Question
How does Austen present different attitudes to marriage in Pride and Prejudice? Use the Collins-Charlotte marriage (Ch 22) as a starting point. (30 marks)
Mark scheme guidance:
- Three models: Collins-Charlotte (mercenary/practical); Wickham-Lydia (passion/folly); Darcy-Elizabeth (ideal: love and respect).
- Charlotte's logic — "I am not romantic... I ask only a comfortable home" — presented with sympathy, not contempt.
- Lydia's elopement — a social catastrophe; Darcy's rescue is practical and private.
- Darcy-Elizabeth as counter-ideal: both must correct themselves before the final union is possible.
- Context: entail; women's economic dependence; Austen's own unmarried status.
- Top answers: Austen endorses neither pure romance nor pure calculation — the ideal is both.
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Generated by TopMyGrade AI · cross-check official sources before relying on the mark-scheme phrasing.