Within the story there are smaller courtships: Mr. Collins" failed attempts to pursue Elizabeth, followed by his successful wooing of Charlotte Lucas; Wikham's first pursuit of Elizabeth, then of Miss. King, and finally his scandalous pursuit of Lydia; and also Miss. Bingly's unsuccessful attempt to attract Darcy. Courtship has a profound importance in this book, but for the most part, at the heart of it all is often not love, but rather social and financial advancement. In our modern sense, the way that this book deals with marriage and courtship seems foreign and unbelievable to us. When a reader today reads of these rituals they must attempt to remove themselves from this time and our views of marriage and focus on the ways of Victorian life. In today's society marriage is primarily based on attraction and love. Because of the class of the characters in this story they could consider these feelings to some extent, but money and social standing often played a larger role. "Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other, or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life." This is a quote from Charlotte Lucas, one of the female characters in Pride and Prejudice. It is a quote that I feel exemplifies the general feelings against marriage for this time period and the people in upper class England.
In Great Expectations, our first look at marriage is that of Mr. and Mrs. Joe. Their marriage, when compared to other marriages of their time and social class, seems to be a complete role reversal. We never learn the name of Mrs. Joe. This is bazaar since in the tradition of marriage, the wife is the one to generally give up her last name but retain her first.
