Shannon Colmo
Honors English IV
Mr. Jennings
September 13, 2012
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice made me think about feminism and female independence. It made me think about feminism because the women did not have a lot of choices in 1813 when the novel was published and since then women have gained numerous rights that are meant to make us equivalent to men. Rights that allow us to vote, have equal job market opportunities and acquire our own property. In the 1800’s these women’s rights were unheard of and women rarely got the option of choosing anything for themselves. In Pride and Prejudice Mrs. Bennett is trying to marry her daughters off into “arranged marriages” to the man she thinks is most suitable and will raise their social status. The daughters however, would prefer to choose their husband over who they really love, no matter the social class.
In the novel Elizabeth is seen as the most highlighted daughter, and she is the one most people choose to relate themselves or someone else too. While reading the novel I saw certain characteristics that Elizabeth has reflected in me. Such as when she attended Hunsford and Lady Catherine concluded that the Bennett sisters were not properly raised, they did not have the right experiences, and there was a lack of musical and artistic talents. Elizabeth views Lady Catherine as another snobbish figure and has no difficulty telling her to halt the attacks on her family. This related to me because my mom has two sisters and a brother, and one sister and the brother do not like her simply because she is the youngest of all of them and got the most attention. There is always some new family drama brewing between them and sometimes it gets carried away. My grandma tries to guilt everyone into doing things and one day she was trying to make my mom and me go to a fourth of July party at my uncles’ house and we did not want to go. My mom was done trying to talk to her so I had to stand up and tell her that we were not going and it was too bad if she had a problem with it. Now even though this was my grandma I stood up too I still connect with Elizabeth because we were defending the family most precious to us individually.
Elizabeth also shows strong female independence by turning down a proposal to a man she knows she could never love, and then turning down another one to Darcy who was viewed as the most prejudice character. Elizabeth however was not to proud to give Darcy a chance and she ended up falling in love with a man she never knew existed. She did show independence though because a woman throwing away one proposal was unheard of, but declining two was foreign territory. When Mr. Collins proposed to Charlotte she said yes and they had the stereotypical marriage for the time, of a woman marrying for money and status and the man marrying a wife that would bear children and look pretty for parties. Needless to say but Charlotte did not possess any independence what so ever.
Jane and Lydia are the two other sisters who also show female independence. Jane is the oldest daughter, always very proper and very shy. She followed all the rules because the oldest is supposed to set the standard for the rest of the children. However that situation changes when Mr. Bingley is thrown in the mix. He is obviously a higher social class with more money and status. Out of Jane’s league so to say, but they end up marrying because of love. Originally set up to meet by Mrs. Bennett definitely plays a role because if they had not met at all there would not have been any romance. Elizabeth is rather skeptical of this whole situation because she believes that Jane is just marrying Bingley for the money and social status, yet Jane proves her wrong by openly admitting that she really does love him.
I view Lydia as the rebel child of this family because for her love she ran off to elope with Wickham. With Mr. Darcy’s help they were able to get married and return home but they were never treated the same again. Lydia had actually chosen to marry beneath her and Mr. Bennett declared that neither of them was to ever step foot in his house. The couple began living off what Mr. Darcy had provided them with and then using anyone along the way, thus making people hesitant to offer them the slightest little favor for fear of being cleaned-out.
Jane’s situation is more relatable to my life than Lydia’s, because while I have not ran away to elope, my boyfriend of over a year is viewed as being in a higher social class than I am. I however think this is a skewed perception because the only difference is that he went to St. Dominic’s for grade school and now CBC for high school, and I have been going to Affton my entire life. He also has two older siblings who have also gone to private schools for their whole academic careers, and I am an only child. We both live in Affton; have cars, pets, and good families. We each play two sports, have good grades and enjoy spending time with our friends. Our relationship is not based off of social standings but more focused on friendship, trust and reliability. Now because he goes to CBC, in high school terms that means he should be dating someone from Nerinx, Ursuline or CorJesu, that way they were viewed as the same social classes, but I honestly, am smarter than most of the girls I know from these schools, I am getting a more well rounded experience between sports, clubs and friends, and I am not socially awkward because I have been dealing with boys since pre-school. Society may view us as different social classes and that’s the way it will always be, but at least I know that I should not feel inferior just because he attends a private school and has all these so called “brothers.”
Now maybe that makes me sound a little conceited but that is alright. Elizabeth is also a very conceited woman but not so to the point of arrogance. Everyone in my opinion should be at least somewhat “conceited” because if you are that means you have a positive self-image. Conceited usually has a negative connotation because that is how it has always been used and there is a fine line between being conceited and acting arrogant. If you do what you want to make yourself happy then that is not conceited, that is self-fulfillment. Elizabeth is not conceited; she just wants to make sure that her life is everything she deserves. I, on the other hand know that I am conceited. My boyfriend calls me princess and my mom does too. When people tell me I am pretty, I smile and say “thanks, I know.” I know a lot of this has to deal with the fact that I am an only child, unlike Elizabeth and any of her sisters but I am not going to say that my being conceited is a bad thing. If I was not as conceited as I am, I would not have half the courage I do. Being conceited doesn’t always have to deal with looks or social aspects; it can be about sports or your job or anything. That is when it becomes pride, when you are proud of yourself for doing something you believe is important and worthy. Elizabeth is proud of her life and her decisions but she does not flaunt it in everyone else’s faces. She is full of pride but humble.
This paper honestly did not turn out the way I viewed it at the beginning. This is what the book makes me feel though, as if I need to defend myself for being conceited when I believe it is better than having a negative self-image where you give anyone the power to walk all over you and make you feel unworthy. In my opinion I would rather be a strong, independent, self aware woman, instead of one who never acknowledged her worth.
Female independence plays a big role in this novel because of Elizabeth defying the social norms. I can relate to Elizabeth because I also do not like doing what people expect of me just because that is what everyone else has done previously. I like to do my own thing, be unique and make myself happy before I even think about what anyone else sees my decisions. Some people call Elizabeth conceited for this, I however completely understand why she acts this way and know it is for self-improvement reasons. This is why I see so much of Elizabeth in myself.
The marriages of the daughters play a large role in the feminist movement because Elizabeth turns down two proposals until realizing she does in fact love Darcy. Jane marries Mr. Bingley who is in a different social class from her, but his higher status can only improve hers. Now Lydia runs off to elope with Wickham, in one swift movement she could tarnish the little reputation the Bennett’s have but she does not see a problem with her choice because she is marrying for love not status or money. So while all the marriages vary on different accounts, the same premise of these women going after what they want for themselves rather than letting their mother or anyone else control their lives still applies.
I believe that feminism is what stood out to me in this book because I hate being told that I cannot do something just because I am a woman or because a man could do it better. That is why I relate so well with Elizabeth. I believe it is because she stands up for herself and her family when she is feeling attacked and her family’s character is being degraded. Neither of us will take arrogance from people who think that money and status make them better than us.