Pride and Prejudice Essay

Hannah McCaffrey
English: F- Mr. George
April 16, 2009
Pride and Prejudice Essay
In it’s most simplistic terms, marriage is a vow between a man and a woman to remain committed to each other forever. There are several marital motives that differ from one person, or couple, to the next. Incentives for marriage can include personal gain, mutual comfort, or pure, everlasting happiness. Although there is not a sole basis of marriage, a marriage for the sake of pure love is undoubtably the most favorable. The novel Pride and Prejudice is proof of love’s triumph over marrying for personal gain or practicality.
A mercenary marriage is a match made for monetary gains and other personal rewards. Mrs. Bennet is very closely connected with mercenary marriages. Mrs. Bennet’s character can be summed up in a single sentence: "The business of her life was to get her daughters married"(7 Austen). Mrs. Bennet’s singular goal in life was to marry her daughters off to rich men. When Elizabeth explained to her mother the great happiness she felt in marrying Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Bennet changed her dislike of Darcy: "how rich and how great you will be! What pin-money, what jewels, what carriages you will have! Jane’s is nothing to it–nothing at all. I am so pleased–so happy! Such a charming man!"(365). Mrs. Bennet does not care if her daughters are happy. She feels that as long as her daughters are taken care of financially that is all they need. Mrs. Bennet is very wrong following this way of thinking. However, she is not the only one who is an example of advocating for mercenary marriages.
Mrs. Bennet is very vocal with her feelings about marital advantages. George Wickham’s actions take the ideas Mrs. Bennet has about mercenary marriage and take them to a new extreme. In fact, Wickham is the exemplification of a person entering a mercenary marriage. Wickham’s first attempt at marriage, is pursuing Miss King. Wickham "paid her not the smallest attention till her grandfather’s death made her mistress of this fortune"(153). In addition to his pursuit of marrying for monetary purposes, Wickham also sought Mr. Darcy’s sister, fifteen year old Georgiana, "she was persuaded to believe herself in love, and to consent to an elopement"(199). Wickham would have selfishly shattered Georgiana’s noble reputation, as well as the Darcy name, for more money and a higher status. Not only did Wickham think of being this selfish, in a later situation, he actually acted upon these thoughts. Wickham ran away with Lydia Bennet before the pair was married. Mr. Gardiner found out that at first Wickham and Lydia were "not married, nor can I find there was any intention of being so"(292). Wickham merely wanted to use Lydia. However, Mr. Darcy saved the Bennet family from a huge disgrace by paying Wickham to marry Lydia.
Had it not been for money, Lydia and Wickham would have never been married. Wickham did not want to marry Lydia, all he wanted was money. His debts may be paid and his job may be secured, but he will never be truly happy. Not having financial worries does not bring complete happiness to a marriage. Having money in a marriage does not give the sense of complete satisfaction that can only come with being in love.
Another motive of marriage that does not have the most favorable outcome is a prudential marriage. Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins both entered into a prudential marriage. Their marriage was a smart match that benefitted both of them. However, they are not in love. Mr. Collins never intended on marrying based on love. Before proposing to Charlotte, Mr. Collins proposed to Elizabeth Bennet, "he set about it in a very orderly manner, with all the observances, which he supposed a regular part of the business"(104). He has three reasons he uses to persuade Elizabeth that they will be a smart match: "to set the example of matrimony in his parish [...] add very greatly to my happiness [...] recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness"(105). He does not love Lizzy. Mr. Collins believes they will have a good marriage even if they are not in love. His proposal demonstrates no passion. There is only logical reasons for the possibility of their marriage.
Mr. Collins continued his path of a logical, prudent marriage when he and Charlotte Lucas became engaged. Charlotte was also looking for a prudent marriage. Charlotte claimed that "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance"(24). She believed a couple can be completely in love, but "it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation"(24). Charlotte always went "Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object: it was the only honourable provision for well educated young women of small fortune [...] however uncertain of given happiness"(122). "Miss Lucas [...] accepted him solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment, cared not how soon that establishment were gained"(122). Charlotte wants to get married because she knows it will be beneficial to her. She hopes that she will find happiness in that marriage but she believes that a prudent marriage will give her a better chance at happiness than a marriage based on love.
The intent that Mr. Collins and Charlotte have for their marriage is not one of unyielding happiness. It is a marriage based off of logic and common sense. They are well suited for one another, and the marriage will benefit both of them. Prudence may bring contentment and satisfaction, but it will always lack the completeness that only a love marriage has.
Although couples get married for mercenary and prudent reasons, marrying for love is the necessary factor in a marriage that will create perpetual happiness. Both of the marriages between Jane Bennet and Charles Bingly, and Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, were based upon true love. After Jane’s engagement she expresses her felicity: "I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed! [...] If I could but see you as happy!"(339). Bingly and Jane’s marriage also encompasses prudence, making them a great match. They are deeply in love, "and in spite of his being a lover, Elizabeth really believed all his expectations of felicity to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and superior-excellent disposition of Jane"(336). Bingly and Jane are in love, and their marriage makes sense. Two people suited for each other in love make a very happy match.
Love has offered Jane such an elation that she wants her beloved sister to feel the same amount of joy: "And do you really love him quite well enough? Oh, Lizzy, do any thing rather than marry without affection"(361). Mr. Bennet also supports Jane’s plights to ensure that Lizzy will marry for love: "But will they make you happy? [...] Your lively talents would place you in the greatest danger in an unequal marriage. You could scarcely escape discredit and misery. My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life"(364).
Jane knows the happiness love brings and she wants to share it with her sister. Mr. Bennet married Mrs. Bennet out of mercenary motives: "captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good-humor which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had ver early in their marriage put an end to all real affection for her"(231). Mr. Bennet’s situation makes him want better for his favorite daughter. Both Jane and Mr. Bennet realize that love is the most important motive for marriage. Their initial caution of Mr. Darcy is only spurred by want of Elizabeth to enter into a marriage with love, and to be in the happiest situation possible.
Although it took her a while to realize her love for Darcy, "her sentiments had undergone so material a change"(354), since he first proposed to her, she now found herself completely in love with him. Darcy shared Elizabeth’s adoration and when she agreed to marry him "The happiness which this reply produced was such as he had probably never felt before"(354). Darcy gave up everything for even a chance at marrying Elizabeth. He overcame "His sense of her inferiority, of its being a Despite society’s rigid class structure of this time, Darcy was able to overcome every negative about Elizabeth, and ask for her hand in marriage anyway. After her rejection, Darcy was willing to change for someone of a lower class: "You taught me a lesson, hard indeed at first, but most advantageous. By you, I was properly humbled"(357). Darcy endured countless hardships all for his love of Elizabeth.
The challenges that faced Darcy and Elizabeth’s path to a loving marriage were hard to overcome. However, their struggles made them stronger. Having to work to be together makes the end result of being together in love, if possible, even more worth it. Darcy’s endurance shows that true love is worth any price. Money cannot buy happiness in a marriage. Prudence does not leave the partners of a marriage completely fulfilled. Having true love is the single most extraordinary element in a marriage, and having to struggle to be with a loved one makes being together in the end even greater.