The theme of love and marriage in Jane Austen's Novel

The theme of love and marriage in Jane Austen's Novel, 'Pride and Prejudice'.

One of the major themes of the novel, 'Pride and prejudice' is love and marriage. Besides the marriage of Mrs. and Mr. Bennet, four marriages take place in the novel, mostly emanating from the love between each other. Moreover, the main concern of the novel is courtship and love, particularly the coming close of the hero, Darcy, and the heroine, Elizabeth, by stages.





(i) The first marriage that attracts our attention is that of Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Bennet. Mr. Bennet love with Mrs. Bennet and married her. This happened before the start of the novel. But Mrs. Bennet was not a fit match for Mr. Bennet. She is a nervous, ridiculous lady but Mr. Bennet is a conscious and sensible man. So they are pole apart in their thoughts and temperaments. Thus, this marriage is the worst example of its kind in the novel.





(ii) The second example of marriage in the novel is that of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins. Mr. Collin is an affluent but stupid clergyman. He first proposes to Elizabeth but she rejects him. Then he proposes to Charlotte Lucas and she accepts his proposal because she wants social and economic security. So, this is a marriage of convenience, not a marriage of love.





(iii) The third example of marriage in the novel is that of Lydia and Wickham. Wickham is a philanderer and a cheat. He catches Lydia in his net and she falls in love with him. Not only that, she elopes away with him. Lydia�s action is bound to bring disgrace to the family. It is Darcy who bribes Wickham and makes him marry Lydia and thus save the family of Mr. Bennet from disgrace.





(iv) The fourth example of marriage is that of Jane and Bingley. They truly love each other. Bingley is a well to do young man. He marries Jane without dowry. This is an example of a successful marriage.





(V) The fifth and final example of marriage is that of Elizabeth and Darcy. It is an example of an ideal marriage based on true understanding and cross examinations as their love develops slowly, steadily and after careful observation of each other. Before marriage, they have encountered deep differences and critical confrontations resulting from the preoccupation of the pride by Darcy and obsession of the prejudice by Elizabeth. They get married only after Darcy has given up his pride and Elizabeth has given up her prejudice. The two try to understand each other and learn that they will be able to lead a life of social and economic security. Theirs is an example of an ideal love.

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