SOCIAL ISSUES IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
PRESENTED BY:
NAME: SUSMITA PRAMANIK ID:161-10-1304
BATCH: 43
RDSECTION: C
PRESENTED TO:
NAHID KAISER
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
DAFFODIL INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Life of the author
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon and she died on 1817 at the age of 41.
Early works
The first period of her writing lasted from 1795 to1798.During this time she wrote the first versions of : Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger of
Abbey.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and prejudice is a complex Novel mixing romance with realism. Women and Marriage Austen is critical of the gender injustice present in 19th century in English society.
Last works
Northanger Abbey, the last of the early novels, was written about 1798 or 1799, probably under the title “Susan.” In 1803 the manuscript of “Susan” was sold to the publisher Richard Crosby. He took it for immediate publication, but, although it was advertised, unaccountably it never appeared.
Death
The cause of Jane’s death was the typhus.
ABOUT THE NOVEL
Pride and Prejidice
Pride and Prejidice is set primarily in the county of Hertfordshire, about 50 miles
outside of London. The story centers on the the Bennet family, particularly Elizabeth The novel opens at Longbourn, the Bennet family's estate. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five children: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. The family engages in a
conversation about Mr. Bingley, "a single man of large fortune" who will be renting the nearby estate of Netherfield Park. Mrs. Bennet sees Mr. Bingley as a potential suitor for one of her daughters.
The originals title was “First impression”.
Pride and Prejudice describes the clash between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich and aristocratic landowner. Although Austen shows them intrigued by each other, she reverses the convention of “first
impressions”: “pride” of rank and fortune and “prejudice” against the inferiority of the Bennet family hold Darcy aloof, while Elizabeth is equally fired both by the “pride” of self-respect and by “prejudice” against Darcy’s snobbery
.
THEME
1)Pride:
2)Prejudice 3)Family
4)Women and Marriage 5)Love
6) Social issues
SOCIAL ISSUES IN PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Jane Austen’s well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice, discussed
multiple social themes in the 19th century. Austen mainly criticized marriage during her era, when she says that, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune
must be in want of a wife” (Austen 3). As she explains that it was valuable to women since it provided them with security and a social title. The author explored the diverse motives behind matrimony in her time period by using a humorous and romantic plot to discuss the social issues.
Some points of social issues Austen’s views on Pride and Prejudice:
Class distinction
Reputation
Family
Gender
Women in the 19
thcentury
Class Distinction
What is Class distinction?
i. Social class, also called class, a group of people within a society who possess the same socioeconomic status. Besides being important in social theory, the concept of class as a collection of individuals sharing similar economic
circumstances has been widely used in censuses and in studies of social mobility.
ii. Social classes must be distinguished from status groups; the former are based primarily upon economic interests, while the latter are constituted by evaluations of the honour or prestige of an occupation, cultural position, or family descent.
Social class views in 19
thcentury
Theories of social class were fully elaborated only in the 19th century as the modern social sciences, especially sociology, developed.
In this 19th century Britain was dominated by the reign of Queen Victoria (1837- 1901). Although it was a peaceful and prosperous time, there were still issues within the social structure. The social classes of this era included the Upper class, Middle class, and lower class. Those who were fortunate enough to be in the Upper class did not usually perform manual labor. Instead, they were landowners and hired lower class workers to work for them, or made investments to create a profit
.
Class distinction in Pride and prejudice
Class distinction is one of Jane Austen’s themes in the novel, and the differentiation related to it is evidently depicted.
The author clearly illustrates that class is what matters most in many of the incidences displayed by the characters.
In general terms, the Novel shows a social world extremely stratified and full of pretension and class struggle.
This distinction shows that class snootiness is simply but an illusion rather than a real obstruction to marriage.
Darcy and Elizabeth to show that class distinction does not guarantee one’s happiness in life.
The Gardiners represent the honest, generous, and industrious
middle class and are examples of how to be wealthy without being
pretentious.
SOCIAL REPUTATION
Pride and Prejudice depicts a society in which a woman’s reputation is of the utmost importance. A woman is expected to behave in certain ways.
Stepping outside the social norms makes her vulnerable to ostracism.
According to the society in Jane Austen’s novel,
women were expected to behave a certain way
but not following these expected behaviors broke
the social norms making women vulnerable to
shunning
FAMILY VIEWS ON SOCIETY
Family played a major role in marriage, Pride and Prejudice also shows family relationships and their power over an individual’s decision through the Bennet family and Mr. Bingley’s sister.
Gender constructive views on society 19
THCENTURY
During the 19th century had certain roles they were meant to play;
yet, most of these roles have been stereotypes based upon gender and social class.
Men were destined to be breadwinners, while women were
ordained to be proper ladies whose hopes of a better life lay in marrying wealthy bachelors.
Jane Austen as a female novelist, who chose to critique these fates through her writings. One novel in particular, Pride and Prejudice, became an instant classic. Through her novel, Jane Austen
challenged the social norms of society that women are dependent on men for their social acceptance and status.
The 19th century was an era of patriarchal societies where all
power and opportunities were reserved exclusively for men. Some
roles of men included providing for the family.
Women in the 19
thcentuary
• Marriage was a centeral concern in the early 19th century because in it involved the social issues of the family line through inherited property and was the only chance for middle and upper class
women to have a tolerable existence.
• Law, education, custome closed off many possible avenue advancement for women.
• Men ruled the public world and business, women ruled the home.
• In Pride and Prejudice Marriage is a pressing
question for female characters like Charlotte Lucas and the Bennet sisters because marriage is the only way women can achieve economic stability and autonomy. As upper-class women, they would not have been able to work to earn a living
Social views
women’s role in
Pride and Prejudice
In Pride and Prejudice she portrays Elizabeth Bennet’s struggle to express her individuality in a society that demanded strict social
conformity, a situation far afield for most
Western women today, but closely resembling the pressures felt by woman in many Asian countries even now. Elizabeth has inner
strength. She doesn’t value people and things just because society values them. She judges according to her own values. She is not socially self conscious or pretentious. She has a
natural spontaneity. She has social skill and capacity, but she is not constrained by artificial social formalities.
Class Task
What are the social problems presented in Pride
and Prejudice and now what about your society
can you relate it?
