Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's most popular novel. It tells the trivia of love, marriage and family life between English gentry and ladies in the18th century. The plot is simple. This is how young ladies choose their husbands. Some people say that "elizabeth bennet, the protagonist of the novel, flatly rejected william collins's proposal as the heir to her father's property and manor, and rejected the first proposal of fitzwilliam Darcy, a very rich aristocrat" (1). All this clearly shows that Elizabeth "does not seek fame and fortune, but strives for self-improvement and has a noble mental outlook. "(1) That's right. From Austin's point of view, Elizabeth's marriage to Darcy and Jane Bingley's marriage, which constitute money and love, are ideal marriages that people should pursue. But in other marriage cases in this novel, we can see that if money and love cannot be combined in a marriage, love will always make concessions to money because of the special social background. Reading through the book, we will find that money acts as a clue to the cause and development of each plot. It affects everyone's words and deeds, even elizabeth bennet. Tony Tanner once said: "Jane Austen and other writers know very well that no emotion is extremely pure and no motivation is absolutely single." But whenever possible, it is necessary to clarify what kind of feeling or motivation plays a leading role. " (2)

The story of Pride and Prejudice takes place during the British Regency. At that time, Britain was in the transition period from early capitalism to capitalist industrialization. In rural areas, aristocratic families still have great power and rights, and the squire may flatter them. However, with the development of capitalism and the expansion of the rich class, the differences between social classes are getting smaller and smaller, and the social value of money in people's minds is becoming more and more important. A western literary critic once said, "Even david ricardo (a British economist) can't have a clearer understanding of the role of money in daily life like Jane Austen." (3) It is precisely because of the financial guarantee that the gentry society can exist firmly.

The first sentence of the whole novel declares, "It is a universally acknowledged truth that a single man with good luck must want a wife." (4) Here, "good luck" and "lack" are two key phrases. "Lack" refers to objective needs, not subjective needs. Such wording makes the proposition more objective with "truth". In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennett family is regarded as a typical example to test the "accepted truth".

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five daughters and live in Longbourn. Almost all of Mr. Bennet's property is an inheritance of 2,000 pounds a year. Unfortunately, because there is no male heir, this inheritance can only be inherited by a distant relative. This means that their daughter's future life will have no other guarantee, but their long-term marriage. Therefore, it is no wonder that when Mrs. Bennet heard that Mr. Bingley has a property of 100,000 pounds, she thought that he was their daughter's "legal property" (5), although she had never seen him-"a rich bachelor; Four or five thousand a year. What a wonderful thing this is for our girls! " (6)