In the world of Pride and Prejudice, marriage was of great importance both in the fictional world of the novel and also in the society of the time in which Jane Austen lived. Considering the context gives us insight to the reasons for marriage being viewed with such significance. The different attitudes and viewpoints of various characters reflect different reasons as to why marriage was so important.
Marriage is a central theme in this text emphasizing its importance. This theme is evident from the very beginning of the novel. The opening line states, gIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.h In this sentence, Jane Austen is using irony to suggest the need for a young woman to find a man in possession of a good fortune. The entire novel revolves around marriage and the various motives as well as the results.
In Pride and Prejudice, we are presented with different types of marriages, the main contrast being those who marry for money and those who marry for love. Other motives for marriage included physical beauty, the family name and connections, and also societal constraints, which provided very little choice.
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