That Someone

Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice depicts marriage as a business transaction. A successful CEO understands the short life opportunities have, granting little to no room for consideration sometimes. He is able to isolate emotion and morality and concentrate on the tangible profit. He also understands that great profit requires sacrifice and toil, objecting not to some suffering for many bucks.

According to these criteria, Mrs. Bennet makes an excellent CEO in her family management. Her business concentrates on finding suitable partners for her daughters. She has her checklist. If he is rich, agreeable and of high class he needs no more in winning one of her daughters. This is not completely unreasonable, for who would denny money and power for the rest of her life if the choice exists. But that alone is not enough. Mr. Collins mistakes Elizabeth for an ordinary girl and thinks that his ability to meet her mother's checklist will suffice. He asks for her hand in marriage and she denies his offer. To him this is far beyond his comprehension. He believes that he is worthy of her acceptance for his "situation in life, my connections to the family of De Bourgh, and my relationship to your own, are circumstances highly in my favor" (82). Her denial shocks him for he, as does Mrs. Bennet, fails to see beyond the stated. Their belief that money equals happiness is too strong to let them admire other possibilities.

Elizabeth then proves to be one of smartest characters in the novel. She understands what others don't. Marriage is possibly the most important decision one takes in life. It defines how your life will be, who you'll get to call "family", which face will lie besides yours every morning and much more. One can cope with a mediocre decision regarding friends, work, country and such things which are easily reversed. Marriage deals with so many components it must be thought throughly. If one marries money alone, the risk of being lonely and unhappy exists. If one marries beauty, its bliss is only temporary. If one marries personality alone, as harsh as it may sound, there will come a point where we long luxuries we once had and may easily despair. Every component has its effect. Money does too, and a great one to some, but not enough to stand on its own.

In Pride And Prejudice we encounter several relationships. Beyond individual details they convey a message. We are free to travel a path of our choosing which ultimately takes us to someone with whom we shall spend the rest our life with (in theory). That whom we choose will define our happiness to an important extent. Cases are infinite. To some that person may never come. To others, that person shall come only after years of search and dozens of relationships. Yet others, such as Jane, might find it in their first love. Elizabeth argues that we shouldn't settle in our lives. But when we find those people so unique whose company will come only once, we should think twice before letting go.