CASAMENTO E

ASCENSO SOCIAL:
Retratos do feminino em
Orgulho e Preconceito,
de Jane Austen
Jane Austen considerada sob a tica de Watt
(2007, p 259) como o clmax do gnero romance no
sculo XVIII:

"Jane Austen encara mais diretamente que Defoe,

por exemplo, os problemas sociais e morais
levantados pelo individualismo econmico e os
esforos da classe mdia para melhorar de condio
 There were four basic reasons for getting married which influenced a choice of a
partner for life in the eighteenth-century Britain described by Stone. The first and
most traditional motive for marriage was the economic or social or political
consolidation. Marriage was thus primarily a contract between two families for the
exchange of concrete benefits, not so much for the married couple as for their
parents and kin. The second motive was personal affection, companionship and
friendship based on the moral, intellectual and psychological qualities of the
prospective spouse, tested by a lengthy period of courtship. The third option was
physical attraction, stimulated by some degree of mutual experimentation before
marriage, a possibility open to young people of high rank only when away from
home, or people from lower classes among whom physically intimate courting was
customary. The fourth possible personal motive was romantic love as portrayed in
fiction and on the stage, an obssesive concentration upon the virtues of another
person, a blindness to all his or her possible defects, and rejection of all other
options or considerations, in particular such important matters as money or
property [Stone, 181-183].
 CHARLOTTE
AND THE MARRIAGE FOR FINANCIAL SECURITY
 Charlotte

"Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had

always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated
young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness,
must be their pleasantest preservative from want"
 LYDIA
AND THE MARRIAGE FOR PASSION AND VANITY
 Lydia
Mrs Gardner to Lizzy:
"Wickham will never marry a woman
without some money. He cannot afford it. And what
claims has Lydiawhat attraction has she beyond
youth, health, and good humour that could make him,
for her sake, sacrifice every chance of benefiting himself
by marrying well?
 Lydia

Biguelini (2009, p. 42)

Logo, o casamento baseado apenas em um sentimento de
paixo, pautado apenas na aparncia fsica, no um bom
casamento sendo que a paixo logo desaparece e a
convivncia familiar se tornaria ruim quando no houvesse
respeito entre marido e mulher.
 Lydia

"His affection for her soon sunk into indifference;

her's lasted a little longer; and in spite of her youth and
her manners, she retained all the claims to reputation
which her marriage had given her
 ELIZABETH
AND THE MARRIAGE FOR LOVE
 LIZZY
To Mr. Collins:
"I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies who are so daring
as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. I am
perfectly serious in my refusal. You could not make me happy, and I am
convinced that I am the last woman in the world who would make you so"
 LIZZY
About Mr Darcys proposal:
"In spite of her deeply-rooted dislike, she could not be
insensible to the compliment of such a man's affection,
and though her intentions did not vary for an instant,
she was at first sorry for the pain he was to receive; till,
roused to resentment by his subsequent language, she
lost all compassion in anger"
 LIZZY
After Lydias elopment and marriage:

"If gratitude and esteem are good foundations of affection,

Elizabeth's change of sentiment will be either improbable
nor faulty"
 LIZZY
Darcy: "You are too generous to trifle with me. If your feelings are still what they were
last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from
you will silence me on this subject for ever.

Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of
his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very
fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so
material a change, ()
 KITTY

Kitty, to her very material advantage, spent the chief

of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so
superior to what she had generally known, her
improvement was great.
 DOBOIOV, Michaela. Marriage and Human Relationships in the Eighteenth-century Britain.
Masaryk University in Brno, 2006
JONES, Hazel. Jane Austen and Marriage. UK: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2009. [Edio
do Kindle].
BIGUELINI, Elen. O Triunfo do Casamento por Amor: Jane Austen e o matrimnio. Curitiba: 2009
AUSTEN, Jane. Orgulho e Preconceito. Traduo de Celina Porto Carrero. Porto Alegre,RS: L&PM, 2012
WATT. Ian. A Ascenso do Romance. Companhia das Letras, 2007.