Pride and Prejudice Essay about Marriages

A prime example of a marriage without love in the novel, is the marriage of Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Austen takes a realistic and down to earth approach about love, using the characters of Charlotte Lucas, who marries the insensible Mr. Collins for his money, to demonstrate that the heart does not always have any say in accepting a marriage proposal. Mr

It is simple for the reader to distinguish between what Austen did verses what she didn’t like in a marriage. It is almost like comparing a couple that live in New York and later divorce because they married for the money or wealth to boost family ties verses a couple that live in Arkansas, yet they love each other for all the right reasons, such as happiness, loyalty, faithfulness and love. Which couple deserves more respect? Obviously the one where the couple had to actually work with each other, learning how to deal with real life problems. Unlike this couple, the one that marries for simple reasons like for money or better ties is the easier one to do, yet harder to live with. Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship in the beginning was very precious and at the end, it turns out that although there are obstacles to tackle, their personal characteristics melt together to form an extremely satisfying marriage.

. Collins is at first seen as a respectable clergyman who is to inherit the Bennet estate. Later however, it is illustrated that he is nothing but overly polite and obsessed with the aristocracy. He constantly brags about his wealthy patroness and aristocratic connections. As the novel states, " Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society… having now a good house and very sufficient income, [he] intended to marry" (60-1). This quote states that along with being an outcast because of his behavior, he is such a wannabe that he steps over the line of decency by listening to every single thing that Lady Catherine de Bourgh advises him to do. He is so desperate to fit into society, that as soon as he is in possession of property and wealth, he must marry. Charlotte is the antithesis of Elizabeth in her pursuit of an honorable husband because she knows that there is nothing special about her. She takes on a inconsolable air throughout the novel especially when she accepts Mr. Collins’s desperate proposal. According to Austen, "Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune…at the age of twenty seven, without having ever been handsome…marriage…"(106). As seen by this quote, Charlotte is not like Elizabeth in that she is not looking for a partner that she can actually love and cherish. She simply needs to marry and get the burden of doing so off her

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