#1

  Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice makes light of the Victorian female's obsession and swift conclusions about love and matrimony.  From the very beginning of Austen's novel it seems that the concern of every female character is marriage.  Mrs. Bennet, her daughters, and all of their female friends are eager for the single Mr. Bingley to move into Netherfield.    Their eagerness stems from the desire for the Mr. Bingley to marry one of their available female daughters and friends. Not only is Mr. Bingley himself single, but he also brings his single friend Mr. Darcy into the company of these marriage eager ladies.  The arrival of these men puts the Victorian woman's making of suppositions about marriage on full display.  This Victorian characteristic is epitomized in Mr Darcy's statement about  Mr. Bingley's own sister, Miss Bingley's,  supposition about his attraction to Elizabeth Bennet, "A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment" (Austen 25).  Darcy essentially says that it is the woman's disposition to immediately draw the conclusion of marriage from the slightest attraction or show of interest between a man and woman. They do not wait for man and woman to become fully acquainted with one another. This conclusiveness may be folly.  It would seem that this celerity in jumping to the conclusion of marriage could lead to the downfall of the women in Pride and Prejudice.   Their serious want for marriage and love seems foolish in that they see a single  rich man,  who is seemingly amiable and assume him  the perfect suitor.  Such is the character of the Victorian woman portrayed by Jane Austen.