Female Characters’ Views on Marriage and Love in Pride and Prejudice

何燁

【Abstract】Pride and prejudice took the Britain of the end of the 18th century as the background. In this paper， three marriage cases of young men and young ladies and a representative madam are taken as the typical examples to research and discuss.

【Key words】Fortune Status Marriage Love

1.The background of Pride and Prejudice

The Britain from the end of the18th century to the beginning of the 19th century was in the period that the males power was taken as the central power in the whole society. The men and the women were not equal in many aspects of society. The British Definition Heritance Law stipulated clearly that the heritage was usually inherited by the nearest masculine successor or heritor. The law did harm to womens economic interest grievously. Many young women with little fortune must face the danger that they could not marry decent men and had to become old maiden. People in society also thought family life was the most appropriate place to women. If a woman wanted to have enough food and clothing in future， or hoped to promote their status， at the moment a good marriage was very important. Here marriage was not a final arrangement of love. It becomes the only method to change their destiny. So at that time， love is not the foundation of marriage.

2.The standard that Mrs Bennett chooses her son-in-law

Mrs Bennetts view about marriage and love was affected by various social factors of that time. We can see Mrs Bennetts views towards marriage and love from the standard by which she chose her son-in-law. Her standard was that no matter who he was， he must be rich enough. So it is not hard to find out that Mrs Bennett treated marriage and love temporally and completely took property as the foundation. Further more she is a woman of meaning understanding， little information， and uncertain temper. The business of her life was to get her daughters married. When she knew a group of rich bachelors rushed into her small town， she displayed delightedly even wildly， had her husband to visit Mr Bingley constantly. By her standard and her acting when she heard the “good” news， we can find out how big affection and influence big fortune gave Mrs Bennett. When stupid， absurd， Collins decided to choose a wife from her daughters， she also displayed excited and wildly but considering if her daughter could have happiness by the marriage. She even encouraged him to pop the question to her daughter especially Elizabeth. But after Elizabeth refused Collins， she became very angry even had her husband to compel her to marry stupid Collins. “Speak to Lizzy about it yourself. Tell her that you insist upon her marrying him.” Her goal was to preserve her and her husbands property through the marriage. At the end of the novel， Darcy popped the question to Elizabeth. She became more excited. “Lord blesses me！ Only think！ Dear me！ Mr Darcy who would have thought it！ And is it really true？ In her eyes Elizabeths marriage was similar to having found a golden mine. Her anger and prejudice towards Darcy disappeared into thin air. Darcy soon became a agreeable， gentle， handsome amiable man. From her attitude towards her daughters marriage problems， it is easier to see that she does not think highly of the importance of love in marriage. She only thought about fortune and social position.

3.The marriage case of Charlotte Lucas and Collins

The marriage of Charlotte Lucas and Collins was another representative example. Charlotte Lucas was the eldest girl of the Lucases. Because she did not have enough fortune， she did get married until twenty seven years old. Objectively， the disadvantages obliged her to choose a marriage established on property but love. She was an extremely rational， realistic person. In her heart， marriage had always had been her object no matter who her husband is. When she heard that Elizabeth refused to marry Collins， she was so “kind” as to accompany Collins and listen to him. Finally， she successfully made him propose to her. She certainly knew that Collins is neither sensible nor agreeable and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But she still chose him as her husband. As in the novel the writter said that “It is the only honorable provision for a well educated young woman of small fortune， and however uncertain of giving happiness， must be their pleasantest preservative from want.” It is not difficult to find out Charlotte is another victim of that period or society. The influence of social factors in her brain is quit rooted. She does not think highly of love in her marriage. She only considered if she could gain what she needed in materiel. She does not understand the real meaning of marriage. It is a tragedy to both woman and man.

4.The marriage case of Elizabeth and Darcy.

Elizabeth is the second child in the Bennetts. She is moving， intelligent， frank， cultivated， having opinion. Elizabeth certainly deeply knew people in society at her time discussed and decided marriage by property and social position， but she is not influenced by this custom， still bravely seek for her love. We can see her superior qualities from her romantic love story between Darcy and her. Elizabeth came from lower middle class family. Comparing with people from the upper noble class her social position is lower. At the same time she had a lot of relatives and friends who were impolite， uncultivated. All those factors made her feel ashamed while Darcy was young handsome， gentle， having a large amount of money， coming from a noble family， disliking to speak to with strangers. Therefore he always gave people especially who did not know him a very pride， cold appearance. At the beginning Elizabeth had no cordial feeling towards Darcy， especially after Darcy said some caustic words about her. “She is tolerable； but not handsome enough to tempt me； and I am in no honor at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men.” Afterwards she met Wickham in her aunts house. She was attracted by Wickhams good behavior and sweet words. She firmly believed every word he said when he blackened Darcy without thinking if he told the truth. When she knew that it was Darcy divided her sister and Bingley she became angrier and more indignant. To some extend she began to hate Darcy because she thought it was Darcy destroyed her sisters marriage and happiness. She condemned Darcy wildly that “I have every reason in the word to think ill of you. No motive can excuse the unjust and ungenerous part you have been in principal...” Darcy gave her a letter. In letter Darcy told her why he divided her sister and Bingley is because he thought her sister did not love his friend. He also told her a big secret that Wickham was a hypocrite， who tried to abduct Miss Darcy to run away with him. This letter had a significant influence in her heart， and she realized her prejudice for the first time. She also felt rather ashamed and penitent. Though she condemned him， he was not angry to her and tried his best to overcome them. When Elizabeth met Darcy in Pemberley， who found a new Darcy， Darcy became friendly， gentle， agreeable， and he also received her uncle and her aunt very considerately， friendly. He had her good feeling by doing these things. Elizabeth thought higher of him， when her sister Lydia ran with Wickham， Mr Darcy tried his best to help her family， As a result， he kept Lydia and her familys honor. We can see the road of Elizabeths love is not smooth. But she never gave up gaining the true love of her own. In her views， true love is more important and than fortune， social position. In this novel she was the only woman who took love as the foundation of marriage. Her view of marriage and love is praised by people all over the world till now.

5.The marriage case of Lydia and Wickham

Lydia is the youngest child of the Bennetts. She is a young， lively， and full of energy， spoiled girl. Like her mother， she is also a woman of little information， and stupid. She liked pursuing sensual feeling and was fond of young soldiers. Wickham had a handsome， amiable appearance and was good at talking， so many girls loved him. But he was not really as perfect as he looked like. He liked money very much. Afterwards the man even had engaged enthusiastically with quite a plain girl--- Miss

King only for her fortune about ten-thousand-pound. Because of Lydias stupid， she is attracted by Wickham and fell in love with him. She ran with Wickham without thinking it would bring how bad influence to her family. Indeed she met Darcy， she refused the help of his. She even had the vision of marrying Wickham. But Wickham did not plan to marry her. “He confessed himself obliged to leave the regainment on account of me debts of honor” Poor Lydia even did not think if he wanted to marry her， just follows her sense. Sensual feeling does not equal to love. It is easy to find out her marriage is the most unreasonable and there was only sensual feeling.

Conclusion

Pride and Prejudice is a light love comedy. In this novel it tells several young men womens marriage cases， and how Mrs Bennett chose her son-in-law. By these typical examples we can find out womens views towards marriage and love are influenced by some social factors such as property， social position， and psychological factors. Under the influence of these factors， some women give up true love for the sake of money， status， but some women still keep pursuing their true love. So we draw the conclusion from the novel： getting married just for the sake of property and social position is very false. Because love is the foundation stone of marriage， if a marriage does not have love it is like a corpse. It is a kind of torture to men and women in body and soul. At the same time a marriage without love also unhallows the purest and the noblest feeling of human beings. So a marriage calls for true love.