The importance of marriage
Hey. I'm writing an essay on the importance of marriage in P&P and thought I'd post what I'm planning so far and see if you guys have any more pointers etc :)
NOTES
Jane + Mr. Bingley – marry for love with the added security of financial stability. This marriage is a savior in the eyes of Mrs. Bennett who is worried about losing Longbourn, through entailment, upon the death of Mr. Bennett.
Lydia + Mr. Wickham – wanted prestige of being married before sisters and felt nothing more than lust for Wickham, who wanted her for monetary gain.
Charlotte + Mr. Collins – proper thing to do by societies standards. Logical marriage based on security and stability. Most sensible marriage in the novel? Charlotte wanted to secure her life as she inherits nothing so is looking for financial stability.
Darcy + Elizabeth – most ideal marriage in the novel. Austin uses this union to symbolize her ideal marriage and how two people can overcome such barriers and boundaries – imposed by both themselves and other members of society – to come together for love. Both good characters that are happy together, with similar levels of intelligence which shows that they are well-matched. Money is of far less importance to them than love.
Darcy + Bingley are two characters who are financially stable enough to not have to marry for any other reason than love. Perhaps they feel more pressure though, in a sense, as they are expected to have found wives already?
See Charlotte’s philosophy unfold in chapters 6, 18 and 22.
Collins proposes in ch19
Darcy proposes in ch34
Darcy’s appearance in ch15
Wickham’s appearance in ch16
Info on character of Wickham in ch16
CRITICS
Dorothy Van Ghent
Reuben Brower
Marvin Mudrick
Howard Brower
Dabundo
QUOTATIONS
C1, pg 51: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Ironic. Is it the women who need the men to secure themselves and, usually, their families. Reflects the importance of marriage – it appears to be fact that a man MUST need a wife. Why?
“Is he married or single?” First question, after asking the name, of Bingly. Reflects how marriage is at the forefront of the mind in the novel. Does not question his character beforehand. Of little importance?
C1, pg53: “the business of her life was to get her daughters married.” To compare an event so full of love as marriage to something as monetary as business suggests that, for Mrs. Bennett, marriage is less about feelings and more about creating a transaction – her daughters in exchange for money and security.
C3, pg57: “ ‘If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield,’ said Mrs. Bennett to her husband, ‘and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for.’ “ Further evidence that Mrs. Bennett’s life revolves solely around her daughters being married.
C3, pg60: “ ‘if he had any compassion for me’, cried her husband impatiently, ‘he would not have danced half so much!’ “ Mr. Bennett’s exclamation exemplifies his frustration with his wife’s frivolous, incessant talking and perhaps goes to show the results of marrying based on initial attraction rather than a marriage based on intellectual pairing and substance.
i know that I haven't got a lot of quotations written down so far as I'm just working my way through the book; as marriage is mentioned in virtually every chapter, it's gunna take some time to leaf through! Hahah.
Any expansions/ideas/direction is more than welcomed :) thanks guys!
