Discuss Jane Austen’s treatment of
women characters in Pride and Prejudice.
Answer: The novels of Jane Austen
contain numerous character- studies. Her studies of women are more searching
and more life – like than those of men. In other words, she shows a much
greater skill in the delineation of women than in that of men. Perhaps, because
she was herself a woman, she knew more about female psychology than about the
working of men’s minds. The special quality of her delineation of women is that
she individualizes them, and differentiates each from the others. In ‘Pride and
Prejudice’, we have a whole crowd of women characters; but each of these women
is clearly distinguished from the others. Each woman in the novel stands as a
distinct figure in her own right.
First of all, there are the
Bennet girls and their mother. Mrs. Bennet is drawn with such skill and in such
detail that we never forget her after going through the novel. She is
differentiated from all the other women in the novel by her obsession with the
marriage of her daughters, and this preoccupation with the marriage of her
daughters continues throughout the novel. Mrs. bennet is described as a women
of a mean intelligence, little information and an uncertain temper. Wherever
she feels discontented with anything, she imagines herself nervous. The business
of her life is to get her daughters married; and the consolation of her life
lies in visiting other families and getting news of what is going on around
her. Mrs. Bennet’s foolishness, ignorance and vanity are sources of great amusement
to us, as they are to her husband who is always poking fun at her. Mrs. Bennet
is, indeed, an unforgettable comic character.
As for the Bennet sisters, each is distinguished from the others. The eldest, Jane is a personification of goodness and kindness. She is a person who will never think ill of anybody. Indeed, she has an angelic disposition. Elizabeth pays a tribute to Jane by saying that Jane’s goodness of heart is matchless. Not only is Jane the prettiest of the five Bennet girls, but she is also the gentlest.
