1987. Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader's or audience's views. Avoid plot summary.
During the time in which Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, marriage customs were much different than those of today. Young woman were expected to marry older men only for the purpose of reproduction and the accumulation of love. However, Austen sought to change this standard and create a marriage the contains love and a true desire to be with each other. By creating relationships between characters that are foreign and unusual of her time, Austen attempts to persuade readers that the marriage standards of her time needed to be changed.
One marriage custom of Austen’s time was marriage within families. Although this idea differs from that of our time, in the nineteenth century it was deemed acceptable for two cousins to get married to each other. This type of relationship can be found in Pride and Prejudice. In the novel, when Mr. Collins comes to town he decides to marry one of the Bennett girls, his cousins. After much thought and consideration, Mr. Collins decides to propose to Elizabeth, who ultimately rejects his proposal even though she had no other suitable prospects at the time. Mr. Collins goes on to marry Charlotte Lucas, with whom he was not related to. Although marriage between cousins was allowed at the time, Austen’s decision to have Elizabeth reject her cousin was deliberate in showing her disapproval of the custom and her tendency to agree with the need for change in marriage. Because Mr. Collins ends up with a woman that was of his own social class and that was not related to him Austen shows something that she may want to see in a marriage.
Although Mr. Darcy has the option to marry whomever he wants, he chooses to marry Elizabeth Bennet even though she is of a lower social class than he. She has significantly less money, her family name is not one that is important to carry on to further generation and in the beginning, shows no interest at all in Mr. Darcy. Darcy fights to win Elizabeth, and in time he does. The love-struck couple soon decides to get married and not worry about the financial and social difference between the two. This was not like many relationships of the nineteenth century. Typically men of the time would marry rich women for their money and status in order to maintain their own family status and inherit the wealth of their wife.. Mr. Darcy however does neither of the two by marrying Elizabeth. With this relationship the key components of a modern day marriage are present. This is very similar to the relationship depicted by Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, showing a strong resemblance to marriages of modern times and Austen’s probable approval of marriages now.
The relationships shown is this novel defy the standards of 19th century marriage and are a cry of help from Austen asking for change. Not only does Austen defy the standards, she creates many solutions as to what a marriage should look and be like. Though risky at the time, Austen work foreshadowed the marriage concepts of our time and possibly inspired the change.
Gabriella, I think this is a great example for your prompt! You really showed how ahead of her time Jane Austen was. I like how you went through so many examples of how she portrayed marriage in her book compared to how it really was at that time.I think its amazing that even though it was the social norm to marry for status and money Jane Austen could see that this was wrong. I liked how you gave specific examples from the book and related them to what Austen was trying to say. For example, you pointed out that Elizabeth rejects her cousin showing how Jane Austen disagreed with that common practice. Also how Mr. Darcy wanted to marry Elizabeth regardless of her social class or wealth. The only thing I would add is if you wanted to talk about more techniques Austen used to modify traditions of that time period. Was their anything besides the marriage norms that she wanted to modify? Was their any other techniques she used besides the relationships in the book?
ReplyDeleteI think there’s a typo in your opening paragraph, where you say ‘love’ instead of ‘wealth’. Not a huge deal, but I just wanted to make sure you knew. I’d also be careful in your first paragraph, about Mr. Collins, to be very clear that Austen paints Mr. Collins’ marriage and habits as a bad thing to do. Your closing sentence is a little bit vague- ‘shows something she may want to see in a marriage’ could almost imply that Mr. Collins was doing a positive thing. I don’t agree with Isha in terms of talking about more things that Austen wanted to change—I think your essay works much better as it is self contained, but it would be interesting to see other techniques she uses to pull it off. It would add a lot of sophistication to an already solid essay.
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