Pride and Prejudice Does Jane

¶ … Pride and Prejudice Does Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice reinforce or erode sexist stereotypes of women? Jane Austen's famous novel Pride and Prejudice deals with personal pride and social prejudice in the society of the time. In this paper the focus of analysis will be on the social prejudice in terms of gender as well as class and status distinctions. Gender stereotypes as a part of the social norms and values of the society form a central aspect of the meaning of this work.

The view of women as having an inferior status to men and being dependent on the male world is continually a focus of attention in the novel. This has led to interpretations of the work which tends to critique the novel as consciously or unconsciously upholding sexist norms and attitudes. However as this analysis will attempt to show, a central facet of this novel is the exposure of these stereotypical gender roles.

While cognizance must also be taken of the view that many of the gender roles in the novel might be seen to be prejudicial in a contemporary light, the central thesis of this paper is that the main trajectory of Austen's writing in Pride and Prejudice is to expose and erode sexist stereotypes. In the novel Austen, though her main characters, in fact interrogates and reveals the false pretences and prejudices of the society and shows that social prejudice on many levels is an illusion and an appearance.

A central feminist critique of Jane Austen's Pride and prejudice is that it patronizes women and reveals a subtle acceptance of the male dominated and male determined world. Most feminist studies have represented Austen as a conscious or unconscious subversive voicing a woman's frustration at the rigid and sexist social order which enforces women's subservience and dependence, though many feminist critics, as Julia Prewitt Brown notes, are distinctly uncomfortable with what they see as Austen's "cowardly accommodations" with the patriarchal order.

Kubitschek 237) However, in order to evaluate this view and fully understand the way that Austen addressed the issue of male prejudice and female stereotypes, one must take account of social and psychological sensibility of the time. English culture was strongly divided along class lines, and this division was increased by the extreme differences in gender roles and expectations. Class as a fact that dominated the society is always present in Pride and Prejudice.

This aspect is clearly portrayed in the difference between the Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Elisabeth's mother and family. An example from the novel that illustrates the presence of class prejudice can be seen in Lady Catherine de Bourgh's patronizing of the poor. "..

whenever any of the Cottagers were disposed to be quarrelsome, discontented or too poor, she sallied forth into the village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold them into harmony and plenty." Austen 130) The issue of class is mentioned in order to show the extent to which the position of women way related to and determined by the society - a fact that Austen is at pains to show in this novel.

While women had to contend with and live within these rigid class distinctions, they were also prejudiced against in term of sexual roles and stereotypes. Women in the society of the time had very little option but to marry and, in order to overcome the class barriers, they had to marry "well" or into the upper classes. This is shown throughout the novel by the importance that is placed on marriage by the women.

In effect this means that women were subject to both the class prejudice as well as to sexual and gender biases and restrictions. The point that is being made is that Jane Austen was aware of this double yoke under which women lived and her novels are an attempt to reveal and expose the situation of women in the society of the time. In many ways the novel reveals the fact that women had no real independence but were seen as adjuncts to the male.

Austen makes this very clear in her characterization of Mrs. Bennet's almost pathetic desire to see her daughters married. Rathrer then this being a "cowardly accommodation" with the patriarchal order, Jane Austen in this novel is in fact revealing the true reality of the situation of women in that time.

The fact that marriage is the only real option open to women and that to be unmarried is to a certain extent to be a social misfit, is central to the social critique and the understanding of gender stereotypes that Austen expertly reveals to the reader. The above view is emphasized in a number of studies of this Novel. For example, while the contemporary reader "..

may think that Pride and Prejudice shows only stereotypes of women obsessed with marriage" (Kubitschek 237), yet this was a necessity in terms of the social expectations of the time. Marriage for women is therefore an "obsession" and "Historically, middle-class British women had little choice." (Kubitschek 237) The fact that Charlotte Lucas prefers to marry any husband rather then remain single is evidence of this view and is reiterated time and again in the novel.

This also related to the social fact that women were socially prevented from having an extensive education and had no avenue for advancement except through marriage. However, while Austen exposes the situation of women she also offers alternatives and an even deeper understanding of the situation of women through her central characters. Elizabeth Bennet is by no means a subservient and reticent woman. She does not subscribe to the stereotypical view of women of the time and she has extremely high standards and a strong sense of independence.

Austen is well aware that even Elizabeth must take into consideration the social norms and demands of the time. Despite these restrictions, Austen paints a picture of highly independent and principled woman who defies and contradicts submissive gender stereotypes. The fact that Elizabeth initially rejects Darcy in spite of the enormous class advantage that the marriage would have meant clearly indicates her sense of independence and her rejection of the class and sexual stereotypes of the age.

In essence Pride and Prejudice is a novel about the centrality and the situation of women in society. As one critic notes, "Men are of secondary importance in the novels, however useful they may be to the plot, and male experience becomes relevant only in so far as it confirms "feminine" truth.

And by this I mean not a truth for women alone but what for Austen is a universal truth reflected more clearly in women's experience." (Morrison 337) This view implies that far from being a work that endorses the male perspective, through her characters Jane Austen reveals social prejudice and undermines sexual.