P&P Blog 1

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

After reading this quote, it is clear that marriage and status were two important concepts in the time period in which this story took place. The word choice in the beginning of the quote suggests that this statement is something that everyone knows and should not come as a surprise to whoever is being spoken to. This tells a lot about the importance of those two concepts. It is clear that the ideas of social status and rigid class systems were important simply because it was made a point that this man was wealthy, rather than just referring to him as a common man that all readers could relate themselves to. Towards the end of the quote is when it may become controversial. It is known that in olden days, women were not quite considered equal to men. This can be confirmed when seeing how the speaker seems to refer to a wife as somewhat of an object, something that all men want to possess. It also suggests that men of high status tend to want a wife even more because they have already gotten everything else that they could possibly long for. This makes the theme of society and roles of women and men within those societies a conceivable option when attempting to discover what the theme of Pride & Prejudice may be.