Category: Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is a skillfully crafted novel dealing with love, comedy, and first impressions. The novel follows the main character, Elizabeth Bennet, and her middle class family living in the regency era of Jane Austen. Elizabeth, unlike her younger sisters, is quite quick-witted but perhaps is too judgmental and relies very heavily on her first impressions of people. Lydia, Elizabeth’s youngest sister, is rather childish and seems to be quite foolish; this is shown when she marries Mr. Wickham. Another important female character is Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s opportunistic friend; she marries Collins after Elizabeth rejects his marriage proposal. Another interesting concept portrayed in the novel is the motivation behind the main characters’ marriages: Elizabeth marries out of love, where as her friend, Charlotte, marries so that she might continue with her lavish lifestyle. Lydia, Elizabeth’s youngest sister, marries out of what she thinks is love but, in fact, out of something more sinister.

Jane Austen is satirizing love and marriage through Mr.Collins. In the middle of the novel, Mr.collins visits the Bennet’s at Netherfield to claim his entailment. He proposes the idea to Mrs.Bennet that if he marries within the family, the money won’t be going to a stranger, and the other sisters are supported. Mrs.Bingley persuaded by Mr.Collins’ comment offers Elizabeth to him dismissing his first choice, Jane since she is going to be married to Mr.Bingley. When Mr.Collins proposes to Elizabeth, she ends up rejecting him. Mr.Collin’s only wanting to find a suitable companion to please Lady Catherine says, “it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made you…I must therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall choose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to the usual practice of elegant females.” (Austen 104). The reason Elizabeth rejects him is because there is no love between them. Even if Mr.Collins increases his love towards Elizabeth, she doesn’t feel the same way. Their marriage wouldn’t be very successful or a happy one since they have nothing in common. All they would end up doing is avoiding each other. Love is the foundation for a good marriage. If they don’t even have the basics down, their marriage is going to crumble. So, if love is emphasized in the marriage, it will end up being happier and stronger.

Mr.Bingley’s traits of being social and polite influence his views on marriage because he thinks a good marriage will last if he can communicate with his spouse and that he isn’t picky about his spouse’s flaws enhancing his affection for them. When he first meets Jane at the ball in chapter three, he dances with many other women before he meets her, striking up a conversation with them. Not having a strong connection when he talks to them, he moves on to Jane. He had such a strong connection with her and found it very easy to have a conversation that he danced with her twice. “Mr.Bingley thought her quite beautiful and danced with her twice!” (Austen 23). During the entire ball, he is polite with every woman he meets. He even tells Mr.Darcy, “I would not be so fastidious as you are.” (Austen 11) This makes Mrs.Bennet and Jane like him even more because they both know that if Jane is married to Mr.Bingley, he will be okay with the flaws she has and accept them. Mr.Bingley didn’t hang out with the other women at the ball like he did with Jane because he didn’t have that type of affection for them like he did with her. Notice Austen uses ‘affection’ almost as a synonym for ‘love.’ We usually think of ‘affection’ as a pretty mild emotion, it means something stronger for Austen. Towards the end, they end up getting married because they realize that their affection for each other is so strong, that they can’t keep themselves apart contributing to a long lasting marriage.

Mr.Collins and Charlotte Lucas show how depressing a marriage without love is. After being rejected by Elizabeth, Mr.Collins starts to become closer to Charlotte. While they are both at Netherfield, they start to talk to each other and have conversations. Mr.Collins proposes to Charlotte because he is given the order to. Charlotte ends up agreeing to the marriage, and Elizabeth is so shocked when she tells her because she thinks some people lack sense. Charlotte explains that she agreed to it since she is getting older, and most people at her age already have children. Another reason is that the support that Mr.Collins can provide for her is all that she needs, and that he is a decent person. Their marriage together is depressing because the only reason why their marriage is still lasting is because in truth, their marriage is more of a title, then an actual one that comes with all the responsibilities. They mostly avoid each other and that’s how they didn’t argue with each other or fight. If you do put them together in a room and make them converse, they probably would end up not saying anything to each other. This type of marriage with no love is basically not a marriage; it’s a friendship.

In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, ideal marriages happen when love is emphasized as the first reason.

Jane Austen uses her book Pride and Prejudice to display the importance of marriage and social rank within the world of the Regency period with a person of limited social standing, showing many aspects of marriage and demonstrating how one can make the most of their life regardless of the circumstances. With this cultural and social context, the author uses a number of relationships in order to expose and satirise societal values of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The plot, as well as the first sentence of the novel is mainly about marriage and social class. Austen explains that in the time period, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” She uses the characters’ relationships in order to satirize and make a comedy of the idea of marriage, contradicting the conventional ideals and beliefs of the society in that era. For this reason, she writes about several important courtships throughout the piece , such as the relationship of Mr and Mrs Bennet; Lydia’s scandalous and embarrassing elopement with Mr. Wickham; Mr. Collins’s proposal and later marriage, and of course, Jane and Bingley’s long awaited matrimony. These couples are the stepping stones to the central romance between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. In Austen’s time, courtship was a critical and absolutely necessary act for every eligible person, therefore family and marriage created a public and central position in the social and economic classes. It was common that women looked for husbands before their parents died in order to keep the continuation of the family heritage and if possible, to get a rich husband for reaching the high class, due to most of the women were practically born poor, and stayed poor, and lived well only by their husband’s money. Austen shows marriage as a constant pursuit of husbands, money and a better lifestyle.

The author uses Elizabeth Bennet as a mirror for her values and attitudes on the importance of getting married for love and not other reason. We often see the story through Elizabeth’s eyes in order to understand and empathize with her ideals of getting married. Elizabeth is almost exclusively the only woman who is looking for a man without paying attention to his wealth, and differs from her sisters and mother who don’t mind to be wed with a man to whom they do not love. The character of Elizabeth does not fit this generalization, nor society’s. Although she makes some mistakes because of her prideful and prejudicial attitudes, she can realize them and learn from her errors. Without a doubt, she is the heroine of the story and the pioneer for sexual equality, again mirroring Austen’s feelings on the societal standards.

The first of the couples is Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Although little is said about how they met and married, it is possible to infer from their conversations that this couple was not married for love. A distinct example of this would be very early on in the novel, Mrs. Bennet states “You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.” and her husband replies with, “You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.” It can be determined that as a young man he had married a woman who was sexually attractive, without realizing that she was not smart. Mrs. Bennet’s special attention on Lydia and her comments about the common things between her daughter and herself before her marriage, reveals this similarity. On the other hand, Mr Bennet’s comments on Wickham being his favourite son-in-law reinforces this parallelism. Furthermore, the disagreements and arguments between them, whether to give permission or not to their daughter getting married as soon as possible with the first rich man that appears, often display the striking difference between the two. Marrying off her daughters serves as the main purpose in Mrs. Bennet’s life and her obsession. Meanwhile, Mr. Bennet isolates himself from his family, finding refuge on his huge library, which in the end, becomes his only happiness. These characters show to the readers the anger, loneliness and the insanity of two people who are wed without love, as was overly common at the time. Austen shows clear satirical messages through their communications with one another.

Lydia and Wickham’s Marriage is another example of Austen’s idea of a bad marriage. It was based on good looks, false love, appearances for the society, sensual and sexual pleasures and youthful vivacity. When none of them can see the relationship the other’s qualities, the marriage will solemnly fade away. Along the novel, this kinship gradually disintegrates. Lydia comes to visit her sisters frequently, with the justification that her husband is enjoying himself in London or Bath, avoiding stay alone at home. As a result of this, both characters appear to be miserable with their married life and constantly try to escape. Through this couple, Austen shows that hasty marriages based on false love and superficial qualities, do not last much time and only leads to unhappiness. These two characters help to satirize the ideals of marriage by going against them and showing a contrast to the relatively healthy relationships of Jane and Bingley and Elizabeth and Darcy.

The marriage between Jane and Bingley is an example of a successful marriage. Elizabeth expresses her opinion of this couple in the novel “really, believed all his expectations of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super excellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.”. However, there is a plan in their relationships. The flow in that both characters are too gullible and too good-hearted to ever act strongly against external forces that may attempt to separate them. Mr. Bennet says: “You are each of you so complying, that nothing will ever be resolved on; so easy, that every servant will cheat you; and so generous, that you will always exceed your income.” So, their marriage is in between success and failure. However, they have a natural compatibility for one another. They have real feelings and learn to value each other more and more due to their difficult courtship. They have no feelings of selfish or other desires, just the feeling that they are truly in love. “It was generally evident, whenever they met, that he did admire her; and to her it was equally evident that Jane was yielding to the preference which she had begun to entertain for him from the first, and was in a way to be very much in love.” Austen uses their relationship and compatibility with each other to “prove her point”, meaning that she was creating what she thought all relationships should be based on. Jane and Bingley both have a personal attraction towards one another. They have dignity and both are very sensible. Unfortunately, the interference of outside forces causes trouble in the kinship. His sisters and Darcy believe that Bennet family is too far down on the social ladder to deserve such love and attention from him. Jane and Bingley’s relationship serves to demonstrate the reverse of the caring upper class. The Regency Period was a time for limited social mobility, where the upper classes were reluctant in dispersing their wealth among those who were not born with this privilege. Austen took this relationship as an opportunity to give her opinion on that topic

Mr. Collins comes to the Bennet’s home in order to get a wife. He first lays eyes on Jane but she was already being pursued by Bingley at that point. His attraction then immediately turns towards Elizabeth. His proposal to Elizabeth is not a pleasant one, although he is too ignorant to notice it. She finds her wealthy cousin, Mr Collins, a “conceited, pompous, narrow-minded, silly man”. Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr Collins’s marriage proposal was a revolutionary landmark in the context of the novel. Although it is quite obvious that rejecting a man who you do not love is a common fact today, in 1813 it was a less obvious matter. He could provide Elizabeth a house, a good life style and a long-term stability for her family. Despite of this, she realized that it was impossible to love such a man. It shows her courageousness to make decisions based on her own conventions and desires, and not the wants of society As readers, we are influenced to agree with Elizabeth decision-making and attitudes on getting marry only for love and correct purposes, and not on the ground of appearances. In spite of being rejected by Elizabeth, his attention is rapidly transferred on Charlotte Lucas. The marriage between Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins is a comical and even devastating relationship. He could not possible be in love, taking into account that one week before he had loved Jane and Elizabeth. However, Charlotte who is getting older and less desirable, marries Mr. Collins in order to get financial stability and social security. She is under the pressure of her mother and that of the social class, and sees Mr. Collins as her only option. Charlotte says, “I see what you are feeling, you must be surprised, very much surprised, so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to marry you. But when you have had time to think it all over, I hope you will be satisfied with what I have done. I am no romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr.Collins character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.” Nevertheless, she soon realizes that he is an intolerable man, and often finds herself embarrassed to be married with him. However, Charlotte continue accepting this disreputable man because he is the only alternative to poverty and social isolation. She yields to society and she accepts the loneliness of her marriage with Collins because to her it seems better than the alternative of social isolation. Austen again shows us with this new example, the consequences of getting married without knowing the partner and with no love for one another, having a complete life with no happiness.

Austen then brings the reader to the central romance of the novel, the marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy. This couple represents all the characteristics of a successful marriage. One of which is that the feelings that are not based on appearances. Although in the beginning they were distant from each other for the misunderstandings and prejudice of the first impressions, both eventually come around. During the instance of their first meeting he insulted Elizabeth by refusing to dance with her. He said where she could hear him, that he was in no mood the prefer young ladies slighted by other men. However, he began to admire Elizabeth in spite of himself, and after further contact with Elizabeth, he realizes that she is the most intelligent, discerning, and virtuous woman he has ever met. He begins to fall in love with her, but his pride prevents him, at first, from lowering himself to her social class. Nevertheless, she becomes his obsession and admiration until he can not bear it longer. He informs his feelings and affection for her and proposes marriage. Elizabeth is surprised, but she rejected his proposal. He sets out to prove his love publicly to the dismay of his high society and royal connections. After all, they could go through the problems due to the series of events they both experienced, which gave them the opportunity to understand one another and the time to reconcile their feelings for each other. So, their mutual understanding is the foundation of their relationship and will lead them to a peaceful and lasting relationship. This example reveals the importance of getting to know each other and having real feelings for the other person, which Austen writes to highlight that the only way to succeed in a relationship is love. So, Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage is one of understanding and mutual respect and admiration. Darcy and Elizabeth are among the few couples within the story that marry for love. They are also among the few characters who find happiness. In Austen’s opinion, this is a successful marriage. She uses this example for representing her beliefs about love and also for proving that happiness in marriage can be reached if there is love for one another.

Austen throughout her novel, describes the societal state of nineteenth century England with awareness of the social issues that affect her society, where marriage is based on economical reasons and social background rather than compatibility and love. Austen writes about the effects that class have on marriage, and marriage on class. With great irony and satire, she displays how people are influenced by social rank and wealth, and marriage is the status that all women strive to achieve. She satirizes the convention of marriage in her novel placed on an acquisitive society, demonstrating that the mere tolerance of the other, wealth, and class factors can produce only misery, shame, unhappiness and isolation. The juxtapositioned kinship between the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy show the readers Austen’s perspective that happiness can only be reached if both parties marry for nothing less than true love.

‘Pride and Prejudice’, written by Jane Austen and published in 1813, is a love story where, for Elizabeth and Darcy, love can be seen to triumph. However, it is also a love story in which passion is tempered by sensible, pragmatic considerations about economic security. It may well be that Austen’s purpose is to tell us that too much emphasis is placed on romantic love and that its fulfillment is subject to conditions that are almost impossible to satisfy.

There are two types of love in ‘Pride and Prejudice’; familial love and romantic love.

All of the characters operate within networks of family connections that shape their decisions and perspectives and, for the female characters in particular, the behaviour and influence of their family members is a significant factor in their lives. Familial love is mainly expressed through the love of the sisters for each other, especially the love between Jane and Elizabeth, and is also expressed in Elizabeth’s relationship with her father. However, a more prominent kind of love featured in the novel is romantic love, which is expressed in a number of relationships and is the focus of this essay.

Victorian England was not a kind place for women whose primary means of securing economic security, social status and position within society was through their husbands. Marriage, therefore, was one of the most important decisions in a woman’s life and, as they had limited choices in life, they generally had to make practical decisions about their futures and often had to prioritise materialistic security (through marriage) over romantic love. Indeed, Darcy notes that marriage appears to be an obsession for female characters, ‘A lady’s imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment’.

Through Elizabeth and Darcy’s realisation of a mutual love, Austen seems to imply that she views love as something independent of the prevailing social forces, as something that can be captured if an individual can rise above the negative effects of hierarchical society. We also note that Jane confesses that she is ‘the happiest creature in the world’ after Bingley proposed. Through the marriages of Elizabeth and Jane, Austen demonstrates that the power of love and happiness can overcome class boundaries and prejudices, thereby implying that such prejudices are empty and hard-hearted.

Another interpretation is that the search for love by many of the characters in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ takes place in an atmosphere of economic coercion; the shape that love takes in these women’s lives is influenced by their different social conditions. The most significant economic circumstance of the novel is that of ‘entailment’, a restriction on inheritance across generations which causes the Bennett family to retain possession of their estate only for the duration of Mr Bennet’s life. According to the principle of primogeniture, since they have no sons, the estate passes to their intolerable cousin, Mr Collins, and the daughters would be left with a meagre annual income. Mrs Bennett, despite her comic portrayal, is not obsessed with marriage for its own sake; rather, she is concerned with the future security of her daughters, against which their desires for love seem like selfish, juvenile trivialities.

Indeed, the love story of the protagonist and antagonist can be seen to contain anomalies with respect to the reality of love and materialism. In the early scenes, Elizabeth’s relationship with Darcy is defined by their false first impressions of each other and is marked by her social inferiority, that is felt by both of them. However, her visit to Pemberley signals a change in the relationship, when she learns from his servant that he is a benevolent and kind master and she reflects, ‘And of this place, I might have been mistress’. Later, she tells Jane flippantly, with a ring of truth perhaps, that she dates her love for him ‘from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley’. While this does not necessarily imply that Elizabeth married Darcy for his fortune, or that her love was insincere, it could demonstrate that the concept of love is bound with being economically secure. Elizabeth has earlier chastised Charlotte Lucas for sacrificing ‘every better feeling to world advantage’ by marrying Mr Collins, however she also acknowledges that she, too, has gained ‘wordly advantages’ in marrying Darcy. In this way, Elizabeth’s love could be viewed as capitulating to the dominant social order.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ also contains examples of the differing facets of ‘love’. Austen informs us that Mr Bennet married because he was ‘captivated by youth and beauty’, and later discovered Mrs Bennett’s true nature. ‘Respect, esteem and confidence had vanished forever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown’. The distaste surrounding Wickham and Lydia’s elopement is captured by Austen’s comment that ‘How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue’. Charlotte Lucas, however, offers the most unsentimental view that marriage is based on practicality, rather than love, counselling Jane to secure her rich husband first and think about love only after they are married, ‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance’. Austen appears to tell us that romantic love is seen as necessary for marriage (in theory, if not in practice) and to marry without it, as Mrs Bennett urges her daughters to do, and as Charlotte does, has an air of vulgar materialism, perhaps because it lays bare the transactional nature of marriage.

In conclusion, while ‘Pride and Prejudice’ may resonate as a triumph of love, culminating in a happing ending (marriage), it is difficult to separate love from the enduring economic and social necessity of marriage, or the subordinated role of women of this period. Austen may be suggesting that, as long as women remain economically disenfranchised, romantic love will be haunted by the spectre of economic security and that true love bears little resemblance to the prevailing cultural reality.

Introduction to Jane Austen’s Portrayal of Women

I am going to argue that the representation of women in Pride and Prejudice. I used 2 academic materials to help me explore my idea. One is Jane Austen’s ideal man in Pride and Prejudice and another one is Feminine consciousness in Jane Austen’s novels, which I already cited in the work cited part.

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by British female novelist Jane Austen. The novel describes Bennet’s five daughters, and the protagonist is the second daughter, Elizabeth. She met Darcy at the ball, but she heard that he was arrogant. So, His first image was not good in Elizabeth’s view. However, after some twists and turns, Elizabeth lifted his prejudice against Darcy. Darcy also put down arrogance, and they finally fall in love with each other. The content of Pride and Prejudice become popular in the society and the world situation in the conservative and occluded state from the end of the 18th century to the early 19th century. And has been adapted into movies and TV series many times.

Marital Views Through Five Couples in ‘Pride and Prejudice’

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen used free indirect discourse, which means 3rd person narration that slips in and out of the characters’ consciousness and the thoughts of a character, feeling, words are filtered through the 3rd person narrator. Jane Austen describes five different pairs of the couple which represent five different marriage views in Pride and Prejudice.

The first couple is Bennet couples: blind marriage. From Jane’s portrayal, we can also see that the Bennett couple’s personality, hobbies and even the gap between thoughts. When Bennet was fascinated by her beauty, she found that Mrs. Bennet was just a short-sighted, stupid woman. Their marriage is the result of blind impulses, which is unfortunate.

The second couple is the marriage between Lydia and Wickham, it is driven by lust, and marriage is a failure. After the marriage, Wickham often went out to have fun, and Lydia often ran to her sister’s house and cried.

The third couple is Collins and Charlotte: Money marriage. In the Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte is the earliest marry of the five sisters. In her marriage to Collins, money accounts for a large proportion, and the factors of love are minimal. Charlotte can say that everything is except for her husband. This marriage, which is based on money and does not consider feelings, is tragic and has no happiness at all.

The fourth couple is Jane and Bentley: a happy marriage. Jane is a beautiful, gentle and dignified girl whose character matches the beauty. She is very admired for Bentley, but she is hidden in her heart. Bentley has a talent and a decent manner. The two are relatively close in character and relatively indecisive. After a while, the relationship between the two became deeper and deeper. Because of their character, their feelings were interrupted. But they have an emotional foundation, sincere love, and eventually, cross obstacles and enter the palace of marriage. Such a marriage is happy.

Elizabeth Bennet: A Symbol of Feminine Independence

The fifth couple is Elizabeth and Darcy which is the perfect marriage. The love of Elizabeth and Darcy has always shifted to the novel. Elizabeth is intelligent and independent and has a rational consideration of marriage. In her view, a marriage without an emotional foundation is unhappy. The process of Elizabeth’s search for true love in the novel reflects the true value of marriage. Elizabeth is self-respecting and self-love and has her ideas, the courage to pursue her happiness, and ultimately to be happy, but also has a lot of property. This kind of marriage is perfect, and it is also the marriage view of the author Jane Austen.

Modern women will consider a lot when choosing their lifelong partner. Is the basis of a happy marriage a love, wealth or other factors? But women of that era did not have this power.

“The existence of feminine consciousness is suggested in Jane Austen’s first five novels: Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice”,( Boarcas, Camelia,pg1022) I very agree with this idea， So I am going to talk it deeper.In this novel, the most important female image is Elizabeth. Because Elizabeth represents the author itself, she treats herself as Elizabeth in her novels. This can be seen in the social context of the author Jane Austen – “Jane Austen herself had no portion and could not afford a handsome dowry, which prevented one early mutual attraction from becoming anything serious. Later a fairly prosperous man proposed to her. However, her strong sense of independence and pursuit of spiritual happiness did not lead her to make a vulgar decision. ”(Gao, Haiyan, pg2) But it is not as bad as before, from another academic source “in the educated class of Austen’s society, the influence of women was especially powerful. Because their oppression did not extend to the experiences of poverty and illiteracy, educated women were more equipped to counter their political unimportance. They were also members of a class that had reached a point never reached before in the cultivation of arts and letters. ”(Boarcas, Camelia, pg1022) However, the women’s social status is still lower, we can see this historical fact from the academic sources I used.“ In the 19th century, marriage was dominated by the material base in English society. Social relationships and economic mode determined the rule of marriage. In Austen’s day, the only road for mid-class lady’s happy life was to marry well. The wrong choice of mate could spell social and financial disaster. Almost every woman’s ideal man was a millionaire or at least a single gentleman with a piece of an estate and much money every year. ”(Gao, Haiyan, pg1)

Social Constraints and Women’s Choices in Austen’s Era

And Jane Austen really wanted to change something. So, the whole story in Pride and Prejudice is about marriage, which is exactly what Mrs. Bennet is worried about her five daughters. Although many feminists believe that marriage is not the ultimate destination for women, this novel still revolves around this topic. When Elizabeth chose marriage, the spirit of equality was reflected. Elizabeth’s choice of marriage is mainly reflected in two aspects: the first is her rejection of Collins; the second is her acceptance of Darcy. In a male-dominated society, women are second to men. Women’s choice of marriage is not based on their wishes, but the criteria of men’s decisions or social conventions. In the eyes of the people, because she has neither a decent family nor a rich background, Elizabeth’s best choice is to marry Mr. Collins. Even more, unfortunately, women do not have the right to inherit the inheritance. Mr. Collins is the inheritor of the estate. If they can combine, it is in line with recognized social norms. Elizabeth’s rejection is the best embodiment of feminism. She is different from other women in the small talk. She dared to say her thoughts and she dared to challenge social customs just like Jane Austen. She expressed contempt for the so-called social norms. When Elizabeth and Collins visited Lady Catherine, everyone was respectful to Mrs. Catherine, but she was free to say what she was thinking, not afraid to offend the rich and powerful Lady Catherine. Elizabeth is not afraid of power and money. This is exactly what is necessary for an independent woman. On the contrary, her good friend Charlotte, although as smart as Elizabeth, succumbed to reality, married Mr. Collins, to get a place to live. She believes that marriage is a way for women who have no property to get a comfortable life. From here, we can see the oppression of women’s thoughts in a patriarchal society. Elizabeth’s acceptance of Darcy’s love is a sign of her pursuit of equality as a feminist. The most interesting arrangement in the novel is not like the well-known Cinderella plot. Elizabeth, unlike the girl in the fairy tale, accepted his prince, Darcy. The traditional image of women is completely subverted in the novel. When Darcy asked her to marry, she said dissatisfaction with him and then refused firmly. Elizabeth became a heroine with a vision, not a helpless, passive, Cinderella waiting for her prince. Later, after the misunderstanding between Elizabeth and Darcy was lifted, although she was not right with Darcy, she did not wait quietly for her fate, but bravely chose her happiness. In marriage, her status with her husband is equal. Therefore, women can also be in a positive position in life. Since the women’s movement in the early 20th century, women have gradually gained the right to vote and have played an increasingly important role in society, such as in the medical profession, education, politics, and literature. Feminists have always insisted on gender equality and protesting discrimination from male society. Feminism, as a method of criticism, has promoted the development of literary criticism theory and social progress to a certain extent. Through clever plots and vivid language.

Jane Austen’s Critique of Marriage and Social Class

Through the women in the novel, the author is only trying to reflect three points. First of all, gender equality awareness. I should talk about more history of the UK in that time from academic sources I found. “women were discriminated in Austen’s time. If a woman from the gentry didn’t marry and had no family members who could take her in and provide for her, often the only somewhat respectable alternative was to become a governess or a teacher in a school. Even those positions, however, lowered her social status, making it almost impossible for her to attract a husband who could provide for her adequately. To make matters worse, the income she could earn through such means was, in most cases, barely enough for survival. Thus, marriage to an economically respectable man was considered to be the only legitimate choice for most women of the gentry or the aristocracy. It was a tradition that men inherited all fortune. Therefore, women had to obey and gain their life necessities through an adequate marriage.” (Gao, Haiyan, pg2) In the industrial revolution of the United Kingdom, society does not provide jobs for women. They can only rely on their parents or husbands. Their economic dependence determines the subordinate status of women. Even among the nobility and the middle class, women also have no status. Under this social reality, all that women do is to attract men’s attention and find a good home for themselves. The daily life of women in middle-class families is to accompany their parents and friends for a long time in various dances. They study and learn talents just to get the favour of men. It shows that white just wants to be a more worthy male. Accessories. In Pride and Prejudice, Miss Bingley and Darcy are right, but Bingley still tries her best to improve herself. The purpose is to please Darcy. Secondly, the basis of marriage. In Pride and Prejudice, Austin described her understanding of marriage. For example, Charlotte is a smart and beautiful woman, but she married Collins for money, which is based on pure money and interests; Lydia and Wickham ran away, which is based on pure passion Marriage on the basis; Mr. Bennett is greedy for the beauty of Mrs. Bennett, this is purely for a beautiful marriage. These marriages will eventually fail. The protagonist Elizabeth is smart and decisive, and Darcy is a perfect combination of talent and generosity, money and true love. In author Jane Austen’s view, the marriage between Jane and Bingley is happy, pure and kind, a well-informed, mutual love. But because Bingley is very indecisive, the love of the two encounters many twists and turns, but ultimately it is still the lover who will eventually become a genus, and the happy marriage will come to the end. However, if the marriage between Jane and Bingley is satisfactory, then the marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy is perfect. From acquaintance to prejudice, to re-recognition, they finally collide with the spark of love and interpret the perfection of love. In Austen’s view, money and love are the foundation of marriage. The lack of one of these two conditions is imperfect. As the basis of marriage, money is the material guarantee for marriage to happiness in the future; love is the premise of marriage, and only marriage full of love is happy. Elizabeth and Darcy, one is a male of the upper class, and the other is a woman from a middle-class family. Their union must be happy. It also shows Austin’s desire to weaken the gap between social classes and achieve free flow between classes. Finally, the value of women. At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the British literary world was dominated by male writers and few female writers. In reality, Jane Austen is one of the female writers. She is not influenced by patriarchism. She has completed six books under various pressures, showing that women can also create more social values. ‘Pride and Prejudice’ has brought more thoughts to women in society. For women’s discrimination in society, Jane Austen really did a lot through novel Pride and Prejudice “Although her women characters lead restricted lives, her novels are not about restriction, not even about expression, but about the relationship between the two, about how women find ways to develop and assert their womanhood despite the restrictions placed on them. ”(Boarcas, Camelia, pg1022)

As a woman in society at that time, we must consider two factors when we go to the marriage hall. The most important thing about marriage is love. Only when love and investment are consistent, values ​​can be made to make a marriage happy. Money is the material condition of marriage and a key factor in determining the success of the future marriage. Because poverty can only turn happiness into an illusory bubble. Although marriage does not depend entirely on the matter, marriage without material security, happiness is difficult to guarantee.

Concluding Reflections on Women’s Value and Austen’s Legacy

Overall, Jane Austen ‘s novel has contributed to the advancement of women. She made lots of female characters. And representation of them makes this novel became classics and Pride and Prejudice taught to us an unspeakable truth: when the family is harmonious, everyone will be stable. The essence of love is an instinct for people to pursue a happy and happy life. The realization of this kind of essential love is the key to the ultimate harmony between family and society.

Works Cited

1. Boarcas, Camelia. ‘Feminine Consciousness in Jane Austen’s novels.’ Journal of Research in Gender Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 2014, p. 1021+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A397454326/AONE?u=lond95336&sid=AONE&xid=a2bde713. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.
2. Gao, Haiyan. ‘Jane Austen’s ideal man in Pride and Prejudice.’ Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 3, no. 2, 2013, p. 384+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A351081923/AONE?u=lond95336&sid=AONE&xid=dd82c4bf. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a romantic novel that entertains readers through the fluctuation of a relationship amongst two opposite individuals. Nonetheless, the novel is more complex than an effortless love story. The main characters Elizabeth and Darcy, marry for affection while the others in the novel marry for convenience. As for them, the means of social stability and wealth are far more important than the compatibility within a spouse. The plot of the novel is developed around viewpoints of what marriage is and should be. In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen uses satire and characterization to comment on the purpose of marriage pertaining to women in her lifetime.

In the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice, Austen shows a satirical outlook on marriage: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’.1 However, if the statement where to be held true then the entire plot of the novel is opposed. If it was held true that every single man who is rich wants a wife, then the female characters would not struggle to find a husband. The essence of Mrs. Bennet’s character would be gone, as she would not be in a frenzy to constantly seek husbands for her five daughters. Elizabeth would not have denied Mr. Collins’s marriage proposal, as there would have been no debate between either marrying for financial stability and fondness. There would not have been interference in Jane and Mr. Bingley’s relationship. Rather the argument that is made within the novel is that a woman seeks marriage as a means of financial stability, not love. As the novel develops, the use of irony in the first sentence becomes clear. Austen set the tone in the first sentence of Pride and Prejudice, while also allowing the readers to view what she believed marriage was about during her era of life. Austen does not forgo that is it the need for financial stability that plays the most important role in the prospect of marriage, as it is shown within some characters and a theme. Throughout the novel, the narration uses humor and cleverness to create the character, Mrs. Bennet as someone who is consumed with the need to marry her daughters, with no other care in the world. Mrs. Bennet represents a satirical take on how women desire to marry wealthy because it is what has been taught in society. Through her arrangement of a match amongst Mr. Bingley and Jane, it is seen that Mrs. Bennet is rather greedy and foolish. She sends Jane into a storm to visit Mr. Bingley, potentially risking the death in the pursuit as it is her first priority to see Jane’s marriage to Bingley. Austen portrays satire in the fact that Mrs. Bennet is only concerned with wealth rather than the happiness and feelings of her daughters; an aspect of a lacking mother. Jane Austen used a satirical approach to portray the social standards of her time concerning the purpose of marriage in Pride and Prejudice.

Austen shows her views on the purpose of marriage through her characterization. Including Mrs. Bennet, there are other characters within the novel who are presented to signify their views or actions concerning marriage. Austen uses Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine’s views on marriage to indicate that certain views are simply ridiculous. Mr. Collins is characterized as someone who only cares about fitting into a restricted society and how others perceive him. He perceives marriage as a tool and believes that any woman would want to marry him because of his social rank; linking back to the first line of the novel. When Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, he attributes half of his proposal to his duty as a clergyman and the other half to Lady Catherine. Lady Catherine told Mr. Collins to marry as a way to make himself useful and “make a small income go a good way” (Austen 103).2 It is also later revealed that Lady Catherine used her wealth and social status to intimidate the proposal of marriage between Elizabeth and Darcy. However, she also had ulterior motives as she wanted her daughter, Anne de Bourgh to marry Darcy. Her character is quite defined by her feeling of superiority and selfishness, making her and her view on marriage selfish and economically based. Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s views on marriage are superficial and rely on social standings based on finance. Austen created specific types of negative characterization that would allow her to comment and criticize the reality of marriage during her time. It can be argued that Austen’s own beliefs of what marriage should be, are based on her positive characterization of characters. Elizabeth is characterized as intelligent and quick-witted. Throughout the novel, it is noticed that Elizabeth is not atypical women of her time and much more independent, much like Austen. When Mr. Collins proposes, Elizabeth refuses because for her marriage should be about love not convenience. She does not conform to the social norms of her time, for her marriage does not equal happiness. For Elizabeth, she is not concerned with wealth nor social hierarchy. She focuses on the individuals’ character and morality. Elizabeth views marriage as a want, not a necessity; and even then her standards are far more important than what money can offer. Austen uses characterization to portray characters in different understandings of marriage.

Austen uses literary devices to portray her skepticism on marriage. Through her satire, she exposes absurd standards and the lengths some would go to marry, which was considered normal in the 18th century. The different levels of characterization allowed for the comparison amongst foolish and idealistic purposes of marriage. These devices combined created an important theme within Pride and Prejudice… marriage. During the 18th century, women were only able to live a stable life by marrying someone who a percentage of the time did not truly care for them. Austen exposes these flaws and limitations of her society through the stories of characters in Pride and Prejudice. Allowing it to remain timeless on the insights of human nature.

According to the author Robert Fulham “the point is that getting married for lust or money or social status or even love is usually trouble. The point is that marriage is a maze into which we wander, a maze that is best to go through with a great companion”. In the novel, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, marriage and social status is important. The purpose of marriage is to rise in economic social class which Charlotte Lucas portrays. However, Jane and Elizabeth changed this custom by marrying not for social status, but for love. Moreover, this radical choice affects the gender inequality that is present during Austen’s era; when entering a marriage, women have standards to follow. Georgiana Darcy and Jane Bennett are characters who demonstrates a typical woman: quiet, reserved and well-mannered. However, Lydia’s character contrasts to Georgina and Jane, showing no “angel of the house” characteristics. Bingley and Darcy on the other hand, are rich and handsome, being capable of getting a wife. Unlike Bingley and Darcy, Wickham is not as rich and is still able to get a wife. With all this pressure, the characters still manage to get married for love while still being able to marry a man to move up in society.

For many years, women have always been dependent on man. According to Lili Lu and Zhao, women are called ‘decorations in the living room’ and ‘angels in the kitchen’ (Chandio, Rashid, et al 1). In the novel, women have certain standards to manifest in order to have a husband. Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice during a time when “women were expected to stay at home, reproduce, bring up children, cook and clean” (Sundari, S.P. Guna 2). Their society expects them to marry any man as long as they were safe and secure with money, along with a comfortable home. Georgiana Darcy and Jane Benette are characters from the novel that shows characteristic of “angel of the house”. Throughout the novel, Georgiana Darcy is one of the characters that shows the quality of being the “angel of the house”. She is described as, “tall, and on a larger scale that Elizabeth; and though little more than sixteen, her figure was formed, and her appearance was less handsome that her brother; but there was sense and good humour in her face and her way were perfectly unassuming and gentle” (Austen 22).

According to Elizabeth, Georgiana is more like her sister Jane than herself. She is a shy and sweet malleable sister to Darcy. Her naivety results her not marrying Wickham since her brother Darcy forbidden it, although she has a desire to marry Wickham. She is the perfect typical wife since she has all the traits of being an “angel of the house”. Another character that shows “angel of the house” character is Jane Bennet. According to Elizabeth “[she is a] great deal too apt you know, to like people in general. You never see fault in anybody” (Austen 11). Elizabeth accuses Jane for being naive and forgiving. Jane’s willingness to give people the benefit of the doubt and sees the best parts of them helps her to reconcile with other people. Her personalities are reserved and gentle, which is also a typical trait of women during the 19th century. In conclusion, Jane and Georgiana are more womanly than any other characters. Since they have those traits, they can easily get a husband. Their personality and beauty were deemed respectable for a woman and therefor a “perfect wife”. Unlike Georgiana and Jane, Lydia is a fallen woman since she does show any characteristic of “angel of the house”. Lydia is spoiled, bold, brack and reckless. On this quotation, she is writing a letter to Harriet saying, “I cannot help laughing myself at your surprise tomorrow morning, as soon as I am missed…I should never be happy without him, so think it no harm to be off…What a good joke it will be! I can hardly write for laughing.” (Austen 247).

It shows how Lydia is silly, flirtatious and girlish. She demonstrates being flirtatious by running off with Wickham while not caring about the possible repercussions, social ruin of the entire family and destitution. She said, ‘well, mamma, what do you think of my husband? Is not he a charming man? I am sure my sisters all envy me. I only hope they may have half my good luck.’ (Austen 270). Lydia return home, as insufferable as before. She gloated incessantly about her status as a married woman to all the neighbors in town, and even told her eldest sister that she was more important because she married first. She followed through the expectations until she desperate enough to become social climber. She did achieve what she wanted, however it results in her into marrying a user. In conclusion, Lydia is far from being like her sisters. She would do anything that she desires whenever she wants to.

In Austen’s era, “the intended marriage […] mainly concerns financial conditions and subsistence rather than love and appreciation” (Sundari, S.P. Guna.3 ). Marriage is used to increase social value. Women are restricted as properties and so, they need a man to inherit their father’s fortune. It was a tradition that men inherits all the fortunes (Sundriyal, Ankita 2). Charlotte Lucas is one of the characters that marry for social value and security. She is described as ‘sensible, intelligent young woman’ (Austen 14). In reality she could be intelligent, however she was single and past twenty five. This age was seen as old for a woman and therefore, gave her no choice but to marry Mr. Collins. Since she knows that she is aging, and knows that her only choice is to be the mistress of Mr. Collin’s house. She ‘accepted him solely from the pure and disinterested desire of an establishment’ (Austen 106). That’s why when Mr. Collins gave her a proposal she “swiftly accepts his proposal of marriage” (Gao, Haiyan 5). In conclusion, Charlotte Lucas chose to marry Mr.Collins for stability in the future and to become a bourgeoisie. If she did not marry sooner, she would have less like hood into moving up the society and will stay as her father’s and brother’s property.

In contrast, Jane and Elizabeth married for true love. Austen presented that women married for their protection but not for their choice of love (Sundari, S.P. Guna. 4). On the other hand, Elizabeth and Jane also married rich men, but their intention was to share their mindedness with their life partner. Jane and Bingley shows that true love exists, and not unhampered by either pride or prejudice. Jane is already in love with Bingley when they first met, she declared to Elizabeth “He is just what a young man ought to be; said she, sensible, good humoured, lively and I never saw such happy manner!.. so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!” (Austen 10). Jane and Bingley are a love match and their good natured personalities make them a perfect couple. Elizabeth and Darcy are contrasting to Jane and Bingley’s love story. Elizabeth dislikes Darcy when they first encounter, due to Darcy’s being arrogant. However, as the novel is coming to an end, Elizabeth and Darcy fell in love with each other, as Elizabeth confessing to her father “I do, I do like him,” she replied with tears in her eyes, “I love him. Indeed he has no improper pride. He is perfectly amiable.” (Austen 324). They may hate each other from the beginning, but it lead them to forever. In conclusion, Jane and Elizabeth are both happily married and in love. In the 19th century, marriage was dominated by material base in English society, and so, social relationships and economic mode determined the rule of marriage ( Gao, Haiyan 2). In Austen’s day, the only road for mid-class lady’s happy life was to marry well. Almost every woman’s ideal man was a millionaire or at least a single gentleman with a piece of estate and much money every year (Gao, Haiyan 5). Bingley is one of the men that many single women would want to marry. According to Mrs. Bennet, “to see many young men of 4000 a year come into the neighbourhood” (Austen 94). Mrs. Bennet is telling to his husband and daughter that Bingley is a good man to marry since his someone from the upper class who wears his position lightly and gallantly. Darcy, on the other hand is a primary example of Austen’s ideal high-class gentleman. Darcy may seem arrogant and selfish, however as the novel progresses it becomes clear that he is capable of change. Many single ladies would want to marry him although he has a bad first impression, due “by his fine, tall, handsome features, noble men and the report which was in general circulation within 5 minutes after his entrance of his having 10000 a year” (Austen 7). In this quotation, everyone is interested in him since they know that he is good looking and wealthy. In conclusion, marriage is use to get ahead in society. Marriage is not use to find true love. Women in the 19th century are not looking for their true love, they are looking for a man who is wealthy and handsome.

Wickham, on the other hand is a seemingly perfect gentleman from a poor family. Wickham has all the looks that woman desires, according to one of the characters “the attention of every lady was soon caught by a young man, whom they had never seen before, of most gentlemanlike appearance, walking with an officer on the other side of the way” (Austen 61). This is the reaction of the female characters the first time they saw Wickham. Although they do not know anything about Wickham’s character, they are distracted by his handsome appearance. They assume his good look must also mean he is a good person. One of the Bennett sisters, fell madly in love with him that she forgot what the purpose of marriage is in the first place. When they got married, Wickham does not have the capacity to support Lydia on a daily basis. Lydia has to ask one of her sisters for money. On this quote, Lydia is asking Elizabeth for money, “It is great comfort to have you so rich; and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us. I am sure Wickham would like a place at court very much, and I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help. Any place would of about three or four hundred a year” (Austen 332).

It shows that they are struggling in life since they have to ask for help to survive. Wickham could have all the looks that woman desires, but he comes from a poor family who does not have any social status like Darcy and Bingley. That man did have expectations to be rich and successful to marry. Unfortunately he does not have these two attributes therefore he resorted to deception and manipulation.

The purpose of the characters in the novel is to marry and move up in society. However, some of the characters like Jane and Elizabeth still manage to marry a man they love, while moving up in society. Jane and Georgiana are characters that demonstrated typical women’s role, known as “angel of the house”, contrasting to Lydia who has no traits of “angel of the house”, demonstrating her character as being flirtatious, girlish and silly. Charlotte Lucas uses Mr. Collins for security and to increase her social value. Darcy and Bingley are well off and handsome to be able to get a wife. However, Wickham is also handsome but not as rich as Bingley and Darcy, and still able to get wife by his flirtatiousness and fooling girls using his physical attributes. Marrying to increase social security and not for love is a bad starting point in marriage. Since marriage are made for two people who really love each other and share their life forever.

Jane Austen and Mark Twain are two very diverse authors, from two totally different backgrounds. Aside from the fact that they are male and female, they were born in different time periods and countries. The one thing they had in common was their love of writing, but in addition to this, they both used their writing platform to create something new and exciting that had never been written about before. They both struggled with sickness within their families but used their writing to be an outlet. You can see by their writings that their outlooks on the world were very different. Within the next few pages, you will see that both Jane Austen and Mark Twain used their novels to express their feelings about the world around them and that is why their works are still read today.

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire of England. She was born into a well-respected family and her father was an Oxford educated rector. He knew the value of an education and made Jane read a lot while she was growing up. His stately position provided Jane, at the age of seven, the opportunity to accompany her older sister, Cassandra, and cousin, Jane Cooper, to Mrs. Crawley’s school in Oxford. Later, Oxford had an outbreak of measles, so the school moved to Southampton, but the girls brought the disease with them and had to be taken home. In 1784 they were sent back to school at A Mrs La Tournelles, where they learned needlepoint, spelling, piano, and so on. (Notable Biographies – Jane Austen) Two years later, Mr. Austen, Jane’s father, thought the school was a waste of money and time, so he took both Jane and Cassandra out. (Jane Austen Went to School) That was the last formal education Jane ever received. She received the same education at home from her five older brothers and her father’s pupils. She had a great passion for learning and actively used her father’s library. (Jane Austen Goes to School) Although Jane was very apt to write about love, she never married, but she did have one proposal. (The Real Reason Jane Austen Never Married) No one can say why she never married, but it can be assumed that she just never found the love that she wrote so much about. She died July 18, 1817 at age 41. How? That is another unanswered question we are penned with. She seemed to have had numerous diseases in her life time and likely died due to one of those diseases. (Jane Austen’s Death)

Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. It is interesting to note that Mark Twain was a pen name and his real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He made up a story about how the steamboat helped him concoct his new name, but eventually, the name Mark Twain became so popular that he became known by his pen name instead of his birth name. Growing up, Mark’s family was very poor. When he was 11, his father passed away, so immediately he started work as a delivery boy and store clerk. Soon after, he started an apprenticeship and became a compositor for the local printers. (Notable Biographies – Mark Twain) Whenever he would get the opportunity, he would add his own little touch to what he was helping print, which is what sparked the flame to write. In 1853, his printing job had him going all over the place, from New York to Pennsylvania to Missouri. (Biography – Mark Twain) After living with his brother in Iowa, he started to pursue his dream of being the captain of a river steamboat. He had gotten pretty good at it but had to put it to a halt because the river ways were being disturbed because of the Civil War, which had just commenced. During the war, Twain briefly served as a confederate soldier. He had dropped out of the war and decided he was going to join a Confederate militia called Marion Rangers. Two weeks passed, and the militia had crumbled. (Mark Twain Civil War Experience) He then moved on to a new thing, like he always seemed to do. He moved out west and started mining. That failed, and he continued to find work at local newspapers, where he would continue to write. In 1863, he officially took on the pen name Mark Twain. He got married to Olivia Langdon Clemens. Later, they had 4 children, Langdon, Olivia, Clara, and Jane. Twain once said, “What is a house without children?” Children are what kept Mark going during his depression after his wife and 3 kids passed away. Clara was the only child to outlive her father. Samuel L. Clemens died April 10, 1910. (Sam Clemens Family)

Jane Austen’s first major novel was entitled Sense and Sensibility. The main characters are two sisters. The first draft was written in 1795 and was titled Elinor and Marianne, but in 1797, Jane rewrote the novel and titled it in the name that we all know, Sense and Sensibility. After years of perfecting, it was finally published in 1811. The novel spotlights the different temperaments of the two sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Elinor is the sister who lives her life by facts or sense, while Marianne is ruled by feelings or sensibility. “Although the plot favors the value of reason over that of emotion, the greatest emphasis is placed on the moral principles of human affairs and on the need for enlarged thought and feeling in response to it.” (Notable biographies – Jane Austen)

In 1796, when Jane Austen was just twenty-one years old, she wrote the novel, First Impressions. In 1813, this work was rewritten and published again under the title Pride and Prejudice. This work was her most popular and maybe even her greatest novel. It is thought to be so because of the “distinction by virtue of its perfection of form, which exactly balances and expresses its human content. As in Sense and Sensibility, the descriptive terms in the title are closely associated with the two main characters.” (Notable Biographies – Jane Austen)

The form of the novel is dialectical—the opposition of ethical (conforming or not conforming to standards of conduct and moral reason) principles is expressed in the relations of believable characters. The resolution of the main plot with the marriage of the two opposites represents a reconciliation of conflicting moral extremes. The value of pride is affirmed when humanized by the wife’s warm personality, and the value of prejudice is affirmed when associated with the husband’s standards of traditional honor. (Notable Biographies – Jane Austen)

During the years 1797 and 1798, Jane Austen wrote Northanger Abbey, which was published after she died, but it was not considered one of her major works. In the years that followed, she wrote The Watsons, which is a fragment of a novel similar in mood to her later work Mansfield Park, and Lady Susan (1804 or later), a short novel in letters.

Mark Twain’s book, Tom Sawyer, is a narrative novel of innocent boyhood play that accidentally discovers evil. Tom and Huck, the main characters in the book, witness a murder in a graveyard at midnight. The boys run away and are presumed dead, but the boys show up at their own funeral. Tom and Huck decide to search for the murderer to keep the reward for themselves. Tom and his sweetheart eventually discover the hiding place of the culprit and the townspeople unknowingly seal the murderer in the cave to keep adventuresome boys, like Tom, out of trouble. In the end, innocent play and boyish adventure triumphs. (Notable Biographies – Mark Twain)

Huckleberry Finn is considered Mark Twain’s finest creation by many. Huck doesn’t have the same imagination as Tom; he is a simple boy with very little education. Huck is prone to deceit, which seems the opposite to Tom, a boy who is grounded in tradition and educated in books. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a series of adventures, which can be viewed as the story of a quest for freedom. Finn shares his adventures with a black companion, Jim, who seeks freedom from slavery. “In the novel, Huck discovers that the Mississippi is peaceful (though he is found to be only partially correct) but that the world along its shores is full of trickery, including his own, and by cruelty and murder. When the raft on which he and Jim are floating down the river is invaded by two criminals, Huck first becomes their assistant in swindles but is finally the agent of their exposure:”

Whatever its faults, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a classic. Variously interpreted, it is often thought to suggest more than it reveals, speaking of what man has done to confuse himself about his right relation to nature. It can also be thought of as a treatment of man’s failures in dealing with his fellows and of the corruption that man’s only escape is in flight, perhaps even from himself. Yet it is also an apparently artless story of adventure and escape so simply and directly told that novelist Ernest Hemingway (c.1899–1961) once said that all American literature begins with this book. (Notable biographies – Mark Twain)

Jane Austen lived in an era when novel reading was a major form of entertainment for the middle classes. New novels were expensive to buy, but neighbors would share and borrow the latest fiction novels that were circulating in libraries, subscriptions libraries and reading clubs. Though novels were widely read, they wouldn’t necessarily be on the best seller list as we think of it today. Fictional works that included wild and imaginary tales of adventure, mystery and intrigue often had odd titles to captures the reader’s attention. Jane Austen enjoyed this pulp fiction, but she also chose not to follow that style of writing within her own works. Jane’s readers saw that she was doing something new within her novels. She was using her books to describe reality and she used people around her as her characters. She didn’t write about the improbable.

Her novels are set in southern England, in locations that she knew well. Katharine Sutherland writes, “As Scott suggested, her plots are minimal and the adventures her heroines meet with are no more than the experiences of her readers: preparations for a dance, an outing to the seaside, a picnic. Austen used fiction to describe social reality within her own time and class (the gentry and professional classes of southern England in the early 19th century). By so doing, she was able to introduce something closer to real morality in describing the range of human relationships that we all are likely to encounter in ordinary life.” (Jane Austin’s Social Realism and the Novel)

She loved to write about things we might encounter in everyday life, such as how parents relate to their children, and what it feels like to fall in love, but most of all, how people who mean well may not always do well. She described society as it really was. Many consider her novels to also be romantic comedies. She repeatedly wrote about love and good fortune with happy endings, although she often portrayed married couples differently within the pages of her novels. “Realism is a literary device rejecting escapism and extravagance to produce a lifelike illusion and not a direct translation of reality,” says Sutherland.

Mark Twain’s stories are full of satire, meaning they are overly exaggerated and funny. While he used satire most, he had a very distinctive style of writing that is evident throughout his books. His way with words and his firm descriptions allow the reader to feel like they are brought alongside the characters to experience the adventures. Mark Twain often uses child heroes in some of his most famous novels.

In Twain’s novels, he writes using the language that would be spoken by natives. He would then describe the settings in his novels with vivid realism. Both elements, combined, allow the reader to enjoy the story and the relationships with the characters. Twain describes the southern feel of St. Petersburg as well as the lavish elements of London using colorful adjectives and imagery, which transports the reader through each scene. An example would be the night following Tom Sawyer’s witnessing of Doctor Robinson’s murder: “The ticking of the clock began to bring itself into notice. Old beams began to crack mysteriously. The stairs creaked faintly.” (Mark Twain Author Study) The simple words he used makes you feel a sense of fear and dread, but when you add adventure and mystery, it’s easy to see why his novels are loved by young as well as old.

“Twain’s poignant satire and social commentary play an important role in many of his works. Twain is famous for his criticisms of American society, both in his stories and in his own world. He effectively communicates his views in a manner that is not overbearingly obvious through the eyes of his characters and the lessons that they learn throughout the novels.” (Mark Twain Author Study) He would use some characters to show his dislike for the gap between social classes based on how much money they had, while other characters, like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn zero in on his disdain for racial discrimination, greed in society, and corruption. Because of his writing, Twain can subtly and effectively relay hidden, deeper meanings through his simple, heart touching stories.

When I think about the two authors, they open new ways to view the world to me. They portray the world in two totally different ways of writing, but both are very interesting to read about. Huckleberry Finn was the first real novel I read and liked. It showed me that not all reading was awful. I could identify with the outrageous boys who were always seeking adventure. With every page completed, I just wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. One thing I liked about Jane Austen was that she used people she knew and created novels around their character. It added a personal touch to the stories in which she wrote. I also like that both authors were not embarrassed to write about important issues in society for the time period in which they lived. All in all, Jane Austen and Mark Twain were both incredible authors, but I will forever be grateful to Mark Twain for showing me that adventure can also be found within the pages of a book.

Works Cited Page

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5. “Jane Austen Went to School.” Jane Austen’s World, Jane Austen’s World, 20 Sept. 2010, janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/jane-austen-went-to-school/.
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9. “Mark Twain’s Civil War Experience.” Civil War Saga, 10 Aug. 2018, civilwarsaga.com/marktwains-civil-war-experience/.
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12. “Writing Style – Mark Twain Author Study.” Google Sites, sites.google.com/site/marktwainauthorstudy3/home/writing-style.

Marriage as an institution has always been in a constant state of flux, the ideas revolving around it have been changing from era to era. In the stone age marriage was not a concept as it is nowadays, men and women would make pairs and procreate. Slowly and steadily values started to get attached to it and the term marriage was created; “ the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognised by law” ( Miriam Webster). In the 21st century the idea of marriage is more than the textbook definition, it’s about love, companionship and raising a family. Marriage is a bond that two people who love each other share and are able to end it due to various reasons such as extra marital affairs, financial reasons etc. People as individuals have more control on their marriage rather than the society as a whole. On the other hand marriage in the 18th , 19th and mid 20th century was seen through a different perspective. It was not about love or companionship it was more about people’s status in the society and money. The society controlled the marriage rather than the people involved in it and was more male oriented. Similarly, according to pride and prejudice marriage could set someone for life , destine them to mediocrity or ruin them for the rest of their lives.

In the 19th century women did not have a significant role in society apart from looking pretty, being confined to household chores and getting married. The status of women and their identity depended on who they married and how desirable they looked. The bourgeois and the aristocratic women had to stay dependant on a man ; first as a daughter and then as wife and after marriage the women “belonged” to their spouses physically and emotionally. The concept of love marriage was not present in the era since the women’s family wanted to get their daughters married as soon as possible so that the money could be kept in the family, due to the law of primogeniture; “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”(Excerpt From: Jane Austen. “Pride and Prejudice”.) Divorce was a taboo in the society and hence if the women were unhappy, they had to stay in the marriage.

Marriage was seen more as a business rather than a testimony of love and companionship as compared to the 21st century. The woman’s family would marry so that the money could be kept in the family since only a man could inherit the property according to the law of primogeniture and the men would marry essentially for beauty and the economics of it, even though having an extra marital affair was ordinary and common. According to Ms.Bingley; A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages 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 (ch. 8 , page 80,Pride and Prejudice , Jane Austen). If a woman did not possess all of this or was not married she would be shunned from the society and would have to lead the life of a spinster. This could also be seen in Les Misrables by Victor Hugo, Fantine was not married and had a child and was shunned from the society and had to become a prostitute.

In the text the reader can see different scenarios of marriages. In case of Jane and Mr. Bingley, the aspect of love exists but is certainly not the most important one. Jane is the oldest and the most beautiful daughter out of the Bennet family and to sustain herself she needs to get married to a financially stable and wealthy man hence Jane needs to scavenge around to get married. Jane and Charles’s marriage was one which had neither been affected by pride nor by prejudice. According to the law Mr. Collins had to marry one of the Bennet daughters since he was the oldest male relative of Mr. Bennet and the money needed to be kept in the family. Since Mr.Bingley was financially well off Mr. Collins turned from Jane to Elizabeth. He had been described as a buffoon in the text and hence was turned down by Elizabeth.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were two contrasting characters. Mrs Bennet’s obsession with gossip and marrying off her daughters was first seen in the early parts of the novel. She exclaims “A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls” (page 4 , pride and prejudice , Jane Austen) which suggests that the mindset of mothers and society was more towards the financial fortune of the spouse rather than personality or intelligence. Her obsession can be clearly seen when Mr. Collins proposes to marry Elizabeth so that the money can be kept within the family and it infuriates her when Elizabeth turns him down. While on the other hand Mr. Bennet was more insouciant about the concept of marrying his daughters in comparison to his wife and seemed detached from the family and made sarcastic jokes about his wife and her obsession. Mr.Bennet agreed with Elizabeth on her decision to not marry Mr. Collins and marry Mr. Darcy, he said “Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.” (page 236 ,chapter 20, Pride and prejudice , Jane Austen). The marriage of Lydia and Wickham was one that the readers did not expect. Lydia was one of the youngest Bennet sisters and was naive, youthful and immature. She would seek gossip, was conceited and would throw herself on any man that would attract her regardless of his social status or reputation. Lydia was instantly attracted to Mr. Wickham who was extremely handsome and was in the military. Wickham was greedy and fortune hungry hence had no hesitation marrying a naive young girl who couldn’t distinguish between the wrong or right. Given the societal scenario elopement was thought of as a taboo, while wickham could continue living his life because he is a man, it could tarnish Lydias image and reputation in the society simply because she is a young woman who eloped. The marriage didn’t seem right because it was carried out in haste without calculating the future repercussions, neither Lydia nor Wickham was financially stable, and Elizabeth doubted Lydia and Wickham’s financial stability which was proved correct later in the text when Lydia wrote “it is a great comfort to have you so rich”(chapter 61 , page 794 , Pride and Prejudice , Jane Austen). Hence, Lydia and Wickham portray negative happiness in the text.

Charlotte and Mr. Collins marriage was an ideal example of a marriage carried out in business. Women in the 18th century had to marry in order to survive and sustain themselves even if it was a man like Mr. Collins since unwed girls were not acceptable in the society and Charlotte was getting older and older and was afraid of being a spinster. She was becoming more of a burden on her parents and family and she knew that she could not sustain herself hence she had to get married to Mr.Collins irrespective of her own desires and wishes. “I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins’ character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state.”While as for Mr. Collins, he felt accomplished by someones interest in marrying him and also for the financial aspect. Charlotte felt safe and secure but not necessarily happy.

Elizabeth Bennet was the second most eldest daughter of the Bennet family, the most intelligent and witty out of the four sisters. She always strayed away from the conventional societal norms and wanted to live a life which had more purpose than just getting married and belonging to a strange man she did not know. She was seen as more evolved than any woman her age in the society at the time and transcended the rules of the society, she was romantic , fond of reading and spiteful. Elizabeth had little tolerance and was not be afraid in confronting the person even if it was Mr. Darcy or Mr. Collins. She was able to distinguish between wrong and right , she knew that Mr.Collins was not the right choice for him and turned him down even if it was against her mothers wishes. Elizabeth was surprised when Mr.Darcy first proposed to her but was offended by his pride and turned him down because , instead of focusing on his love for Elizebeth he focused on how she was different from him and belonged to a lower class “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” ( chapter 31 , page 362 , pride and prejudice Jane Austen) . Elizabeth was morally sound and hence later in the novel realised her love for Mr.Darcy and when he proposed for the second time Elizabeth accepted it and they got married. Their marriage even though was not on the grounds of finance and security or status but still was according to the societal norms and did provide financial security to Elizabeth since she was aware that she would’ve been left on her own if she couldn’t get married even if she was not fond of the idea.

In the novel, the four marriages were different from each other in some or the other way. Lydia and Wickham’s marriage was a perfect example of negative happiness and a decision made in haste. Charlotte and Mr.collins marriage was a perfect example of the business of marriage since a female couldn’t inherit the property and hence had to get married in order to sustain herself. While on the other hand Jane and Bingley’s, and , Mr. Darcy and Elizabeths marriage was one which was not established on the grounds of money, security or business but on the grounds of love and affection even though they were according to the norms of the society. Austen incorporated satire in the text and mocked the society through the portrayal of Lydia and Charlottes marriages and depicted the perfect marriage through Jane and Elizabeth. A woman’s identity was depended on who she married and not on who she was.

Bibliography

1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/
2. Jane Austen. “Pride and Prejudice”. Apple Books.

The conflict of deviation from society’s traditional norms proves exceedingly controversial, especially in nineteenth-century England, a setting in which social and behavioral norms dictate the lives of individuals. However, author Jane Austen tackles this conflict by conveying the impact of individuals’ surroundings on their personal and social development in her novel, Pride and Prejudice. The lives of the Bennet family are highly dependent on their environmental standards since, from the very start of the novel, the conflict of Mrs. Bennet resides in her duty to marry off her daughters.

The opening “mock” aphorism describes the “truth universally acknowledged”, which, in fact, is less a universally followed generalization than it is communally respected opinion by high-ranking individuals, depicting the extreme relevance and significance held in societal standards during this time period. A continued focus of the novel lies on Elizabeth Bennet and her struggle for individuality amid the pressures of her community. Austen introduces Elizabeth as witty, intelligent, and sensible, receiving the approbation of her father, Mr. Bennet, due to their shared beliefs of a realistic outlook on life. However, while her attractive nature draws the attention of readers as the quintessential protagonist, her character contains flaws; specifically, her prideful and judgemental first impressions, caused by the societal norms she follows, influence her attitudes and relationship with other significant characters, such as Mr. Darcy. Throughout the story, Elizabeth learns to develop her individuality by not allowing her environment to impose principles of behavior on her character. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice illustrates the effect of social norms, in nineteenth-century England, on individuality through Elizabeth Bennet’s character and her relationship with Mr. Darcy. From the beginning of the novel, while Elizabeth may pride herself with singularity in her personality, it is evident that her freedom of behavior faces hindrance by her surroundings, as witnessed through dialogue. When Jane and Elizabeth discuss the traits of Mr. Bingley upon meeting him, Jane comments on his liveliness and good-humored nature, while Elizabeth focuses on the aspects most significant according to societal values. Elizabeth observes his wealth and physical characteristics, “which a young man ought likewise to be . . . [for] his character [to be] complete” (Austen 16). She views the situation through a lens that highlights the traditionally respected elements, instead of what her own beliefs as an individual may comprise, and she is essentially tied down by her prejudices. When first introduced, her personality is one lacking originality but rather demonstrating conformity, where the distinction of “individual” and “society” is blurred.

As noted by Dorothy Van Ghent in her essay on The English Novel: Form and Function (1953), Elizabeth’s internal conflicts, her extreme prejudice and lack of expressional freedom, illuminate “ the deficient reconciliation of the sensitively developed individual with the terms of [her] social existence” (Ghent 100). The bylaws of what society demands, when it comes to expectations, act as a barrier to her supposed independent personality. It is through this perspective that Austen conveys Elizabeth’s story, not as an exercise of individual freedom, but “as an effort to achieve freedom and separate herself from the community she is embedded in” (Bloom 114). Austen emphasizes Elizabeth’s constrained beliefs through the incorporation of dramatic irony. Throughout the novel, Elizabeth criticizes Jane Bennet’s blindness to others’ faults and attitudes, when she herself exemplifies this same blindness to the people in her life due to her prejudice. What she believes to be her most positive aspect, her perceptive capabilities, is what she lacks in certain circumstances.

Upon meeting George Wickham, her attitude towards him is one of approval due to his unreserved and agreeable behavior, his “most gentlemanlike appearance”, and all the components of his physical beauty, including “a fine countenance, a good figure, and pleasing address” (Austen 71). Her prejudiced beliefs, no doubt originating from societal views, makes her prioritize exterior aspects that portrayed Wickham as the ideal suitor in her eyes. Her perception of individual character when analyzing it in others is deceived, as she later discovers his true intentions of monetary goals and abandons her respect for him. Elizabeth’s important judgement in the early stages of the novel, especially her “delighted approval” of Wickham, is a prime example of unconscious mental conformity. As noted by literary critic William Deresiewicz, the conformity taking place is not one of common opinion, but to “the very way the community makes and maintains its opinions” (Deresiewicz 508). Here, Elizabeth’s true beliefs are masked by the upheld qualities dictated by those around her, and ironically, her own guard of perception is let down.

Abstract

The present paper try to focus on the major contributions of Jane Austen during the Romantic Age. This period was a revolutionary period in literature and rebellion against the old standards of Classicism. The writers of this period tried to establish individual freedom in the world of imagination. In the present paper the focus is on the discussion of the features of Jane Austen’s novels. As a novelist of Romantic Age, she wrote her novels to please herself. The novel was a popular form of literature during this period. She wrote domestic and realistic novels like – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. There was a growing demand for sentimentality and realistic literature. There was increase in the number of women readers. After the death of Jane Austen, the demand of sentimental novel was increased. She wrote several novels before she was twenty five but no any novel was published before her death. She was not influenced by the current fashion in fiction or by the revolutionary ideas. The present paper focuses on the most important features of her novels and also discusses her major contributions.

Introduction

Jane Austen had written several of her novels before she was twenty five she began to write earlier but unfortunately not a single novel was published before her death. She wrote only novels, but these novels are highest in quality. She had the qualities of purity, simplicity and sensitivity which made her popular. She wrote domestic and realistic novels which focused the real characters of life. She discussed the domestic problems though womanist view, so there was a large increase in the number of women readers during the Romantic Age. She discussed the problems of woman in her novels through the point of view of woman she was not attracted by revolutionary ideas. Though her novels became popular. Her well known works were pride of prejudice ‘sense and sensibility’ and ‘Emma’. The present paper will discuss some of the feature of her novels, like ‘pride and prejudice’ and sense and ‘sensibility’.

Silent Features of her Novel: during the romantic Age, the writers were influenced by revolutionary ideas and they wrote for pleasing themselves. But unlike all those writers of Romantic Age, Jane Austen was not influenced by these ideas. She wrote her novels with realistic approach. Some of the main features of her novels are as follows:

Limited Range of her Novels

Jane Austen wrote very limited number of novels. She obeyed the first rule of imaginative composition. She stayed within the range of her imaginative inspiration, it was very limited one. It was confined to human beings in their personal relations. Man in relation to God, to politics to abstract ideas, passed her by. It was only when she saw him his family and his neighbors that her creative impulse began to stir activity. She described Mrs. Brown not as a soul or as a citizen but only as the wife of Mr. Brown. Her view was towards Mrs. Brawn was limited by the fact that in general she describes Mrs. Brown in only one perspective i.e. of satiric. Her first literary impulse was humorous. It was her integral part to end of her life of her creative process. The smile was one of the feature which began to spread across her features of imagination. So smile was the signature on her finished work. Due to her angle of satiric vision, she could create the light of wit to the works of literature in the world. Her characters were live character. They belonged to middle class society. They were not described as very adventurous. There was presence of very limited range of events in the life of characters. All male characters were shown with female characters. No men were left alone in her novels. All the stories were told from the point of view of a woman. All the stories dealt with such person and events which could naturally came under the observation.

Realistic Approach

As there was a limited range, in all aspects, there was reference of convincing delineation of characters. Her humoristic approach, ordinary experience, fine discrimination of human personalities and the development of personality under stress made her novels more readable with joy and countless number of readers. We did not find too much sentimentality in the novels of Jane Austen. It is the range of everyday experience, with which everyone is familiar, and her interpretation of individual personalities and happiness is as fresh today as ever. In her novel, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, there are two sins as conspicuous in everyday affairs as when she delineated their effect so humorously that bears their names. In the novel, ‘Emma’, the character tells of a delightful girl who is as essentially true to life today as she was in the years when Napoleon was emperor. She is not like other women novelists. She is a new woman, a competent, self-reliant, likes to manage other people’s affairs and able to learn from experience. In all her novels, we find the examples of fine individual personalities with the brush of master artist. They are described realistically. All these characters are wonderful. She had a gifted mastery of simplicity, purity and the craftsmanship. She had the art of creating more interesting characters with live experiences.

Her Plots

In all her novels the plots are skillfully constructed. In the novel, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the plot is very unromantic though it is an excellent example of an ideal novel. The elopement scene appears very unromantic in the novel. But in her later novel, ‘Emma’, we have fine examples of everyday existence. Her characters are described with easy decorum, very little description of emotion or passion. She had the highest quality of arts that makes her plots so attractive and very interesting. She was the master in structuring the plots. She had the humor and technique like Shakespeare. In the novel, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Elizabeth first meets Darcy at a village ball. She at once becomes prejudiced against him on account of his behavior with Bingley. Elizabeth is though tolerable, she is not handsome enough to tempt him to dance with her. Jane Austen displays a very great skill in handling events to the deepening of Elizabeth’s prejudice and to the awakening of Darcy’s love, in spite of his pride. When prejudice and proud love reached the proper degree of intensity, Jane Austen brings Elizabeth and Darcy to gather with an arrogant and insulting proposal of marriage and an indignant refusal. By marriage of Elizabeth and Darcy, the problem is not completely solved. It is inevitable conclusion of the properly constructed plot of the novels.

Her Characters

All characters of her novels are developed with minuteness and accuracy. They are common people and alive. She introduced cletgymen as teal clergymen. All her characters are first class like the servile, Mr. Collins in ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the garrulous, Miss Bates in ‘Emma’ and the selfish and vulgar, John Thrope in ‘Northanger Abbey’. Her characters are individual personalities. She described the characters through her minute observations and quiet but incisive irony. Her male characters have a certain softness of thaw and temper but her female characters are almost unexceptional in perfection of finish. She represented man’s reaction to his wife as his relation to his beliefs and career and reveals him fundamentally.

Place in the History of Fiction

She had the qualities of dramatist like Shakespeare. She is the greatest women novelist of the Romantic Age. All her novels are sensational, but there are no more flawless works of art in English. She represents the enduring quality of English society, with the thread of clergymen and social groups. She represents the remarkable psychological studies of men and women, avoiding passion and prejudice. She gives her experience of life with delicacy of touch and sweet reasonableness. The moral purpose is a product of her inherent wisdom.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, we can conclude that Jane Austen is a great women novelist in English literature. She contributed the major novels which represents the real individuals of middle class society of England. Her major works ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Emma’ and other novels made her a greatest novelist of English literature in the Romantic Age. All her qualities represents the qualities of great dramatist like Shakespeare. She is the most remarkable writer of Romantic Age and memorable as a great novelist.

References

1. Austen, J. 1813. Pride and Prejudice. UK: Pearson Longman.
2. Austen, J. 1811. Sense and Sensibility. London: Thomas Egerton.
3. Austen, J. 1815. Emma. UK: Longman.
4. Austen, J. 1814. Mansfield Park. UK: Thomas Egerton.
5. Goodman, W. 1688. A History of English Literature. Delhi: Doaba House.