A New Age Woman in Pride and Prejudice

Marina Avery
Mrs. A Jones
ENG4U
June 17th, 2013

Pride and Prejudice has a great number of significant female characters, to which all of them are very original. Elizabeth Bennet, however, is different compared to all the other female characters. Jane Austen, the author of Pride and Prejudice, portrays the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, as a new age woman through her being an uncharacteristic female, judgemental towards men opposed to women, and a lack of refinement.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet is portrayed as a new age woman through her being an uncharacteristic female. During this time period, women were known to be demure and ladylike, yet Elizabeth was seen as the opposite. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet refused to be dominated, which we see through her refusal to wed twice in the novel. During the first proposal, Elizabeth says, “You forget that I have made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them” (Austen 102). Evidently, being seen as a new age woman, she does not struggle with refusing a proposal. She continues after and says, “You could not make me happy, and I am convinced I am the last woman in the world who would make you so” (Austen 102). Elizabeth shows Mr. Collins would not make her happy, and therefore she doesn’t want to marry him, even if he does happen to be rich and taking the family’s wealth. The second time Elizabeth is proposed to, she again refuses. She says, “You could not have made me the offer of your hand in any possible way that would have tempted me to accept it” (Austen 182). Not only did Elizabeth refuse Mr. Darcy’s proposal, but she’s also seen being very offensive towards him. Women were believed to marry for money in middle-class, opposed to love, and Elizabeth is seen doing the opposite. Another way Elizabeth is seen as an uncharacteristic female is she’s very outspoken. She has her own distinct opinions of people and situations in the novel. Elizabeth says, “Engaged to Mr. Collins? My dear Charlotte – impossible!” (Austen 118). Because Elizabeth is outspoken, she did not consider that Charlotte would be offended. Because Elizabeth spoke out, Charlotte did get upset and said, “Do you think it incredible that Mr. Collins should be able to procure any woman’s good opinion, because he was not so happy to succeed with you” (Austen 120)? Women were known to be passive, and from the reaction Elizabeth has to the engagement of Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas, the characteristic of being passive is not seen in Elizabeth. In addition, Elizabeth is seen as an uncharacteristic woman because of her actions throughout Pride and Prejudice. For example, when Jane is sick at the Bingley’s house, Elizabeth feels the need to go visit her sister, and therefore does so by foot. After Elizabeth told her mother she was going to walk, Mrs. Bennet said “How can you be so silly as to think of such a thing, in all this dirt! You will not be fit to be seen when you get there” (Austen 29). Mrs. Bennet has an issue with the way Elizabeth would be viewed once arriving, yet it doesn’t seem to bother Elizabeth. Once she arrived at the house, she had “... weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing of the warmth of exercise” (Austen 29). As a woman, presence was important; therefore, arriving at the Bingley residence, in this state, was not ladylike. Both these occasions show a lack of femininity compared to other female characters. Being an uncharacteristic female, she proves to be reflected as a new age woman through the author.
Judgement is seen repeatedly through Pride and Prejudice. Judgement is one of the reasons why Elizabeth Bennet is seen as a new age woman compared to other females. In Pride and Prejudice, women are commonly seen judging other women more than men. For example, we see Mrs. Bingley judging Elizabeth. Elizabeth on the other hand is very judgemental, but her focus isn’t other women – its men. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth Bennet is continuously judging male characters, with the main focus on Mr. Darcy, Mr. Collins, and Mr. Wickham. Negative judgement towards Mr. Darcy is evident from the very beginning. Elizabeth says, “... I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine” (Austen 17). Because Mr. Darcy had shown no interest in Elizabeth, therefore judging her, she demonstrated judgement back. Elizabeth says, “I am perfectly convinced by it that Mr. Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise” (Austen 53). By Elizabeth uttering this in the novel, she has taken what Mr. Darcy had said, made her own judgement of it, and turned it around. Elizabeth also shows judgement towards Mr. Collins. Before Elizabeth had even met Mr. Collins, she formed judgement. When Mr. Collins was first introduced in the story, Elizabeth says, “He must be an oddity, I think. I cannot make him out. – There is something very pompous in his style. – And what can he mean by apologizing for being next in the entail? – We cannot suppose he would help it if he could” (Austen 59). Because Elizabeth is known as being judgmental, it is not surprising that she is judging Mr. Collins without having met him. Based solely on a letter written from him, she judges whether he is actually a wise man or not. In addition to Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Collins, Elizabeth shows judgement towards Mr. Wickham. The judgement she shows is positive in the beginning. In Pride and Prejudice, it says “... Mr. Wickham was therefore at leisure to talk to Elizabeth and she was very willing to hear him...” (Austen 72). Because of Mr. Wickham’s appearance and character, Elizabeth was very intrigued with Mr. Wickham. Even though Elizabeth knows little about Mr. Wickham, she assumes he has good character. Jane Austen portrays the use of judgement through the character of Elizabeth differently than she does through other female characters. Elizabeth Bennet is seen as a new age woman through her use of judgement of men characters opposed to female characters. Jane Austen expresses Elizabeth Bennet as a new age woman through her lack of refinement. In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet is seen as going against social graces. Compared to other female characters, Elizabeth Bennet treats others poorly. A representation of how Elizabeth treats others is seen through her refusal to dance with Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth says, “I have, therefore, made up my mind to tell you, that I do not want to dance a reel at all – and now despise me if you dare” (Austen 48). In Pride and Prejudice, it continues on with, “Elizabeth, having rather expected to affront him, was amazed at his gallantry; but there was a mixture of sweetness and archness in her manner which made it difficult for her to affront anybody; and Darcy, had never been so bewitched by any woman as he was by her” (Austen 48). Elizabeth declines Mr. Darcy with hopes of receiving a reaction from him. It is also shown that Mr. Darcy had never been treated so poorly by a female. Elizabeth also has a lack of refinement about her opinion of money. To Elizabeth Bennet, money isn’t a big issue, even though it’s pushed on her by her mother. Because the Bennet family was classified as middle class, it was known for woman to marry rich. Elizabeth rebels against this and favours love over wealth. Her refusal to Mr. Collins engagement was for this reason alone. Another way Jane Austen portrays Elizabeth Bennet with a lack of refinement is through the symbol of the piano. In Pride and Prejudice, being able to play the piano represents talent and this was an expectation for many women. Playing the piano is a talent revealed through Jane and Ms. Darcy. Through Elizabeth, however, it is reflected as a lack of talent. Elizabeth says, “My fingers do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women’s do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression” (Austen 166). The dainty and gentle traits seen in females are not expressed through Elizabeth in this part of the novel. Therefore, the lack of refinement comes into play. Throughout the novel, a reformed side of a female character is shown through Elizabeth considering she is portrayed differently, going against refinement seen in other characters. Jane Austen uses the character of Elizabeth Bennet to demonstrate character rebellion. We see her as a new age woman considering her character traits and attitude are incredibly different. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen presents Elizabeth Bennet as an uncharacteristic female, a judgemental character towards males instead of females, and lacking refinement to portray her as this new age woman. Overall, Elizabeth Bennet is being represented as a reformed female.

Works Consulted
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin, 1972. Print

Wiltshire, John. Recreating Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2001. Print

Wylie, Judith. “Dancing in Chains: Feminist Satire in Pride and Prejudice.” Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal 27.1 (2005): 62-70

McCann, Charles J. “Setting and Character in Pride and Prejudice” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 19.1 (1964): 65-75