Fortune and status play a major role in shaping many characters' attitudes toward marriage in this text. Consider Lady Catherine de Bourgh's high status and the way it affects her view of marriage: she longs to keep both her daughter's and nephew's fortune and status intact, and so she hopes they will marry one another. Mrs. Bennet's lower status and fortune make her desperate to marry her daughters off, even to strangers, and to marry them off well (a.k.a. to men of fortune and status). In any case, for many characters, including Caroline Bingley, the desire to retain or acquire fortune and status is the major factor in making a marriage match.
A character's sex (and the restrictions or opportunities provided by society for that sex) often plays a role in shaping their views of marriage as well. For example, Mr. Collins wants to marry because he believes it will make him happy and is appropriate for a man of his profession. However, his eventual wife, Charlotte, doesn't marry for happiness, but for security. Her options, as a woman of 27, are extremely limited, and she fears becoming a burden on her family (something a man, who can make his own fortune, would be much less likely to fear). Likewise, Mr. Bennet seems as though he couldn't care less about his daughters' marriage prospects, while the very same topic seems to occupy almost every one of Mrs. Bennet's waking thoughts.
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