Gender Roles In Pride And Prejudice

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Every girl dreams of finding her prince charming and having a fairytale wedding. She wants to be rescued from entrapment and saved from death. What these girls fail to realize is that the fairytales are laced with insults to women. All of the desireable women in the stories have long hair, tiny waists, and sparkly dresses. The princess is powerless and patient while the prince is brave and controlling. Each fairytale ends with the marriage of the princess and prince. Similarly, marriage is the ultimate goal for the female characters in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Jane Bennet and Charlotte Lucas take on the character of fairytale princesses while Mary Bennet and Elizabeth Bennet act more like modern women and through each character, Austen comments on women’s roles in 19th century English society. First, Jane Bennet portrays the perfect woman; the perfect women for men. She is beautiful and kind. She is also submissive, well-mannered, and well-bred. Jane is smitten with handsome and wealthy Mr. Bingley. Their relationship appears to be strong, and Mrs. Bennet has the “expectation …show more content…

Jane Bennet parallels Rapunzel. She spends her time wishing that her prince, Mr. Bingley, will return and rescue her from her sorrows. Charlotte Lucas parallels Cinderella. She marries her prince, Mr. Collins, for his social status after talking to him for one night. Mary Bennet, studious and confident, and Eliza Bennet, passionate and unconventional, are women that society disapproves of. As conveyed through these characters, Austen’s criticism of society is that it focuses too much on marriage, dependence, and submission instead of love, confidence, and education. Calling stories fairytales, a word with a positive connotation, causes people to ignore the oppression and insults towards women. Think twice before hoping for a fairytale

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