Representations of Women’s Oppressions in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma There is an old saying that literature is an epistemic way of knowing about any culture. According to Haiyan Gao, literature seeks to study any given society and to offer a realistic representation of the life and people living in that culture (384). Each literary work in the study focuses on controversial issues hidden within the author’s work. This paper focuses on Jane Austen’s interpretation of eighteenth-century English culture. Austen intends readers to recognize these issues, such as inequality between males and females in education and in marriage, and, as a result, to find solutions to these problems in an effort …show more content…
She wrote six novels that depict the life of English women in the eighteenth century. The heroines of her novels are educated, intelligent women who achieve high proficiency in arts and letters. These heroines understand that they have limited opportunities to practice freedom and self-reliance because of patriarchal oppression. Eventually that oppression causes women to rebel against their society. Austen’s fiction expresses how the male dominant society prevents females from going to school, refusing any marriage proposal, becoming financially secure, and even from possessing their inheritance. Austen makes the heroines of the novels privileged women who have active roles in their community in order to prove the importance of their existence, showing that women hold as significant roles as men. In doing so, Austen corrects the typical images of English …show more content…
Mrs. Bennet is eager to see all her daughters married to gentlemen. Elizabeth, the heroine of the novel and the spokesperson of the author is, moreover, Austen’s representation of prejudice. Actually, she shares the same class and personality with Austen. Elizabeth belongs to a middle class family who has little dowry. Her father, Mr. Bennet, is a landowner who has a modest income, which is not enough for his five daughters to get married to gentle. Because Mr. Bennet has no son to inherit his land, Mr. Collins, who is a distant relation and a clergyman, is eligible to inherit Mr. Bennet’s property. Gao claims that even though Elizabeth is an educated and intelligent woman, “it is difficult for her to marry a gentleman in Austen’s time” because of her lack of wealth (384). Fortunately, Austen portrays Elizabeth as a “high spirit and courage, wit and readiness, good sense and right feeling” character who influences the arrogant and wealthy gentleman, Darcy (as cited in Gao, 386). Elizabeth’s behavior and perception affect Darcy’s personality so that he ends up marrying her at the end of the story. Austen keeps repeating the same issues throughout her novels: women without wealth have less chance in marriage, in order to assure readers how women struggle in getting married to gentlemen. Austen assures that love should be the ultimate purpose of marriage.
In Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Elizabeth Bennet, second daughter, is popular as a potential wife. Living in a house with a mother who is trying to marry off her daughters despite age or character, Elizabeth expresses less interest in the practicality of marriage. Although her likelihood of marrying into a high social status is low due to her own middle class status and a poor family reputation, she rejects her first two marriage offers, both by men in beneficial social standings. The first proposal is from a most distasteful cousin, Mr. Collins, while the second two are from Mr. Darcy, a wealthy man who develops from his arrogance into an acceptable fit for Elizabeth. Differing from her sisters and mother, Elizabeth values the character
Concepts of femininity in eighteenth-century England guided many young women, forging their paths for a supposed happy future. However, these set concepts and resulting ideas of happiness were not universal and did not pertain to every English woman, as seen in Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice. The novel follows the Bennet sisters on their quest for marriage, with much of it focusing on the two oldest sisters, Jane and Elizabeth. By the end, three women – Jane, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s friend, Charlotte Lucas – are married. However, these three women differ greatly in their following of feminine concepts, as well as their attitude towards marriage. Austen foils Jane, Charlotte, and Elizabeth’s personas and their pursuits of love, demonstrating that both submission and deviance from the rigid eighteenth-century concepts of femininity can lead to their own individualized happiness.
Jane Austen and Discourses of Feminism. Ed. Devony Looser. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan, 1995. 117-35 Jerinic, Maria.
The Regency Period in England was an extravagant era often associated with prominent social, political, economic, and artistic advancements. It took place in the early 1800’s and was a time of much elegance and aristocracy. Movies and books set in this time period all seem to highlight the elegance and romance that was prevalent at the time. Famous Regency Era literary works, such as Pride and Prejudice, portray young English women getting their happily-ever-after endings with their true loves. Unfortunately, such endings did not actually happen to real women of the era because they lived very austere and vapid lives. They hardly had a choice in many of their lives’ decisions and had little to no career options. These women were raised from birth to be lady-like, obedient, and agreeable in order to attract respectable men to marry, as they were fully dependant on men. Women were essentially treated as property passed on from their fathers to their husbands. They had many restrictions placed on them and often weren’t even allowed to walk outside without proper accompaniment. Because the expectations placed on women were so rigid and absurd, some feminist authors from the time ridiculed these social standards in their writing. Famous novelist Jane Austen was known for satirizing many social customs of the Regency Period in her romantic fiction novels, placing a special emphasis on women’s rights. Pride and Prejudice in particular depicted protagonist Elizabeth Bennet as a smart, headstrong, free thinking individual who didn’t let negative outside forces sway her beliefs. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen challenges the social propriety and creates her own ideals for women through Elizabeth Bennet’s independence, intelligence, and stron...
The. Woman had little power and could be seen as vulnerable. Austen demonstrates the inequality and injustices of genders present. in 19th century English society. The novel demonstrates the practicalities of marriage and how often it is done for the wrong reasons. Then there are the reasons.
While there is no shortage of male opinions concerning the role of females, which usually approve of male dominance, there is a lack of women expressing views on their forced subservience to men. This past subordination is the very reason there were so few females who plainly spoke out against their position, and the search for females expressing the desire for independence necessarily extends to the few historical works by women that do exist. Jane Austen is a well-known female author, and it is natural that her novels would be studied in an attempt to find a covert feminist voice. However, though certain feminist elements may exist, one common theme found throughout the novels Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma, makes it impossible to label these works as completely supporting feminism. The idea that women should not be allowed to have power, should be controlled by men, and that males should use their power to the fullest extent is inescapable. This idea is raised repeatedly throughout these novels.
In today’s society, women are faced with oppression in many different ways, whether they are denied a promotion at their job over a man of equal or lesser ability or qualification, or brought up to act a certain way as a female member of society. A female’s fight against oppression, be it social or societal, is certainly a difficult one, and one that - depending on the woman and the society in which she lives- may follow her throughout her entire life. Pride and Prejudice is a novel written by Jane Austen that follows a woman named Elizabeth Bennet through her struggle to fight oppression in a time where certain behaviour and actions are expected of women. In this novel, the reader can view oppression through Elizabeth’s struggle to maintain a sense of self through her constant fight against societal oppression, the Bennet family’s struggles with class segregation, as well as the standards or roles set for the women in the time in which the novel is set.
In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, the idea of patriarchy ruled the many societies all over the world. Particularly in Britain, its “overarching patriarchal model” (Marsh) had “reserved power and privilege for men” (Marsh). Also during this time period feminist literature began to arise and was invaded by, “the complex social, ethical, and economic roots of sexual politics… as testimony to gender bias and the double standard” (“Sexual Politics and Feminist Literature”). In Jane Austen’s writing, readers have been aware of her constant themes of female independence and gender equality. However, many have criticized the author for the fact that many of her “individualistic” female characters have ended up
In 1813, a woman’s main goal was marriage. Females wanted to find a man who could provide for them and take care of them; not all women wanted love. Many were fine with living on a wealthy estate and living in an upper-class manner. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a novel about the Bennet sisters, five girls whom, in the time of 1813, are all unmarried and are looking for husbands. The central conflict is based around two young women, the eldest of the five Bennet daughters, Jane and Elizabeth. The girls have their similarities and differences, and can be compared and contrasted in many ways; in terms of which is stronger at handling the pressure of relationships, context clues give a valid answer. What the reader must interpret for his
Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a female centric novel. The contrast between Austen’s strong female protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, and the theme of marriage as a driving force throughout the novel suggests that, for an author whose own life was independent from a man, Austen was providing social commentary on women in society and could thus be seen to challenge traditional female roles. This is particularly important when taken into account the time period the novel was produced in. Austen was writing during a time where feminism was not a developed idea. As a female writer she was viewed as highly unusual for not marrying and having a career, something which ran contrary to the middle-upper class view for women as the domesticated, subservient housewife. Therefore, although Austen can be seen to conform to the view of gender stereotyping, it is possible to see the emergence of feminist attitudes in the way Austen presents strong female protagonists.
Through these characters, the reader learns about Mrs Bennet’s biggest concern; to marry off all her daughters. The themes of the novel are mostly related to the title, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, there is an element of personal pride amongst the characters and also prejudice, particularly with Darcy and Elizabeth. The first chapter brings in the reader into the world of social class importance, marriage and women’s role in the 19th century, which is satirized by Austen.
Austen was raised in an unusually liberal family where her father was a part of the middle-landowning class. They had a moderate amount of luxuries, but were not considered well off. Unlike many girls of her time Austen received a fairly comprehensive education. She received this mainly through the undivided support of her family. Austen and her sisters, like most girls of their time, were homeschooled. Austen’s zealous parents encouraged the girls to play piano, read and write. Her parent’s encouragement led to her interest in writing. Austen’s father housed an extensive library filled with books which kept Austen occupied for years (“Sense and Sensibility” 119). Through her observant nature and passion to read and write, Austen was able to eloquently write of the many “hidden truths” of social and class distinction during her time. They included daily societal changes some of which foreshadowed future societal leniency. Familial support also extended societal norm of marriage. Her parents attempt...
The Role of Women in the Society Depicted by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice
With feminism on the rise in today’s society, people often feel rather uncomfortable when a strong female role is involved in any given situation. Jane Austen confronts this contentious topic in her novel Emma by strategically placing charismatic women throughout the book. In the critical edition of Emma, Claudia L. Johnson, a very well-known Jane Austen critic, writes “Emma: ‘Woman, lovely woman reigns alone.’” In her criticism, Johnson discusses the main components of what makes Emma so different from other novels in this time period by describing the self-sufficient, lead female character. Her works are very influential and well-respected. Emma contains the exact essence of an authoritative female.
On the surface, Jane Austen's 1813 novel, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of how three of the five daughters of a family living in 19th century England become engaged to be married. Underlying themes of the story, however, reveal a message about growing up and the judgments of people based on either outward appearances, behavior, or secondhand information from another person. The title of the novel proves to be extremely fitting, as Elizabeth, the main protagonist, learns that too much pride, along with many unjustified prejudices come to result in ignorance as to who a person really is inside and renders one incapable of finding true love. Elizabeth is introduced as the second eldest and prettiest of the five Bennet daughters. Towards the beginning of the novel, the Bennet daughters attend a ball in Netherfield with hopes of finding a man that they could perhaps end up marrying.