The thing to remember about Jane Austen is that she was a satirist. Emerson took her completely straight (as did the Charlotte Bronte and Mark Twain). Austen treated marriage not as a simple sentimental climax but as a complex moral and social negotiation that reveals human nature. She's been called a 'Prose Shakespeare'. (His comedies also lead up to and end with a marriage.) 'Pride and Prejudice' is one of the treasures of English fiction.