Pride and Prejudice is largely a marriage plot. Many hopeful marriages all with similar troubles.
Throughout the plot there are several marriage conflicts. Bingley and Jane, Bingley and Georgiana, Darcy and Elizabeth, Darcy and Caroline, Collins and Elizabeth, Collins and Charlotte... etc.
Collins first proposes to Elizabeth who promptly turns him down. After moaning and saying how it is just because Elizabeth is a woman and enjoys the chase that she turns him down (and then figuring out uhm no she really just doesn't like him). Collins proposes to Elizabeth's good friend Charlotte Lucas.
Right after Elizabeth turns down Collins, Jane is concerned about how Elizabeth is dealing. Elizabeth is not shy to reveal her feelings on the matter and declares to her "dear Jane [that] Mr. Collins is a conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man; [Jane] know[s] he is, as well as [Elizabeth] do[es]; and [Jane] must feel as well as [Elizabeth] do[es], that the woman who marries him, cannot have a proper way of thinking" (133). This proper way of thinking translates into Elizabeth's general thoughts on marriage. That the proper way is of love and that the improper way is of business and convenience.
Elizabeth nearly directly contradicts herself when she comments on Wickham's hasty connection with Miss King. She declares their arrangement as the ways of the world, "the mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have something to live on, as well as the plain" (148). Whether she is consoling herself for being "comparative[ly] insignifican[t]" (147). Or truly just felt Wickham was a casual acquaintance is unclear. But Elizabeth is not quiet on her opinion and is clear, pride clouding both judgement and friendship.
Marriage is a important drama in Austen's literary works. The complex marriage plot and subplot in Pride and Prejudice is captivating. And the line between love and business reveals important characteristics of several characters.
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