1the Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet
The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet
And Mr. Darcy
Susan Fraiman in her essay “The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet” argues that Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, is disempowered when she marries Fitzwilliam Darcy who succeeds Mr. Bennet as controlling literary figure.
Fraiman claims that Elizabeth is a surrogate-son to her father trapped inside her female body during an age when gender roles were rigorously fixed.
Judith Butler in her essay of 1990 called "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, “states that performing one's gender wrong initiates a set of punishments both obvious and indirect. Through the contribution of Butler's theory, this essay aims to demonstrate that it is not only, as Fraiman claims, Elizabeth Bennet who is punished by society for performing her gender wrong, but also Mr. Darcy.
In respect to convention, Mister Darcy performs his gender wrong as well as he goes by a feminine name and is often passive, “unsocial” and “taciturn” as Elizabeth puts it.
He admits: “I certainly have not the talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I have never seen before”
He admits to Elizabeth at the very that he was embarrassed when she asks him why he was "so shy of [her]”. It must be considered then that Darcy does not want to "humiliate‟ Elizabeth with his “extensive power” of a “paternalistic noble” but is rather humiliated by it himself. after all he has many "feminine" characteristics: He waits to be approached; he prefers listening to talking; he is receptive rather than aggressive; he is anxious about his reputation and judges people according to their manners; he is the person his friends come to for advice, and he writes letters instead of personally confronting people.
To perform one's gender right, as Judith Butler asserts in “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution,” means to perform one's gender
And Mr. Darcy
Susan Fraiman in her essay “The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet” argues that Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, is disempowered when she marries Fitzwilliam Darcy who succeeds Mr. Bennet as controlling literary figure.
Fraiman claims that Elizabeth is a surrogate-son to her father trapped inside her female body during an age when gender roles were rigorously fixed.
Judith Butler in her essay of 1990 called "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, “states that performing one's gender wrong initiates a set of punishments both obvious and indirect. Through the contribution of Butler's theory, this essay aims to demonstrate that it is not only, as Fraiman claims, Elizabeth Bennet who is punished by society for performing her gender wrong, but also Mr. Darcy.
In respect to convention, Mister Darcy performs his gender wrong as well as he goes by a feminine name and is often passive, “unsocial” and “taciturn” as Elizabeth puts it.
He admits: “I certainly have not the talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I have never seen before”
He admits to Elizabeth at the very that he was embarrassed when she asks him why he was "so shy of [her]”. It must be considered then that Darcy does not want to "humiliate‟ Elizabeth with his “extensive power” of a “paternalistic noble” but is rather humiliated by it himself. after all he has many "feminine" characteristics: He waits to be approached; he prefers listening to talking; he is receptive rather than aggressive; he is anxious about his reputation and judges people according to their manners; he is the person his friends come to for advice, and he writes letters instead of personally confronting people.
To perform one's gender right, as Judith Butler asserts in “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution,” means to perform one's gender