In her critical essay of Pride and Prejudice titled Waiting Together: Pride and Prejudice, author Nina Auerbach argues that the women in the novel are always waiting around for the men to show up before anything truly exciting can happen to the women. Auerbach uses Mr. Collins' visit to the Bennet's as an example of this. The author writes, "We are not allowed to see Longbourn House until a man does; for the readers as for its inhabitants, it is an unsubstantial place that exists to be left." Auerbach also says, "Mrs. Bennet is perpetually begging any and all eligible males to come to a dinner we have never seen the family at Longbourn eat, as if only in their presence can nourishment present itself." While it is true that the Bennet's house is never fully described in detail and Mr. Darcy's home is, I think it would feel unnatural if the Bennet house was to be described in full detail by Elizabeth. After all she is our eye into this world and she has lived at Longbourn her whole life. The story begins in the middle of her life and for her to describe the home in which she has lived for a long period of time, in my opinion, would feel unnatural to the story. Her telling us of Pemberly however, feels natural because this is the first time she has been to this place.
Discussion question:
Some people see Lizzy as a strong independent female character while others argue that while she may be an interesting character, she still falls into the social norm of chasing after a man and eventually marrying him. What are your thoughts on this?
No comments:
Post a Comment