Love And Marriage In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

With more than 20 million copies sold since its publication in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has become a classic among readers, capturing the idea of love and marriage in the 19th century. Jane Austen, the author of the novel, tended to use personal experiences as inspiration to shape each character’s personality in this fictional novel. By giving each fictional character a character trait of someone she knew personally, Jane Austen was able to create such a realistic and believable novel. When forming each character, Jane encorporated views that both went along with and challenged the social norm at the time, such as with the differing ideas on love and marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen used personal experiences throughout the traditional 19th century to shape the viewpoints evident in both Charlotte and Elizabeth on love and marriage and use their opinions as social criticism. Much like the traditional views of the 19th century, Charlotte Lucas believed that marriage was based solely on security and not on true love. She believed, “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or even so familiar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterward to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life” (Austen 30). This