Examine the view that marriage is an economic proposition for women.
Marriage is an economic proposition for the aristocratic class since they had the economic means to
use money as a trade within marriage. Men had the choice to marry for wealth to secure future
inheritances and gain a more affluent lifestyle, however women had no choice but to view marriage
as an economic proposition as Pride and Prejudice and The Penelopiad are set in time periods
(Regency era and Greek Mythology based around 3000 to 1100 BCE) where women had no power
over their own income, therefore marriage was an economic proposition as it was the only way
women would be able to have a level of financial security.
The Regency period emphasised the need to marry according to equal economic status, influencing
Austen’s portrayal of marriage throughout Pride and Prejudice, where socio-economic status is a
prevalent need for the aristocracy. The novel begins “It is truth universally acknowledged, that a
single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” The adverb ‘universally’
demonstrates this societal knowledge during the Regency Period that it was expected that a wealthy
man should marry a wealthy woman, essentially an economic proposition to accumulate the most
money. This is intentionally reflected in Pride and Prejudice by Austen as a criticism of the Regency
era that she lived, in which she suggests that marriage should not be based on wealth, but love.
Moreover, this can be emphasised through the conscious placement of this criticism at the forefront
of the novel which demands attention and sets the tone for the rest of Pride and Prejudice
suggesting her criticism of marriage being an economic proposition will be illustrated throughout the
rest of the novel.
Although, Austen does not always present marriage as an economic proposition as demonstrated in
the sentence ‘a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife’ this suggests
the link between a man and wealth leads to the need for marriage and that women were just on the
receiving end of the marriage therefore it was not something sought out only by women but also by
men. In Charlotte and Elizabeth: Multiple Modernities in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” Moe
, reflects that marriage is action with the highest stakes’ the relation between marriage being of
‘highest stakes’ demonstrates imagery of gambling and therefore the risk of safety of money that
comes with gambling that holds the ‘highest stakes’. This emphasises the importance of securing an
economical marriage, especially for women, as it provides some type of financial security. Therefore,
a marriage that does not consider money can ruin a women's whole livelihood, making marriage an
'action with the highest stakes’. A Feminist interpretation would be that the ‘highest stakes’ were
really for women as they could not rely on their own income. When contemplating the position of
women during the Regency era, when women had to rely financially on their family for income if
they did not have a husband, therefore making women a more serious burden to their family. This
suggests that the ‘highest stakes’ are really only significant for women, as the pressure builds for
them to stop burdening their family and get married in order to find some financial security, making
marriage an economic proposition for women.
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood explores a similar idea, in that marriage is an economic
proposition for the rich ‘Under the old rules only important people had marriages, because only
important people had inheritances.’ The correlation made between ‘marriages’ and the noun
‘inheritances’ shows that the point of marriage was to increase one’s wealth, especially when the
concern over ‘inheritances’ only occurs when there is lot of money involved. If reading through a
Feminist lens, one might argue that ‘inheritance’ would be the concern of men due to patrimony,
that wealth would only be gained by men not women. However, women would be sought out for
marriage due to patrimony as they are the vehicles for more males to be created through
reproduction and for the family’s wealth to continue, therefore marriage would be an economic
proposition for men to carry on their patrimonial line and secure their wealth. Furthermore, The
Penelopiad is a contempory interpretation of Greek Mythology based around 3000 to 1100 BCE, so
the idea of patrimony would be prevalent due to women’s lower status in society in this time
showing that marriage is being demonstrated as an economic proposition for men.
