Pride And Prejudice: A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

Elizabeth The book Pride and Prejudice is a story of an empowered woman named Elizabeth living in a misogynistic world. The excerpt from A Vindication of the Rights of Women (AVOTROW) focuses on the misogynistic world that Elizabeth lives in and challenges it, much like Elizabeth. During that time, Elizabeth would have been considered a feminist, she did not fit into the social constructs given to her sex. She focused her energy into strengthening her mind, and she believed in marrying for love instead of money which was revolutionary. The Vindication of the Rights of Women state that at the time, women were unequal to men intellectually because they are women, and the only way for them to have a future is to marry for profit. These two-literary

Wollstonecraft starts the excerpt with “My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures,” insinuating that at the time, women were not treated as such, which is clearly shown in Pride and Prejudice with how the Bennet sisters will be left to die when their father dies unless they marry (Chapter XIII). Elizabeth however, is a woman who does not fit the box of what a woman “should” be, “I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both mind and body,” (AVOTROW). Elizabeth is a woman who has been told off because she doesn’t act like a woman should throughout the book. This is especially shown in a conversation with Lady Catherine when she ridicules her for focusing on her own intelligence instead of accomplishments that would make her a better wife (Chapter XXIX). Wollstonecraft directly contradicts that when she says “It is acknowledged that they may spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body and mind are sacrificed”. Elizabeth did not compromise the strength of her mind or body, thus Wollstonecraft would approve of Elizabeth as a woman who lived up to her intellectual