Recently I read some thing about Jane Austen, and her attitude towards marriage gave me a deep impression.

Jane Austen never married throughout her life. When Jane was 21, she was in love with a man; however, because of the social and family pressure, they didn’t marry. But it doesn’t mean that she was pessimistic about love and marriage.

In her books, the hero and heroine were first having some misunderstanding about each other. But with time passed by, they knew each other and felt in love with each other, and had a happy ending. Just like Jane Austen said that “My characters will have，after a little bit of trouble，all that they desire.”

Through her works, we can find that to Austen, love is not the only thing that matters in marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, the author pointed that marriage was a social affairs, and it was connected with material wealth and many other things. However, as Elisabeth said in this book “No love but with tens of millions should not get married”, this is the view of Elizabeth and is also Austin’s view. Elizabeth refused Darcy’s proposal at the first time, though Mr. Darcy was rich and noble, just like Austen refused the proposal of Harris Bigg-Wither, a wealthy young man. They both couldn’t bear to marry a man who they didn’t love. The difference is Austen gave her heroine a happy ending in the book, while she herself kept single throughout her life.

Austen despised the marriage without love, just like the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. But she also opposed to the marriage without economy basis. Love and material wealth are both indispensable in marriage.

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