Austen’s treatment of the theme of love and marriage in Pride and Prejudice

 

Q.02. Comment on Austen’s treatment of the theme of love and marriage in Pride and Prejudice

 

Ans:  Introduction  

Pride and Prejudice is the flagship novel of Jane Austen in which she leaves aside other "trending" happenings in Great Britain's neighbourhood and focuses on pre-martial, martial and after-martial life in England and universally speaking, in every country. The theme of love and marriage are implemented in such a way that it is hard to separately discuss in the perspective of the novel. The theme of love and marriage go hand in hand in the particular novel.

 

Theme of Love

In case of Pride and Prejudice, love is rendered as a blind insinuation by most of the characters in the particular novel. The love triangle between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet is a good example of first sighted love and "eternal" agitation after marriage. The relation of love between Charles Bingley and Jane Bennet is rather first-sighted but their mental compatibility takes their relationship to the next level. Their relationship in the novel is described as thus:

“Still they will be happy because Bingley is too good to offend consciously and Jane is too good not to forgive even any offense.”

 

Both are sympathetic, loving and most importantly, problem solvers. They play a key role in drilling up the walls of pride and prejudice between Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet.

 

It is a ball party in Meryton and a proud aristocrat utters the following words when Marlow is suggested to dance with his future lady, Elizabeth:

"She is tolerable. But not handsome enough to tempt me. "

 

Such sharp remarks are overheard by the lady and that is how the verbal seed of pride and prejudice grows into full-blown tree. But love continues to thrive inwardly and Charles Bingley, his closest friend along with Jane Bennet brings their saws to cut down the tree. Later, the revealance of Darcy helping the Bennet family from being demoralized by the society removes the roots of pride and prejudice and the novel ends happily with the marriage of the two sincere lovers. Sincere love is rare but the relationship of love between Wickham and Lydia Bennet is purely based upon deception on part of Wickham.

 

Theme of Marriage

Marriage in Pride and Prejudice holds a significant point. Marriage has been termed as a necessity and an outcome of love. Austen writes the following lines to her niece, Fenny Knight:

"Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor - which is a very strong argument in favour of matrimony."

 

Well, Austen asserts the fact that marriage is necessary to regain the domestic financial satisfaction. Why is Mrs. Bennet anxious about her daughters' marriage? The first obvious reason is to retain her daughters' social status. Secondly, she wants to eliminate their financial pressure by marrying to wealthy people.

 

In Pride and Prejudice, marriage has shown as an outcome of love. But the concept of love differs from character to character. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet love each other on the basis of their good looks. But their marriage is not successful. Darcy and Elizabeth gradually develop a love triangle after noticing sincerity on other's end. Jane and Bingley follow the same rule of falling in love through beauty and wit of the lovers. Wickham loves Lydia to attain more coins and she ends up eloping with him before marriage. Charlotte does not love Mr. Collins. She only marries him under economic pressure (and to retain their family estate). This is what Lydia says to her husband.

 

Conclusion

Through one older and four fresh marriages in the novel, Austen tries to teach us what is best for us in martial life. Love before marriage is idealistic if it is sensuous and love is a building block if it is based on mutual understanding. If such love continues to evolve after marriage then it is a perfect marriage in the eyes of Jane Austen.

 

 

 

 

Or, Comment on Austen’s treatment of the theme of love and marriage in Pride and Prejudice

 

Ans:    Jane Austen is one of the greatest novelists of the 19th century. She produced six full length novels. Among them "Pride and  Prejudice" is the most popular novel. It is regarded as a fine piece of composition. It has an indelible place in history of English novels. In the words of an eminent writer "Pride & Prejudice” occupies the highest position amongst the novels of Jane Austen. It is indeed the most widely read and popular novel of the writer.

 

            Love and marriage form an important element in Jane Austen's novels. Hers was a practical idealism. She was pre-occupied with the subject of love and marriage. In her novels a young woman falls in love with a rich and desirable man. She has to face a lot of difficulties in the way of her marriage, but everything ends well. Austen is against illicit love. According to her love must terminate in matrimony. For a successful marriage mutual harmony is essential. Husband and wife should be spiritual counterparts of each other. A perfect marriage is fundamentally a perfect friendship. "Pride & Prejudice" deals with the same theme.

           

The main theme of "Pride & Prejudice" deals with the theme of love and marriage. The main interest in the novel lies in the husband hunting campaign of Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Lucas for their daughters. The arrival of Bingley and Darcy provides the suitable atmosphere of husband hunting drive. In the end they get success in their enterprise. A little crisis is found in the struggle of pride and prejudice of Elizabeth and Darcy respectively. In the story the love affair of Jane with Bingley and Lydia's escape with Wickham provide complete fun and youthful vigour. The case of Collins and Miss Lucas is equally lovable. It displays a fact that life is a simple game of matrimony. In this way Jane Austen has never gone far from this circumference and surroundings of love affairs. In this novel the author has shown all these affairs in drawing rooms, balls and parties.

 

Jane Austen is of the view that mutual harmony is essential for a successful marriage. Mrs. Bennet measures the matrimonial game with wealth. Thus she thinks Bingley as a suitable match for her daughter Jane. But the novelist does not agree with the view of Mrs. Bennet. For Austen nature and temperament are the necessary conditions for a marriage. It is because the aim of marriage is higher than the household business. Marriage is both an intellectual and emotional companionship between a husband and a wife. Marriage without this is no marriage at all.

                        The main theme of the novel surrounds love. In the same way all the three sub-plots of the story are centred round love. In the main plot Elizabeth and Darcy come together in spite of their previous differences. Another story is the love story of Jane and Bingley who also are united in marriage after certain interruptions. The marriage of Lydia and Wickham also takes place with the help of Darcy. In this case love is one sided. Lydia loves Wickham while the latter does not. He simply runs away with Lydia to insult Bennets. He did so to enrage Elizabeth who refuses to marry him. The third sub-plot consists of the marriage of Mr. Collins with Charlotte. This marriage takes place all of a sudden without showing any inclination of love from either side. Thus here the novelist has presented various phases of love. Here love is neither aggressive nor passionate. It is the form of love found in the ordinary persons in the world.

           

Thus Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" is a beautiful novel. It deals with the theme of love and marriage. This theme has a universal appeal and it had made this novel very popular.