Love and Money

Jane Austen makes an interesting commentary on the importance of inheritance and wealth during the late eighteenth century. In Sense and Sensibility Austen constructs a story around characters that do not seem to have jobs. Aside from servants, no one in the story works regularly. People live off income from interest earned on property and other forms of inherited wealth. Austen makes this evident by including references to the interest rate and the implications of annual income versus existing wealth. Both the male and female characters are aware of the importance of securing a sizeable inheritance. Men want to amass enough wealth to guarantee a steady income for their families while the women will only marry into a certain degree of financial security unless they have assets of their own. The importance of wealth when determining social status creates a struggle between love and money versus the more traditional theme of personal versus familial desires. One must listen to their family in order to stay in good standing and avoid the risk of losing a possible inheritance. If one is not entitled to any money then it may be hard to get married. I found it interesting how marriage and family interests are directly related, and not for the right reasons. One must take into account what their family wants in order to achieve financial security, which is synonymous with marriage during this time. In reality, the relationship is not between marriage and family wishes but instead, marriage and money.