Austen’s novels typically trace a heroine’s moralistic journey to true love. While her heroines do strive for self-empowerment, they are limited in the power they are able to gather. In order to fully understand this, as well the position in which the novel's female characters find themselves, it is important to understand the period in which the novel takes place in relation to women status.

Essentially, a woman’s main objective in life was marriage (Kelly 11). Several of the novel’s female characters can be viewed in different lights with that notion in mind. Mrs. Bennet, for instance, as unlikable and problematic as she is, must be credited and understood for desperately wanting her daughters' best welfare. If her daughters were to remain unmarried before Mr. Bennet passes away, and the property would be transferred to the ownership of Mr. and Mrs. Collins, the women could literally become homeless. In such circumstances, “the   only somewhat respectable alternative was to become a governess or a teacher in a school. Even those positions, however, lowered her social status, making it almost impossible for her to attract a husband who could provide for her adequately” (Gao 385). It becomes evident then, that “marriage to an economically respectable man was considered to be the only legitimate choice for most women of gentry or the aristocracy” (Gao 385). Though Mrs. Bennet’s  desperate wish to marry off her daughters to whomever comes their way can be made understandable in this light, she is humiliatingly desperate. Even the fact, as Lady Catherine suggests that “all five out at once? Very odd...The younger ones out before the elder ones are married! (113)”, is understandable. Mrs. Bennet’s desperation is creditable, but improper, rude, and only presents more hardships to her daughters. She eagerly attempts to persuade Lizzy to marry Collins, through she is fully aware Lizzy will find no happiness in that marriage. Her thoughts are purely materialistic, as many's would be during the time, with these prospects in mind.

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On that note, it is also important to inspect Elizabeth’s rejection of both Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy. Imagine how imprudent a society that favored profitable marriages beyond anything would consider denying both men, particularly the wealthy Mr. Darcy. Both men take good care to mention the imprudence of Lizzy's rejection too. Similarly to Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth was offered comfort and protection, and yet she rejected both on the grounds of love; she knew she could never be happy with Collins, and she detested Darcy. This brings our heroine very close to her author, who also rejected a profitable marriage proposal possibly on the grounds of love (Kelly 11):

As a daughter of a local rector, Austen was a genteel-class woman without dowry. She was so clear about the rule of the marriage market that she decided to lead an unmarried life considering her own situation. The man like Darcy and Bingley were so rare around her that it was almost impossible for her to find her ideal man in the fairly restricted circle of acquaintances in Hampshire, her hometown. To some extent, Elizabeth is an embodiment of Austen herself, so literature critics commonly regard Pride and Prejudice as an autobiographical novel. Austen points out emphatically that economic consideration is the bonds of wedlock and love. She says marriage is not determined by property and family status; but it is unwise to marry without money. (Gao 386)

 

Pride and Prejudice accordingly explores the importance of marriage, while Austen persists on highlighting the importance of love.

 

On the other side of the spectrum is the case of Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte is the real application of Austen’s society. She embraces the archetype Austen herself rejects. She accepts Mr. Collins on the grounds of not being romantic, and asking for “only a comfortable home” (Austen 87). Charlotte and Mr. Collins do possess a mutual understanding; they both share the approval of a practical yet loveless marriage. Elizabeth harshly criticizes her friend’s decision, and believes her rejection of the same man a more prudent approach to the proposal. Love poses as the ultimate contrast. While these claims and notions of love are admirable and taken for granted in most countries today, we must not judge Charlotte too harshly. Charlotte does care for her friend, and “in her kind schemes for Elizabeth, she sometimes planned her marrying Colonel Fitzwilliam. He was beyond comparison the most pleasant man; he certainly admired her, and his situation in life was most eligible” (123). Their definition of a happy marriage is just drastically different.

 

A different perspective is also evident in Lydia Bennet. Her shameful elopement with Wicham would have not only condemned her future, but her sisters’ as well. Elizabeth confesses the event to Darcy, and immediately regrets doing so, since “it was not to be supposed that Mr. Darcy would connect himself with a family where, to every other objection, would now be added an alliance and relationship of the nearest kind with a man whom he so justly scorned” (Austen 208). The game of finding Lydia and Wickham is not as we would expect, to talk sense into her, but rather to ensure that “imprudent as the marriage between Mr. Wickham and our poor Lydia would be, we are now anxious to be assured it has taken place” (183), before Lydia becomes “lost forever” (183). The fact that Lydia had resided with Wicham before marriage is unthinkable, and accordingly Collins notes in his letter to Mr. Bennet that his family would have been better off if she had died instead. Lydia and her behavior are used to set an example of marriages, and "unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable; that one false step involves her in endless ruin; that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful; and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex”(193). Elopement is a notable way a marriage could be frowned upon in such a society;  circumstancially  drastically different classes are is another (such is the case with Darcy and Elizabeth). Austen gives us a taste of both.

 

 

 

 

Beyond the concept of marriage, it is crucial that a woman marries rich, rather than just simply marries. When Mrs. Bennet claims she would be happy to see any of her daughters happily settled at Netherfield, she is referring to this exact notion. It does not at all matter what Mr. Bingley is like, though luckily for Jane he does have an amiable temper, but rather that he makes a notable sum of money for his time. Married women had little more freedom than unmarried woman, and the dependency they have on their husband varies by the man’s fortune. After Lydia’s shameful marriage to Wickham, she boasts, "Ah! Jane, I take your place now, and you must go lower, because I am a married woman" (212). Though Lydia is the youngest, the fact that she married before is not only uncommon in society, but places her at a higher social statues than her elder sister. She also notes that being a married woman she will have no time to write to her unmarried sisters, and since they are unmarried, they will have plenty of time to write her. This suggests not only the social status Lydia acquired even through such a shameful marriage, but also the total and utter consumption of time the role of Wife will have on her life. It is evident, that “while social advancement for young men lay in the military, church, or law, the chief method of self-improvement for women was the acquisition of wealth” (Yu 679). Respectively, you can see that the two encouraged marriages in the novel, Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy, are both rewarded with a fruitful and prosperous marriages. The two less encouraged marriages, Charlotte and Mr. Collins and Lydia and Wickham, are rewarded with far less financial possibilities. Charlotte, who has not disgraced her family by marrying Collins, is still rewarded with a more comfortable life than Lydia. It seems, “Lydia’s patched-up marriage is the most extreme instance of the compromises necessary to ensure respectability for the surfeit energy running under the polished surface of the sleepy country village” (Shneider). Ultimately, however, the reward of each female character is concluded to the wealth her husband can offer. Yes, Jane and Elizabeth find love in their husbands, but is it truly a coincidence that both Darcy and Bingley are wealthy and able to support less fortunate wives?

Women could own no property, and in fact, were often considered property themselves. If a woman lived her life unmarried, as Jane Austen was, she remains at the mercy of her male relatives (Kelly 14). Accordingly, Georgiana Darcy’s situation with her brother is equal in that “as she is under his sole care, he may do what he likes with her" (Austen 125). While Austen attempts to give her heroines as much power and statues as she may, she is still constrained within the limitations of her society, who thought very little of women. Men are described to be in total and utter control, as can be seen through the matter of the Bennet’s entailment. Austen finds ways for her characters to claim whatever little independence they may have, but ultimately, each tale is concluded with a marriage, as though women could posssess no other prospects.

Women are depicted in both the novel and the era as delicate. Lady Catherine suggests that “young women should always be properly guarded and attended, according to their situation in life”, which stesses that delicacy (Austen 14). Women are not seen as capable of taking care of themselves. Mrs. Bennet’s supports this by saying she will not see Lizzy if she refuses Mr. Collins. It is not only in Mrs. Bennet’s nature to say such a thing in order to have Lizzy married, but she is also indicates her power as a dominant figure in Lizzy’s life. Ultimately, however, it is Mr. Bennet that dismisses the incident by suggesting that if Lizzy does marry Mr. Collins he will not see her.  Basically, Lizzy has hardly any power in this situation as an unmarried woman, but Mr. Bennet surely does. As said by Miss Bingley, an accomplished woman “must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages to deserve the word” (Austen 48). This is a highly sexist claim, for our time, yet for theirs it is exactly what was expected of women. Women could take no job, and even working as an author, for a woman of Jane’s class, was improper.

Marriage in Pride and Prejudice highlights the notion of love and rejects loveless marriages. It is important to note, however, that this notion was very unlikely of the time. In fact, even courtship as it is described in the novel is almost unusual. It would be highly improper for an unmarried young Lady to spend any time alone with a man who was not her husband, her intended, or a relative. Consequently, the coincidences which permit Darcy and Elizabeth’s private audience would be highly unlikely during the Regency period. In retrospect, the relationship between  Bingley and Jane, which has no private audiences until Bingley proposes, is much more commonly accepted. There are “very careful restrictions surround courtship behavior, such as a limit on the number of times an unengaged couple can dance together at a ball” (Clark 156). This is the reason why Elizabeth and society is bewildered at the Netherfield ball, when Darcy “danced only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and… more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a partner” (Austen 119). Typically this would be the most plausible time for a connection to be made between a man and a woman, as it proves to be for Jane and Bingley. In fact, balls are paradoxically almost as private audiences as men and women were allowed to have before marriage. That was also the closest they were expected to get to each other. The notion of dating was nonexistent.

 

 

 

 

 

It can be assumed that “Jane Austen’s novels can be read as supporting the conservative view of woman’s role as ideally that of wife and moral guardian, and that the romance of Pride and Prejudice works as a compensatory fantasy for women’s importance” (Gao 385). Elizabeth does rebel against these notions of marital expectations, but she does so within the acceptable limitations of society. She is still proper and calm about her rejections, maintaining a lady-like behavior. Austen presents the notion of true love through Darcy and Elizabeth, “which overcomes class boundaries and prejudices” (Gao 384), and rejects societal expections and assumptions about marriages. While she still exhibits them and their consequences, the only truly acceptable and rewardable marriage is one that “is arrived at the combination of physical life and mental life” (Gao 384). It is not until Elizabeth grows to love Darcy that she accepts his hand, despite his offer of wealth. As such, love and its consequences become the essence of the novel’s critique on societal expectations on women. Problematically, however, Elizabeth is concluded in the final chapter of the novel as “Mrs. Darcy” (Austen 259), which constraints the fierce protagonist to the role of Wife. This ultimately suggests that at the end of the day, regardless of the story behind each woman’s marriage, society’s perception of her will remain objective. Society will always speak of her as Mrs. Darcy, the woman who married rich and ‘above’ her class, rather than Elizabeth Bennet, the woman who found love through a journey of mutual learning. This leaves the reader to inspect that this notion of love will never be shared by 19th Century society, as it is between Jane, Elizabeth, and Austen.