Pride and Prejudice

How does the foreshadowing in Pride and Prejudice help us to better understand the societal views at that time?

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."

This quote is one of the famous quotes in in english literature, solemenly on the fact that it beholds a truth and a great foreshadowing to a whole sequence of events.

It foreshadows the patriarchal societal views of Elizabeth Bennet's time. However, I would like to know where in the book is the greatly shown?

A more specific question would be; what specific event does this line foreshadow, and how does that event affect the course of the story and other characters?

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Last updated by jill d #170087
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This is the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice and stands as one of the most famous first lines in literature. Even as it briskly introduces the arrival of Mr. Bingley at Netherfield—the event that sets the novel in motion—this sentence also offers a miniature sketch of the entire plot, which concerns itself with the pursuit of “single men in possession of a good fortune” by various female characters. The preoccupation with socially advantageous marriage in nineteenth-century English society manifests itself here, for in claiming that a single man “must be in want of a wife,” the narrator reveals that the reverse is also true: a single woman, whose socially prescribed options are quite limited, is in (perhaps desperate) want of a husband.

Source(s)

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pride/quotes.html#explanation1