Love And Family In Pride And Prejudice And Lady Windermere's Fan

1091 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Class distinction and social stratification in pride and prejudice

Mauldrin Lwaki
English IV K
April 1, 2014
Spring K Research
In both Pride and Prejudice and Lady Windermere’s Fan, the main topic of discussion was love and family. Jane Austen discussed love and the different social hierarchy in Pride and Prejudice, while Oscar Wilde mainly focused on family. Both of the stories also discussed about manners, for example how Mr. Collins and his awkward social interactions. Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde can both be compared in their literary works when it comes to the concept of love and marriage.
"Do not make yourself uneasy, my dear cousin, about your apparel. Mrs. Benet is far from requiring that elegance of dress in us which becomes herself and her daughter. I could advise you merely to put on whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest—there is no occasion for anything more. Lady Catherine will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed. She likes to have the distinction of rank preserved." (Austen, 1813). The quote showed how Lady Catherine likes to look socially inferior, even though she does not have so much wealth. In Pride and Prejudice the main topic of discussion was social class. Whose family owned what, or how much a man is worth.
Lady Windermere’s Fan spoke some parts associating with social class, such as some people thinking they are better than others because of how much money they have or who they know. There was a tendency to ridicule the upper class men who consider themselves better than the rest. For example the Duchess of Berwick being portrayed as a dominant gossip girl, and Agatha portrayed as meek. “If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to bad it doesn’t. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism” (Wilde...

... middle of paper ...

...she would be miserable in an "unequal marriage"? Or does Mr. Bennet still think that in a relationship the man must be smarter than the woman, so that she would think him "a superior"? (Austen, 1892). Mr. Bennet in the end is looking out for his daughter and wants nothing but the best for her.
In Lady Windermere’s Fan, there was another main focus, marriage. For instance the dysfunctional relationship between Lady Windermere and her husband. The readers find out he is having an affair with Lady Windermere’s mother. Erlynne left Windermere’s life for years to preserve her reputation. “Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.” The main scandal or gossip of the play is who Erlynne really was, and also Lady Windermere’s troubles with her husband.

Word Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and prejudice. 1813. Print.
Oscar, Wilde. Lady Windermere's Fan. 1893. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Pride And Prejudice And The Great Gatsby

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, display the customs and beliefs of past society. Both novels project the idea of wealth and high-class but also accentuate the search for love. Fitzgerald emphasizes the harm in devoting one’s life to achieving wealth for the one he loves, as Gatsby believes in order to win over Daisy he must acquire a great deal of money. Austen displays the importance of love over looks and money. She details the happiness Elizabeth is able to receive once she marries the guy who has similar wit and sarcasm. Although the novels were written a century apart, Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby encompass similar ideologies, along with people and beliefs, of the time.

    Read More

  • Contrast of Love in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

    1541 Words  | 4 Pages

    To begin, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have a love of simple infatuation. This type of love is one without intimacy or commitment, and lies with pure passion. After the passion runs out, no love is left. Mr. Bennet married his wife because she had ample beauty, however, she exposed herself as unintelligent. He often warned his children not to do the same, just as he says to Elizabeth: "My child, let me not have the grief of seeing you unable to respect your partner in life. You know not what you are about" (Austen). The lack of love between her parents was quite obvious to Elizabeth as well. She saw that "her father, captivated by youth and beauty, and that appearance of good humour which youth and beauty generally give, had married a woman whose weak understanding and illiberal mind had very early in...

    Read More

  • Reputation and Love in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    Johnson, Claudia Durst, ed. Issues of Class in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

    Read More

  • Free Indirect Distice In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jane Austen is known for the use of free indirect discourse in her works. She uses this, along with vivid language to critique the social values of society during the feminist movement. One of her most famous works in which she uses both free indirect discourse and vivid language is Pride and Prejudice. Within Pride and Prejudice, Austen uses many different scenes to portray her thoughts on the social values of her era, but some of them do not contribute to the work as a whole. The social values of men, women, and the reasons for marriage are revealed in Pride and Prejudice in the scene of the Meryton ball and provide a direct connection to the theme of the hazards of first impressions.

    Read More

  • The Character of Lady Catherine de Bourgh In Pride and Prejudice

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... Darcy and Elizabeth. Additionally, Austen sculpts the theme of social expectations and mores using the self-promoting ideology and behaviors of Lady Catherine as fodder for comic relief. Austen does not simply leave the image of the gilded aristocracy upon a pedestal; she effectively uses the unconventional character of Elizabeth to defy aristocratic authority and tradition. In fact, Austen's proposed counter view of the aristocracy by satirizing their social rank. Lady Catherine is effectively used as a satirical representation of the aristocracy through her paradoxical breach of true social decorum and her overblown immodesty. Evidently, Lady Catherine is nothing short of the critical bond that holds the structure of Pride and Prejudice together.

    Read More

  • Pride and Prejudice: Social Class

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pride and Prejudice was first published in 1813 and it depicts key themes in society and the impact these themes had on life for the characters in the novel. One of these themes is social class, which was a chief contributor to the characters problems in the story. Social class is an underlying issue in the lives of the characters and greatly affects the decisions they make during the novel. Every character is aware of the importance of social standing and it becomes a key factor in the development of each individual in Pride and Prejudice. Mrs. Bennet is the mother of five daughters and she is desperate to have them married. Elizabeth wants to marry for love and not social gain. Charlotte is the example of what a woman was expected to be in society and does not agree with Elizabeth and she is content to secure a future. While Lydia runs the risk of disgracing her family by running a riot around town. This is a clear example of social class and the different perspective characters express on the topic.

    Read More

  • Portrayal of Marriage in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    2064 Words  | 5 Pages

    Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice portrays varying attitudes to marriage. "The intricate social network that pervades the novel is one that revolves around the business of marriage". Through her female characters the reader sees the different attitudes to marriage and the reasons that these women have for marrying. These depend on their social status and their personal values. The reader is shown the most prevalent and common view of marriage held by society in Austen's time, and through the heroine, a differing opinion of marriage is explored. We are shown how marriage is viewed by the very wealthy and the values they emphasise in marriage. Through the characterisation of these women and use of irony, Austen has influenced the reader's opinions on the characters attitude about marriage and that of their contemporaries.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    1623 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...udice in the social ladder. The Bennet family, although wealthy, was looked down upon, is relation to their social status. They were seen as low on the social ladder, because they had "new money." Lady Catherine, is another example of pride and prejudice displayed through social status, "Now and then they were honoured with a call from her ladyship, and nothing escaped her observation…" Lady Catherine noticed flaws in everyone and used her position and title of "Lady" to rise above everyone and make herself seem superior to them. Her position gives her pride and she flaunts it in a negative way.

    Read More

  • Comparing Pride And Prejudice And Wuthering Heights

    721 Words  | 2 Pages

    The theme of social standing seems to be very pertinent to the time both novels were written. In the nineteenth century, especially in England, there was almost nothing more significant in forming a marriage than the social standing of the partners involved. The aristocracy also seemed to perpetuate themselves by thinking of themselves often, as the Lady Bingley's did in Pride and Prejudice, that by "associating with people of rank, and were therefore in every respect entitled to think well of themselves, and meanly of others." (4. 11) However, the condescension coming from the upper classes to those lower seems to be reciprocated by the bitterness of the lower classes to those higher. As Nelly gives Heathcliff advice in Wuthering Heights, "Were I i...

    Read More

  • Women's Role in Society in Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

    2714 Words  | 6 Pages

    Over the centuries, women’s duties and roles in the home and in the workforce have arguably changed for the better. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen teaches the reader about reputation and love in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries by showing how Elizabeth shows up in a muddy dress, declines a marriage proposal and how women have changed over time. Anything a woman does reflects on her future and how other people look at her. When Elizabeth shows up to the Bingley’s in a muddy dress, they categorize her as being low class and unfashionable. Charles Bingley, a rich attractive man, and his sister had a reputation to protect by not letting their brother marry a ‘low class girl’.

    Read More

  • The Power of Love in Pride and Prejudice

    1688 Words  | 4 Pages

    Throughout the early 1800s, British women often played a subordinate role in society, flexed by many obligations, laws, and the superior males. A young woman’s struggle for independence and free will can often be compared to a life of servitude and slavery. Women were often controlled by the various men in their lives; whether it be father, brother or the eventual husband. Marriage during this time was often a gamble; one can either be in it for the right reasons such as love or for the wrong reasons such as advancing social status. In 19th century Britain, laws were enacted to further suppress women that eventually bore the idea that women were supposed to do two things: marry and have children. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen demonstrates a women’s struggle within a society that stresses the importance of marriage and strict behavioral customs. As evidenced by the Bennett daughters: Elizabeth, Jane and Lydia, as well as Charlotte Collins, marriage for young women was a pursuit that dominated their lives.

    Read More

  • Relationships And Marriage In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

    1026 Words  | 3 Pages

    Relationships and marriages play a crucial role in the novel, Pride and Prejudice. Some of the important relationships shown in the novel are out of pure love while, most are together for the sense of security, money, and convenience for the both of the partners. Each character holds a different perspective on love and marriage. A handful of characters even become involved in each others’ “love life.” In this particular time period, the parents of the daughters purposefully try to marry them off based on money and looks. In this case, we see Mrs. Bennet play the role of the crazy mother who wants her daughter to be married off to any man with money. Mrs. Bennet does not care one bit if they do not love each other, her one care is money money money. Mr. Bennet doesn’t push the marrying off of his daughters because of the fact, that he feels indifferent about his marriage with Mrs. Bennet. The marriages in the book are either hits or misses.

    Read More

  • Essay on Mr. and Mrs. Bennet's Parenting in Pride and Prejudice

    1483 Words  | 3 Pages

    The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love for his daughters while, on the contrary, Mrs. Bennet’s love is over-acted and conditional. Both parents help to shape their daughters’ characteristics and beliefs: Lydia reflecting Mrs. Bennet’s flighty and excessive behavior while Elizabeth inherits Mr. Bennet’s pensive and reflective temperament. Looking past their dissimilar personality traits and contradicting convictions, both parents hold the family together and play an integral role in the household structure.

    Read More

  • Class Distinction in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...y a set of expectations and values that are established on mannerisms and conduct challenged by Elizabeth. From this novel, it is evident that the author wrote it with awareness of the class issues that affect different societies. Her annotations on the fixed social structure are important in giving a solution to the current social issues; that even the class distinctions and restrictions can be negotiated when an individual turns down bogus first impression s.

    Read More

  • A Critical Review of Pride and Prejudice

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, shows two characters overcoming their pride and prejudices while falling in love. In the beginning Elizabeth believes that Mr. Darcy is too proud and rude, but in time to come they start to admire and love each other. They bond together through their pride and prejudice, and in the end, they overcome the obstacles that held them back.

    Read More

More about Love And Family In Pride And Prejudice And Lady Windermere's Fan

Open Document