Marriage equals money, therefore happiness?

Throughout class discussions, we have talked about the theme of marriage in Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which sets the beginning of the novel by stating "It is truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". However, this fragment means the opposite of what it states, that is, every single woman is in desperate need of a husband who possesses a good fortune.

Now, what I would like to address is if this vision of women wanting to pursuit a good marriage has changed over the years (centuries).

To begin with, as it was depicted on the novel the results of bad marriages can lead to a monotonous life such as Mr. Bennet who found himself isolated in the comfort of his library to avoid contact with his unbeautified wife, Mrs Bennet who did not turn out to be an educated lady, proud to be shown in society and well-contacted woman.

Back then, making the right choice of whom to marry was the woman's life insurance of happiness and well-being as Charlotte Lucas' character represents in the novel. 

Money has always been in the picture when it comes to marriage, for example, a woman used to get marry by dowry, that is "an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage day", which served as the price for her marrying a man.

Nevertheless, this dowry was a small price to pay if the soon-to-be-husband was a wealthy man who could provide the woman a comfortable and even luxurious lifestyle. However, the concern behind marriage is that it was a sort of imposed or almost semi-arrange that the daughters should marry a man of good fortune for the sake of the family's honor. 

Henceforth, this has made me wonder if marrying a person for social-economical purposes is still a matter that occurs nowadays, and I have found out that a man's earning power is a key factor for a woman's expectation of marriage (Schulman, 2003). As an annecdote, I recall watching an afternoon brazilian soap opera where one of the character once said "first you marry for interest (meaning money), and then you divorce well, and then you marry for the second time for love"; the reason behind this character statement was social movility, assuring her state by making the executive decision of marrying well a first time, so that later in life she could enjoy her wealth with the man she truly loved who could not give her the economical support she desired at an early stage in life.

However, I have also found out that despite that there are women who find their jackpot husbands to provide for them and to have them as trophy wives; nowadays, both men and women are who are "highly educated – and therefore have higher income potential – are more likely to choose each other as spouses" (Linn, 2003), rather than leaving the possibility open for lower-educated women or men to move up the social-economical ladder through marrying an educated and wealthy person.

So, do you believe that marrying someone for their money and goods will fulfill you as a person and therefore grant you a life full of happiness?

References:

- Jane Austen´s Pride and Prejudice novel.

- http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/dowry

- Schulman, D. (2003). http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200305/women-marry-money

-Linn, A. (2013). http://www.today.com/money/marriage-luxury-good-class-divide-who-gets-married-divorced-8C11457474

The ideal woman

During the late Victorian era, many women desired to be what society considered as the “ideal woman”. This woman of the late nineteenth century supposed to marry very young and in that way she would represent herself as a delicate and weak person that depends on her husband. Women could not express their opinions publicly or at least in front of men.

Many of them had internal conflicts about the sexist treatment, but most accepted it and acted innocent and submissive. Typically, women spent their days working at home, raising children, making visits and generally dealing with their personal care. ( Lamberto, 2008)

Now, I wonder…. This situation has changed over time?

                                                                    

Yes, we know that nowadays most of women do not depend on their husbands in economic terms as most of them work, they can express their point of view regarding any topic in front everyone, but what about the look for an ideal woman?

I strongly believe that things has not changed as much as it is thought, since society still portraying women in certain ways.

According to the paper “What society expect from women”, in today's society one expects women to look perfect, which it seems to start when women are young and they are in a stage in their lives where they want to be accepted by their peers, or just simply want to be loved and successful. The media creates the ideal image of beautiful women in which a majority of the women try to endure. So, could we say that the beautiful woman is the ideal woman today? According to what our society demands, yes.

Continuing, based on the article “The stigma of being a housewife” published by The New York Times in 2011, women who stay home are increasingly seen as old-fashioned and an economic burden to society, so they are expected to have a job and do not help their husbands, but to contribute just like them in economic terms to the household and at the same to take care of children.  So again, do we idealize women? Definitely yes.  

All in all, I consider that we will never stop portraying women, or men, in certain ways as it is part of our nature to create images of everything, however we really need to be careful with our prejudices, because one thing is idealize someone and other is to create stereotypes and judge.  

http://www.allfreepapers.com/English/Society-Expects-Women/11747.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/world/europe/21iht-LETTER.html?_r=0

Let's empower ourselves!

For me the author of the novel of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, made fun of the patriarchal society of the nineteenth century, in which throughout her book  she shows us how women perceive and see men and how despite of the typical role which used to represent us, women are  much more than what men believe. Clearly, Lizzy is the evidence of this in the novel, due to the fact that she is a person who expresses  her opinion and takes a firm stance with several issues. She is not afraid of thinking or just being different from the rest.  What´s more, I believe that she has not the vision of  reality that has been imposed by others, actually, she has her own vision of life and that is what makes her unique.

To continue with, as far as we know and have already covered in classes, feminism is a movement which seeks for the equality of genders, which means that , men and women have the same qualities, rights and characteristics. Obviously, is well-known that in that era the reality was other  and the differences among genders  were extremely huge , since as we may see in the novel women only have , better say, they did not have the same rights and opportunities as men did.  Sadly but true, the only thing or task in which women could decide on was choosing an appropriate man to marry with, otherwise, they will be completely, absolutely lost and excluded from society.

This draw my attention since though Lizzy is shown that actually it is possible to have other opportunities, be able to show opinions, being independent without leaving aside the fact of being feminine as people thought. Even though, in that period of time when a woman used to be like that was cataloged as if were a machote. Lizzy with her cheerfulness and intelligence takes a firm stance of being a woman just as the others but with those characteristics and that does not mean that she is less feminine.

Furthermore, also I would like to add that Elizabeth goes against the typical rules that forbid  women to be just as the way they want or are. She sees differently the word and that makes her unique and attractive to Darcy.

To end up with, Jane Austen writes with a feminine voice, which really empowers women to be much more of what is expected in men’s world as Lizzy does. Besides, through the book Pride and Prejudice, the author, Jane Austin makes us realized about the reality of women in those days through the eyes of a woman, who is Lizzy.   Moreover, it is interesting that it was a male world, a male hero but the protagonist is a woman... 

What do you think about this? 

References: 

- http://www.worldacademy.org/node/3392

- http://www.academia.edu/3101160/A_vision_of_women_through_Jane_Austens_Pride_and_Prejudice

- http://www.engliterarium.com/2009/05/jane-austens-contribution-to-english.html

Distinction of Social Classes in Pride and Prejudice

In order to analyse this issue, we have to go back to the early 19^th century: political and social unrest, the Industrial Revolution, and a rising, but still segregated Victorian middle-class.

The society exposed in Austen’s novel bases its interaction on the distinction of social classes and the patterns of behaviour followed by everyone back in those times. In 2013, Chin-Yi describes this social world as “highly stratified and laden with class struggle and pretension”.

We read throughout the novel that this class distinction is something accepted by almost everyone, with not many people refusing to behave differently in front of someone who belongs to a superior social class. What is more, Austen creates characters like Mr. Collins who shows extreme devotion to his patron from a superior class. And at the same time, she, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, knows there are “inferior people” and makes it noticeable.

Most of the characters of “Pride and Prejudice” feel this distinction of class is the base for a well-organised society, and it is clear to us, the readers, that they feel that is how things work.

We can take as an example the early relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth: he, a wealthy upper-class gentleman, who looks down at everyone due to his superiority; she, the second of five daughters of a middle-class family. When they first met, Mr. Darcy felt she was not enough for him since she was not beautiful enough, smiled too much, and the most important point, she did not come from a rich or decent family.

This was definitely not taken as discrimination, but it was something common in those times, due to the fact that everything, especially relationships, was based on the distinction of social classes.

Nonetheless, this assumption of the British society distinction is broken by Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy: even though they come from different social classes, Elizabeth feels she is not less intelligent and worthy than he is just for the fact that she comes from an inferior social class. At the same time Mr. Darcy’s pride disappears, in a way breaking the rules and getting them together.

From my personal point of view, through Pride and prejudice Austen wanted to show this division of people according to their social class, among other factors. However, at the same time she shows how this common assumption of different classes is broken by this couple, and how in a way love breaks with these barriers.

References:

        -Lambert, T. (2012). A history of Britain in the 19^th century. Local History. Retrived from http://www.localhistories.org/19thcentengland.html

       -Loftus, D. (2011). The rise of the Victorian middle class. British history. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/middle_classes_01.shtml

       -19th Century England Social Hierarchy (2014). Retrieved from http://www.hierarchystructure.com/19th-century-england-social-hierarchy/

       -Chin-Yi, C. (2013). Gender and Class Oppression in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The Indian review of World Literature in English, 9 (II)

Pride and Prejudice and all the way around...

It is very interesting how two words can have an opposite meaning but, at the same time, we cannot think about them separately. In this book, the concept of pride means having a high belief about one’s own importance and worth; whereas the concept of prejudice means making unfair and unreasonable judgements about others without having enough knowledge. 

Although “Pride and Prejudice” shows us the complicity of both concepts through the connection of the characters perfectly created, it also shows the way Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth see each other at first time. Mr. Darcy, for instance, can be described as an upper-class man who shows too pride of his social position. An arrogant and unfriendly member of the high society who, at the beginning of the novel, showed to be aloof and looked down on the Bennets family due to their lower social status. Here is where he also shows his levels of prejudice, since he doesn’t mind making remarks about this family without getting to know them enough.

The same situation happens with Elizabeth, who doesn’t show her pride until it is hurt by Mr. Darcy’s comment about her beauty in the first ball. However, it was the main fact that triggered the strengthening of Elizabeth’s pride of herself, especially of her origins. Therefore, every time that she felt offended by Mr. Darcy’s comments, she immediately tend to think the worst thing about him, and she especially bases her opinions on the different stories that she is told or comments people make about him.

Eventually, and as the novel continues, Jane Austen implies that both pride and prejudice can be overcome. But it doesn’t mean that both characters had to change their perspective about reality or their opinions about each other. We, as readers, can think that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth changed, that his pride and her prejudice disappeared. But Mr. Darcy’s change was only through the eyes of Elizabeth. In other words, we could see what Elizabeth saw as long as she could realize that he was not the arrogant and aloof man that everybody said. She started to notice the human and caring side of this man, and that is how her prejudices are gone.

Austen, J. (1813). Pride and Prejudice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/proseprideprej/3prose_prideprej_themerev1.shtml

Strong feminine voices in literature

There are strong voices in Literature that had rebelled against this male-ruled world.

Dickinson, Austen and Woolf contrubited to empower women, and had a say in an authoritarian and phalocentric world.

Dickinson unlike Whitman refused to explore '' America as a land full of democracy and prosperity''.instead, she was deeply concerned with depecting her inner world.

What's remarkable about Dickison is that by not showing America explicitly, she showed to us an America full of contradiction.

Her perspective tells us that perhaps America it is a great place, is a land full of diversity and posibilities, but only if you are a men.

Dickison tell us that if you are a woman during that time you don't have rights and America does not look as a prosperous as Whitman thinks.

But Dickison was not the only woman who spoke her mind while writing. Austen also contributed in her own way.

Always unsing irony, Austen made fun of those silly and extrelly romantic novels that did not contributed much. Threfore, the sharp and witty Austen decided to wrote and depict an extremely conservative, patriarchal and male-ruled world in her work.

She always did it through a female perspective playing with irony.

She wrote superficial situations and ''love stories'' telling the reader how to empower themselves.

All in all, Austen told us stories about phalocentric societies ruled by men but always using a female voice, showing us that male societies are not always good or completely perfect.

Her narrative technique sought to empower women.

Finally, Woolf through her writing criticided patriarchal institutions, defending the place of women in society. Woolf wrote extensively on the problem of women’s access to the learned professions, such as academia, the church, the law, and medicine, she never went to university, and she resented the fact that her brothers and male friends had had an opportunity that was denied to her.

Woolf also concerned herself with the question of women’s equality with men in marriage, and she brilliantly evoked the inequality of her parents’ marriage in her novel to the light house 1927.

sources

http://universitypublishingonline.org/cambridge/companions/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9780511999406&cid=CBO9780511999406A015


http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100470100

http://modernism.research.yale.edu/wiki/index.php/Virginia_Woolf