In Victorian times, love was almost unheard of. I mean, there was the occasional acceptance and tolerance of your spouse, but love? Who cares? It was all about money and establishment. Take, for example, Charlotte Lucas from the book. She admits that she isn't attractive (well, neither is Mr. Collins), but needed to get married to get out of her situation. Collins has money, a house, and made a sponsor out of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. What woman wouldn't want that?
Jane Austen, though, turns the tables and essentially says, "Wait--love does matter. It really is important!" Case in point, Elizabeth Bennet. By refusing Mr. Collins, Lizzy shows that she does care about love. She even states that there are personal reasons for her refusal, not just because it wouldn't be approved of by society. It's obvious that Austen is sticking her tongue out at society and laughing at the snobs who solely concern themselves with the financial and business portions of a marriage. Austen deliberately created Lizzy with the purpose of showing Victorian society that marriage is not just about money or establishment within society, but love.
Even though we are only so far into the book, I feel that a major theme in the novel is that romance triumphs business obligations. I mean, why else would Elizabeth turn down Mr. Collins and instead pursue her other romantic interests? It's almost as if Austen is putting together this recipe for the perfect marriage with, at least, a dash of love. For flavor.
I just wanted to start off by saying I love your title of your blog. Secondly, I agree with you when you say that Austen creates Lizzy in a way to show society that money is not what matters, it's the connection between people and how they care for one another. Im not really sure though what you mean by the theme of the novel.
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