Class Rigidity and Social Mobility

Throughout the course of history, social hierarchies have existed across the globe, spanning from prince to pauper or business tycoon to lowly scrivener. Authors, in turn, have written works regarding social class, often examining the negative effects of societal structure on personal growth. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre takes place in Victorian England, in the age of industry and genesis of industrial capitalism. The novel’s protagonist, Jane, first lives a life of neglect, then a life in poverty, and eventually finds her happy ending. Through Jane’s personal experiences and interactions with fellow characters, Brontë analyzes the effects of social class. Professor Chris Vanden Bossche’s article analysis “What Did ‘Jane Eyre’ Do? Ideology, Agency, Class and the Novel” examines social inclusion and monetary pressures placed on the central characters during this pivotal era of English history. Through the Marxist lens, Jane Eyre can be understood in terms of complexity and character motives. Vanden Bossche effectively argues that external forces, like money and people, both motivate and repress Jane into choosing her own path. Thus, a more developed explanation is made for Jane’s various behaviors regarding social inclusion and societal rebellion.

Individuals within a society are grouped into certain rankings that is based on their wealth, income, race and education known as the social stratification. Sociologist use this to determine the social standings of individuals within a society. Social stratification can also appear in much smaller groups. These groups such as the work place, schools, and businesses can “take the form of a distribution of power and authority down the ranks”. (Cole, 2017) The Caste system is also another form of stratification that one does not get a choice in. They are born into it and regardless of their talents will hold positions that are given to them their whole life. Social mobility is the ability for individuals to move about their social standings.

Jane Austen was a Georgian era author who was best known for her novels that commented on social issues and class, and Northanger Abbey is no exception. Austen’s social commentary is apparent in this novel’s plot, as the reader follows a seventeen-year-old protagonist, Catherine Morland, as she matures and forms intimate relationships with fellow characters in an England town called Bath. Marriage between characters in the novel is heavily based on wealth, and because of England’s unstable economy at the time, marrying into wealth meant maintaining a high social class and economic stability for the characters. The importance of economic prosperity and social rank heavily influenced marriage in 19th century England, and this idea bourgeoisie classism and marrying for wealth is contradicted by Austen in her novel, Northanger Abbey.

Although Highbury was just a small population town, the particular social structure was reflecting this type of class structure about Britain. For instance, the love amongst Robert Martin and Harriet was not acceptable in Emma’s eyes. Robert Martin was a successful respectable farmer; Harriet is a friend of Emma and illegitimate of a tradesman nevertheless she received well cared and properly educated. So Emma couldn’t agree while Mr. Martin proposed marriage to Harriet, subsequently Emma Convinced Harriet to Refused to associate with Robert Martin. And try to match Harriet and Mr. Elton who was considered as higher rank of society status, young priest with record of great educating. In Emma describe of Mr. Martin “he may be the richest of the two, but he is undoubtedly her inferior as to rank in society.”(Emma, Chapter7, and p.33) it is clear that time, marriage most depended on and compromised with the values of their social status.

She is met with Elton’s indignant reply, “Don’t you even know who my father is?”, his shocked tone and rhetorical question emphasises the nonsensical nature of her remark, emulating the social rift between himself and Tai. Elton distances himself from Tai by emphasising his superior status, and reflects upon the contextual importance of adherence to social distinctions when forging relationships, a similarity shared in Emma. In contrast to Clueless is the rigidity of social class in Emma’s time, in which there is a strong regard for birthright, wealth and mannerisms. In chapter 10, Emma says, “A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable, old maid! ...but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable”. A poor, unmarried woman is described as an “old maid”, whereas her wealthy counterpart is “always respectable”. These double standards between single women of high and poor economic status exemplifies the importance of wealth in determining respectability within Austen’s context. Evidently, social hierarchy are strong social values upheld in both contexts, with relationships and societal norms dependent upon an individual’s social class.

Admiral Croft who was among the nouveau rich, had the financial means to rent Kellnych from Sir Walter, one of the so-called landed gentry. How does Jane Austen's treatment of class and social mobility reveal about these men and their women such as Anne Elliot and Mrs. Smith? Which group fares better and why?

At first, Austen reveals the tensions between the working class and the upper class and emphasizes the rigid social structure that existed in nineteenth century London. The rigidity of the social structure can be attributed to the fact that “no class exists for itself but is bound by reciprocated rights and duties to classes above and below” (Kilger 359). Although the classes are separate and very distinct from each other, they still all depend on one another to thrive and succeed. However, this was definitely not the case during the

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen gives unique insight into the values and social structure of Austen’s world. These insights are expounded on and deepened by Fay Weldon’s Letters to Alice on First Reading Jane Austen. Jane Austen Critiques the Regency Era’s views on marriage, condemning the social norms of marrying for status and social security rather than for love. Letters to Alice evaluates the role of women in Weldon’s 1980’s context, criticising the social expectation of ‘The Angel of the House,’ which was the expectation of women in the early to mid-20th century.

Austen’s views within Emma are a reflection of the prevailing views in the Regency Era, as the upper classes often abused their wealth and influence to ensure that their descendants would be wealthy like them. The rigidity associated with the class structure within the Regency era is initially reflected when Emma is characterised as, “handsome, clever and rich with a comfortable home and a happy disposition”. The fact the sentence specifically mentions her assets definitely emphasises how her inherited wealth is the major (if not only) factor accounting for her high status. This classist structure is later reflected with the gentry’s interactions of those below their social class. Emma’s arrogant tone when she teaches Harriet “the yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I can feel I can have nothing to do” is indicative of the inflexible nature of the class system during that era. It was acceptable to feel superior due to being of a higher class. Her view symbolises that of the upper classes’ patronising attitude to the lower classes, and thus emphasises the omnipresent nature of the class system within the United Kingdom. Hence, Austen’s heavy emphasis on the class system within Emma is a stark reminder of how our behaviours have not developed over the

Based on the ideas of Karl Marx, this theoretical approach asks us to consider how a literary work reflects the socioeconomic conditions of the time in which it was written. What does the text tell us about contemporary social classes and how does it reflect classism? Jane Eyre depicts the strict, hierarchical class system in England that required everyone to maintain carefully circumscribed class positions. Primarily through the character of Jane, it also accents the cracks in this system, the places where class differences were melding in Victorian England. For example, the novel questions the role of the governess: Should she be considered upper class, based on her superior education, or lower class,

In Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, Bronte seemingly condemns the existing social hierarchy. Not only are the characters who are most concerned with the allure of fortune and rank portrayed as either deceitful or unethical, but even characters who’ve accepted their means of poverty and demonstrate honest moral natures are mocked. Rather than use the normal class structures, the book suggests that a person of impoverished means can be viewed as socially respectable with the condition that they maintain a sincere desire to better both oneself and their means of living.

“Society made me do it.” This phrase is a reality for many people in the world who live their lives through society’s expectations. Having a perfect reputation and living exactly by society’s rules is not always easy when faced with challenges such as restrictions amidst social classes. In Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, social classes are a common theme throughout the book. This theme is strongly influenced by the culture and desires of people in the Georgian Era, when the author began working on this book, which dictates the major choices in the characters’ lives. For example, something that people value most in this era is reputation. Main characters in Pride and Prejudice like the

The embodiment of this superficial class is the Elliott family. In using the Elliotts as her prime example of the aristocracy, a family that purchased its nobility relatively recently, Austen undercuts their claim to privilege. This family serves almost as a metonym for the larger aristocratic family in general. Rather than showing the aristocratic family tree as a pyramid of increasing status with increasing responsibility, Austen portrays it as a social food chain of the flatterers and the flattered. For example, when Mrs. Clay quits Bath at the end of the novel, Sir Walter and Elizabeth are "shocked and mortified...they had their great cousins, to be sure, to resort to for comfort; but they must long feel that to flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment" (Persuasion 220). Unlike the landholders of other novels-Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice and Mr. Knightley of Emma, for example-Sir Walter does not fit with Burkean models of beneficial aristocratic paternalism. His connection to the land is limited to Elizabeth

Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte explore social class in a number of different ways throughout their novels Pride and the Prejudice and Jane Eyre. They do this through the use of stylistic devices which in turn appeals to their different audiences. Both Jane and Charlotte are notable writers for their remarkable texts. Jane Austen is known for playing a revolutionary role in the generation of English female literature, which was counteracted by this piece- and Charlotte Bronte also developed her feminist thoughts, which have been displayed throughout her novels. By analysing social class in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre this essay will compare these two women writers’ texts and display how social class is presented

In real terms, our social system is split into two distinct sectors. There is the people who are middle class and lower, and those in the upper and elite class. People can move freely in their sector but if they try to move from the lower sector to the top, they are met with harsh resistance by those in the upper sector. The dream that with a little elbow grease and some good luck you can be anything you want to be, is the exception in our class system, not the rule. With only being a set amount of wealth to be divided up among everyone in the world, the people that have it don’t want to see it slip away from them and be given to other people.