Contrasting Attitudes Toward Marriage in Pride and Prejudice: Elizabeth Bennet's Disregard for the Contemporary Marital Conventions
2015 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesisAlternative title
Kontrasterande äktenskapliga attityder i Stolthet och Fördom: Elizabeth Bennets likgiltighet gentemot de konventionella äktenskapliga normerna (Swedish)
Abstract [en]
Through a liberal feminist perspective, this essay investigates the unconventional marital views of the fictional character Elizabeth Bennet. These are analyzed and compared to the traditional marital opinions of the novel's social environment. Moreover, the historical context is important in understanding the marital views in Pride and Prejudice, because the novel was written at a time when the views toward marriage changed significantly. This paper argues that Elizabeth's behavior, expressed opinions and rejections of Mr. Collins's and Mr. Darcy's proposals depict liberal feminist ideas of marriage. The literary review supports the notion that there are two contrasting attitudes toward marriage in Pride and Prejudice: the traditional view and the liberal feminist view. The thorough examination of Elizabeth Bennet's character strongly suggests that she represents the unconventional view of marriage, while characters such as Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, and Charlotte Lucas voice the traditional view of marriage. Furthermore, an analysis of Mr. Darcy's attraction toward Elizabeth indicates that it was Elizabeth's very unconventionality that made Mr. Darcy fall in love with her.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2015. , p. 22
Keywords [en]
Marital views, marriage, conventions, social status, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet, 18th century, 19th century, feminism, old historicism, liberalism
National Category
Specific Literatures General Literature Studies Specific Languages History History of Ideas
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hkr:diva-15275OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hkr-15275DiVA, id: diva2:903774
Subject / course
English
Supervisors
Examiners
2016-02-252016-02-162018-01-10Bibliographically approved