Analysis of the Feminism in Pride and Prejudice (original) (raw)
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Pride and Prejudice, the Novel and the Movie A Feminist Approach
The present research paper endeavors to bring forth feminist characteristics in the works of one of the foremost novelists Jane Austen with special emphasis on one of her most renowned work Pride and Prejudice (1813), which has been adapted into movie many times, thus an analysis of feminist strain as depicted in the in the movie, the one by Focus Pictures starring Matthew Macfadyen and Keira Knightley has been added. The feminist movement with emphasis on the concept of gyno-criticism (by the American feminist Elaine Showalter) is summarized to put Jane Austen as a prominent advocate of the stands of women all across the globe.
A Feminist Look towards Jane Austen’s 'Pride and Prejudice'
Jane Austen (1775-1817), one of the prominent female authors who represents her feminist beliefs through her novels. Pride and Prejudice is one of her renowned novels, which portrays Austen’s opinions about women, marriage, identity, patriarchal society, depiction of women by the men etc. Xuiqing Wang, a Chinese critic claims in his article named ‘Analysis of the Feminism in Pride and Prejudice’, “Austen cared about women’s social position and claimed for women’s right to work and attempted to seek for the value of women in society and her effort to subvert the male-dominated value system can be seen in her novels” (2). Through the characters, plot, conversations among the characters and narrator’s selection of ironic words, Jane tries to reflect her own feminist beliefs in this novel.
A QUEST FOR FEMININE IDENTITY IN JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
PUNE RESEARCH, 2021
Literature has always acted as a mirror to the society. As the human society evolved slowly and gradually, literary writings, especially the novels played a pivotal role in reflecting and expressing the social scenarios and defining the human psyche. Women are the most integral part of the social discourse. Since centuries, they have strived hard in search of their true identity and worth. Turning through the pages of literary history, we can easily trace the footmarks of the transformation in the position of the females through societies and ages. Women writers and critics have given a glimpse of the social norms and structures prevalent during their times through their writings. Jane Austen is one such poignant writer from the Romantic Period of English Literature who broke apart from the traditionally accepted storyline through her youthful spirits and portrayal of strong female protagonists, who could think for themselves and take their own decisions. Born in a society that hugely discriminated between the rights given to men and women, Austen, since her childhood developed an internal anguish against the unjust social system. This even resulted in her being unmarried throughout her life and continued writing as a profession to be financially independent. Austen always advocated marriage in her novels, but she believed in marriage for love and not for gaining social status. Women during Austen’s times were expected to be submissive and timid. They were considered incapable of thinking wisely and hold own individuality. Her novels parodied the then conventional novel plot of love, marriage and courtship through youthful playfulness and subtle irony. Her female protagonists were the heroes of her novels; they were progressive as well as headstrong. They did not believe in social conformity in the male dominated society.
WOMAN PERSPECTIVE IN JANE AUSTEN'S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
2017
Jane Austen is one of the most famous women writers of the nineteenth century. Her novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) deals with the position of women and their social expectations, most of which are related to marriage. The protagonist of this novel represents a unique response to those expectations, which is a product of her way of thinking. Women in the nineteenth century did not have much choice when it came to their future. They could either get married or become governesses if they were educated enough. Their life was shaped mostly by their families which tried to find them a husband who would support them. Austen's heroine Elizabeth, is self-reliant and unconventional woman who marry the man she love. The other characters, such as Lydia and Mrs. Bennet represent women whose ultimate goal in life is connected to marriage. Charlotte Lucas represents women who marry out of necessity and Jane Fairfax embodies the women who are strong and ready to do anything in the name of love. Accordingly, all those women represent different female responses to social norms and to their own position in the society. Jane Austen was a British writer who was dynamic during the Regency period. Pride and Prejudice (1813) is her most popular novel. It deals with the life of Elizabeth Bennet, who is the second of five daughters in the Bennet family. The main aim of this paper is to demonstrate that these characters speak to a female representation to certain social standards concerning their life. This paper depicts the identities of Elizabeth, Mrs. Bennet, Jane Bennet, Lydia and Kitty are the important characters from Pride and Prejudice. The description concentrates on the women characters identities and their social circumstance in order to show how their actions and decisions are formed by their position in and their view on society. Pride and Prejudice is based particularly in the mid nineteenth century under the Victorian Age. Even when a female representative was administering the nation, women did not have any options for their lives, they were viewed as ideal, saints and pure, so as saints they had no
Ladies Come First: Strong Female Voice in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 2022
This research paper aims to investigate the critical feministic issues reflected by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice. The story widely reflects the English society of the Regency period. Specifically, this article sheds light on Austen's writing which comes in response to the Georgian Era. Accordingly, the position of woman has been terribly marginalized, including inequality, scarcity of women schools, class distinction, and prohibition of legacy that were noticeably questioned. These unjust practices where woman regressively faced, have been analysed on the light of the .
CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF JANE AUSTIEN'S NOVEL "PRIDE AND PREJUDICES"
The objective of this research paper is to analyze the problem of feminism about education and place of women in society in the light of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice" in which the role and problems of women are discussed. For this purpose, we divided our paper into three sections: First section explains the meaning of feminism and the position of English woman in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Second section deals with Jane Austen's concept of feminism and the social milieu in which she was born and bred which affects her novels. Section three is reflected the irony employed by Jane Austen to address the social and political concerns of men and women of 19th-century. In her society, upper class women are almost always treated as soft gods, and marriage is an elegant courtship, one of the most important parts of British society.
The Discourse of Gender and Marriage in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion
Jane Austen's reputation as a great English novelist, and as one who was able to raise the female voice at such a time when women could not be heard, or even get published, had been recognised by the likes of Leavis, Richards and Bloom – who consider her works as examples of the best that had been thought of and said in the world – thus worthy of inclusion in the great tradition. This paper examines Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion as products of a feminist state of mind. This way, it presents the pitiable depiction of the female in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries – a period characterised by the need for women to preserve themselves from want through the institution of marriage. The paper also explores how Austen employed the narrative form which allows her heroines to recreate and redefine themselves through the medium of dialogue and feminine thinking.
2016
This study examines Jane Austen’s realistic interpretations of eighteenth-century English society with a particular focus on representing women’s oppressions in Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Austen, in these three novels, criticizes several issues related to women’s status in English society and focuses on how men and women should be treated equally. In the novels, she argues that English society creates social order, women’s oppressiveness, and gender inequality through arbitrary social norms and traditions. This paper mainly focuses on two areas that restrict women’s roles in their society: the marriage plot and the educational system. Austen’s purpose of presenting these issues is to voice women’s rights and improve their conditions. She also offers her readers unusual descriptions of female characters in order to correct the stereotypical images of women during the period. Finally, this paper aims to show Austen’s success in redefining women’s status and change the misconceptions of women in British society.
2019
It is a universally acknowledged truth that marriage was a critical element in a woman’s life in Regency England. In the patriarchal society, only men can inherit the wealth of their parents, forcing women to marry to climb the stairs of social status and wealth. Marriage became an instrument through which families could quickly gain capital and parents were desperate to marry their daughters to rich young men, leaving women with no choice but to bow to society’s demands and be a slave to the system. But Elizabeth Bennet is a woman ahead of her time. Through the romantic and comedic scenes in Pride and Prejudice (1813), Jane Austen orchestrates the heroine could live a life which finds herself marrying not for money, but for love and in so, setting herself apart from the traditionalist culture which has done so much to suppress a woman’s right to choose who she wants to marry. She is different in that she refuses to be an object through which her cousin could use to gain her family’s wealth despite there being no sons of her parents and the diminishing possibility of her finding a man who could secure her financial independence. Despite Collins’s repeated attempt to push Elizabeth to accept his poor-thought marriage proposal and her own mother’s disapproval of her actions, she stands her ground for what she believed to be true and free. But by refusing what might’ve been her only chance to escape her precarious position in a family with no sons and with an aging father, she is playing a game which sees her as the player who is willing to gamble her future to stand for her feminist values. This paper will attempt to assess the situation Elizabeth is in, the pressures inflicted upon her to make choices against her will, and how Austen’s views of a postpatriarchal ideal woman influenced this single scene to paint a woman who is not only intelligent and brave but also willing to defy others whom she believes to hold opinions detrimental to the advancement of women. In this analysis, I will be explaining how Austen illustrates her liberal feminist views through Elizabeth and the other characters which contrast her progressive views and, will focus on this proposal scene which I believe best illustrates the liberal feminist views of Austen and Elizabeth through a game of chance, marriage, and integrity.