Marriage in Pride and Prejudice Essay

Charlotte Lucas, Lady Catherine De Bourge, and Elizabeth Bennet have very different attitudes towards marriage. This could be to do with the way they were brought up but we are not told this. Mrs. Bennet's main purpose in life is to get her children married. As a result of this Mrs. Bennet is doing all she can to set her children up. I think there is a feeling of frustration and embarrassment especially by Elisabeth towards her mother because of this, because she wants to get married at her own pace without her mother pestering her. In the 19th century attitudes towards marriage were very different. Women had to marry in order to have their own household. Miss Charlotte Lucas is an example of this but Lizzy is an anomaly. When Mr. Collins proposes to Lizzy the answer is no, I think the reason is no, because she feels very strongly about marrying someone she really loves, this is very unusual in those times as most woman would marry someone that is picked for them in order to gain a higher financial status. Lady Catherine De Bourge believes in marriage based on social status, that those of the same class should be married.

In the household of the Lucass this is the case, Charlotte understands that she needs to marry because of her financial position in order to gain a better social status. So when Mr Collins proposes she accepts him from the pure and disinterested desire. Lady Catherine thinks that those of the same class should be married, which is shown through the fact that she believes that her nephew Darcy shouldnt be married to Elisabeth despite how much he loves her because of her status in their society. Mrs. Bennet believes in the traditional marriage and family life, and marrying for love and as well for wealth which is shown through her many advances to get her daughters together with the wealthy men of their society. They may all have one common goal of achieving marriage either for themselves or for other loved ones, but they have completely different ways of determining whom marrys whom. Charlotte marries for money, Lady Catherine determines marriage by social class, and Mrs. Bennett believes in traditional marriage for love. Mrs. Bennett seems desperate in her attempts to get her daughters married but she sets a standard for who she allows them to date, and the men seem to be wealthy landowners. Unlike Mrs. Bennett, Charlotte sets no standards for herself, she settles for Mr. Collins to gain wealth and social class.

All of these women enjoy a common goal of either becoming married themselves or getting on of their loved ones married. They all have different ways of determining their or their loved ones mates; Charlotte settles to get ahead, Lady Catherine wants those of each class to marry one another, and Mrs. Bennett wants her daughters to marry for love and wealth. This develops the plot because without their views on marriage and how they influenced those getting married, those who ended up engaged or married might not have gotten to together.