Sara Abbas 2018-10-10

Throughout literature history, female authors used female characters and situations to highlight
certain hardships that women went through during a given time and era. Highlighting a time
where women were inferior to men as well as exploring the development of women in a society
that suppressed females. This essay explores three female characters, Elizabeth Bennet of Pride
& Prejudice, Jane Eyre of Jane Eyre and Clarissa Dalloway of Mrs. Dalloway. Using their
actions, earning them the place of the heroine title due to their determination and wit.

Pride & Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet is the first female character exploring the field of feminine
determination and freedom in this literary essay. 20 years of age, the second oldest daughter of
five sisters and the possessor of high intelligence and her desire of knowledge is expressed when
she wishes: “When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent
library” (Austen 37). The story of Pride and Prejudice falls in an era in time, particularly in 1812,
where women were expected to be married and married well, become owners of a great home
and obtain a family. Austen hence insists on the topic of marriage with the aid of Elizabeth
Bennet as a mouthpiece to portray the nineteenth-century values for women and the hardships
they went through. The matrimony proposals by Mr. Collins are used to portray this, where
Elisabeth replies with “I am sensible of the honour of your compliment you are paying me, but it
is impossible for me to do otherwise than decline them” (Austen 74) and continues with “If there
are such women who are daring as so risk their happiness” (Austen 74). Her sensibility in those
situations contradicts her mother’s big dreams of having Elisabeth marry and instead, thinking of
her happiness and future. Elizabeth presents an idea that is new to the era she grew up in. While
her mother thinks of the practicality of marriage rather than love, Elizabeth, on the contrary,
would instead marry for love and respect. The reader can immediately spot Elisabeth’s wit and
sensibility in the first few chapters of the novel. Firstly, when Mr. Darcy expressed that she is not
handsome enough and Jane not valuing one man’s opinion of her (Austen 7). The second
incident is when Elizabeth visits her ill sister Jane and instead of taking the carriage like women
usually did in the 18th century, and as she is not a horse-woman; she determinately decided to
walk the three miles to Netherfield (Austen 20). It is shown here that Elisabeth is not afraid of
wandering in petrichor weather and getting her dress dirty, not nearly as committed to society’s
idea of how a young gentlewoman should be.

The theme of women’s determination and decisiveness flows into Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre,
an orphan raised by a cruel aunt and around atrocious cousins. Jane grows up in a society that
also gives accountability to women upon marriageability; thus the dependence on a man. Similar
to Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte used Jane Eyre as a representative to challenge the dominant
Victorian culture codes that dictated the appropriate behavior of women (Bergström & Henry
138). Jane, thus, uses her education at Lowood to improve herself as a woman and gain self-
confidence. This also helps her enter the adult and independent life by applying for a job as a
governess upon finishing her education; this marks Jane’s maturity as a woman (Brontë 86).
Though similar in her outspokenness to Elizabeth Bennet, Jane does not have the support of a

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father or a mother, making her behavior and attitude more controversial than most characters.
Jane’s rejection of marriage by St. John Rivers caused him to react upon it as if it was a
preposterous action to turn down the thing that women wish for. In turn, Jane expresses to St.
John saying “God did not give me my life to throw away, and to do as you wish me would”
(Brontë 421), though lonely in a big world, she has control of her life. Jane’s character never
settles for whatever is available; she constantly seeks out new adventures, this is depicted in
many situations such when she leaves Lowood because she needs a new place and to see new
faces (Brontë 85). Jane leaves Thornfield and Rochester as well when she feels like things are
holding back her freedom such as Rochester’s secrets and his hidden wife, Bertha Rochester
(Brontë 297). Jane also exercises great self-respect and makes sure that she does not condemn
herself as a woman. When Mr. Rochester is exposed for having a mad wife locked up in an attic,
he still asks Jane to stay with him despite giving her the title of a mistress, she declines the offer
at once saying “If I lived with you as you desire, I should then be your mistress: to say otherwise
is sophistical-is false” (Brontë 308). In this situation, Jane could not and would not compromise
what she achieved in life as a woman by degrading her status as a mistress for the name of love.
Jane also heard of Mr. Rochester’s relationships with mistresses and saw the result of one,
Adele; acting a reminder of mistress-hood. She made her fate upon her initial desire, to be
independent (Brontë 141).

Throughout the novel, Jane expresses her frustration over the unfair social construction between
men and women, stating: “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just
as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their
brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men
would suffer, and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they
ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano
and embroidering bags” (Woolf 109). Jane’s frustration depicts the stereotypes about women that
are embossed in the society, thus enhances her frustration over it and the longing to break it. The
longing to break out of the idea of women being housewives and just that.

The theme of women’s independence and the longing for rising above being at a man’s mercy
transitions into Mrs. Dalloway’s Clarissa Dalloway during a different era in time where women
tried to become prominent in a man dominated society. An example is Clarissa’s knowledge of
her sexuality, reflecting on her ignorance: “she knew nothing about sex – nothing about social
problems” (Woolf 25). Once she experiences it herself, she relates it to masculinity; not that of a
woman’s (Woolf 24). Thus, portraying the social norm of women’s sexuality, that was
suppressed and tabooed. It was the time where organizations for working people was established
and women’s movements for female enfranchisement has begun to be formed. (Bergström &
Henry 149). The theme of marriage in Mrs. Dalloway is comparable to Jane Eyre’s as well as
Pride & Prejudice in a sense where her choice of spouse determines a woman's character.
Clarissa’s longing for space and freedom is reflected upon her choice of a husband. While in
love with Peter Walsh, he did not present her with the space she wanted and needed as a woman,

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expressing “because with Peter everything had to be shared; everything gone into” (Woolf 6);
thus she chose Richard Dalloway. In a sense, Clarissa chose freedom and comfort over what a
woman would have chosen, a marriage based on love and a man’s control. Another controversial
point that Clarissa often talked about and highlighted was the attraction between her and Sally,
an attraction that was suppressed in 1920s. Sending a message that women have as powerful
feelings as men and are able to experience and not be ashamed of the way they feel.

The reoccurring theme of independence, marriage and determination are used to depict the
development of women. To show that women can be more than homemakers and mothers, that
they can do both and have wit as well as possess knowledge. A way to reach the reader with such
ideas is the use of strong female characters that embody what women strive and want to be.
Elizabeth Bennet embodies the women.

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Bibliography
Austen, Jane. Pride & Prejudice . London: Dover Thrift Editions , 1995. Book.

Bergström, Cathrine Walker och Alastair Henry . Texts and Events . Lund: Studentlitteratur AB,
2018. Book.

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: HarperCollins Publishers , 2010. Book.

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway. Hertfordshire : Wordsworth Editions Limited , 2003. Book.