No One Can Live Happy Without Love Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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No One Can Live Happy Without Love

Jane Austen uses her views from her life in her famous novel Pride and Prejudice.

In The Novel Pride and Prejudice, shows the difficulties of single women in search of a husband. Austen had many disagreeable opinions in her time about marriage. In the 1800's, England, marriage was all about wealth and social status. Austen had a different outlook on what marriage was suppose to be in her time, she wanted couples to marry for love. This is what Austen portrays in Pride and Prejudice; she first shows relationships only on wealth and classes. Then, later she shows relationships on true love and how they got to that point.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,"(5). Austen writes this in the beginning of the book, so she can suggest the purpose of marriage in England at that time.

In the quote it doesn't mention to fall in love before marrying. It just states what society expects you to marry for. Most couples in Pride and Prejudice generalize this quote, but not Elizabeth. Elizabeth thinks on her own, she refuses a marriage because of how she feels.

Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage is based on love, which slowing develops as they got to know each other. Darcy refuses to even dance with Elizabeth because of her looks, "tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me," (13). Darcy then realized he liked her personality after some time together, later in the story. Darcy's personality of rudeness and too much pride turned off Elizabeth. They both end up seeing each other's real personality and feel in love. Their relationship is exactly how Jane Austin thinks marriage should be.

Lydia and Wickham's marriage is the exact opposite of Elizabeth's marriage. They both run off together and elope. "They always contrive to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life,''(19). Charlotte says this because she thinks people should just start to get to know someone after marriage because there will be all the time in world to. This is what Lydia and Wickham did; they didn't take time to get to know each other, which is why there is no real love in their relationship. Their marriage is based only on attraction and social status. When Lydia got married, she was only 16, which she was young and naïve to any flaws of Wickham. In the end, they are both unhappy and want to get away from it all the time.

Mr. Bennets and Mrs. Bennets marriage shows what happens when a couple marries without love. Mr. Bennet just makes fun of everything and is always sarcastic; he also makes fun of his wife and insults her, which does not show love. Mrs. Bennet is always hysterical and only focuses on trying to wed her daughters. The only love in their marriage is the love for their daughters. Like most of the other marriages, Mr. Bennets marriage happened out of false terms. Even though they don't love each other they keep being married because they think that is how life is. To just to be married and have children to honor the family name.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1998