Consider the marriage proposals in Essay

Consider the marriage proposals in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† and what we learned about the characters and the early 19th Century society in which they lived in. During â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† there are six examples of marriage proposals to consider. Throughout this essay I am going to be commenting on the proposals between Mr Darcy and Lizzie the first time, Mr Collins and Lizzie, Mr Collins and Charlotte as well as Mr Bingley and Jane, Wickham and Lydia and the second proposal of Mr Darcy to Lizzie. Whilst looking at these proposals I will also be analysing the aspects of Love, Money, the relative status and class and the views of others, which might have influence within these proposals. The first proposal I am going to analyse is Mr Darcy to Lizzie. Mr Darcy proposed to Lizzie in Kent at Mr Collins and Charlotte’s house when Lizzie was visiting them for a few weeks and Mr Darcy was staying with Lady Catherine De Bourgh, his aunt. Mr Darcy and Lizzie were first acquainted with one another at Netherfield’s, which is the neighbouring estate to Longbourne, Lizzie’s family house. They met at a ball, which was held by the new lodger Mr Bingley at Netherfield’s, and Mr Darcy was there as a friend of Mr Bingley’s who hosting the ball for his new arrival to the village. Lizzie and Darcy didn’t get on at first as Lizzie thought he was arrogant and unsociable. But Mr Darcy’s dislike for Lizzie gradually grew to love for her. It seems that the continuation of this dislike was all a cover for his real feelings as he did not want to love or marry a woman who was beneath him in every state, money and status and especially the views of others would of discouraged him to act upon his feelings for Lizzie as he was thought of as much more superior to Lizzie and her family and at that time it was thought of as wrong or unheard of to marry someone beneath you. Mr Darcy did not only hide his feelings from Lizzie he also tried to hide them from himself. Mr Darcy gets to a stage where he cant avoid his feelings for Lizzie anymore so he decides to act upon them because Lizzie is so beneath him he assumes that Lizzie will have no other option but to accept his proposal as he feels that she can’t resist him as he has enough money and class to set her up for life. Mr Darcy says to Lizzie. â€Å"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings for you cannot be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.† However to Mr Darcy’s surprise Lizzie refuses his proposal as she will only marry for love and she doesn’t love Mr Darcy and she also is outraged with Mr Darcy at the insults towards her family. Just before the proposal Lizzie also found out that Mr Darcy had separated her sister and her love, Mr Bingley by persuading him to move back to London, which infuriates Lizzie even more. Lizzie says to Mr Darcy. â€Å"You are mistaken, Mr Darcy, if you suppose that he mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentlemen like manner.† This quotation showed how much Lizzie really despised him at that moment in time by questioning his gentlemen like manner, which was a big thing for men in those days. The second proposal I am going to look at is Mr Collin’s to Lizzie. Mr Collin’s proposed to Lizzie at Longbourne, the family estate. Mr Collins was a clergyman to Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Mr Collins asked Lizzie to marry him as Lady Catherine De Bourgh requested him too and as he is a clergyman he is expected to marry. Mr Collin’s also wants to marry her for the sake of her family, as Mr Collin’s is the closest male relative to Mr Bennet being his cousin, which meant that when Mr Bennet died Mr Collin’s would inherit Longbourne estate and Mrs Bennet and the girls would be kicked out of their own house so by marrying Lizzie they would become a proper family meaning he wouldn’t have to kick the rest of the Bennet family out. Mr Collins goes into the kitchen to talk to Lizzie. Lizzie knows Mr Collin’s will try and propose to her so she tries to get out of being alone with him but Mrs Bennet orders Lizzie to stay and talk to Mr Collins. Mr Collins tries to get Lizzie’s attention but Lizzie is trying desperately not to acknowledge him. â€Å"Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that your modesty so far from doing you any disserve, rather adds to your perfections.† Mr Collins takes Lizzie’s resistance the wrong way as he thinks Lizzie is trying to be modest where as Lizzie is actually trying to get out of this proposal before Mr Collin’s makes anymore a fool of himself. Even still Mr Collins carries on with the proposal assuming that Lizzie will accept his hand in marriage. Lizzie then says after much need for an answer. † You are too hasty- you forget I have made no answer.† Lizzie has become very irritated by Mr Collins at this stage, but Mr Collins is still not happy with this answer so he goes to find Mrs Bennet. Mr Collins explains the situation to Mrs Bennet and she is furious with Lizzie for turning down his marriage proposal and tries to reassure Mr Collins that she will change her mind. â€Å"Lizzie shall be brought to reason. I will speak to her about it myself directly. She is a very headstrong foolish girl and does not know her own interest, but I will make her know it.† This quotation shows how infuriated Mrs Bennet is with Lizzie as she turned down such an opportunity. Mrs Bennet is a very shallow woman as she wants her daughters married off as soon as possible because in those days it was thought the sooner all your daughters were married the better they were brought up or the more successful mother you had been. Mrs Bennet speaks to Lizzie about it but she is persistent she doesn’t want to marry Mr Collins, as she does not love him, she doesn’t have any affection for him. Mrs Bennet talks to Mr Bennet about the proposal to try and get Lizzie to marry Mr Collin’s but Mr Bennet is also against the wedding. In this proposal money doesn’t really play a part as Lizzie and Mr Collins are of about the same wealth. Love plays no role, as neither of them loves another although Mr Collin’s has great affection for Lizzie. Status plays a minuet role as Mr Collins has contacts, which are high up in society, but this is not enough for Lizzie. The views of others plays the biggest role in this proposal as Mr Collins only looked for a wife in the first place as he was told to be his patron, Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Mrs Bennet also was for the wedding, as she wanted her daughter to be married. The third proposal is Mr Collins to Charlotte. Mr Collins proposes to Charlotte as he wanted a wife and was turned down by Lizzie. He wants a wife because his patron, Lady Catherine De Bourgh requested him to get one, who is not too rich or pretty just a nice friendly woman who she can get along with and invite over for tea or dinner. After the refusal from Lizzie Mr Collins felt awkward staying with the Bennet’s so when he was invited to stay with Charlotte and her family who was Lizzie’s best friend he jumped at the chance. Charlotte was very happy about the new arrangements, as she was 27 years old and not married so in those days she was considered as ‘ on the shelf ‘ which meant this could be her last chance of marriage. Mr Collins proposed to Charlotte at Lucas Lodge, her family home. Charlotte accepted without any hesitation and couldn’t wait to make her news known. She went to tell her best friend, Lizzie first but Lizzie didn’t approve, as she knew her friend did not love him but Charlotte aired her opinions to her. â€Å"I am not romantic, you know, I never was I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr Collin’s character, connections and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast when entering the marriage state.† This quotation proves that Charlotte did not marry Mr Collins for love she married him for security. Lizzie is not satisfied with this but congratulates her still. When Mrs Bennet hears the news doesn’t believe it as she still thinks Mr Collins still wants to marry Lizzie. † God Lord! Sir William, how can you tell such a story? Do you not know that Mr Collin’s wants to marry Lizzie.† Mrs Bennet is very upset that Mr Collin’s has got engaged to Charlotte rather than Lizzie. In this proposal love doesn’t play any role for either of them and status doesn’t as they are of about the same class although Mr Collin’s has higher society connections than Charlotte. Money doesn’t influence the marriage, as there are both of about the same wealth where as the influence of others does as he is told be his patrons to find a wife. The next proposal I am going to analyse is Mr Bingley to Jane. Mr Bingley and Jane where a love match from the beginning of the book, when Mr Bingley moved into Netherfields, the neighbouring estate to Longbourne. Their love was blossoming until his best friend Mr Darcy talked Mr Bingley as he felt it was in his best interest. But Mr Bingley and Jane were united again when Mr Darcy saw the error of his ways, thanks to Lizzie Jane’s sister. The proposal took place in Longbourne estate. Mr Bingley after a few visits since after moving back asks Jane to take his hand in marriage however the actual proposal is not written in the book. Jane is ecstatic about the news and tells Lizzie. â€Å"I am certainly the most fortunate creature that ever existed! Oh Lizzy, why am I thus singled from my family, and blessed above them all! If I could but see you as happy!† This quotation shows how happy Jane is about the marriage but it also shows even though she is so happy she is still sparing thought for her family, as she wants them to be as happy as she is. In this proposal love plays a very big role as that is what drives the relationship forward to marriage, status doesn’t play a role although Mr Bingley is of a much higher class than Jane I think their love for each other conquers this. Money doesn’t play a role in this, as Jane isn’t interested in his money even though he has much more wealth than her. The influence of others does help them as everyone is for the marriage as they can see the true love between them. After Mr Bingley has left Jane speaks to her father about the marriage. â€Å"Jane I congratulate you. You will be a very happy woman.† This quotation proves the support for the wedding from Jane’s family and it also proves that Mr Bennet has great admiration for Mr Bingley. The next proposal I am going to analyse is Wickham and Lydia. Lydia and Wickham run away together. Wickham is only interested in Lydia because he had been turned down by many woman as they realised he was only after their wealth but with Lydia it is different she doesn’t have any money. He run away with Lydia because he wanted someone young he could have a good time with. But when Mr Gardiner, Lydia’s uncle asked him, to marry her he accepted as Mr Gardiner offered to pay off all his debts if he married her as it would redeem some respect towards them from others as they would be married. Mr Gardiner wrote to Mr Bennet to tell him what had happened, later Mr Bennet talked to Jane about the situation. â€Å"Yes, yes, they must marry. There is nothing else to be done. But there are two things that I want to know: one, how much money your uncle has laid down to bring it about; and the other, how I am I ever to pay him.† This quotation shows that Mr Bennet thinks marriage is the right thing to do but is very concerned about how he shall pay back the money to Mr Gardiner. In this proposal love doesn’t play a role for Wickham as he doesn’t feel any consideration or affection for Lydia but I think Lydia loves Wickham and is perhaps naive enough to think that he loves her back. Money plays a huge role for Wickham as he is only going to marry Lydia for the money he is going to receive from her uncle, which will pay off all his debts it also means that he will be related to Jane and Lizzie who are married to very wealthy men. Status and the views of others play no role for either of them as they ran away together regardless of what other people thought. The last proposal I am going to look at is the second proposal between Mr Darcy and Lizzie. After the refusal of his last proposal Darcy has done all he can to get back into Lizzie’s good books. He got Mr Bingley and Jane back together after separating them. Mr Darcy was also really hurt by Lizzie’s remark to him after she refused his hand in marriage. † Had you behaved in a more gentlemen like manner.† This hurt Mr Darcy as he felt he was a perfect gentlemen but when he looked back at how he behaved towards Lizzie and her family he realised he had behaved appallingly. However Mr Darcy still felt the same about Lizzie he even felt he loved her more and he now thought that nothing else mattered so he decided he would ask Lizzie for her hand in marriage again. Mr Darcy went to visit Lizzie as his aunt, Lady Catherine De Bourgh had come to see her and warn her off from marrying Mr Darcy although Lizzie didn’t intend too as she thought all feelings for her from Mr Darcy were over by then. Lady Catherine De Bourgh tried to stop Lizzie from marrying Mr Darcy. â€Å"You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and him the contempt of the world.† Lizzie was agitated at such a comment as she had no intention in marrying Mr Darcy as she had not spoken to Mr Darcy for months but this made her think about her real feelings for Darcy, she discovered that from hate she had started to like Mr Darcy even love him. Mr Darcy proposed to Lizzie on a lane outside her house. Lizzie accepted his proposal and showed remorse for how she treated him in the past. Mr Darcy was overwhelmed by her answer. â€Å"The happiness which this reply was such as he had probably never felt before, and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do!† This quotation shows how strongly Mr Darcy felt for Lizzie, as he was so happy from her acceptance in his hand of marriage. Lizzie was so excited by the marriage that she went and told her family straight away. She spoke to Mr Bennet and he wasn’t so sure if Lizzie loved Mr Darcy as it wasn’t so long ago she hated him, he wanted to make sure that Lizzie wasn’t marrying him for his or her mother’s sake. â€Å"My child let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about.† This quotation is basically Mr Bennet saying to Lizzie that it might be great at the moment but make sure you still will feel the same way in the later future as he is saying that he doesn’t want her to end up like him not respecting his partner, Mrs Bennet. This shows how protective Mr Bennet is over Lizzie, as he only wants her to marry if she is sure it is the right thing to do. In this proposal love plays a big role as it alimented all the other aspects as they loved each other so much in the end that it didn’t matter how much money they had, what status they were and they definitely didn’t care what other people thought about the marriage especially as Mr Darcy was disowned by his aunt Lady Catherine De Bourgh due to his marriage to Lizzie. But Mr Bennet and the family where very pleased for Lizzie as they knew it was for love. Lizzie and Jane had a joint wedding, which made it more special for both of them. In the 19th Century marriage was thought of as a must for women and if you were over the age of 26 years old you were considered as ‘on the shelf’, which made it hard for woman to get married over that age. There were also many issues that a woman had to think about before they got married, whether they were in love which wasn’t a major issue but it was though of as a bonus if they were. Money and status played a huge role in deciding who to marry, rich men went for women of the same class or a bit higher which made it difficult for woman of a lower class or without much wealth to marry a wealthier or higher classed man. It was thought of as unethical to marry someone beneath you in any state. The influence of others played a big role in those days as people were put under a lot of pressure to get married as soon as possible and to someone higher up the society ladder. As you can see the attitudes to marriage in the 19th Century in which these characters lived in is very different to the attitudes in which we live in today.