Pride And Prejudice And Tess Of The D Urbervilles Analysis

When reading Jane Austen 's Pride and Prejudice and Thomas Hardy 's Tess of the D 'Urbervilles, one thing is clear - women can be strong, determined and independent. But in the 19th century, the idea that a woman did not need a man to survive was controversial. Even now in a time of a modern feminist movement, examples of female independence are extremely influential. However, both Austen and Hardy fail to prevent negativity against women in their novels; the way in which the female protagonists are treated and expected to act in the male-dominated society show that women cannot be placed on the same level as men. How can they be when their only purpose in life is to marry rich and have children?

In Pride and Prejudice, Austen attempts to …show more content…
His description of Tess ' appearance is highly sexualised throughout the novel to appeal to the male audience of the time. Hardy describes Tess to have a "peony mouth", his comparison to a delicate flower suggests her female fragility but can also refer to the symbolism of the flower - a peony being the flower of shame due to its connections to nymphs, mythological females that have seductive traits - therefore implying that Tess is of a sexual nature. He also refers to her visual sexuality, describing her to have "bouncing handsome womanliness" in reference to her female assets of which are often used as seductive characteristics for a woman. Despite Tess still being barely of an age at which she can be described as a 'woman ', Hardy presents her as a desirable female for a sexual relationship. A modern reader would feel uncomfortable with this representation of her character as it appears to be an exploitation of her innocence and shows that Hardy does not depict Tess as a strong female, but rather an object of male …show more content…
From the beginning of the novel, she makes it clear that young women are expected to find an eligible man to marry and begin a family; as Mrs Bennet 's "business of her life was to get her daughters married". In the 19th century, all women were expected to marry as "it allowed them to become mothers" but also it secured their future financially - females were unable to inherit any estates so would not be able to support themselves after the death of their father, especially if they did not have any brothers. Therefore, a wealthy gentleman was desirable. Mr Bingley is described as "A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!" This presents the ideals of marriage at the time as wealth is the focus rather than the man 's personality or even love between the prospective husband and wife. This shows that Austen adheres to the patriarchal society 's views of women on the topic of marriage, the females in the novel are depicted as weak as they must succumb to the circumstances at the time; none of them are allowed to remain