Рибак Валерія
Вінницький державний педагогічний університет
імені Михайла Коцюбинського
Науковий керівник: Кудельська О.В., асистент кафедри
англійської філології
WOMAN PERSPECTIVE IN “PRIDE AND PREJUDICE”
It is not a coincidence that the nineteenth century, the century of the feminist revolution, was a kind of golden age of women’s literature. In the nineteenth century, after a female – and, more particularly, a feminist – tradition had earlier begun to establish in the works of such female authors as Fanny Burney, Mary Brunton, Ann Radcliffe, the female imagination reaches the peak of its development. It is worth mentioning that Virginia Woolf defined women as “the four great novelists” – Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, and George Eliot were all the nineteenth-century artists and the most significant artists of their time. [5, p.2]
The social parody Jane Austen creates in such novels as “Pride and Prejudice” may be the result of prescriptions imposed through conduct books. Women were brainwashed with advice on a broad variety of matters, from how to spend their time to how they should care for the male part of their family, be it their brother, father, or spouse. Conduct writing advocated that a woman’s social environment presented her with too many forms of activity that smacked of amusement, and it was not considered appropriate for women to work, so writers of conduct books generally persisted that the activities comprising the domestic arts – and therefore a women’s duty – had to be carefully supervised [4, p.15].
Women’s Education and “Accomplishments”
For women of the “genteel” classes, the goal of non-domestic education was thus often the acquisition of “accomplishments”, such as the ability to draw, sing, play music, or speak modern languages (generally French and Italian).
Jane Austen criticizes the idea that women belong only to a domestic area by showing that they have to constantly estimate their admirers on economic, business-like grounds. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet disposes of her relatively separated viewpoint of the more unimportant sides of this traditional game by accepting a somewhat inattentive attitude towards her “accomplishment” of playing the piano, and not practicing it diligently.
Women should have a choice: work or not; study different sciences or not; reach career heights or do household chores.
Money and Income in J. Austen’s novels
J.A Austen pointed out all the great problems of her time –money and income. The only way for women to become rich (if they were not from a well to do family) was to marry well, as noblewomen were not supposed to work. That is why our work is based on the novel “Pride and Prejudice” (Elizabeth Bennet – from a not well to do family). “It would be an excellent match, for he was rich, and she was handsome. . . . she was always anxious to get a good husband for every pretty girl.” [1, p.50].
The right of women to express their opinions and speak to the public.
Female speech in Jane Austen’s novels is heavily dictated by the whims of her male characters, and although “female speech is never entirely repressed in Austen’s fiction, it is dictated to as to mirror or otherwise reassure masculine desire”. [3, p.58]. However, there are times when women stray from the gendered rules of speech and, in expressing their opinions, threaten male control over discourse. In these situations, men resort to either willful misinterpretation or forced silence in order to draw women back into their verbal control. For example, Mrs. Bennet attempts to chastise Elizabeth for expressing her disapproval of Darcy, but Elizabeth refuses to be silenced:
“What is Mr. Darcy to me, pray, that I should be afraid of him? I am sure we owe him no such particular civility as to be obliged to say nothing he may not like to hear” [1, p.35].
However, men find ways to force women like Mary and Elizabeth back into the framework of female speech. One way men overcome the threat of verbal rebellion is by willfully misinterpreting what women say. This allows the men to co-opt women’s voices and turn the women into modest and pliable mates. [2, p.2].
Summarizing all the above, we can understand that the prospects for women were deplorable. They had to be ideal women without their own opinion and without the opportunity to earn a living on their own.
REFERENCES:
- Austen J. Pride and prejudice. Academic medicine. 2010. Vol. 85, no. 4. P. 1., p. 50. URL: https://doi.org/10.1097/acm.0b013e3181d2ed38 (date of access: 18.04.2022).
- Azerêdo G. From page to screen: a study of irony in adaptations of Jane Austen’s Emma: published Version. 2001. 2 p. URL: https://repositorio.ufsc.br/handle/123456789/111872 (date of access: 18.04.2022).
- Collective S. a. S. Women and literature: an annotated bibliography of women writers. 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass: The Collective, 1973. 58 p
- Kirkham M. Jane Austen, feminism and fiction. Sussex: Harvester Press. 15 p.
- Woolf V. Room of one’s own: 1929. Independently Published, 2020. 2 p.