Marriage, in more modern years, is seen as an emotional union between two individuals— Love being the only legitimate, inspirational force. That present-day rationale, of love being sufficient, has not always been a luxury, especially for women in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century. The transaction of holy matrimony bestowed upon the women in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice accurately display the contrasting views of marrying for love and marrying for comfort in a wealthy union. The matrimonial union of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins and the marriage of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy depicts the vast differences of what happiness means when uniting as man and wife (or, in Elizabeth and Darcy’s case, man and woman). Is love necessary for uniting a man and woman or is marriage enough to bring happiness in the security of a steady future? In the late-eighteenth century, marriage was essential to have an adequate future, however, Jane Austen portrays marriage based on love more worthy of a reason to marry, juxtaposing marriage for comfort, in her classic novel.
As one looks into the relationship of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins, it is evident that such a union was simply made out of convenience and necessity. With that goal mirroring within each other, they found satisfaction within their marriage. Charlotte’s strive for marriage has always been solely a transaction for living a steady and comfortable life for she was well educated, however, she would inherit little fortune, lacking beauty, and on the rear end of her youth, being at the age of twenty-seven.1 Charlotte was realistic about her circumstances in life and knew that marrying Collins was the best decision for her because “it was the only honorable provision for [a] well-educated young woman of small fortune” to do.2 Mr. Collins’ dispassionate views about marriage closely resembled Charlotte’s. Before arriving to the Longbourn Estate, Mr. Collins had the intention of marrying one of the Bennet daughters in effort to atone for the entailment of his cousin’s home and, upon meeting them, he had decided that because of Jane Bennet’s “lovely face” she would be his choice.3 However, after hearing of Jane’s possible impending proposal, Mr. Collins changed his pursuit to Elizabeth.4 It was only after both the improbability of Jane’s unfavorable reception of accepting his proposal and the definite no of Elizabeth’s, did Collins finally get an acceptance from Miss Lucas. Charlotte being Mr. Collins third choice of a wife within a week, one can easily argue that marriage to Mr. Collins was not for love but because “it is a right thing for every clergyman (like [himself]) . . . in his parish” to do.5 Charlotte and Mr. Collins thought of marriage as a business deal in that he would get a wife in exchange for a his comfortable lifestyle. Charlotte dealt with her embraced misfortune of marrying the annoying, Mr. Collins, by not spending much time with him.6,7 Even though, the personalities of their future husband and wife were unknown, Mr. and Mrs. Lucas seemed to have a happy marriage, for Charlotte thought before she wed that “[h]appiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance . . . it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life”.8 Since Charlotte had a preconceived notion that happiness in a marriage was just a benefit, she lowered her expectations because of a loveless beginning. This notion, in favor, gave her the comfortable life she was happy with although Mr. Collins’ unappealing personality. She dealt with the frivolous misfortunes of Mr. Collins’ mortifying comments by simply ignoring them; as ignorance was bliss and the most sensible thing for Charlotte to do in her marriage.9 Mr. Collins was also pleased with the “felicity in marriage” having wished Elizabeth one of her own.10 The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Collins was successful for they both received exactly what they wanted out of the union. Even though love was not present when they exchanged marital vows, as it was for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, they found happiness.
The journey to marriage for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet seemed to be a turbulent one. After enduring many ups and downs leading up to their engagement, Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have learned what it takes to love and to stand by someone albeit having conflicting characteristics, personalities, and social standards. Elizabeth is not as pretty as her sister, Jane, and she “has something more of quickness than her sisters”.11 Fitzwilliam Darcy is arrogant, handsome, and very wealthy.12 At the beginning of Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship, Darcy thought that even though Elizabeth’s manners were not like those of a woman’s in high society, his attention was caught by the way her manners embodied “easy playfulness”.13 Elizabeth, however, thought that he was full of pride, especially after hearing about the false allegations Mr. Wickham gave about Darcy ignoring his father’s final wishes that would give Wickham financial stability because Darcy was supposedly jealous of Wickham and the late Mr. Darcy’s close relationship.14
To much confusion, Mr. Darcy fell in love with Elizabeth and against his will, reason, and character of “her inferiority— of its being a degradation— of the family obstacles” he asked for her hand in marriage with a sense of a favorable reply.15 With this being Elizabeth’s wildly, unexpected second proposal, she deafeningly declines his request for she finds him offensive and insulting.16 This undoubtedly suggests that, although Darcy is wealthy and could provide infinite comfort and stability, Elizabeth would not marry for money and would not be happy with this luxury. This is a very unwise decision for a woman in the eighteenth century because women in that time would suffer large consequences if she were unwed and her father were to die, leaving her homeless; but in this moment, Elizabeth would rather face that ill-fate than to give her hand to Darcy.
The day after the proposal, Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter explaining the true accounts of what had happened to Wickham pertaining to his father’s will and that Wickham had lied about the whole thing and that provisions were made upon his inheritance and he had failed to secure them for which Darcy had to deny him the help from his late father’s will.17 When Elizabeth visits Darcy's Estate of Pemberly, her disdain towards Mr. Darcy slowly disappears, starting with how highly his housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, talks of Darcy’s treatment of his staff.18 Although, Elizabeth declines such a luxury of an inheritance when marrying Mr. Darcy, it is hinted that Elizabeth may have had an unstated desire for the comforts of marriage when she toured the alluring Pemberly Estate.19 Eventually, Lizzy’s harsh opinion of Darcy completely changes, for he is the reason of why Wickham marries her sister, Lydia.20 Elizabeth Bennet finally admits to Mr. Darcy of the love she has for him, for she has shed all of her former prejudices of his pride because he has done so much for her in spite of it.21
Darcy and Elizabeth’s whole relationship has shown what it takes to love and be loved. Only when this bliss is found and professed that true happiness finally resonates between them and Lizzy agrees to follow through with their engagement. Elizabeth’s love was not immediate, as she learned to love him over a course of months, and Mr. Darcy’s love survived the humbled ego of being rejected a marriage proposal.22 It can be argued that Austen created Elizabeth’s character to represent the contemporary, equal, and free woman’s view on marriage— of having free will and the right to choose.
Austen viewed marriage for love as more admiral than one out of necessity when writing about the great love story of Elizabeth and Darcy. Nevertheless, through Austen’s writings of Elizabeth’s compassion of Charlotte’s choice, she understood why a women would marry for necessity. The necessity of marriage for Charlotte was that she needed security after the inevitable death of her father. Charlotte would not inherit the family fortune (or there lack of) and, in that event, she would have an arduous and unstable future. It was also a necessity because unhandsome Charlotte was getting past appropriate marrying age and she had a meager chance of meeting another prospective marrying candidate. Austen thought that although love is what women deserve, she understood why a woman in a dire situation, like Charlotte, would marry out of necessity for a comfortable home with a competent husband.23 Although matrimonial union brought together by love was desirable, it can be presumed that Austen thought that it should not be the only reason for all women because, with the ill-fate of women in the late-eighteenth century, women had to get married to have any merit and security.
With women having negligible rights in the late-eighteenth century, Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice with societal expectations shadowing her characters, Charlotte and Elizabeth, and their views on marriage. The entail of a family’s fortune is arguably, above all other reasoning, the only reason for marriage. It was the inevitable fate of women that they would not gain anything without a man and because of the entail. They had to get married to have anything upon the death of her father. The rule to societal expectation was that marriage is absolutely necessary for young people and the exception was that you can marry for love and prosper; when in most cases of marrying for love, fortune is not a guarantee. Austen wrote Charlotte as the rule of societal expectations of a young person to get married. Because Charlotte was at the tail end of society’s appropriate marrying age, the haste towards marriage was crucial and that she would be nothing without a man and his money. The societal expectation of a newly married couple was to consummate a marriage and to have a baby, and although Charlotte wasn’t so keen on Collins, she was pregnant shortly after their marital union.24 Elizabeth, contrarily, was written as the exception. It was the exception that although Elizabeth married for love, she also gained an abundance of wealth and fortune through Mr. Darcy’s inheritance of old money.
Austen stressed upon the familial expectations of marriage in the late-eighteenth when writing about Elizabeth’s family, especially when creating Mrs. Bennett’s character. When briefly looking at Mrs. Bennet’s reaction to Elizabeth’s refusal of Collins’ proposal, she saw it as Elizabeth being an undutiful child.25 It was imperative for Mrs. Bennet to marry off her daughters because it was their duty as good daughters to marry. Thus, alluding to, securing their mother and (possible unwed) sisters’ future financial stability from the married daughter’s union. The urgency to get married for the elder daughters in the family was also so that the younger daughters do not have to wait to long to enter society and look for a husband of their own.26 It was because the future of women were so unknown without a man, the filial expectation was for the women in the family to get married quickly to secure a stable future for the remaining viable members of their family.
The ceremonial practice of matrimony has been repeated time and time again throughout centuries, but the importance of why it happens today has been exalted into a genuine and honest celebration of love. Despite this emotional philosophy being fundamental to marriage, many do still marry for other reasons other than that, like those described by Jane Austin, but the promise of a successful marriage is not as certain. Being a woman ahead of her time, Austen knew that for a union to be forever steadfast and stand the test of time, the unwavering love between a couple would be the only thing that is unrelenting to prevail and be undeterred by adversity. And in a way, this rang true for Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. For Mr. Darcy’s love for Elizabeth was unrelenting and Elizabeth’s love for Darcy was undeterred by adversity. Fortunately, the circumstances to marry have changed throughout the history of time because of eighteenth century English culture surrounding gender and marital expectations. The reasons to marry today such as societal expectations, comfort and financial compensation, and filial obligations are deemed of little importance, but love has always been pragmatic. For love will always be simply the most humane and worthwhile reason for doing just about anything.