Feminism In Jane Austin's Pride And Prejudice

Jane Austin uses her book Pride and Prejudice to make a statement about how unfairly women were treated during the 19th century. She explores the ideas of feminism and equality in the context of society and social classes through the daughters of the Bennet family. During the time that the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet grew up, society viewed women as weak, passive, and inferior to men. Nevertheless, Elizabeth refused to submit to the social norm and the idea that women are solely useful for domestic work and should strive to obtain wealth by marrying rich. Pride and Prejudice is a book that demonstrates how the only way to find true love and happiness is to resist the societal pressure that claims women to be inferior to men, and to have individuals explore their own radical beliefs. Since the majority of men in this book treat women as their …show more content…
Miss Bingley spent her whole life under the misguided influence of societies judgements of women, convincing herself that her true identity is not good enough for men. Miss Bingley loses sight of who she is and puts strenuous effort into trying to win the attention of Mr. Darcy, a wealthy suitor. However, “she cannot win him…to any conversation” and became “quite exhausted by the attempt to be amused with her own book, which she had only chosen because it was a second volume of his” (p. 54). In attempt to please Mr. Darcy, Miss Bingley acts as though she is interested in reading. But, Mr. Darcy can see right through her mask and knows that Miss Bingley is just trying to flatter him, causing him to lose respect for her. Miss Bingley believes that her own morals do not matter, and that she must hide her honest self for fear that she may become a disappointment to her family by not winning the heart of the wealthy