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Unit 3- Research Paper
The research paper is one of the most important papers you will write this year. At the very
least, this should be 5 paragraphs; however, this is a good place to challenge yourself to write
more. You must include several sources listed on a Works Cited page, along with direct quotes
to support your points. You can write about anything you would like. I encourage you to choose
something you do not know a lot about because you do need to use outside sources. If you write
a paper about something you already have lots of knowledge about, it would not be
research. This paper should NOT contain your opinion or first-person point of view. Attached is
an example paper which may help you get started.
Student Name
Mrs. Penny
Honors English 12B
25 January 2015
CMW Link:
Patriarchal Pairings
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It is a common ending to fairy tales; the bride and groom join hands and gallop into the
sunset, cans clinking behind them that exclaim “Just Married”. Today, marriage is often viewed
as the happily ever after that rightfully concludes romantic novels and films. However, in the
Regency period, marriage took on an entirely different purpose. Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and
Prejudice, highlighted the patriarchal society of her time that viewed marriage as a financial
arrangement based on social class.
First comes love, and then comes marriage, right? Wrong. In the Regency period, this
elementary playground rhyme would more likely chime “first comes marriage, and then comes
happiness…maybe”. Because the society of this time period was completely different and much
more formal, men and women did not often marry for love. In fact, it is a rarity—a fantasy if you
will—that two of the four couples from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice married for love.
Marriage was a task in life to be fulfilled for financial stability, structured by the social class one
was born into. Back then, families associated only with others of a similar rank. To cross the
boundaries of social class was seen as improper, even forbidden. In the gentry’ class of the
Regency period, neither men nor women worked. The way one came into money was strictly
limited to two possibilities; inherit or marry into money. Women’s restricted rights limited them
from inheriting property or real wealth, leaving them with marriage as the brightest outlook for
financial stability. Therefore, marriage was seen as a task and a duty for both sexes. The opening
line of Pride and Prejudice presents this very idea, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a
single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” (Austen 29). It was seen
as a duty of young, wealthy men to marry and have children. This was how society functioned, the
Regency circle of life. Men and women of similar social rank were introduced, encouraged to
engage in company with a chaperone, and shortly a marriage proposal would follow. This was the
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only way for a young woman of this time to gain any independence, and even then, everything
was owned by the husband. One of the more practical characters from Pride and Prejudice,
Charlotte Lucas, discloses to Elizabeth that falling in love was a leisure to be obtained after a
marriage was secured. Charlotte explains that if love was at all even a part of a marriage, it came
after financial security. This shows readers how jaded the perspective of marriage was, even by
fanciful young ladies of the time. Ladies did not marry for money out of greed or materialistic
desire, but rather out of necessity for financial safety. Marriage truly was a financial arrangement,
and scarcely anything more.
Born in 1775, Jane Austen was one of seven children in a family that relished in ideas,
creativity, and deep thought. She published Pride and Prejudice, earlier titled First Impressions,
in 1799. Jane was born into the Regency period, a time in which marriage was seen as a social
and financial arrangement. This view of marriage was heavily reflected in Jane Austen’s work,
Pride and Prejudice. The very theme of Pride and Prejudice is marriage. The entire intent of
Mrs. Bennet is to find suitable matches for her five daughters, and all her thoughts and energy
are poured into the task. There are four marriages by the end of the novel—some for love, some
for money, and some to salvage a reputation. Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins married first.
Their match was founded on a need from each individual. Mr. Collins needed a wife to please his
patroness, Lady Catherine, and Charlotte needed a husband so that she may find stability and
move out of her parent’s home. Next came the marriage of Mr. Wickham and Lydia. After
running away together, the only thing that could save Lydia’s reputation, and gain Wickham an
income, was a patched up marriage. Following this event, came the happy joining of Jane and
Mr. Bingley. They married each other despite financial and social status because they were in
love. Finally, the whole book is resolved with the marriage of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, who
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marry for love despite the forces against them, similarly to Jane and Bingley. Although Pride
and Prejudice was Austen’s most popular novel, it was not her only work that focused on
marriage. In fact, many of Jane’s books centered on the theme of marriage, teaming with issues
that contradicted it, such as family, society, and money. This theme was so central because it was
the life goal of any young lady in the Regency period. “One way for families to rapidly
accumulate capital was through advantageous marriages…with women’s increased dependence
on marriage for financial survival, made courtship a central focus of women’s lives” (Lucy
Sheehan). It was only natural that this historical context of women’s worries came to life in
Austen’s novels. Because women depended on the outcome of courtship to determine their
future, it consumed their thoughts and actions in life entirely. The internal and verbal dialogue of
the Bennet daughters in Pride and Prejudice reflected this female struggle and mind set from the
Regency period.
Noting back to that nursery school rhyme, “first comes love, then comes marriage”, we
find ourselves approaching marriage in modern American society. In today’s day and age,
marriage has become a much more complex subject then it was in the Regency period. Things
like divorce or same sex marriage did not exist in that era. However, they are increasingly
common today. It is much more common that you now see a couple getting married because they
are in love, as opposed to marriage out of arrangement or necessity. This is because society and
gender roles have drastically changed. In 2015, if a female in her twenties wanted to move out,
create a career, and push marriage off, she absolutely could. Women can now be financially
independent, and therefore marriage is no longer seen as a financial arrangement. Class rank and
structure are not as formal or strict anymore either. Today, marriage is focused on happiness, for
that is seen as the goal of marriage. Rather than marrying because it was expected, and staying
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married because there was no better option, people are now marrying when and if they want, and
getting divorced more often. The societal expectations of marriage have drastically changed,
because it is no longer a means for survival or seen as the ultimate life goal for most individuals
of this century. In modern America, marrying for financial stability is exceedingly rare, and the
societal ways of the patriarchal, Regency period have faded.
Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, presented marriage as a task where it is now
seen as an option. With the marriage of Charlotte and Mr. Collins, we see the reality, and are
fancied by the fantasy of Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage. Through the dialogue and interactions
of her characters, Austen proves the marital intents, the financial needs, and social restraints of
the Regency period.
Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2010.
Print.
Inside the American Couple. University of California, n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2015.
.
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Sheehan, Lucy. “Historical Context for Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.” Historical Context
for Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Columbia College, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2015.
.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Pride and Prejudice Theme of Marriage.” Shmoop.com. Shmoop
University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 25 Jan. 2015. .
Warren, Renee. “Jane Austen Biography.” Jane Austen Biography. N.p., 2 Jan. 2015. Web. 23
Jan. 2015. .
…
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