Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Awakening by Kate Chopin and

Among the many ways by which novelists communicate their message through literary elements and devices, perhaps one of the most important is through the representation of characters. By developing characters, novelists can express ideas as well as commentaries, and this can be further enriched by providing a foil. Conventionally defined as another character who contrasts with the main character, a foil helps emphasize the attributes of the latter while strengthening the message of the story. The two novels that feature foils discussed in the past 4 years are Jane Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice and Kate Chopin’s 1899 novel The Awakening. In the novels The Awakening and Pride and Prejudice the characteristic foils that are encountered with Edna Pontellier and Adele Ratignolle flow with Charlotte Lucas and Elizabeth Bennet, as they ignite their individual qualities that not only contrast with each other but by comparison aid in illustrating important themes regarding the life of submission and dependence that women led during the 19th century.

In order to understand how the foil brings out the attributes of the main characters and the message the authors communicate, the differences between the main characters and the foils must be first observed. In Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, one of the minor characters is Charlotte Lucas, which is Elizabeth Bennet’s friend. While her role in the novel is relatively small, her actions are nevertheless significant in understanding Elizabeth. In the novel, Charlotte hastily agrees to marry Mr. Collins. At the age of 27 years, Charlotte already qualifies as an old maid and thus feels the pressure of marrying unless she grows old poor and alone. The pressure in turn represents Charlotte as...

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..., it is clear that Charlotte and Adele do not merely serve to emphasize

Elizabeth and Edna’s attributes; rather, the differences that result from their juxtaposition with the protagonists also advances the issues that women faced in the 19th century. In Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte’s desire to marry anyone regardless of her feelings, as opposed to Elizabeth’s uncompromising pursuit of true love, points out women’s dependence on marriage for their wellbeing. Charlotte’s predicament is but a representation of how women at the time were effectively bound by the only option they had. In the same manner, Adele’s blind obedience to social dictates, as opposed to Edna’s rejection of gender roles, emphasizes the limitations imposed by women. These two novels depict two different aspects of the same overarching issue: women’s dependence and submission to the power of men.