Reinforcement of Sexist Stereotypes in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

This paper analyzes how Jane Austen reinforces sexist stereotypes of women in her novel Pride and Prejudice. It examines the characters and their adherence to gender roles, as well as the breaking of these stereotypes by the main characters. The analysis highlights Austen's portrayal of gender equality and challenges societal norms.

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Jane Austen (1775-1817 AD) is considered as one of the most celebrated novelists of
the Romantic era. She wrote six major novels that include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and
Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion (Fergus and Wood).
This paper considers and analyses the individual characters and deduces how Jane Austen has
reinforced the sexist stereotypes of women during her times. In the following sections, the
text is closely analyzed to find instances how the characters conform to the gender
stereotypes of the contemporary society. Her novels were generally set in the England
countryside, away from the bustle of the industrial London and dealt with common
contemporary issues like marriage, love, money and class. One of her most famous and
widely read work is Pride and Prejudice, published in 1812. The novel portrays numerous
characters and many shades of them through artful narrative and focuses on the independence
of women in their choice of marriage and opinion and thus breaking the sexist stereotype of
the contemporary society (Steiner).
At the very beginning of the novel the writer proclaims, "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).” What the novel depicts becomes instantly clear from the very first line and
Austen goes on to establish her criticism through various characters. In the following section,
the characters of the novel are clustered and analyzed to determine how they contribute to the
establishment of the sexist stereotype of the society and reinforce the idea of gender roles
(Gymnich).
The first chapter of the text introduces the readers with the Bennet family that
contributes many characters that lay their shade to the course of the novel. Mrs. Bennet, from
the very beginning, is seen to be in constant worry about her daughters’ marriage (Chin-Yi).
She is in continuous search of eligible respectable men with whom she can match up one of
her four daughters, “The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was

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visiting and news."(Austen 4). She instructs her daughters to behave in a certain way, dress in
a respectable and classy manner and talk politely to attract wealthy suitors. Mr. Bennet on the
other hand is aloof and almost not interested in any of the intricacies of the household, “Mr.
Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic, humour, reserve, and caprice, that the
experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his
character (Austen 4). He is fond of Elizabeth, the protagonist, due to her intelligence and
logical mind that is unlike his other girls. He encourages Elizabeth to speak her mind and
supports her completely in both her rejection of Mr. Darcy and her final acceptance of him in
the end (Wang and Liu). Thus, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet represent the contrast as Mrs. Bennet
conforms to the social norms and Mr. Bennet overcomes that sexist boundary and inspires his
daughter to broaden her mind.
Bennet sisters too, shed light on sexist notions of the era. Jane, the eldest one, is
portrayed as the ideal woman. She falls in love with Mr. Bingley though due to her shy and
shaky nature fails to convey the depth of her feelings to him and suffers because of it.
Elizabeth on the other hand has no such qualms and rejects Mr. Darcy promptly as she thinks
that he is proud and hurtful in his attitude, "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to
tempt me;” (Austen 9). She suffers too but she suffers privately and with dignity. Due to her
rejection, Mr. Darcy is forced to change his ways and become much more sympathetic and
understanding towards her. He overcomes his pride in order to win Elizabeth’s heart and only
then, Elizabeth finally concedes her approval. It is evident that in this case, Pride and
Prejudice manages to erode the stereotypical image of women as dictated by the society.
Elizabeth, the female protagonist sets the rules and Darcy is forced to follow through it or
risk losing the love of his life (Chang). Being the two main characters, their discourse help to
strengthen the argument that Austen reinforces gender stereotypes in her novels.

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The pair of Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas in the novel goes on to re-establish the
gender roles and expectations. Mr. Collins is a pompous person and believes in male
domination and control over women. He feels indignant due to Elizabeth’s rejection of his
proposal. He is not in love with Elizabeth and does not understand why she would reject him.
He later marries Charlotte who thinks of the union in a practical and logical way and settles
for him, “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”(Austen 16) She maintains the
code of conduct dictated by the society and considers marriage in no romantic sense but a
pathway to secured future, comfort and dignity (Todd).
Among the minor characters, Lady Catherine becomes the spokesperson of the
societal norms and expectations on women and she is quite vocal about it. She interferes in
the union of Mr. Bingley and Jane citing the reason that Jane belongs to a lesser social class
and is not worthy of a man like Mr. Bingley. This way the minor characters too, fortifies the
stereotypical notions of gender dictated by our society (Jasper). Austen, through her treatment
of the characters and plot breaks that notion of social supremacy and establishes her view that
it is love that finally overcomes all the inequalities and their union becomes possible. "He is a
gentleman; I am a gentleman’s daughter; so far we are equal" (Austen 239)
From the above discussion, it can be clearly concluded that in Jane Austen’s novel,
Pride and Prejudice, the gender roles and expectations are presented and they have been
remolded to establish the changing roles of both the genders and their behavior. However,
some characters adhere to the pre-established norms but the main characters digress and
breaks the stereotypical image of contemporary women. The near future for those who have
just settled for money and dignity through marriage are compromised and questionable.
Elizabeth’s intelligence and strength of characters forces the readers as well as a powerful
man like Mr. Darcy to accept the faults in his ways and mend it to become a better and

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sensible man. Austen, being a woman of similar spirit like Elizabeth, portrays her idea of
gender equality and creates a world that can be considered a preview of the modern times.

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Works Cited
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice (International Student Edition)(Norton Critical Editions).
WW Norton & Company, 2016.
Austen, Jane. Pride And Prejudice. 2nd ed., Wordsworth Classics, 1993,
https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=kQ0mAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=pride+and+prejudice&hl=en&sa=
X&ved=0ahUKEwjJoZ6blOPhAhV17nMBHR6aBNAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=
pride%20and%20prejudice&f=false. Accessed 22 Apr 2019.
Chang, Hui-Chun. "The Impact of the Feminist Heroine: Elizabeth in Pride and
Prejudice." International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature 3.3
(2014): 76-82.
Chin-Yi, Chung. "Gender and Class Oppression in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice." The
Indian Review of World Literature in English 9 (2013): 1-9.
Fergus, Jan, and J. Luke Wood. Jane Austen: a literary life. Springer, 2016.
Gymnich, Marion. "Gender and narratology." Literature Compass 10.9 (2013): 705-715.
Jasper, Grace M. "Appropriating Austen: Pride and Prejudice and the Feminist Possibilities
of Adaptation." (2016).
Steiner, Enit Karafili. Jane Austen's Civilized Women: Morality, Gender and the Civilizing
Process. Routledge, 2015.
Todd, Janet, ed. The Cambridge Companion to'Pride and Prejudice'. Cambridge University
Press, 2013.

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Wang, Xueqing, and Yan Liu. "Analysis of the Feminism in Pride and Prejudice." Theory &
Practice in Language Studies1.12 (2011).