Money and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice

Money and marriage are two important and closely-connected themes in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. According to Jane Austen, love is more important than money in marriage. When she was 26, she accepted a proposal by a man much younger and richer than her. But she declined the next day because she knew she did not love the man. She never received a proposal again and remained single all her life. But money is also an important issue. As indicated in the first line of the book: it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. So the proper time for men to settle is after they get enough money. Because middle-class women usually don' t go out to work and depend on their husbands financially, they are more concerned with money during courtship. There are four marriages in this book and we can see money matters in everyone of them.

The Darcy-Elizabeth marriage. It is generally accepted that Lizzy begins to love Darcy when she first visits Pemberley and feels it will be something to be the mistress of this huge estate. She is impressed by money as well as taste. After all, few men have a magnificent estate to impress their lovers. When Lydia and Wickham elope, Darcy saves the fame of the Bennets by buying Wickham into marrying Lydia. This helps his second proposal. Darcy can do this easily because that sum is no big deal compared to his 10,000 Pounds annual income. Two true lovers who complete one another make a good match; with a fortune they make a perfect one. That is probably why Austen lets Darcy to be the richest character in this book. The ending of the most famous love story in English literature is quite conventional: the prince and the princess live happily ever after in their castle.

The Bingley-Jane marriage. When the news comes that Mr. Bingley, a young gentleman with an annual income of 5,000 Pounds will be their new neighbor, Mrs. Bennet immediately plans to pair him with her favorite oldest, prettiest daughter--Jane. In the middle of the book, Bingley estranges Jane for sometime because her lower station.

The Collins-Charlotte marriage. Charlotte is Lizzy's close friend and six years older than Lizzy. She accepts Mr. Collins's proposal because he can give her a comfortable home although she does not love this ridiculous clergyman.

The Wickham-Lydia marriage. For Wickhame, this marriage is mainly about money. He elopes with Lydia to extort the Bennets and agrees to marry Lydia only after getting paid by Darcy. At first this marriage is kind of girlish fever to Lydia and she does not think too much about money, however, after marriage she often asks for financial assistance form Lizzy.

For further reading:

literature study guides: Pride and Prejudice, Sparknotes