"PRIDE AND PREJUDICE" AS A NOVEL OF NEW WOMAN IN CONCEPTION

 

“PRIDE AND PREJUDICE” AS A NOVEL OF NEW WOMAN IN CONCEPTION.

Introduction

Decades of dominance had allowed the patriarchal society to construct an image for women in the society. They were considered to be mere shadows of man and were treated as the ‘other’. Women never enjoyed equal privileges as men and were accepted as a second sex. However within the changing time the role of women in a society also underwent a significant change , affecting greatly the sexual and social norms prevalent in the society. Male hegemony was no longer tolerated and women started thinking for themselves. With the increasing awareness about injustice done to women ,they started raising their voice against the infringement and subjugation. This conscious effort to fight against male domination led to the rise of Women’s Liberation Movement in 1960 in western Europe and United States .It became a serious social ,cultural and political reform movement that lead to the upliftment of women .However the first voice on behalf of women’s right was raised by Mary Wollstonecraft in her “ A Vindication of the Rights of Women” (1792), Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”(1929), Simone De Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex”(1949). There were also male contributors to the movement including John Stuart Mill’s “The Subjection of Women” and Frederic Engel’s “The Origin of the Family”(1884).

The New Woman was a term used at the end of the 19^th century to describe women who were pushing against the limits which society imposed on them and It had a profound influence on feminism. In 1894, Irish writer Sarah Grand used the term “New Woman” in an influential article to refer to independent women seeking radical change. This term was further made popular by Henry James who used it to describe the growth in the number of feminist, educated, independent women in Europe and the United States. The Victorian period was an age of tremendous change. Art, politics, science and society were revolutionized by the development of new theories and norms that challenged the conventions .The most radical change concerning the growth of women was an increase in the number of opportunities available to them in a patriarchal world. With an improvement in the educational and employment prospects of women, marriage followed by motherhood was no longer seen as the inevitable route towards attaining financial stability. Autonomy was a radical goal for women towards the end of 19^th century. Earlier women were legally or economically dependent on their husband or male relative. The emergence of education ,career opportunities and legal rights to properties in the late 19^th century enabled women to step into a new position of freedom and choice .The New Woman placed more importance to her sexual autonomy.

Literary discussions over the expanding potentials for women in English Society dates back to Maria Edgeworth’s “Belinda”(1801) and Elizabeth Barret’s “Aurora Leigh”(1856) which explored a women’s plight between conventional marriage and the radical possibility that a women could live independently . In drama, the late 19^th century saw “New Woman” plays in Henrick Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”(1879) and “Hedda Gabler”(1896), Henry Arthur Jone’s play “The Case of Rebellious Susan” and G B Shaw’s controversial “Mr Warren’s Profession”(1893) and “Candida”(1898).

Single women at marriageable age were perceived as a growing social problem in mid and late Victorian England. Marriage was the only mean by which a women could gain social mobility in Victorian England . But gradually educated and liberated women who were later called ‘New Woman’ began to question the rigid framework of paternalistic society that emphasized on the significance of traditional Victorian marriage. Thus the New Woman became a significant cultural icon, departing from the stereotypical Victorian women. She was intelligent ,educated, emancipated, independent and self- supporting. This ideology played a significant part in creating complex social changes that led to the redefining of gender roles, consolidating their rights and overcoming the masculine supremacy.

“By exploring the possibility of enacting change within the domestic space, New Women novels generated a rhetoric of resistance within Victorian Society that with some exceptions promoted change without enacting or demanding feminist revolution”- Elizabeth Macleod Walls.