Pride and Prejudice introduces Mrs. Bennet, who looks forward to the arrival of the rich, young man, Mr. Bingley, who will hopefully marry one of her five daughters. During the ball, Mr. Bingley shows great affection to Jane Bennet, whereas Mr. Darcy now holds the reputation of a wealthy yet selfish and prideful gentleman. As Jane and Bingley's relationship rises upwards, Caroline Bingley shows extreme hatred and jealousy towards the Bennets. Later, Mr. Darcy finds himself falling for Elizabeth Bennet, although she despises him for various reasons: he prevented her sister, Jane, and Mr. Bingley from seeing each other, breaking their relationship; George Wickham, Mr. Darcy's former friend, had said that he stole Wickham's inherited money from his father's master, late Mr. Darcy. However, it is soon discovered from his apological letter that Mr. Darcy had only tried separating Bingley and Jane as he thought it unsuitable for his friend to get attached to the Bennet family with its lack of wealth. George Wickham is also found to be lying and spent all his inheritance partying. Meanwhile, Mr. Collins becomes engaged to Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte; Jane and Mr. Bingley happily reunite and marry; Wickham ends up married to Lydia Bennet, an unalert and naive girl; whereas Elizabeth accepts Mr. Darcy's proposal.
Marriage comes in a variety of advantages that one may not possess or hold by themselves. Although there are many different types of engagements, good and bad, there is always a benefit to at least one side of the marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte and Mr. Collins’ marriage isn’t seen as a necessarily happy future but has its own advantages to social status and wealth. To Charlotte, the engagement led her to ascend to a higher social class, as her family was poor from the start; this also helped her financial situation and social status. In addition, Collins’ large inheritance from Longbourne promised a stable future and home for Charlotte. She also agreed to the marriage for her family’s own good: she was afraid she would become a burden to her poor family and be seen as an unmarried woman. To Mr. Collins, he gained a decent reputation from his marriage, as he was near the brink of being a laugh to the town after getting rejected two times, by both Jane and Elizabeth Bennet; Charlotte’s acceptance of his proposal, however, saved him by an inch. Lady Catherine de Bourgh persuaded him to get a wife soon, and, following her commands, gained himself more trust from the top class of the society. Moreover, Collins and Charlotte don’t care much about each other looks and personality, as they both believe that a couple doesn’t need to possess deep love to marry. In other words, the two do match well as a couple because of their similar feelings and opinions. All types and varieties of marriages give benefits for one or both sides of the engagement, either concerning love or social uprises as in Charlotte and Collins’ relationship.
Although all marriages can offer great benefits, relationships with even the most unnoticeable imperfections will have disadvantages for the couple. Most marriages possess drawbacks that prevent a joyful future for the couple and each related family. In the novel, Charlotte and Mr. Collins’ marriage contains many flaws that can affect and influence their relationship in negative ways. For Charlotte, her main disadvantage is the fact that her husband isn’t quite smart or logical, especially for an intelligent woman. She is despised at Mr. Collins’ presence, and, as shown in the novel, purposefully sets her drawing room separate from her husband’s studio. Furthermore, she also encourages Collins to work in the front garden while her own room is in the back of the house, to prevent seeing his face. Moreover, Charlotte must accept the fact that she has an extremely arrogant and bossy neighbor, Lady Catherine, and that her husband acts like her loyal servant, agreeing to whatever she says. Collins, on the other hand, doesn’t care much about Charlotte’s looks or personality, because he is sucked of all love and romantic interest for anyone. In addition, as stated earlier, he isn’t the smartest, and so doesn’t even notice Charlotte’s dislike for him. Marriages with flaws and imperfections can hold many disadvantages and drawbacks, that would most likely affect the relationship’s future.
Every marriage, even ones as flawless as Jane and Bingley’s, and as naive as Lydia and Wickham’s, must have at least one point where both sides match. Within a romantic relationship, the couple might match because of their similarities, or because of their differences. Charlotte and Mr. Collins’ marriage, in this case, is slightly compatible from both their large differences in personality and their similar opinions. Charlotte is intelligent but poor, while Mr. Collins is stupid yet wealthy; each side can make up for the other’s disadvantage: Charlotte for Collins’ stupidity, and Mr. Collins for Charlotte’s poverty. On the other hand, their similar feelings on love and marriage match them together well: they both believe that one doesn’t need love or romantic feelings to marry or support a certain relationship. Both sides of the engagement matched well together in a unique and slightly different way; although their future was most likely not a happy, romantic, or joyful one, Collins and Charlotte didn’t regret their own choices. In other words, their marriage is a stable, balanced one, where they don’t take true love into a big situation and mainly form a relationship for social benefits. The marriage between Charlotte and Mr. Collins is quite compatible in its own way and is an example of a stable relationship in society.
In Pride and Prejudice, many different marriages centering different social classes and characters are introduced, such as the engagements between Jane and Bingley, Elizabeth and Darcy, Lydia and Wickham, and Charlotte and Collins. The novel introduces a fairly unique, or different, type of marriage relationship, that is seen between Charlotte and Collins. Their marriage consists of benefits and drawbacks: they ascend in social status and wealth; however, love is scarce between the couple, and Charlotte must accept the fact that she now has an arrogant and bossy neighbor, Lady Catherine. Although the two weren’t in the same social class, they do in fact match in different ways. They each hold advantages that could make up for the other’s disadvantage: Collins for Charlotte’s poverty, and Charlotte for Collins’ stupidity. Moreover, the two both have the same opinions concerning love: that people don’t need deep love to marry. In other words, their similarities and differences both contribute to forming a stable and tolerable marriage.
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