Here Is Analysis On Jane Austen And Her Feminist Approach In Pride And Prejudice
JANE AUSTEN FEMINIST APPROACH – During her time, Austen was faced with a society that deeply values the ideals of marriage.
According to Audrey Jastia, this undermines the potential of strong women as the acceptable notion for most at the time was to get married to a rich husband and live a happy life. But, Austen took this ideology and made it into a platform for her representation of feminist values in the form of Elizabeth.
In the story, Elizabeth was being pushed by her mother to follow her sister, Jane as she married the wealthy Mr. Bingley. Meanwhile, Ms. Bennet also portrayed the stereotypical mother who puts emphasis on marrying the young and the wealthy for an opportunity for a better life.
One of the passages from the book that highlighted this could be seen in page 110-111 where Ms. Bennet says:
But Lizzy! Oh, sister! It is very hard to think that she might have been Mr. Collins’s wife by this time, had it not been for her own perverseness. He made her an offer in this very room, and she refused him. The consequence of it is, that Lady Lucas will have a daughter married before I have and that the Longbourn estate is just as much entailed as ever
In contrast, Elizabeth refused this ideology and wanted to approach things in her own accord and did not let societal pressure from family and peers influence her decisions, an example of which can be seen on page 114.
In short, my dear aunt, I should be very sorry to be
the means of making any of you unhappy; but since we see everyday that where there is affection, young people are seldomwithheld by immediate want of fortune from entering intoengagements with each other, how can I promise to be wiser thanso many of my fellow-creatures if I am tempted, or how am I evento know that it would be wisdom to resist?
But, at the end of the story, Elizabeth did end up with a marriage to Mr. Darcy. However, this marriage was not merited by societal pressures or the fact that Darcy was wealthy. Instead, it was driven by a mutual growing love from the two that bloomed after they let go of their pride and prejudice.
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