Susan Fraiman "The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet"

In Susan Fraiman’s “The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet”, I found Fraiman’s comments on how Mr. Bennet’s speech grants him an authorial power in the novel was particularly intriguing. In the beginning, Fraiman seemed to be constructing more of a broad overview rather than any close readings, however, she later uses specific examples from the novel to back up her claims of speech and male power. One point that struck out to me was, “For as women talk in this novel, the flow of important words, of what counts as “intelligence”, is regulated largely by men; in this verbal economy, women get the trickle-down of news” (Fraiman 356). Initially, I disagreed with this argument, for personally I have regarded most of which Elizabeth says to have intelligence and reason; however, I realized that most of these “dialogues” were actually just an insight into her thoughts. For instance, although the readers know Elizabeth’s distaste with Mr. Collin’s proposal and that she will never accept it, it is not until Mr. Bennet states, “Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collings, and I will never see you again if you do. The her rejection was never solidified Mr. Bennet’s confirmation shows his power over her and altogether male’s dominance over women in this novel. It seems the more I read Pride and Prejudice, the more I realize how many different ways it can be analyzed. What was your favorite analysis by Susan Fraiman? Did you agree with all her statements? If you disagreed with any, why did you?