JANE AUSTEN’SPRIDE AND PREJUDICE: A REFLECTION OF BRITISH SOCIETY AS THE RESULT OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
NI KETUT HERNI PRABAWATHI Student Number : 034214135
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
This t hesis is dedicat ed t o
I da Sang Hyang W idhi W asa
M y beloved parent s
M y beloved sist ers and brot her
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama :Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi
Nomor Mahasiswa :03421413
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberian kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A Reflection of British Society as the Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late of Eighteenth Century.
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In finishing this thesis, the writer should pass many processes and she realizes that they could not be passed if there were no help from others. How glad she is when this thesis was finished and she expresses her gratitude to all people that directly or indirectly have given a hand her study during her study in college for four and a half year in finishing her undergraduate thesis. She would like to thank:
1. The owner of this life,Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa. She thanks Him for His magnificent works and endless miracles in her life. She deeply believes that He makes everything wonderful for her in a perfect time because He never leaves her alone.
2. Her advisor, Dra. Enny Anggraini, M. A., for guidance and valuable advices to her. She thanks her for patiently read, reread and suggest many ideas during the writing process of this thesis.
3. Her co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum, for giving her some suggestion in this thesis.
4. Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum., for lending her The Oxford Companion to Philosophy.
5. Her great family: her beloved parents (I Ketut Bangli andNi Ketut Sayang), Sisters (Ni Kadek Veni Iriani, S.E., and Ni Made Yunny Kurniawathi, S.T.), and brother (I Ketut Agus Widhi Yoga Nugraha), for their many years of love, support and prays. They truly are angels.
6. The heart of Bali, for these magic words “When there's no one else look inside yourself just trust the voice within then you'll find the strength”. 7. I made Ari Mahendra Dwi Putrawan, S.T., for his wings are always around
her. She believes that she needs him every time because without his wings, she feels so small. God must have spent a little more time on him as a great present for her.
8. Wahyu Adi Putra Ginting, for all supports and kindness that always comes in time and for coloring her life. He is ‘such’ a beautiful disaster.
9. Her cousin,I Ketut Pica, for being the best cousin in the world.
10. Diva-team, Moli, Michelle, Mbak Ocha and Ninik, for all supports and laughter. They are beautiful, that is for sure!
11. The twins, Mei and Dik Ari, and Mbak Nina, for the simply love, care, and wonderful moments. She thanks them for giving her the tears of joy for all of the pleasure.
12. Her friends in the 2003 English Letters especially Sastra Mungil Community. She thanks to Nani and Leni (they are the best), Inop, Maya, Ike, Sondang, Dewi, Afrill, Agnes, Intan, Cisil, Cita, Clara, Ony, Abit, Tio, Demus, Muji, Daud, Mando, Dean, Yacko, andBigar.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Lembar Pernyataan Persetujuan Publikasi Karya Ilmiah Untuk Kepentingan Akademis ……….v
Acknowledgements ...vi
Table of Contents ...vii
Abstract ...ix
Abstrak ...x
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...1
A. Background of the Study...1
B. Problem Formulation ...4
C. Objectives of the Study ...5
D. Definition of Terms...5
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW...6
A. Review of Related Studies ...6
B. Review of Related Theories ... 10
1. Theory on Character and Characterization...10
2. Theory of Setting ... 12
3. The Relation between Literature and Society... 13
4. British Society in the late Eighteenth Century ...14
C. Theoretical Framework ... 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ... 23
A. Object of the Study ... 23
B. Approach of the Study ... 25
C. Method of the Study...26
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS... 28
A. The Analysis on the Society inPride and Prejudice ... 28
1. The Analysis on the Society through Setting ... 29
2. The Analysis on the Society through Characters...31
B. The Reflection of British Society As the Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late eighteenth Century……….….. 42
ABSTRACT
Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi (2007). Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A Reflection of British Society As the Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late eighteenth Century. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
In this thesis, the writer is going to analyze the society that is reflected in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as a result of Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century. There are two objectives presented in the novel, namely (1) to describe the society ofPride and Prejudiceand (2) to figure out in what ways the novel depicts British society as the result of Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century. The writer conducts a library research and utilizes the Sociocultural- historical approach to know further about the society and its history as the background of the story.
After conducting the analysis, it is found that, as the answer for the first problem formulation. The description of Pemberley house as one of the setting of places inPride and Prejudice shows how the luxury becomes an important aspect for the upper class people. Meanwhile, the description of the society through characters is indicated by the existence of upper class and middle class society. Upper class, as depicted in the novel, tend to be arrogant, hypocrite, and full of pride (Caroline Bingley and Lady Chaterine de Bourgh). However, there are also the upper class people characterized in the novel who commit positive acts in maintaining their social class (Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley). Meanwhile, it is found that there are two types of middle class people depicted in the novel: those who feel satisfied with their condition since they regard that they should have equal position in society (Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Bennet) and those who feel unsatisfied with their condition and tend to permit many ways to make their position equal with the upper class people (Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, and Mr. Wickham).
ABSTRAK
Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi (2007). Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A Reflection of British Society As the Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late eighteenth Century. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa masyarakat yang digambarkan dalam novelPride and Prejudice karya Jane Austen sebagai dampak dari revolusi industri pada akhir abad ke delapan belas. Ada dua objektif dalam skripsi ini, yaitu (1) untuk memaparkan kehidupan masyarakat dalam novel dan (2) untuk memahami bagaimana novel tersebut menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat Inggris sebagai dampak dari revolusi industri pada akhir abad ke delapan belas. Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka dan pendekatan sociocultural-historical guna memberi gambaran mengenai sejarah yang melatar belakangi cerita.
Setelah melakukan analisis, sebagai jawaban dari permasalahan pertama, diketahui bahwa masyarakat digambarkan melalui seting dan tokoh-tokoh yang ada dalam cerita. Gambaran rumah Pemberley sebagai salah satu seting tempat di novel yang menunjukkan bagaimana kemewahan menjadi aspek terpenting bagi masyarakat kelas atas. Sementara itu, masyarakat melalui tokoh-tokoh ditandai dengan adanya pembagian masyarakat kelas atas dan menengah. Kelas atas, seperti yang digambarkan dalam novel, cenderung arogan, munafik, dan penuh keangkuhan (Caroline Bingley and Lady Chaterine de Bourgh). Terdapat juga kelas atas yang digolongkan sebagai orang-orang dengan perilaku positif dalam menyikapi kelas mereka (Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley). Sementara itu, terdapat dua golongan menengah yang digambarkan dalam novel: orang-orang yang puas dengan kondisi mereka karena menganggap kelas menengah mempunyai kedudukan yang sama di masyarakat (Elizabeth Bennet dan Jane Bennet) dan orang-orang yang tidak puas dengan kondisi mereka dan cenderung menghalalkan segala cara untuk menyetarakan kedudukan dengan kelas atas (Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, and Mr. Wickham).
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Novel is one of modern literary genres (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971: 19). By reading a novel, readers can get many things. Readers can get many pleasures, experiences, knowledge, and many values of human life. Reading a novel, readers can understand what is told and described by the author of the novel. In a novel, readers can find some aspects which are similar to those of a real life. They are, for example, society, people/characters, and their problems. Human beings are destined to live in a society, which is the same as a character in a novel. A character in a novel must also live in a society.
Wellek and Warren in The Theory of Literature say that literature is the representation of life, or in other words, literature represents life. Life has a large measurement which covers a social reality (1956: 94). In other words, everyone is able to produce, or create, a work of literature depending on both temporal and spatial location where she or he lives. A dramatist, like a poet or a novelist, is creating his own language of his work, the work whose basis is from his own experiences. Furthermore, the language will express the life if it is stated in the performance’s term. Any kinds of changes in the society will also influence the artistic sense of art.
novel, it is doubtless that the way Austen created the society in the novel wa considerably influenced by the condition of the society at that time. The late of the eighteenth century, according to Arnstein inBritain Yesterday and Today; 1830 to the Present, was the time in which England faced the Industrial revolution.
Arnstein said that Industrial revolution was in contrast with the previous age, the Victorian era; years of prosperity of agriculture and social harmony between classes. The social life such as: the necessity for a high degree of Individualism at home, free trade abroad, and progress in human affairs were accepted uncritical by the society. Many Britons, but never all, lived in balancing between a pleasing sense of self-confidence and complacency (1984: 71).
On the other hand Arnstein adds, industrialization had come to be accepted as a way of life and the predominance of an urban civilization assured, it was becoming clear that the economic revolution would bring not social confusion and bloodshed, nor even an easily discernible ‘triumph of the middle classes’, but instead a far more gradual and peaceful readjustment of social groups and a widespread survival of habits, occupations, and in institutions from earlier centuries (1984: 72).
that time. Pride and Prejudice is a reflection of British society in the late eighteenth century that Austen explores with romantic atmosphere. Social life is undoubtedly illustrated in this novel by each personal character.
In Society in the Novel, Langland states that the famous opening of Pride and Prejudice, for instance, establishes a description of a society immediately: ‘It
is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife” (1984: 26). The irony here is that society needs to perpetuate its structure through marriages among those of a certain class, and an individual needs to realize himself in that same institution that assures society’s continuance.
Moreover, in her book she mentions the aspects of society criticized in Austen’s novels:
Social events – parties, balls, assemblies, dinners, enable us to measure individual moral natures and growth as when Darcy applauds Elizabeth’s And Jane’s behavior at the Netherfield Ball, recognizing that ‘to have conducted yourselves as to avoid any share of the like censure (which has fallen on parents and sisters), is praise no less generally bestowed on you and your eldest sister, than it is honorable to the sense and disposition of both (1984: 28)
From the quotation above we can say that through social events: parties, balls, assemblies, dinner, give us opportunities to measure individual moral nature in which individual merit is revealed, explore, and evaluated. Darcy recognized that the way Elizabeth and Jane conduct themselves in good ways can avoid any censures which has fallen on parents and sisters because of their bad behaviors.
status or financial security, for instance through marriage, to maintain their hard life because of the tension condition of Industrialization that influence their class, financial, and social life . Pride and Prejudice is a pursuit of human welfare to face the industrialization period that change some social aspects in the society. Pursuit constructs a concept of thinking such as to start keeping in their mind that land gives its owner social status, but its financial value lays less in farm products than in the coal or iron that might be found beneath. It brought people at that period of time to a kind of depressive circumstance and forced them to do anything for their financially good life. They even committed embarrassing things to reach their aims.
Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an appropriate work to analyze. By using the historical background in the late eighteenth century as a guide, the writer tries to explore the condition of society in England in the late eighteenth century. In what ways the society is reflected in the novel, is a question which the writer tries to answer related to the problems in her thesis.
B. Problem Formulation
Based on the background the writer formulates two questions as problems to answer in the analysis, these two questions are;
1. How is the society in Austen’sPride and Prejudice described?
C. Objectives of the Study
The research mainly aims to answer the two problems stated in the problem formulation above. In brief, this thesis aims and understands further about the society in the novel through setting and characters that occurred in the British society’s life in Pride and Prejudice.
The second point is to know in what ways the condition of British society is reflected in the novel using the historical background of England in the late eighteenth century.
D. Definition of Terms 1. Society
According to Elizabeth Langland in Society in the Novel, society in the novel is an imitation of an outside world (1984: 5). Respectively, the concept of society in a novel also shares the same quality with the real people. Society in a novel is a construction of life in a piece of literary work, which of course, represents the real life
2. Industrial Revolution
According to Arnstein in Britain Yesterday and Today; 1830 to the Present, Industrial revolution is the development of Britain into industrial
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
Jane Austen was born on 19 December 1775. Before she had reached seventeen, she had written many sketches, short comedies, and tales. Around the year of 1796 she began her first novel;Lady Susan. Shortly afterwards, she started Sense and Sensibility, entitled in its version Elinor and Marianne. In 1796 she
finished First Impressions which she later developed into Pride and Prejudice followed byNorthanger Abbey (Susan), Persuasion, The Watsons,and Emma.
First Impressions, which later was developed intoPride and Prejudice is
usually considered to be Austen's most popular novel. The novel, published in 1813, is Jane Austen's earliest work, and in some senses is also one of her most mature works. The original version of the novel was probably written in the form of an exchange of letters. This novel creates Elizabeth Bennet as the heroine, who makes the work perfect. She provokes women to show their existence in society and to prove that all characters are the same in the universe (Society in the Novel, 1984: 10)
Sanders in his book entitled The Short Oxford History of English Literature, states that the upper-middle-class world ofPride and Prejudice is seen
condition when Jane Austen wrote the novel. Undoubtedly, many values in the society such as land, class, and money, occur to create an excellent work.
Sanders also writes that Pride and Prejudice is first impressions, illusions, and subjuctive opinions or prejudices that give way to detachment, balance, reasonableness and, more painfully, to humiliating reassesment. More cleverness, wit, or spontaneity, though admirable in themselves, are never allowed to triumph without being linked to some steadier moral assurance (1984: 370). Jane Austen’s book attempts to illustrate, to interpret, and to understand life more fully. Jane Austen’s writing contains an element of disagreement when she presents a society with the situation around them that is full of admiration for land, money, and class without considering it to the steadier moral assurance.
Pride and Prejudice is not only a great novel to read but also an interesting
work to be analyzed. Here, the writer reviews four deep analyses about Jane Austen’sPride and Prejudice done by students of English Letters Department and students of English Department of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. They analyzed elements in the novel such as theme, biographical background, feminism, and motivation of marriage. They were approved and successfully defended.
Studying about theme through the plot and the character of Pride and Prejudice, Sriyatun, in her thesis The Study of Theme Developed from Plot and
Character in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, states that the plot of this novel
beginning to the end of the work. She is the key of the forming of the central idea. The theme itself is “a middle class young woman with good principal personalities succeeds in arising her self-respect and reducing the discrimination performed by the highest class” (2000:58).
In addition to Elizabeth Bennet character, Sriyatun says that Elizabeth has made her own life meaningful with her strengths and weaknesses. She has intelligence and her way in viewing of something is a little bit different from other girls of her age. When she is certain that what she does is right, with confidence, she will be encouraged to keep on doing it.
Giving opinion about ‘Marriage’ as one of the central topic, Chatarina Sri Lestari, in her thesis The Influence of Jane Austen’s View toward Motivations of Marriage in England in the Late Eighteenth Century upon Elizabeth Bennet in
Pride and Prejudice, says that both financial and social motivations are the main motivation of marriage existing in the society of the novel. This makes marriage misleadingly becomes a woman’s chief aim. However, the motivation of marriage in which marriage should be best based on the mutual feeling, understanding and respect, influences Elizabeth Bennet (2001: 57).
Discussing about the practices of feminism which appear in the novel, Nurmala Citra Dewi, in her thesis The Practices of Feminism as Seen Through Elizabeth Bennet, the Main Character of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, says
that Elizabeth can prove that she can resist the connections which society seems to be prescribing for her and make a new connection of her own. One is not made in response to society’s controlling power but freely to make her own decision according to the dictates of their judgment, reason, and emotions (2003: 58-59).
B. Review of Related Theories
To support the study, that would deal with the topic of Jane Austen’sPride and Prejudice: a reflection of British society in the late eighteenth century, the
writer would like to use some necessary theories as follows.
1. Theory on Character and Characterization
A person in a dramatic or narrative work who naturally possesses moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that all are reflected in the dialogue and the action among the person is a definition of character according to Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms (1993:20). It is obvious that the character’s
appearance in a literary work can extremely help the readers understand what is really going on in the literary work, as well as what qualities lie behind their representation.
In understanding the characters, the readers should know what the character says, what the character does, what other characters say about the character, and what the other characters do. These elements are very important to analyze the characters (Barnet, 1988: 712). This theory can be utilized since the basic characteristics of the character can give us clues to understand the character and it also determines the further actions of the characters in the story.
related to each other and they have the main character to be the focus while the plot and conflicts come, arise, and are solved.
Discussing more about character is as important as discussing the characterization. Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature state that characterization is the creation of playwright’s imagination about character as real human being, so that they exist for the audience or reader as lifelike (1986: 81). In creating a character, the author usually uses real human, completed with his behavior and attitudes as a mirror to form and characterize the character. The readers will imagine the characters as well as they think about the real human.
Holman and Harmon also state that character and characterization are related and cannot be separated from each other. The author always reveals the characters of imaginary person in the story, and then it is called characterization. In other words, characterization can be defined as the creation of imaginary person so that they exist for the reader as if the people in real life (1986: 81). It means that, in the novel, the characters’ actions and interaction, albeit fictional, can actually be the same as what happens in real life.
2. Theory of Setting
In a literary work such as novel, setting is very important. Guth, in his book The Literary Heritage says that setting is the time and place of the events of a story. Often the setting helps shape the characters and events. Village or city, north or south, poor or wealthy neighborhood, mountain country or coast—all these help decide how people live (1981: 729). It means that the setting of a story may create an event in which the characters are involved. They help decide what people will be like and what is the most important thing in their lives.
Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature, describe setting as the physical, sometimes the spiritual background against which the action of a narrative (novel, drama, short story, poem) takes place (1986: 465). Holman and Harmon give some elements to make up the setting. They are:
a. The actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangement as the location of the windows and doors in a room.
c. The time/period in which the action take place, for example epoch in history/season of the year.
a. The general environment of the characters for examples religious, mental, social and emotion conditions through which the people in the narrative move (1986: 467).
According to De Laar, the action of a novel or a plot must take place somewhere and sometimes even shape it. The characters in the novel do things like people in the real world. De Laar also mentions the setting as scene, which has functions in the novel. (1963: 172). Furthermore, he says that, like the characters of the novel, scene must be drawn somehow from real life. Setting has or important function in identifying the type of a novel because through setting the author can create events and characters in the novel. In writing a novel, the character’s behaviors and attitudes are related to the setting. An author may decide kind of characters he or she wants to be created based on the place and time he used as the setting.
3. The Relation between Literature and Society
According to Wellek and Warren, Literature has a social function, or ‘use’, which cannot be purely individual. Thus a large majority of the questions raised by literary studies are, at least ultimately or by implication, social question; questions of tradition and convention, norms and genres, symbols and myths (1956: 94).
Wellek and Warren add that the actual relation between literature and society is divided into three divisions of problems questioning about how far literature is actually determined by or dependent on social condition, on social changes and development. Those three divisions are social life of the author, the social content of the work itself and their influence on the literary work of the society (1956: 95). It means that the relation between literature and society can be clarified by the explanation of social life of the author, social content that occurs in a literary work and also effects that are caused by literary work of the society.
Since every writer is a member of society, he can be studied as a social being. The writer has been a citizen, has pronounced on questions of social and political importance, and has taken part in the issues of his or her time.
4. British Society in the Late Eighteenth Century
(Rogers, 1987: 327). The society, which is influential in the authors work, becomes one part of the work itself. The novel, Pride and Prejudice,can also be said as a mirror of British society in the late eighteenth century.
Then, related to Pride and Prejudice, the world is like a reflection of changing society in Jane Austen’s era. The late eighteenth century was the time when British society faced a new condition in their life that was contradictory to the previous condition. The condition is described as the time when Victorian period, the time when agriculture played an important role in the British society, was replaced by Industrialization, a manufacturing system. This changing influenced the society to adjust their life for survival and it created many changes in terms of attitudes, behaviors, and the goals of life. The condition and the changes that occurred in the society in England in the late eighteenth century will be explained clearly sub-chapter.
a. Industrial Society
According to Bowyer and Brooks, Industrialization is a changing in a system of manufacture with the system of machine in factories congregated in newly industrial cities (1954: 13). Properties became transformed from a symbol of rank to an instrument of power growing steadily in strengths and effectiveness as the result of Industrial Revolution, Britain becomes ‘the workshop of the world’. In 1855 onward, a market and increasing excess of imports over the world’s carrying trade were rising and Britain capital was earning greater dividends by financing developments overseas, especially in South America, China, Africa, Canada and Australia, and also Europe because Britain developed in the engineer of railway system. Supplying and exporting machinery and materials Britain also helped other countries equip their industry and transport.
Ralf Dahrendorf in his book Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society, states that there are consequences of industrialization, both positive effects and negative effects. Before industrialization, British society’s life was presented in term of wealth and poverty, domination and subjection, property and propertylessness, high and low prestige. Thus it might appear as if all the industrial revolution affected was to replace old social strata by new ones; landowner and nobility by capitalist, laborers and small peasants by proletarians (1959: 4-5)
a. The Existence of Class Distinction
In many circumstances, class distinction existed strongly. The extreme difference between wealth and poverty, comfort and squalor were clear. Buckler, Hill, and McKay state that the living conditions among social classes in Britain were very different (1981: 1066). According to Moore, there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The invention of the steam engine and the machines for manufacturing gave way to many distinctions (1963: 5). In the emerging industrial society, the traditional idea of class diversity which was concerned with birth, manners and learning, was weakened by the divisions of society on the basis of income and occupation. Therefore, the social classes based on the income and occupation arose gigantically: the upper class, middle class, and working class.
i. The Upper Class
ii. The Middle Class
The Middle class composed mainly of the most successful business family from banking, industry, and large commerce. The large number of servants was a very important indicator of wealth and standing for the middle. The sign of real wealth in a middle class household was a male servant. Food was the largest item of the households budget. They usually would settle the dinner party once a month. Food and servants absorbed about a half of the income. Education was another growing expense as middle class parents tried to provide their children with ever-more-crucial advanced education (1966: 114)
iii. The Working Class
Many members of the working class were people whose livelihood depended on physical labor, who did not employ domestic servants as the upper and middle class who had levels of livings and education. They were usually recent migrants who came from rural areas to the city. Domestic service was hard work at low pay with limited personal independence. For the full-time general maid in a lower-middle-class family, there was an unending routine by baby sitting, shopping, cooking and cleaning. (1966: 125)
b. The Rise of Materialism
materialistic person pursues desires and passions which must be identical with something material contains money and material possessions.
Since Industrial Revolution occurred, the economic life changed constantly and rapidly. Economy grew faster than ever before, but economic progress and the prosperity merely could be felt by the upper and middle class who were landowners and employers. On the contrary, it constituted the year of suffering and deprivation to the poor, or working class, who lived under pitiful condition and under the power of the elite class.
Wilbert E. Moore in his book Social Change states that for economic organization, Industrialization entailed a reduction in the proportion in agriculture. The application of modern methods to agriculture reduced the direct labor demand for production but increased unskilled workers in developing industrial societies. This condition rose minimum and average per-capita income for unskilled workers (1963: 99).
This economical factor forced people to find ways for the sake of financial security. Marriage can be a choice for both men and women in England to obtain that financial security during this era. They based their choice on the most profitable one. It was also supported by paternalism system in the society. Any property that a woman possessed before her marriage automatically became her husband’s. This raised a phenomenon that a man married a woman only for the sake of the woman’s money, and a woman marries a man who has large fortunes for her financial security.
c. The Rise of Individualism
According to Honderich in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, he states that Individualism is a view that gives primary moral value to individual human being. In the other words, concerning that the person has respect toward his own independence as the individual human being (1995: 404). The person tends to behave in his own way which holds independently of his relation to his physical and social environment rather than imitating them.
employment and some greater freedom of movement, and these possibilities created independent women with their own authorities. Besides their responsibilities to take care of their children, they also could produce a family income (1963: 103). Women realized that they had to emancipate from the myth of inferiority and to realize their abilities and skills to the fullest. They realized that they practically had equal opportunities with men to develop their capacities
C. Theoretical Framework
Literature can be a mirror of life because it reflects many aspects of life. From literature, we do not only read a fiction but also learn so many values of life such as: friendship, freedom, the right to life, and the morality, which could be applied in our daily life.
The study of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, using the society as the main focus of analysis is able to cover certain aspects of life. There are several different perspectives to view this novel; a few of them might be from aspect history, social criticism, or human morality. The writer has chosen certain aspects in discussed in her research and expose the certain approach, and decide what theories and approach to be used.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The literary work that is going to be analyzed in this study is Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the fifth edition. This novel was written in 1776 with the original title First Impression and the copy studied in the research was published by J.M.Dent & Sons Ltd., London. Her success in writing Sense and Sensibility in 1811 was continued by the real publication ofPride and Prejudice
which consists of 351 pages, divided into 61 chapters and recognized as Jane Austen’s greatest achievement.
Pride and Prejudice is set primarily in the country of Hertfordshire, about 50 miles outside of London. The novel is started with a conversation at Longbourn, the place where a middle class family, the Bennets, lives in a form of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their five daughters: Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia. Mrs. Bennet, whose obsession is to find husbands for her daughters, sees the arrival of Mr. Bingley, an upper class man or ‘a single man of large fortune’, as a potential suitor for her daughters.
The class distinction is continually included in every part of life in this story. Although love plays a big role in relations between Jane and Mr. Bingley and also between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy but the distinction of their class becomes a big problem. Jane and Mr. Bingley love each other since the first time they meet and their love runs smooth. However, the difference of their social class creates a problem in their relation that the two Mr. Bingley’s sisters want their brother to marry Mr. Darcy’s sister in order to unite the fortunes of the two families. On the other hand, the relation between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth is realized after many quarrels. The big problem comes when Darcy’s aunt, Lady Chaterine talks to Elizabeth that it is impossible to have a marriage between different classes, and accuses her that she just wants to get Mr. Darcy’s fortune.
In this story, the history background, the condition of British people because of Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century, influences the condition of the characters. The depression of poverty and the obsession to get a financial security of the lower class that creates materialism are represented by Charlotte Lucas’ decision to get married with Mr. Collins by ignoring the sense of love only for the sake of financial security, Wickham, an officer in the regiment, in order to get large fortune and high social status, although in bad ways, he tries to get attentions from the ladies with large inheritances, and Mrs. Bennet’s obsession in finding wealthy husbands for all of her daughters.
class is not an obstacle for her to share her ideas and thought, leads her to be an individualistic women. Then, happy and romantic atmospheres close this story. Jane married with Mr. Bingley, Wickham married with Lydia after provided equal share of wealth, Elizabeth married Mr. Darcy after Mr. Darcy realizes that it is wrong to act so arrogant and to place so much emphasis on class differences, while Elizabeth realizes it is wrong to judge Mr. Darcy prematurely and to allow her mind for bad judgment about him. Mr. Bennet is very happy that his three daughters have married so happily. Mrs. Bennets is glad that her daughters have married so prosperously.
B. The Approach
In analyzing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the writer applies sociocultural-historical approach. The point of sociocultural-history approach is to perceive a literary work from its relation with social history of a certain time and place. InReading and Writing about Literature, Mary Rohrberger and Samuel H. Woods state that “the only way to locate the real work is in reference to the civilization that produces it”. They define civilization as the attitudes and action of a specific group of people and point out that literature takes this attitudes and actions as its subject matter. They feel that it is necessary to investigate the social milieu in which it necessarily reflects.
in Pride and Prejudice, one must have a good understanding about the society in the late eighteenth century in England.
C.Method of the Study
Concerning of the method used in this study was the steps that the writer took in doing the analysis so the writer was able to obtain the solution for the problems formulated. The writer used library research to conduct the activity of collecting data related to the object and the topic of the study.Pride and Prejudice was the primary data, while the secondary data were taken from some books which could be utilized to support this study or which were related to the problems that the writer analyzed.
There were certain steps used in analyzing this novel. The first step was to understand the object of the study. It was necessary for the writer to read the story as a whole in order to comprehend it and to get the ideas presented in Pride and Prejudice. The writer tried to find agreements, deep examinations, or comments
about this novel, found some books about social change, history of England in the late eighteenth century especially Victorian period and Industrialization era, and some other sources. The writer also read some books on the theories of character and characterization, setting, and also about the relation between literature and society which all of them assisted the work’s analysis.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This part contains the analysis, which is divided into two parts of discussion. The first discussion, the analysis on the society of Pride and Prejudice, includes the analysis on the setting and characters. The writer tries to
observe the society in the novel, which can be revealed by characters’ actions and speeches, the author’s comments, comments from the other characters, and the setting. The second one is the analysis of the society as the result of Industrialization in England in the late eighteenth century that is reflected in Pride and Prejudice.
A. The Analysis on the Society inPride and Prejudice
Abrams inGlossary of Literary Termsdefines setting of dramatic work as the general place, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs (1981:175). It means that setting consists not only the setting time and place, but also the social circumstances where the story occurs. Then, Abrams’s definition, “a character is the person in a dramatic or narrative work who naturally possesses moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that all reflected and the action among the person”, is a good comprehension to help analyze characters in Pride and Prejudice as the society. What kinds of society and what qualities lay
1. Analysis on the Society through Setting of Place
The name of places in the novel where the actions occur are Longbourn, Netherfield, Meryton, Hertfordshire, London, Brighton, Hunsford, Rosings, Derbyshire, and Pemberley.
In Pride and Prejudice, the author describes Rosings, Lady Chaterine’s house, and Pemberley, Mr. Darcy’s house, in details as the aristocrats’ places to live that becomes one of the admirations in showing the social class and wealth.
The park was very large, and contained great variety of ground. They fellowed her into the dining-parlour. It was a large, well-proportioned room, handsomely fitted up. Every disposition of the ground was good; and she looked on the whole scene, the river, the trees scattered on its banks, and the winding of the valley, as far as she could trace it, with delight. The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of their proprietor. (p.224)
The Pemberley Park is very large with great variety of ground. There is also a beautiful wood which stretches over the wide extent. The house is large and beautiful. The dining room is large, well-proportioned, and handsomely fitted up. The beautiful scenery outside, the woody hills, the stream, the trees growing along the banks, the winding valley can be seen from every windows of this room. The rooms in the house are lofty and handsome. Their furniture is elegant and does not have fearsomeness.
Every park has its own beauty and its prospects. From the entrance hall, there were the fine proportion and finished ornaments. The dining room was exceedingly handsome, and there were all servants, and all the article of plates was perfect. (p154).
The description of Rosings house and Pemberley house as the setting of places in Pride and Prejudice show how the luxury becomes an important aspect for the upper class people. They show their wealth through the very beautiful large park that fit with the stone building and the properties in the house; furniture, miniatures, and portraits.
Meanwhile, the middle class people’s house is described as a functional building. The Bennets’ house indicates as one of the middle class’ house. The house has a small park and several rooms such as the dining room, drawing room and kitchen but without luxurious ornaments or furniture to make it beautiful.
…Mr. Collins was at leisure to look around, and he was so much struck with the size and furniture of the house that only may compare with the houskeeper’s room of Lady Chaterine’s house. (p.78)
“ You have a very small park here,” returned Lady Chaterine after a short silence.
“It is nothing in comparison of Rosings, my lady, I dare say; but I assure you it is much larger than Sir William Lucas’s.”
“This must be a most inconvenient sitting room for the evening, in summer; the windows are full west.” (p.319)
people differentiate themselves from the middle class people by making such a limitation in conversations and interactions. It can be seen from the social events: making morning visits, dinners, attending balls with the same circle of people (p.31-32).
2. Analysis on the Society through Characters
The meaning of class as rank or order of persons according to Gary Day in Class, is a simple description considering that the distinction of class that
occurring inPride and Prejudice’s society can affect many aspects of life. Society in the novel is restricted by a rank that is called social status or class in which the distinction of class is able to maintain the life of the society and indirectly creates life rules among classes. Upper class and middle class people are those who are described as the society in this novel and every class has characters to represent them.
a. The Upper-Class Society
In Pride and Prejudice, the upper class society can be categorized in two types. First, the upper class people who tend to be arrogant, hypocritical, and full of pride. They seem very polite and have elegant appearances but actually are full of pretensions. This type can be seen from the characters of Caroline Bingley and Lady Chaterine de Bourgh.
be seen from her comment about Elizabeth’s appearance in order to convince Mr. Darcy that she is not a woman to be admired.
She has nothing, in short, to recommend her, but being an excellent walker. I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really looked almost wild. Her hair so untidy, so blowsy. I hope you saw her petticoat, six inches deep in mud, I am absolutely certain; and the gown which had been let down to hide it, not doing its office. (p.43)
Her manner is very unpleasant. In order to maintain her family’s social class and wealth, she tries to prevent the marriage of Jane and Mr. Bingley without considering her brother’s feeling. By her polite and good manners in front of the people, no one will think that she has such a bad manner inside.
Lady Chaterine is Mr. Darcy’s aunt. She is a proud woman. She feels superior to others and wants to control others’ life. She wants Elizabeth to throw her love away from Mr. Darcy because she wants Mr. Darcy to marry her daughter. The reason is the differences of social class. She underestimates Elizabeth Bennet by considering that her social class and education are lower than Mr. Darcy. This presumption can be seen in the quotation below:
“…A report of a most alarming nature, reached me two days ago. I was told, that not only your sister was on the point of being most advantageously married, but that you, that Miss Elizabeth Bennet, would, in all likehood, be soon afterwards united to my nephew, my own nephew, Mr. Darcy. Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood; though I would not injured him so much as to suppose the truth of it possible, I instantly resolved on setting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to you” (p320)
The second type of upper class society in Pride and Prejudice is people who have contrastive characteristic compared with the first type. They represent the upper class people with positive acts in maintaining their social class. They try to break the rules of class and regard that every human is equal in universe. Social status is not a limitation for them to interact and communicate with middle class people. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley are the characters who represent this second type.
At first, Mr. Darcy is immediately disliked by everyone when he appears at the Meryton ball because his manner is so tedious. In this ball he dances only with his friends. His being good-looking: tall, fine, handsome, and noble with ten thousand pounds a year cannot change the society’s judgment about him. Mrs. Bennet is the one who dislike Mr. Darcy’s behavior very much because of his humiliation towards one of her daughters, Elizabeth. Mr. Darcy says that ‘he is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me’ (p. 59). His condescending towards Elizabeth, his action towards Mr. Wickham, and his influence to Mr. Bingley against Jane strengthen that Mr. Darcy is haughty, reserved, fastidious, and giving offence to others.
handsome, dutiful, charitable, rational, and mature with strong affection especially to Elizabeth and his only sister, Georgiana. He is an affectionate brother to Georgiana as Mrs. Reynolds says about him.
“He is the best landlord, and the best master,” said she, “that ever lived. Not like the wild men now-a-days, who think of nothing but themselves. There is not one of his tenants or servants but what will give him a good name.” (p.227).
“And this is always the way with him,” she added. ”Whatever his sister any pleasure, is sure to be done in a moment. There is nothing he would not do for her.” (p.228).
Mr. Darcy is intelligent and clear-sighted. His conversations with Elizabeth certainly show his thought and intelligence. Elizabeth confesses Mr. Darcy’s good temper, as shown by this quotation:
She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man, who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was an union that must have been to the advantage of both; by her ease and liveliness, and from his judgment, information, and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance. (p.283)
Mr. Bingley is Mr. Darcy’s close friend. “Mr. Bingley was good looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners (p.21). A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year (p.21)”. From this quotation can be concluded Mr. Bingley’s character; he is good-tempered, handsome, rich, and charming.
advice. Mr. Bingley is an easily influenced man. He takes his friend’s advice blindly, which sometimes leads him to a condition which is contradictory to what he really wants. For example, he leaves Jane only because Darcy advises him to abandon his love for certain reasons. Mr. Bingley takes the advice and follows it without reasons. Mr. Bingley takes the advice and follows it without checking the truth, although because of that he, himself, suffers. Finally, he is realized to be more rational and realize that he really loves Jane. It can be seen from the quotation as follows:
“…to be rationally founded because they had for basis the excellent understanding, and super-excellent disposition Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste her and himself.” (p.165).
b. The Middle-Class Society
Considering that there are two classes acting as the society in Pride and Prejudice, besides the upper class’ life, the existence of middle class characters
and her elder sister, Jane Bennet. She has a great affection for Jane. It can be seen from her decision to take care of Jane although she should walk for miles to reach Netherfield just because her mother does not want to lend her a carriage.
Elizabeth, feeling really anxious, was determined to go to her, though the carriage was not to be had; and as she was no horse-woman, walking was her only alternative. She declared her revolution. (p.40)
Elizabeth Bennet also cares about all her family. She is quick to express her feeling toward her father when she has an opinion about the family’s problem. The way she tells her father that Lydia’s bad behavior would bring negative effect not only for Lydia but also for the Bennets family, shows her effort to keep her family’s pride in public.
“…excuse me for I must speak plainly. If you, my dear father, will not take the trouble of checking her exuberant spirits, and of teaching her that her present pursuits are not to be the business of her life, she will soon be beyond the reach of amendment. Her character will be fixed, and she will, at sixteen, be the most determined flirt that ever made herself and her family ridiculous… (p.214)
personality and that they love each other. He suggests Elizabeth to think her decision over. He believes that her favorite daughter’s personality can bring her into happiness. He appreciates his daughter’s decision on her way of life.
“Mr. Darcy, you see, is the man! Now Lizzy, I think I have surprised you. Could he, or the Lucases, have pitched on any man, within the circle of our acquaintance, whose name would have given the lie more effectually to what they related? Mr. Darcy, who never looks at any woman but to see a blemish, and who probably never looked at you in his life! It is admirable!” (p. 328-329).
Jane Bennet is Elizabeth’s elder sister. She is beautiful, kind, and sweet-tempered. She is an affectionate friend to Elizabeth who is always ready to help Elizabeth solve her problem. Her affection to Mr. Bingley is not based on Mr. Bingley’s social status or wealth. It is pure because of love. She is dutiful daughter and has a great attention to all of her family, especially during Lydia’s elopement.
Imagine our surprise…I am very, very sorry. So imprudent a match on both sides!... Our poor mother is sadly grieved. My father bears it better. How thankful am I, that we never left them know what has said againts him; we must forget it ourselves (p.248)
must have a certain reason for treating her badly. The quotations presented below emphasize this issue.
“Oh ! you are a great deal too apt you know, to like people in general. You never see a fault in any body. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life.” (p.25).
“……But I know the foundation is unjust. Caroline is incapable of willfully deceiving any one; and all that I can hope in this case is, that she is deceived herself.” (p.119)
However, some of middle class people feel unsatisfied with their condition and tend to make their position equal with the upper class people in many ways. They create connections with the upper class people to gain the benefits of class and property. Moreover, in order to receive those benefits, they are toady for themselves to the upper class people without feeling any embarrassment. The character of Mr. Collins represents the society that strongly believes in the value of high social status creates good society’s judgment. He is also a pompous and conceited person. His formal behavior is based on his desire to be respected in the society by showing that he has a lot of money and a high class figure, so the people around him want to hear and think well of him. It can be seen from the way he talks about himself in public implies his pompous character.
“…Pardon me for neglecting to profit by your advice, which on every other subject shall be my constant guide, though in the case before us I consider myself more fitted by education and habitual study to decide on what is right than a young lady like yourself “ (p.99).
newcomers of his ranks in a neighborhood. This tradition is one way for middle class people to reach higher status. It can be a great moment for a mother to introduce her daughters and if there is a lucky, the man with large fortune may marry her daughter and brings advantages for the woman’s family. It can be seen from the character of Mrs. Bennet.
Mrs. Bennet, the wife of Mr. Bennet, is a matchmaking mother whose expectation to have her five daughters get married to wealthy men. It can be seen from her reaction when the arrival of Mr. Bingley, ‘a single man of large fortune’ to Netherfield Park.
“ Oh ! single, my dear, to be sure ! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls !” (p.15)
Her wish makes her behave wrongly. Her temper is so annoying; she is very spoiled and always tries to attract other’s attention; she wants others to have pity on her. She is a silly, self-centered woman, and lacks of emotional maturity. It can be seen from her attitudes in accepting Lydia’s disgraceful elopement.
“My dear, dear Lydia! This is delightful indeed! She will be married! I shall she her again! She will be married at sixteen! My good, kind brother! I knew how it would be I know he would manage everything. How I long to see her! And to see dear Wickham too! But the clothes, the wedding clothes! I will write to my sister Gardiner about them directly. My dear, dear Lydia! How merry we shall be together when me meet” (p.278).
financial security. Socially, marriage may lift up a woman’s status in the society. When she gets married and starts a family, she takes place in the society. For men, this led to the ‘fortune-hunter’ phenomenon: men marry women because of women’s money. It can be seen from Charlotte Lucas character and Mr. Wickham.
Charlotte, Elizabeth’s good friend, is a sensible and an intelligent woman. Marriage is her aim in life. However, it is uncertain in giving happiness. She does not care about love and affection or her future happiness in marrying Mr. Collins, whom she knows as neither sensible nor agreeable. She simply thinks that marriage will make her financially secured, so by marrying Mr. Collins, it is a good luck for a twenty-seven “well-educated young woman of small fortune”.
Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. She had gained her point, and had time to consider of it. Her reflections were in general satisfactory (p.121)
Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honorable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at the age of twenty-seven, without having ever been handsome, she felt all the good luck of it (p. 122)
Mr. Wickham is a handsome, charming man who knows how to please people, especially women. He is also gentle and has a captivating manner which makes people trust him. It can be seen from his manner towards Elizabeth that makes Elizabeth believe that he is a great man and falls in love with him.
first object. When I am in company with him, I will not be wishing. In short, I will do my best”. (p.139)
However, he uses his charm to achieve what he wants: a great deal of money. It can be seen from his behavior in making relationship with women. First, with Elizabeth, then with Miss King, then with Lydia, and if not prevented by Mr. Darcy, he will leave Lydia to find a richer girl, to marry. This is not because he does not love them, which makes him leave them, but it is because he wants to find a greater deal of money. His motivation of marriage is only based on his desire of being rich and to be respected by his society.
Pride and Prejudice represents the social-convention in the society as the
effect of paternal system in society. The social-convention meant is about inheritance law that a family with no son will give the estate and land to a man of the husband’s relative when the husband dies. The Bennets family’s condition is the representation of the social-convention, by which the law forces Mr. Bennet to leave his property to such a pompous and ridiculous man, Mr. Collins, instead of his own daughters because he does not have a son. It can be seen from the quotation below:
“…It is from my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases” (p. 66).
“…that your estate should be entailed away fro your own children, the cruelty of settling an estate away from a family of five daughters, in favour of a man whom nobody cared anything about and nothing can clear Mr. Collins from the guilt of inheriting Longbourn” (p. 66).
inherit their father’s estate but they are forced to accept the conventional inheritance law. Mrs. Bennets’s attitude in trying hard to marry off her five daughters to wealthy men is because their marriage prospect is considerably lower with their small inheritance. They need to marry well in order to secure their livelihood.
B. The Reflection of British Society as the Result of Industrialization Era in the late eighteenth Century.
Changes in societies are inevitable in people’s journey of life. Many factors can influence the changing that happens in a society. In the late eighteenth century, Britain was faced onto industrial revolution. This event influenced every part of people’s life and the result is some changes of the condition in the British society. The changes are the existence of class distinction, the rise of materialism, and the rise of individualism. The writer would analyze those three changes reflected in Pride and Prejudice by dividing the analysis into three parts of discussion.
1. The Existence of Class Distinction
brought social class in the society as a symbol of the existence of rank in the society.
Before the industrial revolution gave many significant changes in every aspect of life of the English people, England experienced prosperous years of agriculture and the class in the society has its own rules that seemed hard to be changed. The upper class people can be described as a landowner, with a coat of arms denoting pedigree of lineage, who possessed the quality of courage, chivalry, generosity, hospitality and sense of duty. The middle class people were satisfied to be a second class people and the lower class could not be better than the second class. Land, money and the most important thing, birth were the basic aspects to decide a class in the society.
In the late eighteenth century, the industrial revolution had changed the old peaceful Britain into a big capitalist and industrious country. It caused extensive changes in British commercial and industrial organization and affected profoundly the lives of all classes. Through the novel ofPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, we can see that Industrial Revolution gave significant effects toward the distinction of class in the society. The changes divided British society into classes and separated them apart. Obviously, there were upper and middle classes in Britain that we can see from the novel.
was well-proportioned room, handsomely fitted up. The other rooms, these objects were taking different positions; but from every window there were beauties to be seen. The rooms were lofty and handsome, and their furniture suitable to the fortune of their propriertor” (p.224)
The quotation above comes from chapter 43 when Elizabeth Bennet and her uncle and aunt visited Pemberley house. Pemberley house is one of the examples of upper class’ building in the novel. The description of the house is done in sophisticatedly descriptive details. The Pemberley house can be considered as a symbol of wealth that only the upper class people could have such a luxurious place. The upper class society in the novel is shown by very fine clothes, great houses, and good education.
“You are considering how unsupportable it would be to pass many evenings in this manner-in such society; and indeed I am quite of your opinion. I was never more annoyed! The insipidity and yet the noise; the nothingness and yet the self-importance of all these people!” (p.35)
Social interactions at the ball provided a picture of the formalities in Eighteenth century.Pride and Prejudice contains many actions at the ball party in which the importance of rank and wealth played in social relation. It also could be seen from Darcy’s statement about the middle class people’s behaviors at the ball party seems to humiliate the social relation between the upper class and the middle class.
“…-and it has the advantages also of being in vogue amongst the less polished societies of the world. – Every savage can dance.” (p.34)
“It is a compliment which I never pay to any place if I can avoid it. I had once some thoughts of fixing in town myself-for I am fond of superior society.” (p.34).
The view of history as class struggle was regarded as motored by the competition of social class. Caroline Bingley’s actions represented an extreme and inhuman attitude of the upper class people in defending their existence for the sake of class struggle.
“…But the case is this. We are not rich enough, or grand enough for them; and she is the more anxious to get Miss Darcy for her brother, from the notion that when there has been one intermarriage, she may have less trouble in achieving a second; in which there is certainly some ingenuity, and I dare say it would succed…” (p.118)
The quotation above is Elizabeth Bennet’s conclusion about Caroline Bingley’s letters. The suggestion in her letters that Bingley may marry Darcy’s sister makes it clear that Caroline Bingley considers Jane too ‘low’ to marry her brother.
‘…They may wish many things besides his happiness; they may wish his increase of wealth and consequence; they may wish him to marry a girl who has all the importance of money, great connections, and pride” (p. 133)
Elizabeth’s statement above shows the basic purpose of Caroline Bingley not to allow her brother marries Jane Bennet. It leads the characteristic of eighteenth century society. The effect of class struggle made the society ignored happiness and put money, great connections, and pride as the important goals in life.
The defensive attitude of the upper class people in keeping their connection and wealth for the sake of class struggle in Industrialization era is not only reflected in Caroline Bingley’s action towards Jane Bennet. Pride and Prejudice also represents Lady Chaterine de Bourgh as an upper- class woman
middle-class. It can be seen when Lady Chaterine takes a part in the love relation between Darcy and Elizabeth and, mocks Elizabeth social status.
“Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now what you have to say?” (p321)
“Because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest, forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you willfully act against the inclinations of all. You will be censured, slighted, and despised, by every one connected with him. Your alliance will be a disgrace; your name will never even be mentioned by any of us.” (p.322)
Arnstein says that land gives one position, and prevents one from keeping it up. Land gave its owner social status, but its financial values lay less in farm products than in the coal or iron that might be found beneath it (1988:75). It means that the condition in industrialization may influence the status of a class this is because of a new merchant class people, dominated by the middle class people whose wealth and power were growing, were able to force the upper class people to limit their influences on the society.
Pride and Prejudice shows how the middle class people maintain their life
in many ways in order to get better social status in society and wealth. This condition is reflected in some conditions and characters in the novel. The condition of Collins, a middle class man, by which his connection to Lady Catherine guarantees him a lofty place in society, makes his social status rises in the society. He is really proud of his condition
rights as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility (p.74)
Industrial revolution raised many aspects of life in England. One of them was education. In Victorian era, luck of birth and wealthy were used by society to determine class but the development of Industrialization made education and skill become the power in social life (Arnstein, 1988: 46). This condition brought the power for middle class people to exist their life. Elizabeth Bennet, as one of the major characters shows a type of middle class woman that has good values in education. By her good knowledge, she proves her superiority on the basic of her virtues or talents.
“No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without a governess! Then, who taught you? Who attended to you? Without a governess you must have been neglected.”
“ Compared with some families, I believe we were; but such as wished to learn, never wanted the means. We were always encouraged to read, and had all the masters that were necessary. Those who chose to be idle, certainly might” (p. 157)
The improvement of middle class people to be equal with upper class people is also shown by Elizabeth’s attitude toward Lady Catherine when Lady Catherine mentions her low connections, family, and fortune which are not equal with her nephew, Darcy.
“In marrying your nephew, I should not consider myself as quitting that sphere. He is a gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal” (p.323)
The existence of class distinction in the late eighteenth century in Pride and Prejudice is reflected through setting and characters; Lady Chaterine de
rose respects from the society. Last is the attitude of Elizabeth Bennet in proving that the middle class people and the upper class people have the equal values in life.
2. The Rise of Materialism
According to Arnstein in his book Britain Yesterday and Today, before Industrialization, agriculture played a highly significant role. Much of the land was divided into large estates owned by wealthy aristocrats and country squires who rented the land on long or short lease to tenant farmers. More than half the land was divide into farms of two hundred acres or more, considerably larger than the average French or German farm. Agriculture chemistry was still in its infancy and many people regarded farming as the road to easy riches (1988: 20)
The introduction of Industrialization had provoked widespread riots when the machines had eased the farmer’s toil. A steam-operated tractor was proven to be an impractical luxury for most farmers. The effects were the increase of unskilled workers in developing industrial society and the reduction of the average income for unskilled workers, land was only one form of property and not necessarily the most important (Arnstein, 1988: 76)
