PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Pride and Prejudice: Marriage

Pride and Prejudice: Marriage

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire in 1775. Jane was the fifth child in a family of seven. She started writing at an age of 12. She was sent to a private school where the education was good and she also had extra support from her father to improve her education and literacy ambition. Jane never married during her life and she was a very independent woman. This was considered bad in these times because women were meant to marry like in Pride and Prejudice, Mrs Bennet is always going on about getting her daughters married. This was because Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice in the same time period she was in. Overall Jane wrote six novels in her life and the most famous of the six was her 3rd novel "Pride and Prejudice" which is very well known today. The thing that was important in 1813 was the attitudes towards love and marriage. This was so important in Jane's time and in Pride and Prejudice because in the 19th Century woman were supposed to marry and have children. In Pride and Prejudice the opening is chapters 1-4.( Miles, 2003)

The attitude towards woman in Pride and Prejudice was that they must have husband and get married during their lives. This was so important because it was not right in those times not to be married. They must also have kids so they could carry the family on when they die. There is a quote in the opening chapters that's says "The business of her life was to get her daughters married" which means that her aim in her life was to get all her daughters happily married. Women wouldn't work in those days because it was wrong. Instead they would play piano or other instruments, sew e.t.c. There are examples of this in Pride and Prejudice in the opening chapters because it mentions that the girls are always at home either sewing, playing piano or taking walks in the garden. The husband always ruled over the wife and is the master of the house. There are examples of this in the opening chapter in Pride and Prejudice when Mr Bennet lets the girls go to a dance he says "You and the girls may go, or you may send them by themselves". This shows that the Husband is ruler and gives permission even to the wife. Good breeding was a very important thing in those days. In Pride and Prejudice Mrs Bennet was very keen to get the girls married to a man who makes 4-5 thousand a year. This is because it would be very good for the family socially and marrying someone rich would be good breeding. The quote Mrs Bennet says is Oh! Single my dear, to be sure! A man of large fortune four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls.( Rogers, 2006)

At the same time Elizabeth begins a friendship with ...