Young Adult Fiction.: Pride and Prejudice Gets Married

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Pride and Prejudice Gets Married

The women of Pride and Prejudice are much different from the modern woman of 2020. In today’s bustling world, everyone is expected to work, and in order to survive in the expensive world of today, women find themselves needing, and wanting, to work. I think this fostering of independence and creativity is at the heart of the differences in the marriages we see in Pride and Prejudice. The marriages of Elizabeth and Jane to Bingly and Darcy are marriages in order to keep their lives comfortable and stable. With the entail on the Bennet estate, the Bennet sisters need to find husbands who are able to give them the lifestyle that they desire and are accustomed to. Today, women marry, if they choose to, for different reasons. This issue of being taken care of is not something that women are so focused on because women have the ability to take care of themselves. When women were forced into the workforce, it required them to think outside of the box and when they were able to have that confidence, they realized that they could do anything on their own. When women were able to live on their own, without the necessity of a parent or a husband the dynamic of marriage was able to shift to one of love rather than necessity. While I believe that Jane and Elizabeth did love their husbands, the only reason that they were put together was because of this financial aspect and the stability that the men provided to the women. However, not all marriages are made out of money, some are made out of necessity. We see this in Charlotte’s case when her biggest fear is that of being alone forever. This shows the reader that independence is not a positive quality in this novel. Independence is a sign that the woman was unable to get married rather than choosing to be single. Again, this is different from the average purpose of marriage in 2020. Women are proud to be alone and would, for the most part, rather be alone than be stuck in an unhappy marriage because of the status that the marriage would give her.

1 comment:

AnonymousMarch 8, 2020 at 7:47 PM
This is a very interesting topic to discuss as it does highlight a key difference between time periods. Pride and Prejudice is considered a feminist novel for its time, but to readers now it can seem outdated or old-fashioned. Though our present-day culture still assumes that everyone will get married and have children, the expectations and timeline for many families have changed drastically.Though I have enjoyed reading this novel and learning about the past culture, I'm proud to see the changes that have occurred. Women are now encouraged to work and pursue their own lives independent of any partner they may or may not have. Thank you for bringing up this subject!
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