Pride and Prejudice seems to be
titled in that particular way as a representation of the two main characters,
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet respectively. One night at the Meryton ball, Mr
Darcy coming from the upper-middle class labels Elizabeth as ‘tolerable, but
not enough to tempt him’ depicting his pride, while Lizzy, who comes from a
family with very little wealth, refers to Mr. Darcy as the proudest and most
disagreeable man in the world, because he had rejected dancing with anyone who
does not belong to his own party.
The main problems Mr Darcy and Lizzy
encounter in the novel are the result of the way England was stratified at Jane
Austen’s time. For example, class-consciousness was so strong that family
connections and fortune were believed to determine social mobility. Also, there
was the idea that a woman needed to be accomplished (having knowledge of music,
singing, drawing, dancing, the modern languages, manners of walking, etc.) in
order to get a decent marriage almost as the goal of her entire life; in fact,
it was a lifetime opportunity for them.
Austen’s awareness of gender equality
issues is clearly reflected in her work. What’s more, her novel has often been cited by scholars as
having a feminist perspective (Monteiro, 2008: 109) a term that has been
assigned to her work from a more modern perspective on the topic. Which character
reflects then that perspective? From my
point of view, Mr. Darcy is the most feminist character in the novel.
As feminism
is a slippery term, for the purpose of this entry we will consider feminism as
the belief that men and women should have equals rights and opportunities. In
theory, it is the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. Having
said that, let’s go back to a conversation between Caroline (Bingley’s sister)
and Mr. Darcy about accomplished women.
“A woman must have a thorough
knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to
deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in
her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and
expressions, or the word will be but half deserved." "All this she
must possess," added Darcy, "and
to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of
her mind by extensive reading."
Mr.
Darcy’s perspective on women being accomplished is not based on the idea that
women must elevate themselves to the height of men, but to transform themselves
into a men’s equal. In this sense, it is essential that women become a true and
complete version of who they really want to be and not what the society expects
them to be. From a more modern perspective, unfortunately, some women are still expected to be: objects of desire, mothers,
wives, housekeepers, but not professionals.
All in all, Jane Austen, who was living in a
male-ruled world, realized that women could also make their own decisions (just
like when Lizzy rejects 2 proposals of marriage (Mr. Collins and Mr. Darcy’s),
that it was a right to all of us to be equal (as in the last conversation
between Lizzy and Lady Catherine the Bough), that women must also have access
not only to governess, but to receive higher education as men did, that women
should question marriage and so on.
Despite the fact that Lizzy’s sister, Lidia has
damaged her family’s prestige and that the Bennet’s family possesses little
fortune, she is with no doubt Mr. Darcy’s equal in terms of value (good of a person)
and intricacy. Besides, as Mr. Darcy appreciates Elizabeth true worth, we could
say that he is considered the hero in the novel.
I was
wondering… Do you think men like Darcy really exist in our country? Why? Why
not?
Sources:
Emma Watson HeForShe Speech at the United Nations | UN Women 2014
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Marshall, C. (1992) "Dull Elves" and
Feminists: A Summary of Feminist Criticism of Jane Austen
Monteiro,
B. (2008). The pleasures of comic
mischief in Jane Austen’s novels. (Doctoral dissertation). Boston University,
United States of America.
To answer your question a bit, I believe that more than asking ourselves if that kind of men exist in our country, we should be questioning ourselves if this mentality or vision of equality is present in our society at all. Please don't get me wrong. If a single person does believe in this vision, that's ok, but to me it should be more relevant to find out if we -as a society- are fully aware of it. Or even better: Are we educating ourselves under this recognition of equality in rights?
ResponderEliminarAs far as I'm concerned, we are still living in a phallocentric society, in which women are valued differently from men even in ridiculous things such as salary.
Do you tally with me on this point? I'm sure that we will find at least one man in our country who does believe on this vision of women, but as I say, I'd rather seeing society doing something about it.
I tally with you ideas because for me Mr. Darcy is shown as someone who rejects traditions. The tradition was that women were inferior to men. Women needed to be married at certain age in order to not to be rejected by society. How chauvinist is that? Darcy is against this. When he meets Lizzy, he says that she is nothing special. I believe that he said that because he did not know Lizzy yet. For him, Lizzy was just like other women searching for a husband, until they know each other. Jane Austen empowers women by giving them the opportunity to choose. Lizzy rejected Darcy, but he instead of forgetting her, fought for her. Darcy’s choice puts Lizzy and him at the same level. They are equals because both have the right to choose.
ResponderEliminarI do believe that men like Darcy, who view women as equals, exist in the country, however, still exist a small group that still believe that men are superior. Women are now seen as equal because through history, art, music, sports, etc, they have proved that they are not inferior to men as it was believe centuries ago. We are all equals.