If there is one consistent societal issue in history, it would be the intervention of adult females. Undoubtedly the rights and equality of adult females has ever been a extremely debated and controversial topic. Triping an full motion int eh 20th century by pent-up adult females, adult female ‘s rights would go one of the biggest issues of the century.
Literature is no less prone to inequality than any of the other signifiers of artistic look. The predicament of adult females in the eighteenth and 19th centuries can be seen through the pages of the great literary plants of the clip period. Hailed as great classical plants of fiction, the writers frequently used the written word to show their social repressions and limitations. One of these writers is Jane Austen. Her great works include Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility. Raised on the peripheries of English aristocracy, Austen ‘s life comes to life in the pages of her books. Pride and Prejudice, her 2nd novel published in 1813, inside informations the narrative of the Bennets and their two girls. Depsite the apparently lighthearted secret plan and storylline, Pride and Prejudice trades with many hard issues of the epoch including socio economic position, gender inequality, and category. Many times over the old ages, the characters have been touted as dry and humorless, yet Austen portrays the characters in a manner that common people can associate to.
Throughout history, adult females have ever been made to walk three stairss behind work forces. Considered to be the weaker and lesser sex, society has ever had rigorous ideals sing how adult females should dress, how they should move, and how they should act both publically and in private. Gender equality in the Victorian epoch was based on a fixed construction that was dictated by social outlooks. Traditionally adult females have ever been topographic point socially behind work forces and were expected to postpone to work forces in every facet of their lives. Unable to have belongingss or command their ain wealth, adult females relied upon their hubbies, their male parents, or their brothers for everything. Until the Marriage Property Act of 1887, adult females were n’t allowed any ownership and everything they owned automatically transferred to their hubbies upon matrimony. During the 19th century, it was common jurisprudence that when a adult female married a adult male all of her belongings became his unless she had important familial support to look after her belongingss. The hubby gained all rights to his married woman ‘s belongingss and monies. Similarly an single adult female could non keep belongings or inherit land. Early literature of the 19th century detailed some of the defeats these adult females faced. It is obvious through literature of the clip period that “ adult females ‘s lucks were usually given, along with their individuals, to their hubbies ” ( Moller Okin 133 ) . Elizabeth Bennet spoke about the truth of matrimony, adult females were little more than a possesion. “ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a individual adult male in ownership of a good luck, must be in privation of a married woman ” ( Austen PAGE # ) . The general consensus of the clip was that the two went manus and manus but the good luck must be acquired foremost.
The 19th century society was a purely structured set of rulles that governed everything from interactions with equals and instruction to how one dressed and their public behaviour. The categories within this purely structured society were highly fixed with small or no upward mobility allowed. Both gender and socially restrictive, this system clearly outlined everyone ‘s topographic point within the society. The nobility and upper category were stiffly formed within these guidelines. Lower categories were non permitted to travel up into the upper echelons of the aristocracy. In fact, if a individual of the upper category married beneath their station it would cut down their position and standing within polite soceity.
Upper categories and nobility traditionally contolled all or most of the wealth among the people of England. Along with belonging to these societal categories came outlooks that included limitations on idiosyncrasies, behavior, and behaviour. In add-on to being restricted based on their gender, adult females were besides restricted based on their societal standings. This dual limitation forced adult females into a rigorous codification of behaviour and put down regulations that were enforced. For a adult female to act exterior of this societal box of appropriate behaviour meant that she was ridiculed and outcast. Throughout Pride and Prejudice, Austen portrays these functions of adult females in the nobility and aristocracy and she does so in a manner that most adult females of the clip could associate to. The boundaries and limitations placed on adult females during the 19th century greatly influenced the manners of composing during that clip period. Rogers writes, “ Womans have ever been under more force per unit area than work forces to remain within conventional bounds, in composing as in behavior ” ( Rogers 65 ) . The regulations that society placed on adult females for behavior and behaviour was expected to be referred to and expose in everything a adult female did including authorship. Greatly valued in adult females during that clip period was “ celibacy, properness, sense of responsibility, and daintiness ” ( Rogers 65 ) . In most literary works the repression of the adult females frequently led to larger and more distressful secret plan turns.
In 19th century England, society valued “ privateness, shy from false familiarity, and honour rank- at least when it flows from the impartial font of award and non from political favour or money grubbing ” ( Yoder Jr. 606 ) . Within the context of Austen ‘s little universe, her characters display manners that predict their behaviour throughout the narrative. These manners determine their future behaviour and how they are viewed by society.
Jane ‘s Life
Ms. Austen was born into the lower ranks of the English aristocracy in 1775. Her male parent was curate of the local parish and she was the seventh of eight kids. Jane had six brothers and one older sister. Her male parent earned plenty to adequately back up the household and supply a comfy life for his married woman and girls. Jane, along with her sister Cassandra, would have small instruction outside of the place. Fundss allowed for the misss to be under the tuition of Mrs. Ann Crowley and to go to a boarding school. Lack of support would coerce the instruction to be completed at place under the way of her male parent and brothers. Her male parent ‘s place as curate allowed them many luxuries including a good appointed library from which Jane was able to spread out her ain paltry instruction.
Even matrimonies were dictated by the social outlooks of category and position during the 18th century. Marriages were typically arranged among the aristocracy to farther places of wealth and power. Those of the nobility and upper categories did non get married outside of their little circle and ne’er among those of the lower aristocracy. Strategic matrimonies to derive belongingss or combine rubrics of power were the platitude. Jane would ne’er get married, she rejected the lone proposal she received and chose alternatively to populate her life with her female parent and male parent. This was non uncommon for a immature adult female of the aristocracy, nevertheless because of her deficiency of personal power and fiscal independency, the adult female would be forced to trust upon her male parent or male relations for the remainder of their lives. Jane Austen would come to happen herself in such a place after the decease of her ain male parent in 1805. Her really early literary plants seem to closely resemble her ain life. After the unexpected decease of her male parent in the really early 19th century, Jane, her sister Cassandra, and her female parent were left in a financially unsafe state of affairs. The adult females were wholly dependent on the staying male members of the household for their support. Her brothers would finally settle them into comfy bungalow and supply for them until her decease in 1817. Her life and her ain addiction on her male parent and brothers play a big portion in her authorship.
THE WORLD AS JANE AUSTEN KNEW IT..WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
Fictional characters ( ANALYSIS OF HOW THE PLOT/CHARACTERS WERE AFFECTED BY GENDER ISSUES ) jENN ‘S
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