Dependence of Women on Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - Essay Example

Clinging to something often depends on one’s thoughts and the societal perspective. Often the society puts pressure on women to get married to acquire a stable title of “Mrs.” This, however, creates a lot of prejudice against them and subjects them to unnecessary pressure.The novel is arguably ideal as it outlines things that ought to be done and things that should be avoided in building relationships. The novel follows a romantic comedy genre. It concerns the prejudice of Elizabeth and the pride of Mr. Bennet. The setting follows the 1800 mindset where women's way of becoming wealthy was only through marriage and for their social status to increase they were obliged to get married.

  Notably, the effects of the middle-class social behaviors are depicted by the five adolescent daughters. Apparently, Bennet’s family was not blessed to have a son (Austen, 1812). The series of challenges Mrs. Bennet face was the failed marriage between her daughter Jane and Mr. Bingley. The main objective of Mr. Bennet is to see all her daughters get married. She made this her sole purpose to ensure her daughters are married and get a good life. The implications set by the character reinforce the theme of the book on women's dependence on marriage.

It should, however, be noted that it could be depressing if the objectives intended on the said marriage flops. As expressed by Jane “It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us” pg 24. This implies that assumptions on achieving proper marriage would be foreshadowed by earlier decisions. The intervention by Mr. Darcy on the love-desire of Mr. Bingley is foreshowed by his understanding that Jane was in for money. He, therefore, discourages Mr. Bigley from engaging Jane.

Earlier, the scenarios indicate how Mr. Darcy's character is known by Elizabeth because of the iconic attitude he often keeps. Hope was lost as the notion that Jane was in love with money created disconnection between the two families. The hatred harbored by Elizabeth makes her reject the proposal by Mr. Darcy. She was ignorant to know the truth hence rejected the proposal. However, she relays the truth about Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham. Elizabeth resorts, “You know not, how your words have tortured me” which pointed at her regret of the ignorance and decisions taken (Austen, 1812).

  The novel emphasis on the theme can be seen clearly based on the way different characters are introduced. The support on understanding women’s status in society is shown on how desperate Bennet’s daughters wanted to gain status in society by getting married. The quote, “single woman in search of a good fortune must equally be in want of a husband who has one!” is true as all the characters in the novel. The coverage of the different social settings covers the social problems that the young girls depicted.

For example, Jane was an optimist, Mary was an introvert, Lydia was flirty and ignorant, and Elizabeth was prudent (Austen, 1812).