In her famous romance novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen writes that “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” Although that statement was true when the novel was written, it is highly doubtful that her observations on marriage have any precedent in modern times.

Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813, when marriages were decided almost exclusively by the man and by the woman’s father. The determination of whether or not a woman should marry a man also depended largely on how rich the man was, and the small number of women that the man came into contact with during his lifetime. In 1813, most people lived in rural, where the number of potential mates was fairly small. Additionally, people lived only half as long as they do today, which left them with much less time to choose the perfect mate. If you were a woman during the 1800′s, you would probably have come to the same conclusion that happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance, simply because you would have had limited choices and a number of societal pressures to deal with.

In modern times women get to choose mates based on love, and they have a lot more time to choose a mate since they live longer. Also, since premarital sex is not as big of a deal as it was in 1813, there are fewer young couples getting married just to get their rocks off. Because of the advances in the structure of modern society, people are able to work out their differences before they get married, and this makes happiness marriage less reliant on a matter of chance.

Provided by: George Eastman House Collection
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