1the Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet

The Humiliation of Elizabeth bennet And Mr. Darcy Susan Fraiman in her judge The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet argues that Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Jane Austens unfermented Pride and Prejudice, is disempowered when she marries Fitzwilliam Darcy who succeeds Mr. Bennet as controlling literary figure. Fraiman claims that Elizabeth is a surrogate-son to her father trapped inside her female body during an age when sex roles were rigorously fixed.Judith Butler in her essay of 1990 called Performative Acts and Gender Constitution An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, states that causeing ones gender wrong initiates a set of punishments both obvious and indirect. Through the contri simplyion of Butlers theory, this essay aims to demonstrate that it is non only, as Fraiman claims, Elizabeth Bennet who is punished by indian lodge for coiffeing her gender wrong, but also Mr. Darcy. In respect to convention, Mister Darcy performs his gender wrong as well as he g oes by a female name and is frequently passive, unsocial and taciturn as Elizabeth puts it.He admits I certainly have not the talent which some hoi polloi possess of conversing easily with those I have neer seen before He admits to Elizabeth at the very that he was embarrassed when she asks him why he was so shy of her. It must be considered then that Darcy does not deficiency to humiliate? Elizabeth with his extensive power of a paternalistic noble but is quite an humiliated by it himself. after all he has many feminine characteristics He waits to be approached he prefers listening to lecture e is receptive rather than aggressive he is anxious about his reputation and judges pile according to their manners he is the person his friends come to for advice, and he writes letters instead of personally confronting people. To perform ones gender right, as Judith Butler asserts in Performative Acts and Gender Constitution, means to perform ones gender in conformism with historica l and cultural sanctions that change over time. Butlers essay deconstructs societys belief that gender is a fixed graphic given.She questions if and how we exist before societal ideologys imposition by observing gender in a phenomenological focal point and finds that gender is al federal agencys performed, but the performance varies according to time period. What does not vary, however, is societys punishment of people who dont perform their gender according to the current convention. Elizabeth Bennet has aligned herself with her father and his male, independent perspective. Mr. Bennet bequeaths to Elizabeth his ironic exceed from the world, the habit of studying and appraising those around him, the role of social critic.Therefore Lizzie is less a daughter than a surrogate son, who by giving up the mother and giving in to the father, reaps the spoils of maleness. In regards to society, however, Lizzies male emancipation is dangerous. She does not behave like a gentlewoman of her time who was conducted to draw and do needlework indoors while waiting for a suitor to whisk her off to the altar. Ex. *The haughty Bingley sisters immediately offer her behavior unsuitable To walk three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatsoever it is, above her ankles in dirt, and alone, quite alone What could she mean by it?It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country-town indifference to decorum (Austen 25). *When Mr. Collins proposes to Lizzie, she doesnt employ the usual practice of elegant females, but declines his offer as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart (Austen 75). While Lizzies stopping point to refuse the buffoonish Mr. Collins is justified, it is nonetheless precarious in her situation. If she and her sister Jane hadnt married Darcy and Bingley respectively, which hind end be regarded as the exceptions to the rule, they would have lost their parents? ntailed house to Mr. Collins. Lizzie, within Regency England society, is performing her gender wrong? by not accepting a promising proposal. Instead, she displays typically male behavior You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by access in all this state to hear me? But I will not be scare though your sister does play so well. There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage invariably rises with every attempt to affright me (Austen 115). Obstinacy and audacity are not socially scripted feminine qualities. Lizzie turns down Mr.Darcys proposal in an equally confident manner Every time Darcy opens his mouth, he is superseded by a speech of great length and vehemence Her language, her feelings, her judgments overwhelm his (Fraiman 361). Elizabeth here not only matches Darcy in intellect, she tops him. Many of her characteristics would be highly-regarded in a man, but not in a woman. While letter-communication was common practice in Regency England for both women and men alik e, the letter Mr. Darcy writes to Elizabeth is not a regular correspondence letter, but a letter that deals with his strong emotions in a very feminine fashion.In his need to justify himself for Elizabeths accusations, he bares his soul in such a forthcoming, dignified, and eloquent manner as only a womans love letter would be expected to accomplish. His letter is so well-composed that he likely dedicated hours of drafts to it. Austen emphasizes the uniqueness of Darcys letter by putting male letter-writing into perspective. Charles Bindleys letters are described as chaotic, correspondence-related and short Charles writes in the most careless way imaginable.He leaves out half his words, and blots the rest, claims his sister Caroline (Austen 33). Meanwhile, she employs feminine terms to depict Mr. Darcys writing do you always write such charming long letters (Austen 32-3). The boyish Elizabeth, in contrast, writes two letters in Pride and Prejudice both are addressed to Mrs. Gardine r and are simple correspondence letters. Mr. Darcys letter thusly is less of a hostile takeover of authorial power, as Fraiman calls it (her authorial powers wane), but rather his only means of expressing himself to Elizabeth (Fraiman 377).He is not a controlling literary figure (Fraiman 383) that replaces Elizabeths father, but someone who takes a great risk by revealing sensitive personal details which could be used to drop him socially to a woman who has just refused him as a husband. In a very feminine way, Mr. Darcy gives Elizabeth power over his familys reputation and himself. Darcys behavior so far has, as Butler puts it, initiated a set of punishments both obvious and indirect (Butler 279). Elizabeth especially, as a member of her society, misreads him repeatedly and therefore indirectly disempowers him because he cannot harbour himself heard by her.Mr. Darcys passive feminine side is generally misread by society as pride, which shows that to perform ones gender wrong? res ults in punishment. Darcy doesnt court Elizabeth in the way she and society expect therefore he, just as much(prenominal) as Lizzie, suffers a loss of clout (Fraiman 377). The gender-performance that is expected of Elizabeth and Darcy by society runs anathema to their original one and they realize toward the end of the novel that they have to succumb to societys gender-script if they deficiency to be together.As Susan Fraiman argues, Elizabeth, as a woman, has to relinquish some of her power Elizabeth marries a decent man and a large estate, but at a certain cost Darcy disempowers Elizabeth if only because of the positions they each occupy in the social schema because he is a man and she is a wife (Fraiman 384). The cost is her compromise, but Darcy has to make it as well the cost might even be a gain if Darcy respects Elizabeth as a wife, and there is no evidence in the novel that he won? t. Conclusion Fraimans beak of Mr.Darcy disempowering Elizabeth is misdirected in that she reads him solely as a man, not as a person who has as much trouble performing his gender right as does Lizzie. Darcy has to give up passive observing and letter-writing in favor of action, such as saving the damsel in distress Lydia. Fraimans critique of Elizabeth marrying Darcy also does not invoke singleness as a liberating alternative, in which case Lizzie would lose even more power. The novel rather reveals the limits of everyones personal autonomy in a society where gender roles are fixed.Mr. Darcy never sought to take Elizabeths power or independence away-quite the opposite- they caused his falling in love with her. If Elizabeth is disempowered after her marriage, the find fault must be directed at Regency society, not Mr. Darcy marriage itself is always a compromise, after all. Mr. Darcy, just as much as Elizabeth, sacrifices a great deal of his original individuality by positioning his gender-performance with Regency societys convention. But, as Lizzie says We do not suffer by accident.