What Kind of Truth
Is Universally Acknowledged?
A closer look into Austen's famous opening sentence...
The opening line of Pride and Prejudice rates amongst the most famous literary introductions of all time. It brilliantly indicates several key aspects of the novel, setting the mood, and preparing the reader to the novel’s concerns and plotline. Through the intention of each individual word, this section will strive to dissect the famous opening line, and its relationship with the rest of the novel. Importantly this opening sentence depicts both the events and underlying themes in the novel, as well as introduces our opinionated Narrator.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” (Austen 1)
TRUTH The first dilemma this sentence offer, is ‘truth’. Truth is a highly subjective concept, and immediately a cautious reader will ponder “who says it is a truth, and how can one define a truth anyway?” (Fullerton 29). Is this a truth Austen is suggesting about the characters? Society? Whose truth is this? It becomes uncertain whether “this will be a novel with great adherence to ‘truth…or will truths be perpetually questioned throughout” (Fullerton 29). Truth was a heavily inspected notion throughout Romanticism, the literary era in which Austen wrote, and a reader would have quickly associated the term to philosophical theories of the time.
UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED Naturally, it may be considered that ‘universally’ as a term possesses a far more precise definition than the term ‘truth’. While that may be true, the uncertainty here lies in the claim itself; which sense of ‘universally’ is Austen suggesting here? Could she suggest it is a worldwide notion? A local?. By making this statement universally acknowledged, Austen is “masquerading [this claim] as a statement of fact- if not about all unmarried men, then certainly about a community that collectively assumes it to be true” (Clark 113). If this were the case, it could then be argued “this sentence actually tells us more about Mrs. Bennet than anyone else” (Clark 113). If anything, this claim does not appear collectively assumed at all, but rather assumed by Mrs. Bennet, Lydia, Kitty, and arguably the Lucas household. Could it be “only what was universally acknowledged in 1813” (Fullerton 30)? This part of the statement remains widely critiqued and uncertain, and may be accepted according to personal views.
SINGLE MAN Okay, now this part is fairly straightforward. Austen will be telling us a story about a single man, and that “this book will concern courtship and marriage” (Fullerton 30). Evidently, she does not fail to deliver, and this novel heavily concerns both courtship and marriage in the Regency period. Immediately following this sentence the reader learns of “the arrival of Mr. Bingley (and the news of his fortune)”, which is “the event that sets the novel in motion because it creates the prospect of a marriage of wealth and good connections for the eager Bennet girls” (Gao 383). We will be speaking, however, of several single man and their search for a wife, and thus this claim avoids naming any particular names.
FORTUNE This term offers two applicable understandings of the novel. What type of ‘fortune’ is Austen suggesting here? It could mean either a ‘chance happening’ or ‘luck’ (Fullerton 33). On the other side of the spectrum, it could also indicate wealth, and thus “immediately establishes the centrality of advantageous marriage, fundamental social value of Regency England” (Gao 383). Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins’s marriage, Elizabeth and Darcy, and arguably Jane and Bingley, to some degree consider “financial conditions and subsistence rather than love and appreciation”, which would explain “why Austen creates her ideal man to be a single man in possession of a good fortune” (Gao 385). The concept of ‘fortune’ as wealth does encompass every marriage depicted in the novel; Charlotte Lucas marries Mr. Collins since he offers her financial comfort, and both Jane and Elizabeth win the hearts of two wealthy single men, promising their own financial future as well. The only marriage that is not particularly profitable is Lydia and Wickham's, which is problematic in two ways. One, Austen frowns upon this marriage, and clarifies that both Lydia and Wickham will be unhappy. Two, the only reason Wickham ultimately agrees to marry Lydia is because he is handsomely paid to do so by Mr. Darcy. As you may see, these marriages all involve the concept of money and wealth in several ways, and thus Austen's choice of words here is highly meditated. It is also notable to mention, taking these marriages in account, that “in its declarative and hopeful claim that a wealthy man must be looking for a wife, it hides the real truth of such matters: a single woman must be in want of a husband, especially a wealthy one.” (Gao 385).
Objectively, it seems this sentence “has a subtle, unstated significance” (Gao 385), and strives to establish a number of definitions that could all equally define the novel’s moral intentions. Pride and Prejudice depicts the importance and consequence of first impressions, and “the difference between truths and falsehoods, between what is real and what only appears to be real” (Fullerton 34). This is suggested cleverly in the opening sentence, without making the situation too obvious or too firm for the unknowing reader. This line is often mistakenly attributed to Mrs. Bennet (Yu 678). This is a grave mistake indeed, and misses the entire stylistic feature of the novel. Being written in free indirect discourse, this narrative features a Narrator. He/she is first introduced then, before any other character, through this initial claim. The Narrator tells us this truth is “universally acknowledged” and accepted in Austen’s reality.