Pride and Prejudice - Essay Example

?Pride and Prejudice: Analysis on Themes This paper discusses the theme of gender and in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It gives an outlineof different gender and class issues in the story and the effects of each theme in the story. It also gives an overview of the society of the 19th century England about gender and class and how it was beautifully portrayed by the author in her witty novel. Pride and Prejudice on Class The theme of class in Pride and Prejudice is related to the social status of the people that reflects the strictly-controlled nature of the people in the middle and upper classes in the 19th century England. Austen’s satirical portrayal of the character of Mr. Collins who spends so much of his time fawning Lady Catherine expresses class consciousness. Mr. Collins is an epitome of a society that cares nothing but getting their feet off the mud with the misconception that wealth, status and power are the basis of a good life. He has a complete disregard of the more important values in life. Austen depicts the barriers in classes in the 19th century England in the character of Mr. Collins. (Pascoe, 2002, p. 11-19) The boundaries in class are vividly drawn by Austen through the characters in the novel. Another example is Lady Catherine’s aristocratic image in the story. She appears as the protagonist who comes in between the relationship of Darcy, his nephew, and Elizabeth. The image-conscious aristocrat represents the people from the upper class of the society. She is prejudiced of the likes of the Bennets and most especially, Elizabeth. She finds the Bennets inconsequential due to their status and the fact the sisters are not able to draw. Aside from those, Elizabeth’s character, an uncommon girl in her era, makes Lady Catherine dislike her even more. Her incompetence in singing and playing the piano is far from what a girl in that time should be. (Goodin, 1972, p. 85-96) The social structure in the 19th century is present throughout the novel though the definition of characters relies more on the dialogues and not much on the description. Darcy for instance, portrays a character with excessive pride which is due to what society expects of him and with the big influence of what his father taught him. He is basically born into aristocracy but due to his honest and kind heart, tagged with his encounters with Elizabeth, Darcy eventually sees that the factors other than material possessions, status quo and power are the ones that truly belong to aristocracy. (Peterson, 1982, p. 11-13) When she declines the marriage proposal of Darcy, it shows that she does not belong to the class-conscious women that the only thing that runs in mind is to look for a wealthy man who can give them tiaras to make them belong to the upper class. Her character is the most prominent in the novel that breaks the stigma on women marrying wealth to climb a few notches higher in social ladder. The novel shows how someone like Elizabeth, a woman from the middle class values what she thinks and couldn’t care less if the society rejects her for being far away from the norm. Her character defies the concepts of social class and gender in the 19th century. (Austen, 1933, vol. 2 p. 86-89) Pride and Prejudice portrays the absurd value of marriage – financial security. Charlotte Lucas explains to Elizabeth upon accepting the marriage proposal of Mr. Collins that is refused by Elizabeth, “I am not romantic you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collin's character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state." (Haggerty, 2008, p. 125) This line shows that Lucas sees marriage as resolution to poverty. Lucas represents women in general who will do everything to enter the upper class world to attain the respect middle class women don’t get. A marvellous irony of disrespecting oneself to be respected is what Austen tells through Charlotte’s character. Marrying for convenience is a common obsession of women in the 19th century. Charlotte Lucas is one great example of how women are in the setting of the novel. Although Elizabeth is the exact contrast of Charlotte, the novel tells that women who are not born in privilege will do everything to the extent of marrying someone they do not love in order to get out of the rot they are in. This is a glaring effect of the class margins in the 19th century. (Stewart, Cogancherry, Austen, 1981, p. 12) Elizabeth’s father, Mr. Bennet, is born a reasonably wealthy man. He sacrifices his social status by marrying Elizabeth’s mother due to this attraction to her. Relating this marriage to the social class structure in the novel, a man who marries a woman not of the same social status like Elizabeth’s parents, ruins a man’s reputation whish is the very reason Lady Catherine opposes Darcy’s relationship with Elizabeth. Keeping their family’s heritage is what Lady Catherine is trying to do as it is expected of her by the society. (Peterson, 1982, p. 32) According to how the social structure works before, the Bennets and their likes are supposed to follow the aristocrats since they are their superiors. Lady Catherine looks down on the Bennets. Mr. Collins is obsequious with the former, but is disrespectful to the Bennets since he is a little richer than them. This explains the social structure in the 19th century and shows how the social class interacts with each other. Lady Catherine is bounded by her social status due to what the society expects of her – an aristocratic image. This expectation goes the same for the Bennets – to pay homage to their superiors. Although Darcy is able to conquer the social barriers surrounding his feelings for Elizabeth, his aunt, Lady Catherine, is not able to tolerate Elizabeth. ‘You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world.’ ‘Do you not consider that a connection with you, must disgrace him in the eyes of everybody?’ (Bloom, 1987, p. 65-68) Austen’s sardonic tone mocks the thinking and values in the 19th century but stresses the point that such beliefs are significant during that era and through the character of Lady Catherine, she conveys that the discriminatory attitude of the Lady towards the protagonist is mainly because she thinks that the union of the two will stain the pureness of their aristocratic legacy. Her attitude towards her nephew’s relationship with Elizabeth is essentially due to her being bounded by her social class. But Elizabeth’s character never cease to surface in the novel. She is not an inch anxious about letting people hear a piece of her mind even to her superiors like Lady Catherine. Astonishing enough for an aristocratic figure like Lady Catherine, Elizabeth dares to trifle her with so much contempt. Having Lady Catherine as the epitome of what an aristocrat is, her actions live up according to what the society expects to see. (Rubinstein, 1969, p. 33-35) Pride and Prejudice on Gender The novel explains the gender equality is not present in the 19th century. Women are disempowered and are expected to follow men. They don’t have their own voice and should just keep their opinions to themselves whenever they feeling like sharing. Are expected to look for men to marry and eventually bear children. Just like Charlotte and Mrs. Bennet, they are both examples of women who live according to the expectations of the society to women. Tough as it may seem, women marry because they need to. (Haggerty, 2008, p. 33-36) Women’s status in the society is unjust in the era of the novel. Women stay at home. They are expected to have at least a tolerable singing voice and should know how to play the piano. They don‘t really go to school, and in case they do, it serves as their preparation to their married life. They are expected to serve their husbands and should not speak of the things that will make them appear as shying away from the norm. Women, unlike men, don’t have a voice. (West, Austen, 2000, p. 15-18) The theme of gender in the novel displays how women are tormented when they are not born in privilege. They are not expected to work so to get out of their social class, the only thing to do is to marry a wealthy man. This leaves them without a choice but to follow the rules set by the society. Austen depicts this issue through the character of Charlotte that women don’t look for love but money. (Folsom, 1993, p. 11) The unfair social structure in the Regency era is observed throughout the novel. Death of the head of the family puts the security of female family members at risk especially if there is no other male family member left. This is the reason behind mothers in that era want to see their daughter get married due to the security it gives to their children. In effect, women see marriage as their only way to financial security. (Bloom, 1987, p. 85) Austen relates the gender inequalities in the 19th century in the novel. She portrays this through how the Bennets hurry to enter marriage for their own security. She uses the character of Mr. Collins, being the male closest kin who will take over their father’s property in the event their father passes away. This shows women are penniless in the Regency era and they may end up on streets if they don’t marry. The novel tells the relation of class to gender and gender to class. It is an effort to explain the social differences in class and gender in the Regency era. PASCOE, P. (2002). Pride and prejudice, Jane Austen: notes. Harlow, Longman. GOODIN, G. (1972). The English novel in the nineteenth century; essays on the literary mediation of human values. Urbana, University of Illinois Press. AUSTEN, J. (1933). The novels of Jane Austen: the text based on collation of the early editions by R. W. Chapman. Oxford, Clarendon Press PETERSON, E. (1982). Pride and prejudice: notes, including life of the author, introduction to the novel, brief synopsis, chapter summaries and commentaries, general critique, character analyses, questions and discussion topics, bibliography. Lincoln, Neb, Cliff's Notes. FOLSOM, M. M. (1993). Approaches to teaching Austen's: pride and prejudice. New York, Modern Language Association of America. RUBINSTEIN, E. (1969). Twentieth century interpretations of Pride and prejudice: a collection of critical essays. Englewood Cliffs N.J., Prentice-Hall. STEWART, D., COGANCHERRY, H., & AUSTEN, J. (1981). Pride and prejudice. Milwaukee, Raintree Publishers. HAGGERTY, A. (2008). Jane Austen: Pride and prejudice and Emma. New York, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. WEST, C., & AUSTEN, J. (2000). Pride and prejudice. Oxford, Oxford University Press. BLOOM, H. (1987). Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice. New York, Chelsea House Publishers. Read More