ipl-logo

Societal Norms In Pride And Prejudice

815 Words4 Pages

Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is a novel that challenges the societal norms of the late 18th and early 19th centuries regarding love and marriage. Through the characters of Mr. Collins and Elizabeth Bennet, Austen exposes the absurdity and limitations of societal conventions that restrict love and marriage to a means of securing financial and social status. Mr. Collins, a pompous and self-important clergyman, represents the societal expectations of men to marry within their class and ensure their wealth and social standing. On the other hand, Elizabeth represents a challenge to these expectations by refusing to settle for a marriage devoid of love and respect. Through their interactions, Austen provides a scathing critique of a society …show more content…

Collins is pompous, self-important, and fixated on marrying for status and wealth rather than love. His attitude towards marriage reflects the societal expectation that a person's status or position in life should dictate their choices regarding marriage rather than their desires or compatibility with a partner. Austen uses Mr. Collins to critique the notion that marriage is primarily a means of social advancement and financial security. She exposes the ridiculousness of a society where marriage is reduced to a business transaction rather than a union based on love and mutual respect. Mr. Collins states, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." (Chapter 1). It highlights the societal expectation that men with wealth and status must marry to ensure the continuation of their family line and secure their social position. The quote satirizes the notion that marriage is solely a means of social advancement and financial security rather than a union based on love and mutual respect. Austen uses this quote to expose the ridiculousness of a society where marriage is reduced to a business …show more content…

In Mr. Collins's case, his adherence to these conventions leads him to propose to Elizabeth, who is uninterested in him. His refusal to take no for an answer and his belief that he can win her over through persistence highlights women's lack of agency and autonomy in matters of marriage at the time. Austen shows that blindly following social conventions can lead to unhappiness and the perpetuation of harmful gender roles. As Mr. Collins states, "My situation in life, my connections with the family of de Bourgh, and my relationship to your own, are circumstances highly in my favor; and you should take it into further consideration that, despite your manifold attractions, it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made to you." (Chapter 19). Mr. Collins speaks this quote during his proposal to Elizabeth, laying out the practical reasons why she should accept his offer. This quote highlights the societal expectation that women should marry men who can provide financial security and social status, regardless of their love or compatibility. Mr. Collins's belief that he can win Elizabeth over through persistence highlights women's lack of agency and autonomy in matters of marriage at the time. Austen uses this quote to expose the negative consequences of blindly following social conventions and perpetuating harmful gender

Show More
Related
1266 Words | 6 Pages

Emma’s and Mr Knightley’s engagement is Austen’s statement on social status as a crucial resolving factor of an appropriate prospective marriage, seen through Mrs Weston’s comments: “so proper, suitable, and unexceptionable” and “so peculiarly eligible, so singularly fortunate”. The accumulation, repetition of ‘so’ and connotations of the words, such as “proper”, “suitable” and “eligible”, imply that an ideal, befitting relationship is contingent on socio-economic compatibility and maintaining social harmony. This also infers the engagement’s undeniable rationality and enforces the notion of a quintessential relationship. The correlative significance of marriage in Highbury and Regency England signifies that the unobjectionable engagement is Austen’s authorial intrusion and her statement on marriage: spouses should have equivalent socio-economic competence. Similarly, in Clueless, Heckerling infuses the use of social status in match-making criteria through the scene of Cher attempting to find a decent partner for Mr Hall.

Read More
193 Words | 1 Pages

Jane Austin satires Mr. Collins by making him so conceited that he doesn’t consider how others feel. Mr. Collins is so sure that he is a desirable match that he refuses to believe that Elizabeth doesn’t want to marry him. He tells Elizabeth, “You can hardly doubt the purport of my discourse, however your natural delicacy may lead you to disassemble” (lines 6-7). In this quote Mr. Collins refers to Elizabeth’s “natural delicacy” as if only modesty or doubt of his intentions would prevent her from immediately agreeing to marry him. It is his conceit that prevents him from even considering a third reason for her rejection—a reason such as her not liking him or really not wanting to marry him.

Read More
506 Words | 3 Pages

By expressing that the marriage “will add very greatly to [his] happiness”, Mr. Collins appeals to Elizabeth’s pathos. He is convincing Elizabeth that the marriage will benefit him, but says nothing of how it will benefit her. Mr. Collins suggests that Elizabeth is destitute when he says that “one thousand pounds in the 4 per cents...is all that [she] may ever be entitled to”. However, Mr. Collins tries to seem understanding when he tells her “no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass [his] lips when [they] are married” in regards to her fortune, or lack thereof. Although Mr. Collins is appealing to pathos, he too straightforward in his proposal.

Read More
709 Words | 3 Pages

Jane Austen author of the novel Pride and Prejudice provokes readers to ponder marriage. She incorporates two proposals that represent conflicting motives. She first uses Mr. Collins character to express the social expectation held by society to marry. His character reveals the impact society has on the decisions we make. While on the other hand, Mr. Darcy’s character emphasizes falling in love and establishing a true connection.

Read More
897 Words | 4 Pages

In the book Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, Austen uses many rhetorical techniques to satirize humanity and it’s foolish effects on society. Through two of the main characters proposals, Mr.Darcy and Mr.collin’s, she uses them as satirical figures, in which they both mock young male stereotypes, of wealth and power for marriage. In Mr.Collins's proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, his purpose is to persuade her that marrying him would be the best for both of them. He initiates his proposal by trying to persuade her that marrying him would be doing herself a favour.

Read More
1002 Words | 5 Pages

Women in her society conventionally married for money and social status. Lizzy, however, had no intention of following those standards. Lizzy wanted to marry someone whom she connected with on an intimate level, someone who loved her. Thus, Lizzy was in utter shock and disbelief when Charlotte Lucas, her close friend, told her that she accepted Mr. Collins’s marriage proposal. Lizzy could not comprehend why Charlotte would want to marry someone whom she did not love, though, “she had always felt that Charlotte’s opinion of matrimony was not exactly like her own” (Austen 89).

Read More
1385 Words | 6 Pages

From the onset of Pride and Prejudice a marriage between two characters that truly love each other seems unlikely. Austen utilizes the foil characters and the main characters relationships, such as, Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, Lydia, Mr. Wickham, Charlotte, and Mr. Collins to illustrate the styles of marriage on how society preserves marriage as a priority for wealth and social status, rather than for true love. Societies perspective on marriage demonstrates Elizabeth’s willingness to make the unusual decision to wait for true love, not settling for less, develop a love story. Austen demonstrates a conflicted marriage between Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet, showing how marrying for appearance negatively effects the marriage. Mr. Bennet married Mrs.

Read More
1091 Words | 5 Pages

The book deals with themes that include love, reputation, and class. However, Pride and Prejudice received much criticism for being a novel full of female characters that fit the social norms for women in the 19th century. The female characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, while being seen as frivolous and typical representations of

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, written in 1813, follows the story of a young girl named Elizabeth Bennet and her growth as she searches for an eligible partner to marry. Elizabeth’s father, Mr. Bennet, has no eligible male heir to the Bennet estate and will have the estate passed to a clergyman named Mr. Collins. Mrs. Bennett realizes the uncertainty of her daughters’ futures and as a result, is very interested in securing the marriages of her daughters to wealthy men. This showcases the social norms placed on women during the time to marry for money and status, not so much for love. Almost every relationship in Pride and Prejudice is affected by social and gender norms of the time period whether it's the competition between Caroline Bingley

Read More
797 Words | 4 Pages

The thesis statements that appear in the narrative are: the importance of wealth and social status, the marriage of convenience, the pride – depicted by Elizabeth Bennet- and the prejudice -embodied by Mr. Darcy-. She intertwines the critic on the social values of the time with a love story, perhaps in order to make her work more attractive to the public. To my mind, Jane Austen was not only a great author but also a woman ahead of her time. While everyone else was just content with what they had, she was able to see beyond and be critic with her time; a time of change, especially in Britain, an era of constant evolution and transformations determined by

Read More
1470 Words | 6 Pages

Pride and Prejudice: Then versus Now Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen in the early nineteenth century portrays the life of women and their attitudes toward marriage. Marriage, the major theme in the novel, is depicted as a way of social verification. The only way women could have a standing in their class was through their husband’s finances. Men were the owners of any type of property, which means that women could only obtain anything through their husbands. Thus, women tended to marry based on the ideas of wealth and social gratification.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

In the novel “Pride and Prejudice” written by Jane Austen, an issue presented is social class. This issue is important in the novel as it reflects how strictly the lower, middle and upper class were divided at the time, and the discrimination and inequality which came with this. The division of social classes also helped emphasise the impact this was having on the people who lived in Regency England, particularly those in the lower and middle class. The Bennet’s, including Jane and main protagonist Elizabeth, are a middle class family living in the time of 19th century England. Their mother is extremely eager in getting her daughters to marry wealthy men, as this, as well as inheriting from family, were essentially the only ways for lower

Read More
1918 Words | 8 Pages

On the other hand, for Mr. Collins, marriage just means a model for parish and in his mind marriage could add happiness for him and even marriage is what Mrs. Katherine(a sponsor of Mr. Collins) thinks he should find a wife

Read More
704 Words | 3 Pages

Jane Austen Marriage is a paramount concern. Marriage is not only a personal question but rather it affects the whole social group, because marriage is just not a matter of love or companionship, but much more than that. It is a political, social and economic alliance between two people, and their families. One of the chief characteristics of Sense and Sensibility is the lack of a father figure, at that time the father’s used to take decisions on the future marriage of their daughters.

Read More
1277 Words | 6 Pages

The women in Sense and Sensibility were more interested in obtaining a husband due to financial difficulties than that of a good education. Gender stereotypes are seen throughout this novel, as educational success was only deemed important for the more superior men. Social orders reflect the differences in social class and gender. We see Austen use the economic position of women to show the powerlessness they had which underlies the pressure of marriage and the vulnerability

Read More

More about Societal Norms In Pride And Prejudice

Related Topics

Open Document