Jane Austen has written her stories in a traditional way due to be read by many readers. However,
that makes her to write in a defined way and particular topics as marriage and being a woman in
that society in England. Jane Austen tries to give the truths of the socity for the readers of her
novels. In 19th century, the novel readers are mostly women and they prefer to read the stories
that is from their lives. Thus, Pride and Prejudice is very important novel for looking the position of
women in the society.
The thema of the Pride and Prejudice women, their love relations, their marriages, their social
status in the society, their thoughts about marriage and their drahomas and family status. In the
novel, the female characters are Elizabeth, her sisters, her best friend who is called Charlotte, her
mother and her aunt. The female characters can be analyzed by looking at their status and
thoughts about marriage.
Firstly, I will mention about their thoughts about marriage. The family of Benet is landed gentry
and they do not have any son. Thus, their daughters do not own any property. For these girls, the
best way to own a house to get marry with a rich man. Their mother always tries to find a good
husband for her daughters. By looking these parts of the novel, it can be said that women must get
marry if they do not have any male relative to live with. For indicating the importance of that
keynote, the dialoge between Charlotte and Elizabeth can be given as an example. Charlotte says
to her friend that she will mary with Mr. Collins. Elizabeth gets shocked and she did not like that
idea. Charlotte said to Elizabeth that she does not want a romantic love relationship, she just want
to have a secure house with a husband. Her father has an appellation as “Sir” however he does not
have marriage portion for her daughter. These situation of them make the marrige as a salvation.
The other example can be the mother of the girls about the marriage. She always says to her
daughters to marry with a rich man who can support them. When Mr. Bingly moves there, she
wanted to be visit him at the first day with an aim of to show him her daughters. She always
mention about marriage and findind a husband to her daughters. Thus, the girls are grown up the
idea of marriage.
Elizabeth is the more rational character in the novel however, she have the same idea as her
mother. Firstly, she liked Mr. Wickham. She heard about him and also she knows that he is not so
rich. In my opinion, Mr. Wickham was the first love of her however it is not said exactly in the
novel. In addition to that, when she goes to Mr. Darcy's house, she thinks that to be a lady of that
house would be great. By looking at these events and situations, it can be said that Elizabeth is not
totally different than her sisters about marriage thoughts. However, it is clear that she thinks more
rational than her sisters about marriage.
In addition to that, marriage of women should be in appropriate ways as it is accepted in the
society. When Lydia escapes from home, Mr. Collins write a letter to Mr. Bennet. In that letter, it is
written that the situation of Lydia is worse than death of her. That expression is so rude that shows
to the reader about the thoughts of men for the women who escaped from home and marry
without permission of her family. That is not acceptable even in modern world however saying that
it is worse than her death vs not acceptable.
I will mention about the status of woman in the novel. Lydia escapes from home. After that, she
returns back to home as a marrried woman. She sits on the table in an arranged way as she sits
previous chair than her elder sisters because she is a married woman. However, she escapes from
home and married in an unappropriate way. It can be said that in 19th century marriage gives some
priorities to women in the society. In addition to that, when she enters in a community, she
introduce her as a wife of Mr. Wickham. That means, marriage gives to female social identity.
In Pride and Prejudice, the main aims of the girls is having a good marriage. However, in the first
sentence of the novel Jane Austen write a ironic sentence that give the message that is a man who
wants to have a good fortune, wants to have a wife. With that sentence, Jane Austen gives the idea
of the women at 19th century. To understand the society, that novel can show the reader many
aspects.
In addition to that, Pride and Prejudice indicates that drahoma of the woman is so important for
marriage. Mrs. Bennet had a good amount of drahoma. Due to that Mr. Bennet married with her,
probably. In some part of the novels, he realizes that however he does not accept that idea so he
thinks that when they get married she was beautiful. He is not rich so his daughters do not have
drahomas. Thus, he does not interfere his wife in her attitudes. She says that, my daughters should
find a rich husband to survive because of not having good drahomas.
To sum up, it can be said that Pride and Prejudice represents the women of 19th century and their
status in the society as a married woman. Pride and Prejudice can be accepted as a good novel for
understanding the lives of women due to written by a woman writer. There is a question in my
mind and that is if the writer was a man, could the novel change. My answer is yes because seeing
a clear portrait of female characters in that novel and male characters are not seem to me exactly
from real life especially Mr. Collins who seems more likely as a cartoon character. In addition to
that, the proposal of Mr. Darcy is also shows that the writer of the novel is a woman.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder