The description of marriage as a "business agreement" in Jane Austen's time someone used in class today is probably one of the best ways to explain exactly what marriage was to them. As discussed in class, marriage was a way to try to swiftly and easily move up a class, especially for women, who would have had no other way to support themselves.
And so, a tentative question was ventured about the state of marriage today: do people look to get married simply for money? My answer is that, unfortunately, some do. However, I think the majority of people would take love over money every time, though if the person they loved came with a nice salary they wouldn't complain.
And even if a couple has married for money, or because of an arranged marriage, I believe that most of the time, that arrangement turns into love. Perhaps not a truly romantic love, but love nonetheless.
Take, for example, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's marriage. Odds are, it was arranged between their parents. However, to me, their interactions don't seem as if they simply tolerate each other because they must. They tolerate each other for an entirely different reason, for the love that grows between companions who have been through a majority of their lives together. They don't seem to hate each other, or to not be content or happy. In fact, rather, it seems they are the opposite. True, Mrs. Bennet may be obsessed with marrying off her daughters, but are parents today any less concerned with making sure their children will be taken care of?
So I must ask, even though there are "loveless" marriages occurring every day, marriages happening for simplicity's sake or for money, does that make them any less satisfying that marriages that occur for love?
I think that the answer to your question is different for every couple. In the case of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, I don't think that there marriage is loveless at all, based on what we have seen so far. For couples today, I think that some are probably quite satisfied with their arrangements even though their marriages do not contain love in the typical sense. On the other hand, I think that there are many people who truly do feel trapped in the situations that they find themselves in, and those people are probably not satisfied at all.
ReplyDeleteThough, I would choose love over money, I feel in the world we live in would beg to differ with your assumption. Our country and numerous others are ran by money. People give up love or post pone the notion so they can make money. In present day, money does in fact make the world go round. Unfortunately with big business ruling the world, hatred towards animals, and numerous wars(some based on money/oil), we are stuck in a world ran on dollar bills. Billion dollar men and plastic surgery women...along with hollywood and heiresses influencing our children....
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