Social Norms In Pride And Prejudice

The role of women has been debated throughout history. From gaining the right to vote, to becoming a key component in the workforce, it is clear that women’s rights have expanded throughout time. This change is seen in the story of Elizabeth Bennet. Comparing the book Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, to the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice, it is evident that social norms in regards to women’s agency have changed.

The story of Pride and Prejudice starts with the upper middle class Bennet family. It focuses on the second eldest daughter, Elizabeth, and her journey navigating life as an unmarried woman in Britain during the early 1800s. While the story in both film and book stays the same, the social norms are very different between them.

As

At 1:32:51, we can see how scared the Bennet family is of Lydia potentially eloping with Wickham. Once they are married however, there is no talk about her potential happiness with her new husband (Pride and Prejudice). The movie doesn't show the societal “punishments” for her social “mistake,” something that would be very prevalent in the early 1800s. However this cannot be said for the book. Austen writes, “[Wickham’s] affection for her soon sunk into indifference,” (366). This highlights the lack of love that Lydia and Wickham exhibit in their marriage, which in turn highlights how unhappy Lydia was in her marriage. In modern times, women do not have to marry for fear of a poor reputation due to premarital sex. If a woman were to marry a man who she no longer was happy with, it is socially acceptable for her to divorce him. However, this was clearly not true in the 1800s as Lydia was forced into an eventually loveless marriage in order to save her reputation as a woman. This change in women's acceptance is also prevalent when looking at how Georgiana is portrayed in the book in comparison to the film. Georgiana, as explained by Austen, was almost convinced by Wickham to elope with him, (196). In the book she is seemingly scared of making the same mistake as Austen describes her as

Kathryn Hughes, a college professor with a PhD in Victorian history, writes, “Young and not-so-young women had no choice but to stay chaste until marriage. They were not even allowed to speak to men unless there was a married woman present as a chaperone.” In comparison, women now are able to choose if they want to get pregnant or not, meaning less consequences for sexual activities. The first oral birth control was FDA approved in 1960, making pregnancy a choice for women (“Women’s…”). This means that if Lydia were to get eloped like she did in the story, the consequences would not be as dire and she wouldn’t necessarily be outcast from society. It also shows that women are no longer expected to be a perfect virgin for men. They are allowed to be their own person. If Lydia wanted to run away with Wickham in modern times, it would not be a big deal. Nobody would think that Lydia was ruined or that her entire family had no dignity. Birth control helped normalize women doing whatever they wanted. Even if Lydia were to get pregnant, according to the 1973 Roe v. Wade court case, she would be able to abort the fetus (“Women’s…”), resolving her of a lifetime of punishment for a small act. In 19th century Britain, “Many respectable young men, however, resorted to using prostitutes” (Hughes). These men would often contract syphilis and give it to their wives, killing them. However, prostitutes were often forced to