..there is not one in a hundred of either sex who is not taken in when they marry.” – MP
Mary Crawford observed many people marry “in the full expectation and confidence of … advantage …, or accomplishment, or good quality in the person.” Instead of the promised happy marriage, they were “entirely deceived, and … obliged to put up with exactly the reverse” of their expectation.
Charlotte Lucas states that “happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.” She argues that however “well known to each other” or similar the couple may be, they “grow sufficiently unlike afterwards.” Is Charlotte correct that “it is better to know as little as possible of the defects” of your partner?
Perhaps Mary and Charlotte are saying the same thing; it is impossible to really know someone before you marry them.