Jane Austen Research Paper

Although the theme of achieving marriage is central in many of her novels, Jane Austen herself never married. Despite her unmarried state, young Austen, according to a neighbor, was a flirt: “the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembered” (Collins 110). Throughout her life, Austen had little trouble meeting men; her family was quite gregarious and had many acquaintances. For example, on the night of December 2, 1802, Austen was visiting Hampshire when Harris Bigg-Wither, a brother of Jane’s friend and a relatively wealthy man, proposed to her. Although Austen originally accepted the proposal, she changed her mind that night and left Hampshire abruptly. Later, Austen famously wrote via letter that, “Anything

In his The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, David Shapard notes that, “Marriages among the upper classes frequently involved people whose families were related… for such marriages could further strengthen the family ties that were so crucial in this society in determining power, wealth, and position.” (Shapard 645). Caroline Bingley, another foil to Elizabeth, embodies the accepted idea of marrying into one’s own social class. Caroline does not wish to be associated with Elizabeth and the Bennet family. She tries her hardest to stop a potential marriage between Jane and her brother simply because she wants her brother to marry Darcy’s sister, connecting the Bingleys with the Darcys through marriage. When Jane becomes ill at Netherfield, Caroline gossips about the Bennet daughters, trying to illustrate the Bennet daughters as badly as she can. Even the narrator describes Caroline as being “uncivil to [Elizabeth]” (41). While Elizabeth is fearless and does not easily back down, Caroline is obsequious to Darcy and, therefore, lacks an independence. Caroline's attempt to flatter and get Darcy’s attention are, at times, just absurd. When she sees Darcy reading, she “[does] the same” (37). While reading, Caroline yawns but then claims, “how pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!” (37). Ultimately,

Bennet, arguably the most sensible and in-touch character in Pride and Prejudice, is often harshly criticized. Although at times her efforts to get her daughters married seem absurd, her efforts only show that she cares about her daughters. She is someone who understands, and even embodies, the complete pragmatic and classical reasons of marriage. Just as Anse Bundren, in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, gets everything he wants at the novel’s ending, Mrs. Bennet quest to marry her daughters is very successful, with three of her five daughters married. Even though Austen could imagine a world in which people would marry for the right reasons, she was not oblivious to the classical role of marriage. Hazel Jones says, “all of her fiction highlights the very real tensions between marrying for love and marrying for social or economic advantage, the moral obligation of resting a loveless marriage, while never ignoring the necessity of a good income… there were many unromantic Charlotte Lucases out in the real world” (Jones 139). Ultimately, the Hursts, Palmers, Middletons, Rushworths were much more common in the world than the Darcys, Wentworths, or Knightleys were (Jones