Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen that primarily deals with marriage. In the novel it is clearly stated that a “single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife”. The lives of all the characters are bonded together by the establishment of marriage; Austen uses the Bennet family of LongBourn to illustrate those good and bad reasons behind marriage.
In chapter one of Pride and Prejudice, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s relationship is demonstrated to the reader within the first few paragraphs. The relationship appears to be very complex and one sided. Mr. Benet and his wife differ in many ways. Mr. Bennet is a complex man, who has two main hobbies in life; reading and mocking his wife. Conversely, Mrs. Bennet is an irritating woman whose main goal in life is to get her five daughters married before they are too old to be desirable. All in all the Bennet’s relation is not based on love at all, he even admits to being regretful, for his marriage of twenty-three years to his wife. The Bennet’s marriage was not perfect, because he (Mr. Bennet) only married his wife because she was beautiful in her young days and because she was able to supply him with children. Apparently her beauty faded with her youthful age and so did their delight for each other. Jane Austen is showing that marrying for physical appearance is wrong and that beauty fades with time and when that occur so does the love. One should not be amazed why Elizabeth can sum up such a speculation, since the disadvantages of a difficult marriage has been around her, her whole life.
Nowadays, people do not think about when they get married and decide as a couple to have children, they often forget or not realize how their personal relationship with each other can affect their children. Certain behaviours that parents display opening infront of children are easily picked up especially if the relationship between the parents is an unhealthy one, which basically teaches the child about unhealthy relationships; while a healthy relationship between the parents with most likely teach their child how to have a healthy livable relationship .the affect of the marital relationship the parents have also goes deeper than that; the relationship will often affect a child in their mental development. Healthy relationships assist a child in having a decent social life as well as being able to perform well at school. As with an unhealthy relationship where there is a lack of trust, constant fighting, a lack of confidence in both parents and a negative view of life by them tends to be reflected clearly on how the child/children is parented.
In our present day, “staying together for the kids” is becoming an important question before parents think of a divorce. But if you have tried all you could and it doesn’t look like things will work out with your spouse “should you really stay together for the children’s sake”? In my opinion children are not being asked to be born, and it’s a parent’s choice to make a copy of them, therefore I believe that all differences should be placed aside and the children should come first. But when two unhappily married people stay together and fight a lot, they screw up their kids just as much as when they are divorce and one parent drops completely out of the picture. As a result they would end up with a very troubled teen who is more likely to smoke, perform poorly in school, drop out of school, be sexually promiscuous and get knocked up rather than teens who live in happy homes where parents aren’t chasing one another around .Divorced parents can be capable of being great parents just as married parents because they should apply the same values they taught the child and not let personal emotions and depression and anger come into play and be just as strict, nurturing and consistent.
In conclusion staying together for the kids is the wrong reason to stay together. Try to work it if you can see goods thing can result from it. But if things are hopeless, and you are only trying because of the children then you might be hurting them even more severely than you are helping them.
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