge, understanding, and happiness. Knowing each other made both partners better people.

The 2 bad marriages, in contrast, were only arrangements of convenience. The partners had nothing in common, and no real understanding of each other. They were brought together because of the pressures of society and family. These marriages could never be happy, and the partners just had to find some way to live with them. So, Charlotte tried her best to avoid spending time with Mr. Collins by keeping him busy elsewhere, and Wickham ignored his wife and went back to living his old life. These partners could never learn anything from each other, and never have any respect for each other or their relationship.

[warm]

Instead of just focusing on the matches in the novel, why don't you compare the different views of the characters on marriage? Elizabeth & Charlotte offers a very clear contrast on this matter.
Charlotte believes in marring for financial security, as like most women during their time (it's not like they can help it, though), whilst Elizabeth is a believer in romance and does not marry for the sake of marrying well. If she were so concerned with her finances, she would've jumped at the first time Darcy proposed to her (what with him earning 10 000 a year!), and her rejection of Mr Collins (who, albeit being one of the grossest character in the book, is actually pretty stable in terms of income). Their contrasting opinions really shows the desperation of women then.