In Jane Austen's literary classic, "Pride and Prejudice," Austen attempts to influence the audience into sharing her views on women and the importance of marriage. Austen believed that marriages should not happen when there is societal pressure, when feelings are untrue, or because of social status and wealth. She adhered to the concept that people should marry for love and love only. Any other reasoning to get married wouldn't end well. The author uses literary devices such as foreshadowing, conflict, and irony to show the contrasts of different marriages in order to highlight their differences. There were few who got married for love while others got married for other reasons such as wealth. Austen tries to persuade the reader to believe that marriage is only meant for those who truly love one another, and those who get married for love are truly happy together. .
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" (pg5). The first sentence of the novel focuses on the importance of getting married within the novels timeframe of the 1800's. The point of getting married for women was to bring up their social status and to climb up the financial status ladder. Finding a successful husband was the most important objective for a young woman during this time, as women would marry for wealth and for a sense of security. While this was a social normality during this time period, there were some who believed that marriage was meant for different purposes, such as Elizabeth Bennet. .
Miss Elizabeth Bennet is used as a buffer throughout the novel. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth Bennet to put forward her perspectives on marrying for love. Throughout the novel, the audience is reading through Elizabeth's point of view. This was done to relate to her opinion on the foolishness of marrying for anything else other than love. Austen makes Elizabeth a wild spirited girl who is quite commonly guilty of prejudice attitudes and learns from her mistakes.
