Men In Pride And Prejudice Essay

Molly Clark

Mrs. Snider

AP English 12

11 October 2016

Men Were not Always at the Head of the Table

Jane Austen, in her book Pride and Prejudice, ignores that fact that, at the time, women

inferior to the men and makes many of the female character dominate to the male characters

which causes her novel to become more like a feminist novel. Some of the female characters

include Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet, Lady Catherine, Lydia, Jane, Miss Darcy, Caroline, and Miss

Bingley just to name a few. The male characters on the other hand include Mr. Darcy, Mr.

Bingley. Mr. Bennet, Mr. Wickham, and Mr. Collins. Although there are a couple other male

characters, for example relatives of the Bennets, they show up in the novel for

At the

time, Mr. Collins was a very rich man and was well supported by his patroness, Lady Catherine.

Not only that but he was also the heir to the Bennet house. If Elizabeth were to except his

proposal, the house would stay in the Bennet family and she would be married to a wealthy man

- something which Mrs. Bennet always dreams of. But she chooses to decline the proposal

because she wants to marry for love - something that hardly any women at the time thought

about. Elizabeth puts her feelings in front of society and delines a gentlemen's proposal in

marriage which was looked down upon at the time.

Elizabeth was not the only character who is shown as above the men, her mother, Mrs.

Bennet, also is a leader to some of the male characters, her husband begining one of them. Mr.

Bennet is never really involved in his daughter’s lives unless something important comes up. He

would always be found in his library trying to escape his own household. But he is not really in

charge of the Bennet household, Mrs. Bennet takes his place. Mrs. Bennet helps to arrange the

parties that they hold. She is organizing all of her daughter’s marriages, making sure they

After a long day of work he would come home, sit at the head of the table

with his family, and he was the main person in charge of the household. But in Pride and

Prejudice, Mr. Bennet is always at home and only leaves his library when necessary. “It was a

fortnight since Mrs. Bennet had been downstairs, but on this happy day she again took her seat at

the head of her table, and in spirits oppressively high” (278). The head of the table was always

the spot for the man of the house. But instead, Mrs. Bennet takes the spot of the head of the

household and Mr. Bennet does not even join them for dinner. He does not care about the future

of his daughters and tries to ignore the parties, balls, and young gentlemen interested in Jane or

Elizabeth. So Mrs. Bennet is left with the fuss to deal with marrying off five daughters.

The final female character who is higher ranked than any of the male characters

mentioned in the novel is Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Lady Catherine is the aunt of Mr. Darcy,

the patroness of Mr. Collins, and one of the richest people in town. She is looked up to and

feared by all, including her nephew, until the end of the novel. When Elizabeth first met