Marriage In The Romantic Era

Marriage in the Romantic era has been interpreted in the works of many female writers, who struggles with constricted gender stereotypes, for its true meaning for both men and women. Jane Austen, the writer of “Pride and Prejudice”, never got married; she remained an independent woman and never gave in or believed in the marriage stereotypes of her time. She pursued her career as a writer and made it her lifestyle. Jane is definitely using her writing skills to make a social criticism that marriage for the sake of marriage is not the road to happiness, but instead marriage should be a bond that connects two people who truly love each other. In her novel, Jane criticizes how women were treated. According to Jane, marriage should be a relationship in which a woman maintains independence of her intellect and ideas. During the Romantic era, a woman was useless and considered a “burden” to her parents unless she got married. The higher the spouse’s rank in society and the more money he/she has, the better the marriage union. Austen introduces several characters with different mindsets about marriage. In the novel, Austen introduces two best friends with very …show more content…
She explains throughout the story that independence of women and financial security could not have been obtained by women without a marriage to a wealthy man. The women of this society were doing everything in their power to search for the perfect husband, a man who is wealthy and socially high ranked, to insure a stable future for themselves. When a girl isn’t married until her 30s, people started to talk about how much of a burden she must be for her parents and go on on how bad they feel for her. In “Pride and Prejudice”, Austen uses Mr. Darcy to summarize the mindsets of women during this era: “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a