Jane Austen's General Vision and Viewpoint on Marriage

Jane Austen's General Vision and Viewpoint on Marriage

    Marriage is a very important part of the novel Pride and Prejudice and is basically what the whole book is centered around. The women do not have one conversation that doesn't revolve around men and trying to find a husband. Austen saw marriage in many different ways depending on the woman.      The more silly women in the novel seem to fall for men who could charm them and don't consider what would happen in the long term if they married them. This is shown when Lydia marries Wickham. Lydia truly believes herself and Wickham are in love and doesn't think about how her marriage to him would effect both her family and herself in the future. She cannot see past his tricks as she is so infatuated by his looks and charm. This is an example of a bad marriage in the novel and it is clear from it that Austen thinks that women cannot only think of love when getting married, but have to think about their families and their futures. 

   The more serious and practical women in Jane Austen's novel think about the money and the future when getting married and force themselves to ignore the fact that they will never find true love. Austen seems to think that money is a very important part of marriage in order to secure a future, however it is not everything that a marriage revolves around. We see this in Charlotte's marriage to Collins. It is clear that Charlotte was trying to run into Collins in a private place in the hope that he would propose to her as she realises that she is getting older and that she needs to marry someone soon if she'll have any chance of getting a husband at all. She marries Collins for security alone and does not love him or want to be around him. She tries to avoid Collins as much as possible, encouraging him to visit Lady Catherine or to tend to the gardening, showing us that she does not love him. The only chance of true love that Charlotte will now have is if she has a child who she can devote herself to entirely. This type of marriage, in Jane Austen's is more sensible than marrying solely for love, yet does not make a good marriage.
   There are few examples of good marriages in the novel, one of them being Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy. Elizabeth realises that she loves Darcy after seeing his house at Pemberley. This shows that she took money into consideration when agreeing to marry Darcy. Also, when she saw this house, she realised just how much Darcy was offering her when he first proposed and began to see Darcy as a gentleman, leading to her falling in love with him. It is clear at the end that the two of them love each other very much and balance each others flaws. These are all signs of a good marriage making us sure that Elizabeth and Darcy are a good match for one another.  
   To conclude, Austen believes that a good marriage is a balance of both a stable income and love and respect for your spouse. This seems to be a very difficult balance to find as only a few women in the novel have achieved this good marriage; Elizabeth, Jane and Mrs Gardiner. These are also all the more kind and intelligent women in the novel. Is this indicating that intelligence in needed in a marriage also? I believe that it may improve a marriage but is not necessarily vital.