Love And Marriage In Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice

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on reading the novel, one begins to understand that LOVE and MARRIAGE are an integral part of the plot.. This is evident in the very opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice; "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

The statement cleverly states three things: Austen declares that the subject of the novel will be courtship and marriage, she establishes the humorous tone of the novel by taking a simple subject to elaborate and speak intelligently of, and she has prepared the reader for a chase in the novel of either a husband in search of wife, or a woman in pursuit of a husband. It manages to present a miniature version of all that happens over the course of the novel, the entire plot of which is basically concerned with the pursuit of advantageous marriage by both male and female characters. As Shampa Roy said- “The consciousness of the narrator obviously does not share belief in this ‘universally ...

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of marriage works. Her simple, yet witty, style expresses her opinion on all this clearly enough by the fact that only her silliest characters have such strong sentiments –be it Lydia, the ‘silly and ignorant’ girl who thinks marriage is a mode of social success or Mrs. Bennet, a foolish woman who talks too much and is obsessed with getting her daughters married.

In a conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, we begin to understand this.

``What is his name?''

``Bingley.''

``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!''

After the first and most obvious ...

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