Pride and Prejudice: Thoughts of Marriage "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 provides subsequent argument with the first line of her novel, Pride and Prejudice. A statement that remains true to this very day. Austen's' first statement sets up the beginning of the novel. She states that a man, financially well off, but with no mate to accompany him to share in his wealth, is undoubtedly in search of a wife. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy play the role of the rich men. Mr. And Mrs. Bennet are the parents of five unwed da