The Marriage Market

When Jane Austen published the novel in 1813, she opened on a family in quiet crisis. The Bennet estate is entailed to a distant male cousin, so the five daughters will be turned out of their home the day their father dies. Mrs. Bennet's frantic matchmaking is not silly comedy. It is survival planning for women the law refuses to protect.

Elizabeth lives in a world where her wit counts for far less than her dowry and connections. Austen never lets you forget it: romance in this era was tangled up with money. A woman who married badly could fall into real poverty, while a poor woman who married well was set for life. Love was a luxury the wealthy could afford more easily than anyone else.