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Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Charlotte Lucas - Chapter 6

Charlotte Lucas on how to acquire a husband...
(Reference: Pt 2 and Pt 3)

Charlotte's philosophy on the best way of "fixing" a man is flawed, to say the least. Hook him, find out very little about him, marry rather quickly (it's all a matter of chance anyway) and then be realistic, because couples will always "grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation."

But let's be fair to Charlotte. She's 27 years old! In her time period, she was encroaching upon "old maid" status.

She also points out, perhaps, a slight flaw in the very "guarded" nature of courtship at that time. Not being allowed to sit around and discuss precisely how you feel about one another, how do you properly let someone know you're interested?

2 comments:

reader said...

I would be curious to know whether Charlotte's methods had been applied by Mrs. Bennet in securing her husband.

mrs reader said...

This is what I love most about reading a book with someone else--I had never considered such a question before.

If she had used that method, do you think she's happy enough to recommend it to others?