Our Mutual Friend Vs Pride And Prejudice

466 Words2 Pages
In the 18th century if you were of the age of 20 and not yet married, it was likely for you to be called an old maiden and harder for you to marry. Most women of this era tried ridiculously hard to be married before the age of twenty, most of the time they tried to marry a man of good wealth. Most of the marriages during this time were for looks or what society wanted, not necessarily what the people wanted. In Charles Dickens’ “Our Mutual Friend”, Mr. Headstone is genuinely in love with a girl named Lizzie. He isn’t being pressured by anyone or feels like he has to marry this woman. He wants to marry her for pure love. Although in “Pride and Prejudice” Mr. Collins felt he needed to marry a woman named Lizzie because that’s what everyone around him wanted. Mr. Collins would be able to take over the Bennet household if he did so. Collins feels like he’s doing the Bennet’s a favor by proposing to Lizzie. He figures that if they do marry that at least one of them gets to remain in the household. Mr. Headstone’s proposal is more sentimental and heartfelt than Mr. Collins. Both Lizzie’s say no when they are asked their hand in marriage. Neither of them loves the men that are proposing to them nor do they want to be with them. In “Our Mutual Friend” Lizzie is more blunt and rude telling Mr. Headstone that she doesn’t want to marry him. She turns him down cold, but in “Pride and Prejudice” Lizzie has more of an elegant way of telling Mr. Collins that she doesn’t want his hand in marriage. She has more of a heart when it comes to telling him that she isn’t interested. In telling both men that they were not interested in marriage both women used to appeal to logos, they both had sensible answers and explanations to the proposal. In “Our Mutual Friend” Lizzie’s response also had to deal with the appeal to pathos. She was very strong willed in her answer, she wanted
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