123
Lupe Castorena
AP LIT Period 6
Doc Watson
29 August 2011
Marriages of Pride and Prejudice
Many stories are like a basic fairy tale: ever girl is a princess. Every princess has a romantic story where the princess falls in love with the prince and they live happily ever after. This is very balanced to the book, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. However, every story has some form of dilemma. Even happily-ever-after tales such as Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella had their fair share of problems. The book focuses mainly on how Mrs. Bennet, a mother of five beautiful young girls, is trying to control their marital status. The novel contains three main marriages: Jane Bennet to Mr. Bigley, Elizabeth Bennet to Mr. Darcy, and Charlotte Lucas to Mr. Collins. Each female marry’s for a different reason: happiness, reality, and love.
Jane Bennet is the elde and most beautiful Bennett daughter according to the towns people or Longbourn and Netherfield. She can relate to happiness better than the other two characters. Jane quotes, “My dear Lizzy, do not give way to such feelings as these. They will ruin your happiness. You do not make allowance enough for difference of situation and temper” (135). Jane’s giddy personality carries throughout the entire book after her first glance at Mr. Bingly proving that she is the jolliest Bennet girl. Even though she comes off as shy, the reader is warned that Jane feels great feelings for Bingley. From the moment they laid eyes on each other, they knew they were meant for one another. This explains why at the end of the novel, the couple ends up together.
Besides Elizabeth’s wittiness, she understands love the best out of all the Bennet daughters. Her strong way of being prejudice causes her to judge Mr. Darcy before realizing she would feel strong passionate feelings towards him. The way the two characters had their disputes, the way Elizabeth hated Darcy though half the book, and the way they come to understanding each other makes their relationship romantic. When two people are fall love, nothing is impossible. Even though Mr. Darcy was rejected by Elizabeth when offering proposal, he went on to try again because he felt so strongly for her. Austen explains in chapter 10 that “Darcy had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her” Also, the way his pride diminished thought out the book shows another sign of love. His change of character shows the power of love between the two.
Charlotte Lucas, who ends up marrying Mr. Collins, is the most realistic character. “Mr. Collins is a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man; you know he is, as well as I do; and you must feel as well as I do, that the woman who married him cannot have a proper way of thinking” This quote said by Elizabeth is negative. With Charlotte’s old age and lack of money, Mr. Collins is her only hope. Even though she may not love him, she sees it as though she may one day learn to love him due to the necessities in that time period such as a man to keep a woman healthy living.
The book contains three main marriages, each describing happiness, love, and reality in a variety of ways. At the end of the day, each of these women ended up married for different reasons. As the reader can see, love does not always happen in easy ways. Happiness can be caught with a blink of the eye, love can overcome hate, and reality has some major decisions. Austen did a magnificent job explaining these three categories in her book, Pride and Prejudice.
