Social Classes

Class was a significant factor to consider before marriage, as it was perceived as improper and unusual to marry beneath your class. Marriage was often about moving up a class (particularly if you were from a lower class) as it was secure and could provide a better future for you and your children. The three main classes in the 18th century were the Aristocrats, the Middle Class and the Lower Class. The Aristocrats, which was the social standing Mr Darcy and Mr Bingley had (although Mr Bingley was a very low level Aristocrat), these people were at the top of English Society. They consisted of dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, barons and were often born into an wealthy families who had been wealthy for quite a few generations meaning they did not have to work for their fortune. The Middle Class which was the class the Bennet and Lucas family, was the class that had the majority of people in it. The Middle Class was made up of people who were relatively wealthy but had to work for their money who consisted of: clergymen, barristers, merchants, lower-ranking military officers and shop keepers.The clergyman were considered to be the wealthiest in this category and were therefore seen at the upper end of the middle class (for example the Bennet family).  The lower class consisted of the poor and labourers such as craftsmen, domestic service provider (maid, butler, cook e.t.c), farmers and the unemployed.

Diagram of 18th Century Social Classes

In the 18th Century your position in the social classes influenced whether or not you were even considered to be a suitable husband and the people you had to chose from. For example in the beginning of the novel when Mrs Bennet found out that a wealthy single male (who was part of a higher class) was moving to their town she expressed how she wanted her daughters to be top contenders and pushed her daughters to make an acquaintance with him as he was very good potential suitable husband due to his wealth and reputation. "A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" (J. Austen, 1813: 6).