One of my absolute favorite classics is Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. On January 28th, 2017 it turned 204 years old and I thought that one of the best ways I may honor would be to write some sort of article about it or Austen herself. I collect editions of P & P (if you would like to gift me one, feel free) and I'm quite passionate about Austen's role as a feminist. In lieu of my Austen class at Arcadia being canceled, I have to write some sort of essay on this subject. For this article, I decided to discuss why I believe Jane Austen is a feminist, although my favorite lines from Pride and Prejudice was a strong contender.
I've seen a lot of discourse around whether or not Jane Austen was a feminist. The argument against her is primarily that many of her stories center around vanity, beauty, marriage, and society. However, I have to disagree that this makes her "unfeminist." Women at the time were quite concerned with these things.
What makes Austen a feminist is how and why she wrote about these things. At the time, it was quite common for men to write the love stories about women. These men wrote about women but for men, being quite out of touch with what women truly wished to see and how they truly thought. Austen refused to write that way; she was one of the first authors to write about women for women.
Beyond that, Austen was tenacious with her writing. As we all know, history (at face value) is dominated largely by men. Even today, if you look at the American Canon, it is full of white males. Austen refused to give up and she and her father sent her work into publishers over and over again.
Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Pride and Prejudice, is one of my feminist icons. At a time where women strove towards marriage, Lizzie felt as though it was not the ideal for life. Lizzie wanted to marry for love, not money, while many women were pressured into marriages for the esteem and wealth it may give them. Jane Austen wrote a strong-willed woman who her readers could take inspiration from in a time where men were writing about women just wanting marriage.
In each of Austen's novels, there are amazingly poignant lines and characters that show how deeply Austen cared for other women. She writes strong female characters that, to this day, amaze and inspire readers.
As with all classic novels, there is something to be said about words still beloved by people 200 years after being published. Austen's works are some of my favorites to read, especially Pride and Prejudice. If you're not into classics, you may not wish to read them, but if you are I hope that you will consider reading novels written by a feminist of her time.
