Thursday, September 6, 2012

Challenging Society's Expectations

Mr Darcy is a character in Jane Austens novel Pride and Prejudice who challenges society's expectations. This is due to the way that he falls in love and proposes to a woman, Elizabeth Bennet, who is of a lower class than himself. Lady Catherine De Bourghs, reaction to this engagement clearly shows what society's expectations are and will be if they are to be married. In this quotation she clearly is very upset that a man of a class as high as his is not marrying someone, like her own daughter who is at the same position in society. Lady Catherine sayes 'because honour, decorum, prudence, nay, interest forbid it. Yes, Miss Bennet, interest; for do not expect to be noticed by his family or friends, if you wilfully act against the inclinations of all.' (p.366)This quotation shows what the society's expectations are, according to Lady Catherine. Mr Darcy has rebelled against society's expectations by marrying someone from a lower class for love, instead of marrying someone for wealth and their postition in society. The opinions of Mr Darcy and Mr Collins have an effect on the way that the reader is positioned to respond. Because the novel postions us to satire Mr Collins as an odd and obsessive man, the reader does not value his belief in abiding with society's expectations However we as the readers are in the postion to support Mr Darcy and his love for Elizabeth and the way in which he doesnt take society into consideration when deciding who he loves and who he is going to marry.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Pride and Prejudice Homework Week 8

How important a character is Mr Collins? Write a paragraph in response, clearly arguing your point of view. In developing your thesis, include a discussion of the way the reader is positioned to respond to him and the importance of this for dealing with at least one of the ideas underpinning the novel. Consider the work we have done in class on satire and irony as you plan your response. The Character of Mr Collins is very important in Jane Austens novel 'Pride and Prejudice.'This is because he shows the tradition of marrying without love and the views of society during this period. In this novel when Mr Collins proposes to Elizabeth he is rejected because Elizabeth believes in marrying for love. He proves to be the complete opposite to Elizabeth due to his belief in marrying for the sake of it. The audience is positioned to poke fun at Collins' ways, the views of the society and to disregard people in the novel who act in the same way as Mr Collins does. Sattire is used in the novel to make the reader see a character, what they believe in and their views as a joke. This is displayed when Mr Collins approaches Mr Darcy to introduce himself and when he does this Mr Darcy '[replies] with an air of distant civility' (p.g 96)When Mr Collins returns back to Elizabeth he tells her that 'Mr. Darcy seemed much pleased with the attention,'(p.g 96)when in fact the meeting did not go well at all. Mr Collins plays a significant character in the novel because he is used as a character to prove points made by Jane Austen, he is a character that positions the audiences to poke fun and think of him as an odd, conceited man.