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Jane Austen And Jane Eyre

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Pride and the Prejudice – Jane Austen & Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
How is social class explored in both texts through the use of stylistic devices and how do the different perspectives help appeal to the audience?

Introduction:
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 …show more content…

The setting of both of these novels are representative of social class due to all the places mentioned above being significant landmarks in England and places in which only popular people went to. It is believed that from an audience perspective, the setting of both novels adequately illustrates how society and the social ladder is depicted. The language used perfectly exemplifies this, enabling readers to understand the era and how society was within that time. A significant difference in both of the books is the way in which Bronte uses her own life experiences and displays them in Jane throughout the book. Charlotte Bronte, much like Jane in the novel was an orphan, both grew up without a mother and both were sent to a boarding school. Social class in Pride and Prejudice is determined between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit (rank and possessions). This is different in Jane Eyre as she is pleased with her position in society, she does not judge or put down those of a lower status due to knowing what it is like. An example of this is where she takes the positon of a teacher and she feels as though she has “taken a step which is sinking her instead of raising her in the scale of social existence.” And although this may sound rude, she then mentions that she must not forget that these “coarsely-clad little peasants are flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy.” As readers of Charlotte

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