Jane Austen Pride And Prejudice Feminist Analysis

Common in her works, Jane Austen focuses heavily on social norms and other issues of the time period. In Pride and Prejudice, many consider Austen as one of the first authors who also shed light on feminism. The Regency Era itself saw very little progression in terms of the roles of women in society, but the novel begins to break down such barriers with some characters. The Bennet sisters individually cover the different personalities of women during that time period, with Elizabeth and Lydia specifically going against the status quo most often. Austen portrays each Bennet daughter differently in order to bring attention to all the different expectations of women during that time period and how they treat men. Beginning with Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Austen clearly illustrates how different generations of people differ in their mannerisms, expectations, and reasons they value marriage. Although their relationship seems somewhat hostile to the audience, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet show satisfaction with their marriage. Their relationship also provides some comic relief throughout the novel, as their personalities sit polar to one another in almost every way. Much more outgoing than her husband and in some cases obnoxious, Mrs. Bennet also places much more emphasis on her daughters’ marriages. In a way, Mrs. Bennet makes it her life goal to marry away all of her daughters as soon as possible and pays little attention to the reasons for which they actually marry. Mr. Bennet, however, often jokes about his wife’s obsession with their daughters’ marriages. In Elizabeth’s case with Mr. Collins, Mr. Bennet actually supported her refusal for the sole reason of irritating Mrs. Bennet. He values the self-respect and love his daughters possess more than the social status or economic success of prospective husbands. Moving down from oldest to youngest daughter, Jane Bingley embodies most of the expectations of women of the Regency Era. Her physical attributes, well-mannered nature, and talents all initially attracted Mr. Bingley. Her humility also led her to underestimate Bingley’s feelings for her, and their mutual love remained unspoken for a significant period of time. In some ways, Jane displays similar qualities to her sister, Elizabeth, however in a less outward manner. For example, they both possess self-respect and high expectations for themselves, but Jane withholds those feelings whereas Elizabeth makes them known more than once. Mr. Bingley’s relationship with Darcy is similar, as he portrays a slightly lesser Darcy in most aspects of his personality. His own social status, although evident, does not dictate his decisions (especially with Jane) and he shows more consistent humility throughout the novel than Darcy. Eventually, Jane and him both let their love in the open and marry out of genuine love for one another. Next, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy’s marriage may be seen as a slightly more vibrant version of Jane and Mr. Bingley’s, in the sense that they show much more intense polar differences from one another throughout the novel. Initially, Mr. Darcy showed a lack of interest in any of the Bennet sisters due to their lower social and economic position. Later, Elizabeth learned of rumors about Darcy and Wickham’s relationship, which completely put her off of the idea of marrying him. Finally, a combination of Darcy’s transition from overwhelming pride to humility and Elizabeth’s disproving of the rumors about Wickham combined to lead to their marriage. Elizabeth originally disliked Darcy based on her own self-respect as well as his extremely evident class-consciousness, but after he changed his personality she realized she truly …show more content…
In the end, similar characters married one another but not without indiscretion filling the novel. For example, the two most outgoing characters, Darcy and Elizabeth, married. Jane and Bingley, two of the most reserved and humble characters also married. Wickham and Lydia, characters who showed little care for society’s norms married. Finally, Mr. Collins and Charlotte, two greatly different characters who saw the importance in marriage, also married. Austen received great criticism for the novel due to its exploration and destruction of status quos, but it provides interesting insight into how society functioned during the Regency