Pride and Prejudice 1st Body Paragraph

In the early 1800’s, marriage is centered on financial obligations rather than the typical romance. Women are expected to get married and bring wealth to their family’s lives. The Bennets, especially Mrs. Bennet, has strong family values including the emphasis on marriage:  “She was a woman if mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughter’s married” (7). Mrs. Bennet’s whole purpose in life is to get her daughter’s married because she wants them to have financial stability; one of the reason’s that financial stability is important is because Mr. Bennets property is entailed to Mr. Collins and with a flip of a switch, this could cause financial instability. Charlotte marries Mr. Collins for his wealth but Elizabeth soon starts to see Charlotte’s happiness fading away: “And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself and sunk in her esteem was added the distressing conviction that it was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had chosen” (120). Elizabeth feels that Charlotte is humiliating herself in hopes of creating a strong economic backbone. Just like marriage is an important factor in a women’s everyday life, gaining a good reputation through marriage is also very important; whether a women marries or not influences her reputation. Mrs. Bennet wants her daughters to marry up to a man of higher class so that her girls along with her family can gain a better standing among others. If a woman did not marry, financial stability would not always be promised: “It is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you. Your portion is unhappily so small, that it will in all likelihood undo the effects of your loveliness and amiable qualifications” (104). When Mr. Collins proposed to Elizabeth and she turned his proposal down, Mr. Collins said that poverty would take out her loveliness if she rejects him, implying that the refusal of a proposal will bring about financial instability and emptiness. In the early 1800’s, the women’s economic security as well as maintaining a good reputation was essential; the man now became the dominant figure in society.