At some point in life, we will consider love and marriage. Romance novels have been around for a very long time. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen talks about a mother called Mrs. Bennett wants all of her 5 kids; Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Catherine, and Lydia to get married. The story revolves around the multiple loves of the sisters. Jane and Mr. Bingley, a rich neighbor, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, a richer neighbor (whom she couldn’t stand before), and Lydia with Mr. Wickham, a soldier, who originally wanted revenge on Mr. Darcy, so he lied to Elizabeth about Mr. Darcy being rude and terrible. There is also a marriage between Charlotte Lucas, (a friend of the Bennets), and Mr. Collins. All the marriages happen pretty quickly, and there are only few based on true love. The question we really should be asking ourselves right now is; which is blind, love or marriage. To give some context, love being blind basically means that it does not really come out of our hearts and does not do pure good, and marriage being blind is just that people being married does not always happen for the better. With that being said, both have some sort of blindness to it, so let’s analyze which one is truly more foolish.
Love being blind is something that we can view from two of the Bennet sisters, Lydia and Elizabeth. Lydia and Wickham’s relationship in the first place was pure blindness, and Elizabeth’s blind prejudice of Mr. Darcy shows that their love isn’t really strong. Let’s take a dive in the relationship of Lydia and Wickham. She loves him, so she neglects her whole daily to run away with him, but in the end, he ended up just being a greedy man who wants nothing but power and money. This is clearly a one-sided love, because Wickham does not foster any actual ‘love’ for Lydia. Even Lydia, who had not known Wickham for a long time, chooses him over everybody else at the thought of them being together. That’s not love, it’s desperation. Elizabeth believed Wickham when he said all those things about Mr. Darcy without even trying to hear the other side of the story. If this is possible, how are we to believe their relationship won’t fall apart exactly this way? Even though they think they both love each other, the word ‘love’ cannot really describe their relationship. This is a blind decision that neither end thought through whatsoever.
Marriage being blind can be seen with the relationship of Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins. He’s not very smart, but does pretty well off, she’s extremely intelligent, but needs a husband who can provide for her. This marriage was out of convenience, and no matter what anyone may think, there is no mutual love in this relationship whatsoever. Let’s face it, they were both just using each other. Marriage is something that is supposed to tie the bond between two people who are willing to love each other no matter what, be there for each other, and all of that. We can clearly see that the Victorian Era likes to consider marriage as some sort of link between two ends, the provider and the worker. This basically means the provider is the breadwinner of the family, the man. The worker would be the woman, with her brains and beauty, eventually turning into some sort of housewife. A marriage should at least be two people respecting each other, but in this, Mr. Collins does not show some sort of respect or worship for Charlotte, which leads us to believe that marriage is blind. Although the marriages of the Bennet sisters may be out of love, there will always be the time when the man will tell the woman he no longer needs her, showing lack of respect, and that marriage is blind.
Although both of these opinions are well-based and have their own good reasons, I believe that the aspect that is more blind than the other would be love. This does not mean the modern, everyday romantic comedies we watch. In the Victorian Era, people think of love as something romantic, just as we do now. However, that’s not always the case, which is demonstrated by several examples in this novel. Not only does Lydia completely forget her whole family for this man she barely knew, he didn’t even like her. Wickham was greedy and foolish, showing how blind their entire relationship was. It is truly sad to see that Lydia had not gotten the one love she wanted, but this just proves that in life, family should come first. Although marriage has similar outcomes, some people at least admit why they are getting married, and if it’s just out of convenience. Let’s take Lydia and Wickham. He deceived her and got her to believe that they were meant to be, and that he ‘loves’ her, but does he really? We all know the answer is no. Not only that, but Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy claim to love so many things about one another, but this is towards the end, after all the drama between the two, who at the time, were only strangers? Women might be weaker than men, but they are not fools. They know what they need, which makes the general concept of love turn blind.
These things in romance about marriage and love count as blind, but this is not always the case. Let’s think about Jane and Mr. Bingley. They are the definition of a healthy relationship. They didn’t rush things, and really got to know each other. Their marriage is not out of some sort of convenience, even though there are technical benefits for both ends. Even though this is the case, that’s kind of how every marriage works, even those of pure love. I believe that although this story demonstrates that sometimes, love doesn’t work out and is just kind of weird in general, the author wanted us to realize that we can always stay optimistic, like Jane and Mr. Bingley, who have a rather healthy relationship, which is exactly what we want. In conclusion, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is an amazing novel that focuses on all aspects of love and marriage, whether it is positive or negative.
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