. The feminist aspects of the novel did not come direct quotes by characters or statements, but came indirectly through attitudes and actions. They are too one-sided against the weak and biased counterarguments found in the novel. Sure, Jane Austen included conflicting opinions with feminism in her book, but the opinions came from characters that she cleverly manipulated to be greatly disliked by the reader. By doing that, she strengthened the favor that the reader has for her feelings. If Jane Austen had wanted to add another dimension to Pride and Prejudice by putting different opinions of her time into the story, the feminist factors of the book would not have been supported as well nor would they be as numerous. Opinions against feminism would have been much stronger, and feminist feelings may even have been weak because they were not even that common in Jane Austen’s time.With the evidence provided, the only justified conclusion can be that Jane Austen holds feminist opinions and uses Pride and Prejudice to show them. In her society, upper class ladies are almost always treated as fragile goddesses, and marriage is an elegant courting ritual, one of the most important parts of society. Jane Austen exposes the perfect ladies as fakes, gossips, liars, snobs, and idiots, and marriage as a one-sided process that women are forced into by the sexism of early 19th century England. She shows that the standards for woman in her society take away their free will and encourage conformity, and her main “good” character is independent and rebels against those ideas, showing the character’s independence and creating Jane Austen’s ideal woman. This cannot be a coincidence because in this time these views are often disagreed with and are not very frequent. If Jane Austen is writing without the influences of her ideas, she would not make that choice. Harsh criticisms of English 19th century society that are...
