What was the socio-historical context of Austen's time when she wrote Pride and Prejudice?

Jane. Austen's Pride and Prejudice, from her works, we can know that in her time, a good marriage was crucial for a young woman, which was inseparable from the English society at that time and the social status of women. In the 19th century, women were not as respected as they are now. There was no equality between men and women, women were considered less intelligent and capable than men, women's lives were centered on the home and their role was to run the household.

The natural assumption was that women should be subservient to their husbands, that the virtues of women were patience and obedience, that they had to recognize their natural inferiority to men, and that they had to limit whatever abilities they possessed. Despite this low status, few women expressed dissatisfaction with their lot. In those days, many young middle-class women had three options: marry, stay at home as a spinster, or work as a governess. A governess, with her low income and low social status, had little chance of changing or escaping that status; a spinster, even now, no one wanted to be. Therefore, for young women, especially those who do not have much property, marriage is the only way out for them to gain respect, stability and social status.

But what kind of marriage is happy and what kind is unhappy? Jane Austen expressed her view with the help of novels: it is wrong to marry for money, and it is foolish to marry without money, and she frankly showed that love marriage is closely related to property and family status. Therefore, she always lets her favorite heroine marry an ideal husband who is rich and good-looking, and lets the misbehaving woman marry very unsatisfactory or be a spinster for the rest of her life. Under the social conditions at that time, due to the inequality of property inheritance between men and women, it was difficult for women without property to marry. In Jane Austen's novels, however, women can overcome social barriers and get ideal and happy marriages as long as they are smart, well-behaved, educated and patient.