Money’s Chains

Usually, we expect to find freedom in money. Weather it be the possibility to buy or to live in a specific way, we expect it to improve our life in some way. For Mr. Darcy, though, wealth ties him to certain social standards that limit his actions. The money dependent social stratification of the novel forces wealthy people to increase their affluence by marrying other with the same social status.

Specifically, this last social convention combined with his feelings for Elizabeth creates an inner conflict within Mr. Darcy. He easily decides. Still, it shows those social convention brought by wealth can restrain a person’s choices. The moment where he talks about this decision is here: “To Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence –Elizabeth had been at Nether field long enough. She attracted him more than he liked-” (44). Mr. Darcy would only avoid Elizabeth because of her social status. Her family’s lack of wealth stops him from fulfilling his desires. Society, through his family, instilled these beliefs so deeply that he takes this decision unconsciously. We can see what they tought him in two ways.

First, following his vanity, Darcy chose to protect his status and the way other view him by restraining himself. He thought that when marrying Elizabeth others would see him as a failure. We could even say it would hurt his pride to marry her. He has such positive image of himself that a marriage with someone of a lower status would depress him. Money trapped him with its accompanying pride and vanity.

We could also see this as protection of his current wealth. Marrying a woman with less status than him means he would not only have to carry her but also her entire family. Such disgraceful use of his resources would diminish them greatly. On the other hand, marrying an equal would have the opposite effect.

With this, could Austen want to show us a different view of wealth at the time? Does she intend critique a materialism that imposes itself over love? Or does the book critique the society that forbids the freedom of the heart?