Elizabeth Bennet Conformity

John Locke once said, “I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts,” and this statement couldn’t be truer. In her novels, Jane Austen uses a similar technique to bring her characters to life and make them more relatable to her readers; thus providing a window into the characters’ inner ideals. In one of her masterpieces, Pride and Prejudice, we especially see Austen’s brilliant characterizations into play that speak volumes of insight into society and human nature. More specifically, Austen ingeniously uses Elizabeth Bennet’s actions, her words, her outlook on others, and her comparison with other characters to display Austen’s own innate ideologies.

Austen opens the novel by telling us, “It is a truth universally acknowledge, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”(7) The act of marriage during this time period an act of comfort rather than love. A woman married a man when it was ensured she would live a prosperous and wealthy life. Affection was not enough for women to marry; however, Elizabeth knew that in order for her to be happy, love must be there. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth was promised of a comfortable life by three gentlemen but turning all three down because her affection was

Jane Austen was deeply influenced by this Conservative philosophy and in her novels she stresses the essential unity of society, the crucial role played by the individual in preserving and reinforcing this unity and the social significance of manners (110).

In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen writes a story that depicts a society during the Regency Period. The Regency Period is the time when people started to expand the colonial system through the use of their profits from the Industrial Revolution. The Regency Period is displayed through Austen’s use of a middle class family, the Bennet family. In the book, the author writes about various characters with contrasting personalities. No one character can resemble another since they are all different in their own ways.

Society viewed men and women as living separate lives during Jane Austen's time. It was frowned upon for women to pursue an intellectual education, unlike men, since men occupied dominant roles in society and women were deemed “weak and passive” (Radeck). In Persuasion, Jane Austen challenges the stereotype of women in the nineteenth century. Her character Anne Elliot defends the female gender by challenging the domestic image of women.

The protagonist of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, shares her personal thoughts, feelings, and impressions with her elder sister Jane Bennet. Through confiding in Jane, Elizabeth shares more. She allows Jane to share her pleasure and distress. As Elizabeth’s confidante, Jane influences the plot, theme, and message that Jane Austen conveys in the novel.

Elizabeth’s mother Mrs. Bennet was the humorous epitome of a stereotypical middle class woman of the late eighteen hundreds England. She was considered by those in higher statuses as lower class; her loud boisterous behavior lacked a certain ladylike refinement of the upper classes that Mrs. Bennet herself strived for her daughters to attain through marriage.

In the Romantic era, there were many British writers who entertained audiences around the world. Today, their works are considered legendary. Many of these writers were females who not only produced short works, but longer novels as well. Many of these writers had personal experiences that influenced their writing. One of the dominant writers of this era, who found influences through her personal experiences with education and family was Jane Austen. Her life was filled with spending time with her siblings, going to school, and having fun. Austen’s family shaped her into the known author she is today. Her most famous work is Pride and Prejudice.

People are often seen basing their lives off of society’s standards. Many writers criticizes the influence that society has over its members. The romantic novelist Jane Austen satirizes her society and those who follow it. One of her most famous works, Pride and Prejudice, is a great example of this satire. Throughout the novel she explores the effects of society through her characters. In Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice, she divulges the central theme of society and social class through the characters Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy, and Lady Catherine.

From the beginning it is seen that the question of marriage is very important to the Bennet family. Upon not marrying, the girls ' cousin Mr. Collins will inherit Longbourn due to the absence of a male heir. This means that the family will become destitute since they won 't have any support or a place to live. The only solution for them would be marriage. During this era, since women had to pay dowry, they had to find men who would marry them either for love or to have a good wife.

It is unfortunate that many people tend to dismiss Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, as simply a romantic love story, even labeling it a “chick flick.” Upon a shallow reading, it may appear to be such, but a closer look at the novel reveals so much more embedded in the story. In addition to describing the entertaining relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, the novel serves to forward Austen 's personal values and ideas. Furthermore, there is one issue of her era that she particularly responds to, that is, the inferior position of women. At the time this book was written, women never amounted to much of anything unless they married well, and they often had to be beautiful, accomplished, and from a family of good fortune to do so. Austen uses Pride and Prejudice to argue against this subordinate conception of women by demonstrating what truly gives a woman value. As she weaves together the story’s intricate plotline, Austen highlights this point through the attributes of Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Although Elizabeth appears to be at a disadvantage in meeting the customary qualifications for a prosperous marriage, she is perfect for portraying Austen’s ideal woman because she stands out as being rather intelligent and one who follows her heart.

Recently, women around the world established and portrayed their ability to perform in the workforce and as independents; various female writers paved the way for this sense of respect toward women and an overall female reformation. Although women were mainly acknowledged for their domestic role in the home and their social role as secondary to their husband, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility illustrates the fullness of female capability while breaking the captive social role of women in this time; Austen accomplishes this through contrasting the traditional view of women and a reformed view, Marianne and Elinor, and the Dashwood girls reasons for marriage compared to most women’s. The setting of this novel takes place in the 1800’s, a time defined by strict gender roles and an overwhelming sense of tradition. Austen uses characters in Sense and Sensibility to portray the distinction between those that view women as simply wives and those that view the significance of individual women. Although many traditional women of this time viewed marriage as a necessary task for survival, Austen emphasized that marriage is the natural progression after a deep emotional attachment.

Austen is possibly the most well known and widely referred female novelist on earth. She wrote many books we know today. Jane novels include books like ‘Emma’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and many more from her 10 book collection. Jane have got many awards that she got for her wonderful writing and how we became to know her today(1).

Jane Austen is one of the greatest novelists of English Literature. She was born in 1775 at Steventon in Hampshire, in the south of England. Her father was Reverend George Austen, who was a well-educated clergyman and who encouraged Austen both in her reading and her writing. She started writing when she was fourteen, and by her early twenties she was already working on the first versions of some of her novels. She did not write about great events, like the French Revolution or the Napoleonic Wars, both of which happened during her lifetime. Such forces were remote from the restricted world that she depicts. She wrote about what she knew best: the daily business of social visits, romantic affairs, and matchmaking. Her six major novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey,

Jane Austen’s writings are stories like ones that have happened in her life. In Ms. Austen’s words she once stated, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife,” (Bruno Introduction). She even traveled when writing, she would visit family and friends when writing so she could grasp the lives over others not in her surroundings. Austen was one of the most remarkable women of England. Jane Austen was a woman that endeared heartbreak, problems, and discrimination which has helped shape her books and writings in a feminist path.