Pride and Prejudice Thesis

[LynnWhis]

I must write a critical research paper, using Pride and Prejudice, and argruing the role of women during the 19th century. I am struggling to put a thesis together that is both argumentative and specifically deals with the novel and the topic. Any help will be greatly appreciated~!

[sciencefan]

Oh dear, I'm afraid I'm not sure what a "critical research paper" is. I guess it must be where you make a statement and prove it with quotations from the book.

In my simple point of view, the role of the women in Pride and Prejudice was to marry. That was their job. They were to learn to sing, draw, etc... that whole list of "accomplishments" Caroline Bingley gives. This was in order to make them interesting to a prospective husband.

Jane Austen shows us the many ways in which women used to go about "catching" a husband, and several of the ways men chose a wife. Mrs. Bennett is especially adept at matchmaking, to the point of manipulating.

By the end of the book, one is grateful we are no longer so driven by econmics in the choice of our mate.

You will find excellent background information at this web site:
Understanding the society in which Jane Austen sets Pride and Prejudice
by Pamela Whalan (http://www.jasa.net.au/study/indivsoc.htm)

[Newcomer]

The principal theme, I would say the only one, is marriage. If you choose to work within this theme then you have four examples in Pride and Prejudice to analyze and comment in how Austen develops and contrast them within the social norms of the Regency period.
1.Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas.
2.Mr. Wickham and Lydia.
3.Mr. Bingley and Jane.
4.Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.

Jane Austen had a realistic if purposely limited view of human nature. The bound being that she was writing a romantic comedy, not a social critique. For a thesis your bound will have to be broader than the romance of the four couples. The 18th. century characters were very conscious of the relative wealth, social standing and advancement that marriage entailed. You could with an accountants eye analyze what each partner brings into the contract, what each expects and the realistic expectation of meeting these sometimes contrary values and show how such conclusions mesh with the theme developed by Austen for each couple.
A happy ending will not suffice for a thesis. You might borrow the insight from another preVictorian writer, Charlotte Bronte, whose heroine has the following insight into a romantic marriage: “For a little while you will perhaps be as you are now, - a very little while; and then you will turn cool; and then you will be capricious; and then you will be stern, and I shall have much ado to please you; but when you get well used to me, you will perhaps like me again, - like me, I say, not love me. I suppose your love will effervesce in six months or less. I have observed in books written by men, that period assigned as the farthest to which a husband's ardor extends.”
If Austen knew this, she was not candid enough to state it but such inconstancy was equally applicable to the woman.

[sciencefan]

Bravo!
Excellent, Newcomer.

[yishentaer]

I am also need to wirte my thesis...