to show that her society was quite the opposite when it came to the lives of women. The perfect lady was a categorization. It made the women have to be a certain person. They had to conform. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner or walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved (35). A woman herself, Miss Bingley, made this statement. Not only did women have no free will, they were the ones that supported conformity. This did not apply to all women, but to the perfect ladies, one of which Miss Bingley is implied to be. Jane Austen juxtaposes the perfect lady and Miss Bingley in order to show that the perfect lady is really a shallow-minded conformist. With characters like Miss Bingley, Austen creates resentment for the accomplished lady generalization in the readers head. This makes the reader dislike the highlight of English society, realize its sexism in restricting womens free will, and favor characters that are vessels for feminist notions, such as Elizabeth. Jane Austens Elizabeth is an intelligent, stubborn, and free spirited character that the reader likes. She is a breath of fresh air as opposed to the backstabbing, materialistic, and overdramatic perfect lady that has the reader fed up. The perfect ladies dont like Elizabeth very much. It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country town indifference to decorum (32). Elizabeths most admirable characteristic, her independence, is abominable because it questions decorum. Jane Austen is showing here that one of the best characteristics that a woman can have, a free will that is unconventional, gives her the reputation of a conceited and ill-mannered country girl. This occurs because of the sick expectations and restrictions pla...
