Pride and Prejudice Essay

Love is the only thing worth fighting for
Matrimony is like a flame about to light a candle. If you try to rush to the candlestick, your flame will burn out with ease. If you put too much pressure behind the lighter your flame will raise, but will burn out before you reach the candle. It is up to you to find the perfect balance so that the flame will not burn up. That flame represents love. If your flame is huge it will over shadow your lover and will not lead to a great marriage if one person is more in to the marriage than the other. If your flame is too small your feelings for your partner are based on nothing. With no base your marriage will fan out. If you have found that one flame which can last forever then you have found the flame of love. In the novel Pride and Prejudice, there are many different perspectives of marriage. In a prudent marriage, you are only getting married because it will benefit both partners; there is no love just contentment. In a mercenary marriage, a person is only in it for the money or other selfish rewards. Austen is stating that a marriage based on love is the only marriage that will make you happy and last a lifetime.
A prudential motive is a marriage based on practical common sense. There is nothing you find appealing in your partner, but you have reasons on getting married. This marriage lacks the infinite passion that love brings; it only has logical motives that make sense in the both of you getting married. The author points out by having Mr. Collins demonstrate a typical proposal of a prudent marriage to Elizabeth:
“My reasons for marrying you are, first, that I think it is the right of every clergyman in easy circumstances to set the example of matrimony in his parish…I am convinced it will add greatly to my happiness...that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honor of calling patroness” (Austen 101).
Mr. Collins deeply lacks passion in his proposal. He did not once speak of Elizabeth and how it may or may not greatly increase her happiness. He only talks about how it will help him in life because every clergyman should marry. The esteem Lady Catherine thought it would be a good idea for Mr. Collins to marry Elizabeth. Collins only states how he is going to love and never explicitly states how he will love Lizzy.
Unlike her best friend, Charlotte just wants to married and a sense of security in knowing she has finally gotten married. She knows that she is not handsome, so she is desperate and willing to marry anyone who proposes to her. Charlotte “without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage has always been her object” (117). Charlotte wants to secure her lasting happiness. She just wants to live in a big estate, in a quaint little village, and wealth. As long as she has all of these possessions she will remain content and safe. She will never know the effects of true happiness that comes from of loving marriage. Charlotte has sacrificed her feelings for society’s views of happiness.
With no feelings in the relationship, the flame begins to flicker before it reaches the alter. With no genuine love between the partners, the flame is too weak to survive in the world. The flame snuffs out and shall never ignite again; as long as the relationship remains in prudency.
A mercenary motive is a motive that pertains to money or other rewards beneficial to one partner; love has nothing to do with it. This motive is just like a mercenary paid to accomplish one thing only, nothing else matters. Just like a mercenary people who are involved in this motive accomplish that one thing, but will soon lead a vexed life as they now have nothing to live for or look towards for the rest of their lives. Wickham is an example of this kind of motive as he elopes with Lydia. He cannot marry a girl without money because he cannot afford. He is not willing to sacrifice to reach happiness. All he wants is to be free of debts. When Darcy pays off all his debts and sets him up for a job, Wickham feels obliged in marrying Lydia because he can still get more money by marrying her. In the beginning Wickham had no intention to marry Lydia but just like a mercenary he was solely in it for the money. Wickham realizes the facts “that there elopement was on by her own strength of her love rather than by his” (295). Lydia now loves Wickham but he does not feel the same way. Now for the rest of his life he has to live with an overbearing wife who will nag him about loving her, for the rest of his days.
With one feeling of love, the flame is huge but it will over shadow your lover and will not lead to a great marriage if one person is more in to the marriage than the other. Since there is no balance there is no connection between the partners. As there is no balance within the flame it will become unstable and burst into nothingness.
A motive based on love is what will lead to a true life of happiness. This is what everyone in our society today wants to achieve. They want a marriage based on love that can be shared for a lifetime. To truly achieve this happiness someone has to be willing to sacrifice for the other. That is what our society is failing to realize, if no one is willing to sacrifice than they cannot have the marriage they always wanted.
Darcy and Bingley are perfect examples of people willing to sacrifice themselves for what they believe in; both of them had suffered to fall in love. Bingley has disappointed his sister by loving and marrying someone who is below the social hierarchy. Bingley loved Jane enough to be ridiculed by his family and to have his social status tarnished. He believes that Jane is worth all of this and more proving he would do anything just to be with Jane. Darcy seems to disappoint a lot of people as well. Darcy has proposed to Lizzy and got rejected, has always stayed humble and has never done any mercenary deeds. Darcy goes against his aunts word, Lady Catherine, who hade forbade him to interact with Lizzy. And then sucks in his pride to propose again to Lizzy. He has gone through so many hardships only to be related to the person to Mr. Wickham. Plus Darcy has plummeted down the social chain, because he has suffered so much he can now reap the benefits by having “the one” girl who was meant for him. This true happiness can be seen when Elizabeth says, “I am happier even then Jane; she only smiles, I laugh” Austen (355). Elizabeth states how happy she is and how Darcy makes her feel complete.
When one has sacrificed so much for the relationship and both lovers are happy with one another and feel the burdens of each other; that is when this motive can be called love. There have been turmoil in the relationship and plenty of laughs along the way. They are marrying for way more than personal gains and are feeling far from content, when they are around each other. Like a flame, this perfect balance can be made and shared with the world. Without a flicker of doubt or hesitation, the flame makes its way to the church’s alter. When the flame is set upon the candle; it changes from a flame into a roaring fire burning brightly so that the world can see the effects of true love. As the two lovers join together in holy matrimony.