Conflicting views on marriage in Pride and Prejudice.

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife'
This opening paragraph of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen has become one of the most famous sentences in English literature. It states clearly that the novel will explore the theme of marriage and the connection between it and money.
It often so happens that novels mirror the customs and values of a particular society. Thus to understand the essence of the book let me first concentrate on how marriages were arranged in Austen's times and the difficult situation of young…