Elizabeth’s untraditional view of marriage in pride and prejudice
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Date
2018
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UMT, Lahore
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to scrutinize the character of Elizabeth. By focusing on the practices of marriage of 19th century, this paper contends that Elizabeth subverts the social and patriarchal norms of the century. She does not fit in the category of women of that era; where women were evaluated as “Other” and subordinate, whereas male machismo was prevailing. So eventually, they had to face gender disparity, inheritance problems, lack of monetary support and discrimination on the basis of the Class. Due to all the only solution women had to get married according to the decree of the society. Women were enforced to marry a man not of their own choice but rather a man who could accomplish the concurrences well. The social position of women was driven on the basis of the status of their family or their husband. So accordingly they had to marry a man who is best and was imposed upon them by their family. This paper proposes that Elizabeth artfully challenges the societal norms and interminably refuses to concede. Confronting the traditional gender norms, not only she asserts her feminist perspective but also, she challenges the gender discrimination, the class difference, the patriarchal Pride and the traditional matchmaking. Hence in the novel she remained determined by neglecting the societal pressure of choosing a “man of a good fortune”.