Pride And Prejudice By Jane Austen

In addition to financial struggles, women during the eighteenth century faced social pressures from family members and the community. Marriage was the only escape from spinsterhood, which was looked upon as dishonorable (Teachman). For Jane Bennet, social pressures influenced her entire relationship with Mr. Bingley. Introduced at the beginning of the story, Mr. Bingley was considered the most amiable bachelor for the young ladies due to his wealth and high social stature. Immediately after meeting, Jane becomes head over heals for Mr. Bingley, which to many is romantic and can be seen as the “perfect” match. Yet in Jane Austen’s perspective, Jane’s infatuation with Mr. Bingley is too hasty to be consider actual love. Austen created

Wickham. Following only her aspirations, Lydia ignored her financial responsibilities to her family and completely disregarded practically in order to gain the social benefits that come with marriage, such as being respected as an adult. Jane Austen added Lydia’s hasty elopement to contrast Charlotte Lucas’ sensibility behind her martial decision. Charlotte’s marriage can be considered the safe option whereas Lydia’s could be considered social suicide due to the fact that it caused family woes and could have potentially ruined the Bennet’s reputation if not for Mr. Darcy’s anonymous intervention. In addition, Lydia’s marriage allowed the audience to understand the importance of reputation within society. When Lizzie learned that Lydia had run away with Wickham, she was immediately concerned with her family’s notoriety, not with her sister’s happiness as most people today would be. The honor of the family was always more prominent than the feelings of the individual, yet Lydia did not have any apprehension for the hardships her family could have faced due to her spur-of-the-moment decision based on passion. While this passionate union caused family woes, it purposely allowed the audience to interpret the superiority of Lizzie and Darcy’s marriage, which consisted of true love, mutual respect, as well as responsible and sensible passion. Whereas Lizzie and Darcy had passion for one another, Wickham’s passion was driven by wealth while Lydia was enchanted by the idea of being a married