Entailments and Pride and Prejudice

Have you ever felt like life was not fair and there was nothing you could do about it? This is exactly how the feminist system of entailment made the women in Pride and Prejudice feel. Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is about five daughters who try to find husbands. Mrs. Bennet, the girl’s mom, is trying to implore one of her daughters to marry Mr. Collins so the estate can be passed down. It is required that one of the daughters marry Mr. Collins since he is the oldest male first cousin. The system of entailments says that if there are no male heirs in the nuclear family, then the estate will be passed down to the oldest first cousin (Pool). Mr. Collins is that particular oldest first cousin which is why Mrs. Bennett wants one of her daughters to marry him. The system of entailment dictates the lives of the five girls throughout the book. Pride and Prejudice demonstrates an uncorrupted example how the system of entailment was unfair to women because it solidified their low-standing place in a patriarchal society by forcing women to depend on the resources offered by a man.

The system of primogeniture plays a large role in Pride and Prejudice. The right of primogeniture is the right to pass down an estate to the eldest son of the next generation (Pool). The right of primogeniture also goes on to say that if there is not a male son that the estate can be passed down to, then the oldest male of the extended family inherits the estate. It is required that the estate be passed down to a male for two main reasons. The first reason is that if a woman was to inherit the estate and she did not marry the estate would be passed down to no one. This is because there would be no children to inherit the estate. The second reason an ...

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Jane Austen had reasons for pushing the feminist side of the social ladder that was the system of entailments. She wanted to communicate the unfair way money, land, and other inheritance was spread around. Pride and Prejudice shows an uncorrupted depiction of how life was for women in the 1800s (Accessing Austen Part 4: Old Maids and Entailments). According to Pride and Prejudice -- Notes on Education, Marriage, Status of Women, Etc,"Jane Austen expected her readers to understand that it is no joke that if Mr. Bennet died, his wife and five daughters would have to leave Longbourn and live on the interest of £5,000.” By reading the book Pride and Prejudice, it can be inferred that Jane Austen disagreed heavily with the system of entailments.

Works Cited

"Accessing Austen Part 4: Old Maids and Entailments." Huffenglishcom. 27 July 2008. Web.

05 Mar. 2014.