Analysis on the Orientation of Marriage Value in the 18th-19th Century of England through Pride and Prejudice

"It is truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune,must be in want of a wife." Almost two centuries later,the deep impression on readers left by the opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice has not decreased because of their changing literary taste.Jane Austin,the author of Pride and Prejudice,was one of the famous realistic writers in English literature in the nineteenth century.Pride and Prejudice is Austin's representative work.There were no earthshaking events,no dreadful disasters,no sharp contradictions and no romantic legends in Authin's novels.Time and space were small in her novels.She wrote how a marriageable woman could find a satisfactory husband.She described many kinds of love and marriage of different women.She expressed her own original views of marriage in her works.In Pride and Prejudice Austin wrote four marriage types: ideal Elizabeth and Darcy,realistic Charlotte and Collins,felicitous Jane and Bingley,unhappy Lydiard Wickham.She pointed out emphatically economic consideration is the bonds of wedlock and love.She said marriage is not determined by property and family status.It is unwise to marry without money,but it is wrong to marry for money;the marriage settled by love is happy and ideal.The thesis explicates that Austin's view of marriage was progressive,advocated by her focus on the equality between men and women.She emphasized marriage should be of equal importance both by love and by economic consideration,but love plays the guiding role.She revealed the connotation of marriage.She also analyses the marriage value in the 18th-19th century.Her exposure is of great realistic significance to the society today.