Elizabeth’s friend Charlotte marries so she can be independent of her family and in control of ‘her home and her housekeeping’. She has a completely unromantic view of marriage. She thinks that a happy marriage is ‘entirely a matter of chance’. She believes that a relationship based on first impressions is just as likely to succeed as one based on understanding and love. Her disagreement with Elizabeth over this idea reveals another reason for marrying.
Context to era Marriage was the primary way that women were able to achieve stability. Contrary to the social-norms of the Regency era, Austen portrayed love in marriage to be more important than wealth. Example of what the author does Elizabeth initially rejects Darcy and will not marry him until she comes to love him. Similarly Forster in "A Room With A View" shows Lucy rejecting Cecil Example of what the author does using characters and his wealth in order to marry a man of lower social class and limited financial security in the name of Love. Austen and Forster both show that marrying for love does not make for a successful marriage without the element of wealth.
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest mocks Victorian love and marriage through different characters in 19th century England, which is wittingly displayed using satire. Aristocrats such as Gwendolen and her mother Lady Bracknell both hold contrasting views, which includes what they feel is required in a life partner. Lady Bracknell strongly believes marriage is just a financial agreement and will not let her daughter marry a man who has no status in society. On the other hand, Gwendolen believes love triumphs over wealth, but Wilde seems to change her meaning of love. So is marriage really a result of love or can it be possible that it is simply just a business contract?
It’s not a question that Mme. Loisel’s husband loves her. He does. If he did not he would not be spending the time trying to get her an invitation to the ball, or the money on the dress so she can look the part of a high-class woman while she’s there. But does she love her enough to be honest with her and tell her they really
Because of this, it seems appropriate that Austen's novel follows the lives of the five Bennett daughters on their search to find the ideal husband. By reading the introductory lines of the novel it is evident that marriage and courtship will play the dominating factor in the plot. This is not Austen's own view but a familiar fact that is just accepted as part of society. In the regency period, the position of women was considered important, but not equal to men and this is presented in Pride and Prejudice. Moreover, the position of women in the society within the text is more or less based on Jane Austen's real life interpretation of the actual position of women in her time.
Zelda and Nicole Diver in Tender is the Night are rich socialites seduced by living in the exuberant lifestyles they were accustomed to enjoying. Zelda Fitzgerald and Nicole Diver also are very dependent on their husbands for support of their lavish ways and their mental stability. In the end, both women are plagued with mental illness that is crippling, and forces both husbands to be their support system. Fitzgerald utilized the heroine Nicole Diver to symbolize his relationship with his erratic wife Zelda in Tender is the Night. In the beginning of both the Fitzgerald’s and the Diver’s relationships Zelda and Nicole are rich socialites.
These oppositions of values offer the reader a chance to balance their own views on the sanctity of marriage. They also have the chance to empathise with Elizabeth as she declines Collins' offer, which could seem selfish as it not only risks her future security but that of her families as well. Austen has already made the reader aware of Darcy's affection towards Elizabeth however. “Elizabeth could not help observing... how often Mr. Darcy's eyes were fixed on hers” (p45)3 making their relationship inevitable from early on in the novel. Austen introduces the character of Elizabeth indirectly through her father.
Women have to depend on men. “‘I thank you again and again for the honour you have done me in your proposal. My feelings in every respect forbid it’” (Austen, 105). Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr. Collins is the way she shows she wants to have a choice but women shouldn’t in that society. A women’s value is to get married one day with at least a husband that is the same or higher position than her family.
She feels that in order for her to marry him she has to prove her self-importance to herself. Eventually Jane receives inheritance and feels equal with Rochester. Due to her sudden wealth she feels the marriage can be between two equals. Another significant theme is religion. In the novel Jane struggles between moral duty and obligation to faith.
Views on Marriage in Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice[i] The brilliant novel of Austin shows rather different attitudes of young girls who come from middle-class families in the country towards love by describing their diverse modes of dealing with love and marriage, which reflects the author’s own views on marriage: it is wrong to marry in pursuit of property and status, but it is also stupid to marry without paying much attention upon the elements above. Therefore, she is not only opposed to marrying for money, but also against toying with marriage. She puts much emphasis on the importance of ideal marriage and regards the affection between two lovers as the solid foundation for arranging an ideal marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, it is five kinds of marriages that run through the whole book: the tolerable kind because of incompatibility of sentiments between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, the imprudent kind for the favor of appearance and ardor between Lydia and Wickham, the dependent kind for the sake of property between Charlotte and Collins, the harmonious kind because of heart-to-heart love between Jane and Binley, the blessed kind as a result of knowing each other well and exchanging hearts between Elizabeth and Darcy. We can also divide those five kinds of marriages in three sorts, according to the diverse foundations they are established upon.