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Thematic Essay Marriage

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Abdul Ayinde
HUM 226 01
Dr. Akassi
21 June, 2018

The opening line in the book The Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen goes, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Essentially, it was believed that for a man to reach the epitome of his life, he must acquaint himself with a woman. As this ideology is heavily revisited in the book, each scene either ties to or compliments this theme. As it relates to the time period that the book was written it is fair to comprehend the notion of marriage being looked at as very huge milestone. The English Regency was between the time period of 1811 and 1820 where there were various practices incorporated within society that …show more content…

For example, it was frowned upon for a man to allow a woman to walk on the outermost part of the street. That was a representation of a lack of care on the males part to protect the woman he was walking alongside. In a ballroom setting, which just so happens to be the holy grail of an individual soul searching for a soulmate or spouse, a woman could not turn down the opportunity to dance with a gentleman as she was deemed to be rude. It was every man’s duty to make sure that any lingering women who were not accompanied by someone was not left alone. Though society does not allow women of a higher class/ranking to have a profession, the majority of women are to be ‘accomplished’ in areas such as reading, writing, singing, dancing and playing music. Ironically, they are required to know how to do these things yet women can not earn their own income. The husband is the breadwinner which means women must rely on their spouse. As for unmarried women, they are to rely on their siblings for charity. Mrs. Bennet, who is one of the main characters in the book, is a mother of five unmarried children whose sole purpose is to make sure that all of her daughters are married off to different men as a result of societal expectations. She

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