How does Elizabeth Bennet contradict the typical image of an 18th century woman? Essay

The eighteenth cytosine women of Jane Austens pages and of her times lived a gentle, sheltered and delicate manner. The rules of stockpile especi on the wholey in relation to women were defined and strict. All women were expected to be courteous, decent, fragile, polite, refined, modest and respectable, have adept breeding, impeccable earthly concernners and gross(a) kind etiquette. Women were limited to precise few activities- of importly drawing, singing and dancing. They had to be accomplished in every intelligence of the say. An accomplished adult female must(prenominal) have a thorough fellowship of music, singing, drawing, dancing and the modern languages to deserve the ledger and besides alone this she must possess a delivered something in her business line and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be half deserved. Such were the requirements that society asked of every cleaning lady if she wanted to hold a p lace of her have got in the hymeneals rat racecourse.Elizabeth white avens, the twenty-year-old heroine of the novel Pride and impairment and the second oldest of the white avens sisters, has both these qualities in her. However she is superior to all the early(a) women that argon presented to us in the novel. She is accomplished and beautiful entirely un ilk other(a) women, she does non s undersurface- take out at every opportunity. She is non a hypocrite or a snob wish well Caroline Bingley, or ignorant, idle and nugatory like her youngest sister Lydia or tactless and insensitive like her accept mother, who is the butt of her husbands sarcasm. Elizabeth is the fast favourite of her produce and has communicable his wit, intelligence and independence. Through Elizabeth, Jane Austen mocks the snobbery, hypocrisy and materialism of many stack like Caroline Bingley, gentlewoman Catherine, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Collins.Elizabeth is practicedy aware of the shortcomings of her mother and her younger sisters. She is ashamed at her mothers embarrassing lack of shadowiness and discretion, which are demonstrated firstly at the Netherfield ball when she makes a untimely public announcement that Jane Bennet is to unite Mr. Charles Bingley, and secondly, by her disdainful sermon of Mr. Darcy, her social superior. Mrs. Bennets lack of good breeding, intelligence and sense of humour is very evident. The solace of her life was visiting and news. She love a good gossip, which is rather typical of a woman- eighteenth century or other sharp-witted.Gossiping was a major pastime for women and we can rule how fast information gets around t witness. Mrs. Philips, the sister of Mrs. Bennet, provides her with the gossip around Meryton. It was Mrs. Philips who inform Mrs. Bennet about Mr. Bingley buying Netherfield, the talk around Meryton about Lydias scandal and Mr. Bingleys return to Netherfield. However non all women indulged in gossip. We do not see Jane or Elizabeth interfering with other peoples business. If it was to be a secret, say not another word on the subject. You may depend on my seeking no further. Their place differs from their mother. Then again, it was a necessity for Mrs. Bennet to keep tabs on everything release around because any information might help in race to get her five female childs married off.We can see the importance of spousal in the 18th century clearly through Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Lucas. Their main occupation is arranging for their daughters to be married to rich husbands. This desire governs Mrs. Bennets life. The business of her life was to get her daughters married. The immoral behaviour of her youngest daughter Lydia is of no importance to her once the wedding had been announced. Instead Mrs. Bennets immediate concern is the wedding clothes which Lydia may buy afterward she is married. However Mrs. Bennets desire to get her daughters married off as soon as possible are based on economic facts since they would not inherit any money after their fathers death.Wealth was the main criteria for a successful and secure wedding party and that was what Mrs. Bennet, like all other mothers, looked for in prospective grooms. Love and rejoicing did not matter much or in fact, at all. As Elizabeths best friend Charlotte Lucas put it Happiness in join is entirely a matter of chance. This was a very common emplacement in the 18th century. Charlotte accepts the design of Mr. Collins, a pompous and foolish man plane though she knows that the twain of them are incompatible. However she is a pragmatic and sensible person and she is aware of her poor financial state and of her age, at twenty-seven she was considered to be an old maid, and thus was prepared to marry solely for the sake of money.This shows us that very few options were open to a woman in Charlottes position. She could either become a governess or a companion to a lady or just persevere at home, reducing her younger si sters chances of being married. Jane Austen uses the theme of Love and conjugal union to show us how the whole of a womans life revolved around spousal relationship. From the time she is born, she is trained and tutored to be a sinless wife. She is thought how to sit, stand, walk, talk, eat, drink, dance, sing, draw, and sew in the hope of securing a good, affluent husband. Elizabeth Bennet is blameless in her manners, her expressions and her civility. But I welcome her very different from the conventional 18th century woman because of her ideals on love and marriage. She has all the necessary qualifications of an eligible spinster but chooses not to marry for the sake of it.Elizabeth remarks, One has got all the goodness, the other all the show of it, referring to Wickham and Darcy. Here the difference between appearance and reality is highlighted. The ease with which even sharp people like Elizabeth could be deceived by appearance was a real danger in Jane Austens society, with all its emphasis on manners and breeding, and with its strict code of public behaviour. People like Wickham who could practise well in public were judged on that rather than on their legitimate characters. Elizabeths pride and her prejudice blind her to Wickhams faults and lead her to accept his slanderous portrayal of Darcy..She is tolerable but not handsome nice to tempt me is what Darcy said of Elizabeth at their first meeting. This hurt combined with the knowledge of Darcys hand in separating Jane and Bingley leaves Elizabeth with a strong dislike for Darcy. thus when Darcy proposes to her she is thunderstruck and dismisses him to be the last man in the world I could be prevailed upon to marry. I call Elizabeths rejection of Darcys proposal a very brave thing to do because it would have been considered sacrilege, tutelage in mind the importance given to money in the 18th century. She impresses both Darcy and the readers with her wit and liveliness. Darcy, while mainta ining that Elizabeths manners are not those of the fashionable world, is nevertheless attracted to her spirit and an independence of mind.However by the end of the novel Elizabeth accepts that not all first impressions can be taken at face value. We can see the themes of Appearance versus domain and Self-realization being brought out.Elizabeths independence of spirit is show by her decision to walk to Netherfield in order to visit her sister. It is looked upon as a monstrous thing that Elizabeth Bennet should walk three miles on a country road, and take to the woods Bingley criticizes her exclaiming to walk three miles, or any(prenominal) it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, kinda alone It seems to me to show an abominable split up of conceited independence, a well-nigh country-town indifference to decorum. She looked almost wild This supercilious remark of Caroline Bingley shows us the typical 18th century woman mentality. Elizabeths behaviour is considered to be unort hodox and very unladylike since she walked, unescorted all the way from Meryton to Netherfield just to see her sick sister. This shows us that Elizabeth places her sister originally any social rules of etiquette.Elizabeths partial(p) character is demonstrated by her close relationship with her elder sister Jane, whose sensitive and compassionate nature she admires. It has been suggested that Elizabeth and Janes relationship mirrors the close relationship the author had with her own sister Cassandra. However Jane is different from Elizabeth in her gentle nature, which is so pleasant and pleasant that it is almost a failing due to her unquestioning acceptance of others. Elizabeth is to a greater extent outspoken and prides herself to be a good judge of character.Her perception does not support her to be taken in by the superficial and two- set about Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Hurst who are proud and rich and make their superior social rank known. They are introduced as fine women with a decided air of fashion. To fail to a family whose fortune was made in trade was to belong to an inferior class. It is ironic to see Miss Bingley and her sister criticizing Jane for having an uncle with trade connections, when their own fortune was gained through trade. In the 18th century society, Miss Bingley and her sister are called ladies as they fulfill all the requirements they have money, beauty and are accomplished. But as Elizabeth notes, with irony, that they were in every respect entitled to think well of themselves their subsequent behaviour, particularly with regard to the Bennets is far from ladylike. Jane Austen here reveals the theme of Appearance versus Reality again and withal shows us, through Miss Bingley behaviour, that manners are a better indication of breeding than behave into an upper-class family.The character of Lady Catherine de Bourgh proves this point again. She is an overbearing, self-important, and controlling aristocrat who has a narrow-mi nded, unpleasant and selfish manner. She feels that her rank as a Lady gives her a right to meddle in other peoples aff expose. Everyone is in awe of her except for Elizabeth, since she attaches little importance to rank for its own sake. Elizabeth stands up to her and senses that she must be the first person to ever have do so. This shows us that Elizabeth is not afraid to stand up for herself especially when Lady Catherine attempts to persuade her not to marry Darcy. Elizabeths defiance shocks Lady Catherine who makes her reasons for objecting to their marriage very clear. She says honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it- all reasons which Darcy had declared that he had overcome when he proposed to Elizabeth at Hunsford.Elizabeths choice of love reflects her desire to find a husband who matches her in terms of character and taste. Elizabeths relationship with Darcy is beyond what any other couples share in the novel Pride and Prejudice. The bond between Elizabeth and Darcy is rationally founded, based on excellent reason and general similarity of feeling and taste. Elizabeth likes Darcy for the fact that he has no airs about him and he is honest, frank and very similar to her in character. Darcy in return is impressed by Elizabeth physical and mental energy and by her sharp wit and her big businessman to laugh at misfortune and her optimism.Jane Austen uses Elizabeth as her mouthpiece when she says, I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can. Elizabeth is like Jane Austen in that she is shown to be interested in the tender-hearted character. Unlike other women of her times, Elizabeth has a good sense of humour and possesses the ability to laugh at herself. Austens sense of humour and intelligence allow her to show the reader the follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies, of her characters. The way Austen presents Lydia and Mrs. Ben net are a good example of this. She does this without being unfair, as she laughs not at them but at what they do. Her use of irony and satire are more serious she uses them to show meaning without telling the reader directly and to make fun of things, especially those with social importance and meaning. The tone of Pride and Prejudice is light, satirical and vivid.We can still, despite the vast differences between her 18th century society and our own 21st century society, recognize ourselves in the way her characters think and behave. We all know people as cleverly manipulative and outwardly affectionate as Miss Bingley as self-involved as Lady Catherine de Bourgh and as charming but as lacking in principles as Wickham. We obliterate ourselves with arrogance like Darcy assume we understand more than we do like Elizabeth and revel in gossip Like Mrs. Bennet. And the very fact that Jane Austens characters are so relatable to makes the novel all the more readable. Her writing also ap pealed to me because of its simplicity. I do not mean to say that her work is behind to understand, but that she uses simple English.I found the character of Elizabeth to be very intricately designed for she has timeless appeal. She is by no means staring(a) but is by far the closest to perfection among all the other women in the novel. Elizabeth is vivacious, teasing, sensitive, perceptive and filled with sparkling beauty and wit. Her dialogues are full of intelligence and precisely crafted often to convey subtle meanings. Elizabeth is Jane Austens best, most loved and certainly most popular creation. I must knowledge I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print, wrote Austen of Elizabeth few readers have ever disagreed.Elizabeth Bennet contradicts the image of the typical 18th century woman who is born and brought up only with marriage in mind. She has a mind of her own and quite a sharp one at that. She captures and captivates not only Darcy but the readers a s well. She has all the qualities in her that were desired in a perfect wife. But besides these she has a certain something in her that no other woman has. She is a woman far beyond her time and would not seem out of place in todays world, two centuries later. I think Jane Austen has really created a marvelous masterpiece, which will unendingly survive the changing demands of literature.