Gender Roles
...it is purported that to every gender there are assigned roles. Male roles and female roles though there has been somewhat of a break through now-a –days, it was almost set in stone with the exception of the well to do and the progressive thinkers during the 19th century which Pride and Prejudice was set in. Everyone’s place and role in society is shaped by the social order and their lineage of thought.
In the book Pride and Prejudice, men and women had very different roles. Men had certain privileges and status that are not bestowed upon a woman. Men already had the status and entailment; women had to earn their status through marriage. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. New York: The Modern Library, 2000. “Mr. Bennet’s property consisted almost entirely in an estate of two thousand a year, which unfortunately for his daughters, was entailed in default of heirs male, on a distant relation” (21).
The traditional role of a woman was to be amiable, beautiful, have impeccable social grace, and make sure their daughters are schooled in the arts.
Not all women conformed to their place among their gender. Elizabeth and Lydia were way ahead of their time. Elizabeth had a completely different point of view from every other woman. She wants true love rather than a pragmatic relationship, she is a romantic. ‘I should be very sorry to be the means of making any of you unhappy; but since we see everyday that where there is affection, young people are seldom withheld by immediate want of fortune from entering into engagements with each other, how can I promise to be wiser than so many of my fellow creatures if I am tempted, or how am I even to know that is would be wisdom to resist?’(106) However, Elizabeth was not only different in the way she thought about marriage but she also didn’t care what people thought about her. She was ridiculed by Miss...
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