Pride And Prejudice Power

The balance of power is a highly problematic social issue within the early 19th century Britain. Affecting the entirety of its population by categorizing people in terms of their money, status, achievements, race, and specifically gender, Jane Austen within Pride and Prejudice is able to display such normality’s through complex characters, settings, and the language used; and all without ignoring or diminishing the inglorious and raw oppression which societal division causes. A love story by nature, the conflicts existing within the structure of the British Regency Era shapes this work into an exciting, intriguing, and breathtaking adventure. The effects of a social hierarchy upon the reputation of women is one issue which is showcased exceptionally

Collins; Mr. Bennet’s nephew. As he is the closest male relative to Mr. Bennet, the family’s meek fortune will bypass all five daughters and fall into the lap of someone their father admits to have “never saw in the whole course of [his] life”(62). During this time, women are unable to hold a mortgage in their own name, and therefore all inheritances are to be received by any living male relative. Mrs. Bennet describes such an injustice as she exclaims “Pray do not talk of that odious man. I do think it is the hardest thing in the world that your estate should be entailed away from your own children”(62). Elizabeth is afterwards seen to be highly pressured into marrying her cousin in order to keep the family home, and her refusal does nothing but outrage her mother, and pass the duty onto the shoulders of her dear friend. Charlotte Lucas expresses the reasons for her engagement is not based off of

She demands respect, and her disbelief and outrage at the notion of Mr. Darcy potentially marrying Elizabeth is something she hardly attempts to conceal, and she by societal standards should not have too. Lady Catherine accuses Elizabeth of wishing to “make [Darcy] the contempt of the world” and genuinely thought it to be Elizabeth’s intentions to tarnish his reputation, simply through their marriage. She continuously insults her as she explains that Mr. Darcy and her daughter will be married, as they are already engaged;
The engagement is of a peculiar kind. From their infancy they have been intended for each other… While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes of both sisters would be accomplished in their marriage, to be prevented by a young women, of inferior birth, of no importance in the world, and wholly unallied to the family!