Miss. Jennifer Mönteirö
English Höns. Ist year
10 Öctöber 2014 Is Elizabeth Bennet the möuth piece öf Jane Austen? Höw döes she critique the wömen’s issue öf her era? Pride and Prejudice, the möst celebrated növel öf Jane Austen is a tale öf römance, cöurtship and marriages. It intervölves issues öf class and sex when read with clöse examinatiön. This növel is aböut feelings, löve and respect över sölely disinterested desire öf establishments, sense öf security and materialism subtly including all the aspect öf English life withöut revölting. It is a tale öf decörum öf cönduct and its cönsequences.
Austen sets the böök aböut the small time life öf the Bennet family living in the cöuntryside and their encöunters with
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Elizabeth’s wit and playfulness, reflect Austen’s öwn persönality. Elizabeth’s irönic wit alsö defines subtlety öf her character in ways that make her stand öut fröm being the öne-dimensiönal wöman like Caröline Bingley, Charlötte Lucas, Lydia and even Jane tö an ideal wöman. Jane Austen’s öwn difficulties in securing publicatiön and in nöt claiming authörship while creating independent, ströng-willed heröines like Elizabeth Bennet identify her as a feminist. Pride and Prejudice well exemplifies all these issues because Elizabeth Bennet and her föur sisters represent five distinct röles för wömen in the changing, revölutiön rattled wörld öf the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in which Jane Austen wröte and set her növel, where educatiön becömes the ticket tö a better life. Austen lived and wröte in terms öf gender pölitics, and a family öf five yöung wömen including öne whö is fiercely self-reliant is illustrative öf the difficulties pösed för girls and wömen at that
During the 1800s, society believed there to be a defined difference in character among men and women. Women were viewed simply as passive wives and mothers, while men were viewed as individuals with many different roles and opportunities. For women, education was not expected past a certain point, and those who pushed the limits were looked down on for their ambition. Marriage was an absolute necessity, and a career that surpassed any duties as housewife was practically unheard of. Jane Austen, a female author of the time, lived and wrote within this particular period. Many of her novels centered around women, such as Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, who were able to live independent lives while bravely defying the rules of society. The roles expected of women in the nineteenth century can be portrayed clearly by Jane Austen's female characters of Pride and Prejudice.
England, under James 1st rule was a vastly altered period compared to our now modern society. So many of the values held during this time, have now been discarded and forgotten. Jane Austen grew up in the Romantic period and experienced a world which was divided, whether through education, class, status, fashion, abilities, gender and etiquette. Her novel, Pride and Prejudice is counted as one of the great classics of English Literature. Austen engrosses readers to live in her world for a time and experience a society filled with matchmaking, romance, marriage and gossip. Every one of her characters is so distinctive and has a clearly outlined caricature. Each of their diverse values conveys a different thinking of the time. Pride and Prejudice is preoccupied with the gentry and most of the social aspects which consumed these people’s lives. There were so many expectations of how you would behave in public, but of course not all of these were upheld. Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Mrs Bennet and Charlotte Lucas are four characters which keep such strong beliefs about the social norms. These characters are expressed so descriptively and through their personalities readers can learn just how the numerous social standards were received.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is set in England in the late eighteenth century. The novel follows Elizabeth and Jane Bennet’s lives as well as Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. The Bennet sisters are from a lower social class than Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy which is the cause of the problem in the book because of the prejudice in the eighteenth century. After overcoming prejudice, the Bennet sisters fall in love and are accepted by their husbands. If prejudices were eliminated the world would be a better place. People have preconceived ideas of many things, but if there was a way to end these ideas people would be more open-minded. Society should eliminate prejudices to promote a healthier environment for everyone.
The general impression of Austen's novels, which critic D. W. Harding says relieved him of any desire to read them, is that they offer readers a humorous refuge from an uncertain world. In his article "'Regulated Hatred': An Aspect in the Work of Jane Austen," Harding claims that this impression is misleading and that Jane Austen is actually very critical of her society, covertly expressing downright hatred for certain members of it by means of caricature. Mrs. Bennet, from Austen's Pride and Prejudice, is one of these "comic monster[s]". Harding claims that in order to view Mrs. Bennet as anything other than utterly detested by Austen one must ignore this Austen's summary of her at the end of Chapter One: "She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and an uncertain temper."1 Actually, Austen's Mrs. Bennet is much more complex than Harding acknowledges. Austen's initial summary notwithstanding, Pride and Prejudice even looks at Mrs. Bennet forgivingly. Her behavior is often provoked by her environment: both her society and her family. Because she helps, or tries to help, her family, Mrs. Bennet's ludicrous actions can even be seen as lovable.
This romance, however, would not have been as powerful without acknowledging the intellectual growth and emergent maturity of Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth, in Austen's novel, finds the path to her adult identity by questioning her own assumptions and undergoing a philosophical paradigm shift.... ... middle of paper ... ..." Manolos, Marriage, and Mantras: Chick-Lit Criticism and Transnational Feminism.
In her novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen portrays Elizabeth Bennet as "strong and intelligent, yet bewitching in a completely feminine way". Elizabeth's possession of these attributes: strength of character and moral integrity, great intelligence, and an attractive personality, make her an admirable person. Yet Elizabeth has faults, which makes her more human. Austen's portrayal of Elizabeth is realistic and masterful, often juxtaposing her with characters lacking her attributes to heighten our appreciation of her.
Karl Kroeber described Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre to be “not strictly comparable” but like “different species of the same genus” (119). Characterization is very different in these two novels. It is different because Jane Eyre is a romantic novel, while Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners, but it is also different because the authors use characterization for different means. Jane Austen means to explore the human character, and the way people interact with those...
In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, Mrs. Bennet, the mother of the protagonist, Elizabeth, is generally portrayed as a buffoon who is an adversary for he daughter that is trying to force her into a marriage she does not want. One may wonder how she can be justified in any way, considering that she is known to embarrass her family members and behave idiotically. However, in the time period they live in, a marriage is necessary for all of the family to avoid a terrible fate. Mrs. Bennet, while often behaving improperly, does try to do the best for her daughters based on the world she lives in.
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.
The novel Pride and Prejudice, is a romantic comedy, by Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is a story about an unlikely pair who go through many obstacles before finally coming together. Pride is the opinion of oneself and prejudice is how one person feels others perceive them. The novel, Pride and Prejudice, uses plot, the characters of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and the status of women and social standing, to portray the theme of the novel - pride and prejudice.
The main protagonist of the story, Elizabeth Bennet (nicknamed both Lizzy and Eliza), is the second daughter in the Bennet family. Second only to her elder sister in beauty, Elizabeth’s figure is said to be “light and pleasing,” with “dark eyes,” and “intelligent…expression” (24). At 20 years old, she is still creating her place in society. Known for her wit and playful nature, “Elizabeth is the soul of Pride and Prejudice, [she] reveals in her own person the very title qualities that she spots so easily” (“Pride and Prejudice”) in others. Her insightfulness often leads her to jump to conclusions and think herself above social demand. These tendencies lead her to be prejudice towards others; this is an essential characteristic of her role
The Role of Women in the Society Depicted by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice
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.
Romantic author Jane Austen is known for bringing different views of romance, marriage, and intimacy to light in her novels. She designs each female character to posses different and creative views of romance. Pride and Prejudice expresses the variety of relationships, while Emma focuses on the actions revolving around romance from one primary female character. Lydia Bennet is a rebellious, open-minded teenager who has similar behavioral patterns as her sister, Catherine "Kitty" Bennet. Both sisters are claimed to possess wild and loose manners. (Telgen). The blind sense of romantic judgment leads to sudden pleasure but eventual heartbreak and devastation. Elizabeth Bennet is a powerful,
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.