In Austen's era, marriage for women was less a matter of physical desire than it was of social position and financial security. In a letter written in 1861, Austen wrote, "Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor, which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony" (Gast, 1)
" "Is he married or single?" "Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" (Austen 10)
It is virtually as if he is reluctant to accept that Elizabeth can think correctly and ignores all of her ideas as he tries to emphasize her child-like thinking. "You must give me leave to flatter myself, my dear cousin, that your refusal of my addresses are merely words of course" (Austen 96)
The generation gap between her and her mother becomes more and more obvious as she demonstrates that she is able to act against her word and actually experiences success by doing so. This stands as proof with regard to how her mother was unable to understand that women could take on more independent roles because she was raised in an environment that did not support women as equals (Todd 426)
Elizabeth is obviously more intelligent than Collins, but in spite of the fact that she tries to opens his eyes with regard to the negative effects that outdated thinking can have on himself, he continues to believe that it is in his best interest to continue to think that needs to employ a hostile attitude toward women who contradict men. One can actually be inclined to believe that Collins' character is meant to emphasize the fact that society unjustly promotes a patriarchal system in spite of the fact that many presumably interesting men are not even able to put across rational thought when speaking with a woman (Kirkham xxvi)
First, the narrator points out that once she has nothing to focus on in her own life, she attempts to live through her sister,: "As Elizabeth had no longer any interest of her own to pursue, she turned her attention almost entirely on her sister and Mr. Bingley"(Austen, 265)
Another critic notes that this "new," novel heroine is also unconcerned with the architectural and design details that seemed to permeate other novels of the time. She writes, "Until Elizabeth reaches Pemberley, architectural issues seem only to be the preoccupation of comic and shallow characters who, presumably, do not have the resources of mind that would render such details less important" (Thornton)
However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters." (Austen 2)"Although Jane felt the need to show love as a proper means of marriage, she also understood the reality of marriage and its meaning
First impressions can even be made without actually meeting a person, and in fact this is how Pride and Prejudice opens. The first line of the novel, in fact, contains an assumption about just such an unmet character -- characters, really, although it is applied directly to one specific person -- which drives that action of the novel almost in its entirety: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife" (Austen, 5)
He proposes marriage, which she quickly refuses. Part of the reason for declining, says Johnson (Gray 348), is because Darcy proposes without giving much thought to whom he is proposing: Just as it is assumed that that a man who desires money would seek a wealthy wife, Darcy believes that a woman desiring fortune would accept a wealthy husband
.] [did you choose] to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?"(Austen, 125) the confrontation brings to light all the hidden tensions between them, and the frustrations connected with their pride and their partial thinking
. may think that Pride and Prejudice shows only stereotypes of women obsessed with marriage" (Kubitschek 237), yet this was a necessity in terms of the social expectations of the time
And by this I mean not a truth for women alone but what for Austen is a universal truth reflected more clearly in women's experience." (Morrison 337) This view implies that far from being a work that endorses the male perspective, through her characters Jane Austen reveals social prejudice and undermines sexual stereotypes
"Pride and Prejudice" is basically about how Elizabeth overcomes the obstacles in her life, such as a distant father, a mother obsessed with marrying off her daughters, ill-behaved sisters, as well as her own personal faults to find true love and romance. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" (Austen pp1)