Pride and Prejudice - Task 1

"Elizabeth Bennet is a character to whom today's young women can relate very easily because of her attitudes to love and marriage."

Jane Austen’s novel, Pride and Prejudice, is one of the most read, taught, and adapted novels in our culture, and has been popular continuously since its publication over 200 years ago. However, it is the character of Elizabeth Bennet to whom today’s young women can relate very easily because of her attitudes to love and marriage. Readers are inclined to agree with Elizabeth’s views, because her views are often ones that women today share. During Jane Austen’s era, society’s view towards love and marriage were extremely different to those of the 21^st century. Women were expected to marry as soon as possible, in order to obtain financial security for oneself and one’s family. A woman may find love after marriage, but it is not an important aspect of such a relationship, as indicated by Charlotte Lucas’s comment to Elizabeth Bennet, ‘Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance’ (p.24). While most women of the Victorian era were expected to hold such views on love and marriage, Elizabeth Bennet did not. Elizabeth believed, similar to women of today, that women should have a choice in who they marry, and that this choice should be based on love, not social class, wealth or family connections. Mr Bennet recognizes his daughter’s view on marriage when he states, ‘I know that you could neither be happy nor respectable, unless you truly esteemed your husband’ (p. 356). Women today are likely to relate very easily to Elizabeth’s attitudes to love and marriage, because the freedom Elizabeth wished for the women of her time, is enjoy by the women of the 21^st century, and thus contemporary women are able to appreciate Lizzy’s views more so than those of Victorian society. However, the characterization of Mrs Bennet as stupid, foolish and annoying further positions readers to view Mrs Bennet’s attitudes – which are also those of society – as incorrect, and Elizabeth’s attitudes as correct. Thus, through characterization and shared views on love and marriage, women of the 21^st century are able to relate very easily to the character of Elizabeth Bennet.