In society, money plays a major role. It is a necessity that is needed in order to
survive in the world today. In Pride and Prejudice, it is the one element that determines
one’s whole life and future. Not only is it needed to live, but it determines who you will
marry as well as your social status in society. In this book, it is repeatedly shown that
money plays one of the most important roles in society.
     First of all, from the very beginning of the book, it is shown that money plays a
major role. Mrs. Bennet hears about Mr. Bingley, a handsome and wealthy man, and
immediately begins to speak to Mr. Bennet about him. She is trying to get her daughters
married to good and wealthy men, since they will not be inheriting money from their
father. She is persistent at this because she wants her daughters to rise in society as well
as live happily and comfortably. “Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large
fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls”(6). “...You must
know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them”(6). These two quotes both take
place just shortly after Mrs. Bennet finds out Mr. Bingley is in Netherfield. She is
extremely happy because it gives her a chance to get one of her daughters married to a
successful and wealthy man. It is everything to her and her daughters because it is the
only way out of becoming poor and lowering in status.
     Secondly, money is shown as an important role when Miss Bingley is introduced.
She is Bingley’s unmarried sister who only seeks to elevate her self more than what she
already is by trying to win Mr. Darcy over. Also, when Bingley seems interested in Jane,
Miss Bingley pretends to be nice to her , yet lets Jane know that she hopes her brother
will marry Darcy’s sister. “Miss Bingley sees that her brother is in love with you, and
wants him to marry Miss Darcy”(103). “We are not rich enough, or grand enough for
them; and she is more anxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother...”(103). These two
quotes show how difficult it is to marry without any wealth. Miss Bingley sees that
Bingley loves Jane, but will not approve of him marrying her because she is not wealthy-
which means she does not hold a higher social status as well. She is only interested in
elevating her status, as well as her brother’s by marrying people with more money than
themselves.
     In addition, money is shown as a major role when Bingley and Darcy fall in love
with Jane and Elizabeth. Darcy prevents Bingley from marrying Jane in the beginning
because she is not wealthy and does not have “good connections.” Ironically, Darcy later
proposes to Elizabeth yet at the same time, he says he is doing it against his better
judgment. He also mentions to her how he feels about her status and her connections,
which is what makes Jane more angry and turns him down. “Could you expect me to
rejoice in the inferiority of your connections? To congratulate myself on the hope of
relations whose condition in life is so decidedly beneath my own?”(163). This shows that
even though Darcy loves Elizabeth, money still plays a more important role. He feels that
marrying her would just bring him down, and that she is inferior because she is not as
wealthy as he is. That is the same reason that Bingley did not marry Jane before
consulting Darcy. He felt that he might be making a mistake by marrying her, so he talked
to Darcy beforehand.
     All in all, money plays a very important role in this book. The entire society bases
their whole life on status and wealth all throughout the book. This is shown from the very
beginning in this opening line : “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man
in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” Throughout Pride and
Prejudice, it seems as though it is a competition on how to gain wealth and status and the
only way to do it is by means of marriage. Yet, in the end, characters like Darcy begin to
see that money and status should not be the only things to judge a person by, and that is
why he and Elizabeth finally marry in the end.