Jane Austen’s Novel Pride and Prejudice

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Recipe for Happiness

“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of” (Austen). The bluntness of this quote fully encompasses the main theme of an advantageous marriage for the English novelist, Jane Austen. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics (Southam). Austen’s major novels, including Pride and Prejudice, were composed between the years 1795-1815. During those twenty years England was at the height of its power facing many historical landmarks (Thomson). It is no coincidence that Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, coincides directly with the historical events of this time period.

The most visible impact that is historically highlighted in Pride and Prejudice is the changing social landscape of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century England. The landed gentry, those who owned land, were the most influential division of society in Austen’s time. In cases of small land classes, the English encouraged the consolidation and extension of estates by enforcing strict inheritance laws. This was established to concentrate wealth and enlarge estates by passing the property on to male children or male relatives rather than distributing it to family members (Sheehan). This is reflected strongly as one of the main conflicts in Pride and Prejudice. Due to the fact that Mr. Bennett has no sons and five daughters, Mr. Collins, an extended family member, is to inherit the land to ensure it stays within the family line. Along with this Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy are landed gentry, symbols of wealth and power, as they own large amounts of property and have very large sums of money. Due to Mr. Collins disinheriting the daughters after...

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... the most transformative eras in British history of which she completely encompassed within her novels. Her writing style and constant themes that are underlined in not only Pride and Prejudice, but all of her novels, are indisputably a product of the historical transformations that were taking place in the 1800’s.

Works Cited

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Whitehall T. Edgerton, 1813. Print.

"Militia." Regency Collection 30 October 2005. web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Sheehan, Lucy. "Historical Context for Pride and Prejudice." Columbia College 2009. Web. 18 Feb. 2014

Southam. The Jane Austen Companion Critiscism. n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014

Thomson, Gale. "Jane Austen's England." 2005-2006.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Woman. 1792.

"Women's Suffrage Movement." The Development of Women's Rights n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014

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