Secondary Characters In Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice

In her writing, Jane Austen used literary techniques to display her character’s integrity, poise, grace and charm, or lack thereof. Throughout most of Austen’s works, a common theme is women and their behavior. In Emma, Jane Austen weaves a story between the differences of society through the actions of a young woman, Emma Woodhouse. The strongest literary technique in Jane Austen’s Emma is the use of a foil. According to LiteraryDevices.net, a foil is a character who embodies the qualities that are in contrast to the qualities of another character with the objective being to highlight the traits of the other character.

Instead, she parodies and undercuts them, with subtle causticness, and ridicule. Austen’s priority when writing Northanger Abbey was to defend the novel as a genre, whilst also addressing the concept of ‘reading’ itself. Essentially, by writing in the style of the gothic, she emphasised the ordinariness of the domestic gothic and, patriarchal domestic

This statement seems to reasonable when considering that Emma’s biggest mistake happens under the influence of Mr Churchill and Elizabeth is influenced by her first impressions of Mr Darcy and Mr Wickham. Regarding Jane Austen’s heroines, one of the most important features of her novelties is the way she handled the characterisation and the progress of her heroines’ emotions and feelings, which is important since the progress is caused by their ‘fallible’ actions. Marsh discusses Austen’s novelties and developments in comparison with Fielding’s characterisation in Tom Jones. He explains

People began to support women’s rights, and that was a huge win for advocates. People such as John Stuart Mill were passionate advocates for women’s rights. In document 1, Mill begins by saying that traditionally, the vocation of a woman is the place of a wife and mother. He believes that one is supposed to consider of women in that way, but in truth, he recognizes that by denying women the same opportunities as men, the world is denied of the talents of women. He wrote The Subjection of Women with the help of his wife.

She states a more modern view upon the subject about the female role in society where she states a desire that women should be able to do the same things as men, without a judgemental view from society. This view of gender roles was controversial in the Victorian era, but Jane Eyre represents a new and fresh feature in the early feminist movement with a more equal view upon the subject. Though, upon the marriage with Mr. Rochester, Jane shows another side of her feministic character. The independent Jane, starts to question her role in the marriage. Jane hated that Mr. Rochester bought pretty jewelleries and dresses for her;” the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation” (Brontë, 321).

Emma Marriage For Jane Austen, marriage was a permanent affair that conferred financial and social security on a woman. This is due to the fact that women had limited rights such as earning one’s own property and wealth. The significance of matrimony is apparent through her female characters, Emma, Harriet and Miss Bates. Emma aspires to match-make Harriet by marrying her into a higher social position to Mr Elton – “she would detach her from her bad acquaintances, and

Hence, the fixed notions depicted in the beginning of the novel, mainly by Elizabeth and Darcy, influence the various relationships between characters prompting the progression of the storyline. (Lane 2015) The original title of Austen’s novel is First Impressions, making the theme evidently significant, but is now rephrased to Pride and Prejudice. To begin with, the most prominent theme in the story is the initial thoughts of major characters affect the plot and influence the main scheme of the novel greatly. Elizabeth’s main perception of Darcy immerges from an overheard conversation Darcy has with his virtuous friend, Mr. Bingley. Darcy initially insults Elizabeth for being of the Bennet family when Bingley persuades him to dance with her.

Edith Wharton stated once that at some stage in a story there will be that turning point or “illuminating incident” that would be a window that opens to convey the whole message and show the deeper meaning of the work. Basing this on Pride and Prejudice, the most significant, shifting point would be when Elizabeth realizes that her first impression has done her wrong, and that she’s the one being prejudicial, not Mr. Darcy. Jane Austen follows the development of Elizabeth’s and Darcy’s relationship in how they both change in order to overcome their own vanities and be able to love each other. Elizabeth’s visit to Pemberley, accompanied by her aunt and uncle, causes her to reconsider her thoughts about Mr. Darcy and shows how naïve and inconsiderate she was. After knowing the truth, Elizabeth’s reaction help build up the main themes of Pride and Prejudice which is to learn before making any judgments.

In Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, and Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens, two proposals, despite their few effective lines, end up being horrendously uneffective. In the first, William Collins proposes to Elizabeth Bennett, and in the latter, Bradley Headstone-his last name, which he will need after he dies from the painful embarrassment of his rejection- proposes to Lizzie Hexam. What makes a marriage proposal successful is a display of commitment, intimacy, and passion- though not too much or too little of any one factor! A lack of one or more of these factors, which both proposals are guilty of, will lead the proposer down the path of one of the main struggles of wooing: rejection. Both men do make one or two seemingly effective statements.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel written by Zora Neale, expresses a black womens growth towards independence. Janie Crawford, the protagonist, is in quest of her ideal love but is surrounded by powerful men who take advantage of her youth and beauty. Janie’s first husbands keep her dependent but Tea Cake, through true love, exposes her to independence she seeks and later learns to embrace. Logan and Joe treat Janie as if she is unequal to them and nothing more than an object to be used and observed, therefore secluding her from the independence she deserves. Janie’s first marriage, arranged at the prime of her youth by her nanny, was a forced relationship with a man Janie took no liking too.