In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen displays relationships based on passion, through the marriage of Lydia Bennett to Mr. Wickham and on reason through the marriage of Elizabeth Bennett to Mr. Darcy. Lydia’s marriage to Wickham is very sudden and based totally out of passion, lacking thought and reason. In contrast to this, Elizabeth’s marriage to Darcy spans over many months and is almost too thought out.
When Lydia and Wickham wed they had barely had time to get to know each other and ran away together so that no one could reason with them about the situation. This fits Lydia’s character very justly. Since the beginning of the novel Lydia has become very passionate about anything she deems worthy of her affection. When the soldiers first came to town she and her sister would frequently visit them to try and win their affections. This became very important to her and would constantly be thinking of the situation of the soldiers in the nearby town. Later in the novel she falls for one particular soldier, Mr. Wickham. She become
s so impassioned with him that she completely disregards the consequences of their new love and elopes with him, leaving her family to be embarrassed in front of the entire town.
In contrast to this marriage of passion, the marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy is based almost entirely on reason. We learn very early in the novel that Elizabeth is a very strong person and will not let other people’s actions and words discourage her. An example of this is when she is caring for her sister at Netherfield and she does not allow the snubbing statements of Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst to bother her. Later in the novel Elizabeth again demonstrates her tough skin when Lady Catherine comes to visit her, only to tell her that she will not permit her to marry Darcy. This only makes Elizabeth feel more adamant about her desire to marry Darcy and hopes that he will soon propose again.
Darcy also does not let others opinions discourage him from what he wants. When he finally realizes his love for Elizabeth near the end of the novel he proposes and