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

Running head: ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT
English Assignment
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1ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT
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

2ENGLISH ASSIGNMENT
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.