Jane Austen: Single Good Fortune; a Wife
on Wednesday, December 27, 2017Jane Austen Money Quote saying it’s generally accepted that a single rich guy is likely to be interested in finding a spouse to share his cash with. Jane Austen said:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” — Jane Austen
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This famous opening line from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice satirizes the social expectations of the time period. It suggests that during the Regency era in England, it was a foregone conclusion or “universal truth” that any single man of means who had inherited wealth or achieved financial independence would naturally be eager to find a wife.
The quote implies that possessing a good fortune socially obligated a man to marry in order to have an heir to pass his estate and money to. It serves as ironic commentary on the pressure put upon eligible bachelors of means by matchmaking mothers and their unmarried daughters seeking security through marriage.