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GCSE English Literature · key term
A secure domestic and financial position, often gained through marriage. This is the meaning of the word in Charlotte Lucas’s desire for an establishment.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1
Revise: Love and marriageIn Chapter 22, the narrator says that she acts “solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment”. “Pure and disinterested” sounds morally elevated, yet “establishment” names a practical benefit to Charlotte herself. The wording gently exposes the transaction beneath the romantic appearance of the engagement.
Paper 2
A settled household and financial position. In Austen’s marriage plots, gaining an establishment means securing a home and means of support.
Either question: connect context to the particular choice being discussed—for example, Charlotte’s small fortune helps explain her desire for an establishment.
Integrate context into your interpretation. For example, explain how Charlotte’s limited financial prospects make an “establishment” attractive rather than adding a separate paragraph about women.
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The narrator describes her motive as “solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment”. The phrase is ironic: the supposedly “disinterested” desire is specifically for a practical benefit. It removes romantic feeling from the proposal and exposes the difference between the language of courtship and the transaction taking place.
Paper 1
A secure domestic and financial position, often gained through marriage; this is what Charlotte seeks when she accepts Mr Collins.
Revise: Love and marriageIn Chapter 22, the narrator says she does so “solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment”. An establishment means a secure home and financial position. “Solely” makes her lack of romantic motivation clear.
Component 2
A secure settled position, including a home and the means to maintain it; in Pride and Prejudice, marriage can provide a woman with an establishment.
Revise: Love and marriageIn Chapter 22, the narrator explains that she acts “solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment”. “Pure and disinterested” usually praise unselfish motives, so their combination with the practical desire for a settled home is ironic. Charlotte does not love Collins, but she is not pretending to herself that she does.
