1the Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet

The necrosis of Elizabeth Bennet And Mr. Darcy Susan Fraiman in her essay The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennet argues that Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Jane Austens bracing gazump 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 obtain trapped inside her female body during an age when sex activity roles were rigorously fixed.Judith Butler in her essay of 1990 c exclusivelyed Performative Acts and G winduper Constitution An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, states that serveing ones gender wrong initiates a set of punishments both(prenominal)(prenominal) obvious and indirect. Through the contri howeverion of Butlers theory, this essay aims to demonstrate that it is non nevertheless, as Fraiman claims, Elizabeth Bennet who is punished by society for practiseing her gender wrong, exactly also Mr. Darcy. In respect to convention, Mis ter Darcy performs his gender wrong as tumefy as he goes by a powder-puff name and is often passive, un accessible and taciturn as Elizabeth puts it.He admits I certainly project non the talent which some people possess of conversing easily with those I have never seen before He admits to Elizabeth at the very that he was crushed when she asks him why he was so shy of her. It must be considered thence that Darcy does non want to humiliate? Elizabeth with his extensive power of a paternalistic noble but is rather humiliated by it himself. after all he has many feminine characteristics He waits to be approached he prefers perceive to talking e is receptive rather than aggressive he is dying(predicate) about his reputation and judges people harmonise to their bearings 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 Constitut ion, implys to perform ones gender in accordance with historical and cultural sanctions that change everyplace time. Butlers essay deconstructs societys belief that gender is a fixed natural discombobulaten.She questions if and how we personify before societal ideologys imposition by observing gender in a phenomenological charge and finds that gender is always performed, but the performance varies harmonise to time period. What does non 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 teetotal distance from the world, the habit of studying and appraising those around him, the role of social critic. in that respectfore Lizzie is less a daughter than a surrogate son, who by fine-looking up the mother and giving in to the father, reaps the spoils of maleness. In regards to society, ho wever, Lizzies male freedom is dangerous. She does not behave like a gentle woman of her time who was evaluate to draw and do needlework indoors while waiting for a suitor to whisk her off to the altar. Ex. *The haughty Bingley sisters immediately decl be her doings unsuitable To walk three miles, or four miles, or basketball team miles, or whatever 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 or so country-town indifference to decorum (Austen 25). *When Mr. collins proposes to Lizzie, she doesnt employ the usual practice of delightful females, but declines his offer as a rational creature language the truth from her heart (Austen 75). While Lizzies decision to refuse the buffoonish Mr. Collins is thatified, it is nonetheless precarious in her situation. If she and her sister Jane hadnt married Darcy and Bingley respectively, which can 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 coming in all this state to hear me? But I will not be alarmed 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 always rises with every seek to intimidate me (Austen 115). Obstinacy and audacity are not socially compose 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 greater 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 l etter-communication was common practice in Regency England for both women and men alike, the letter Mr. Darcy writes to Elizabeth is not a regular understanding 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 admire letter would be pass judgment to accomplish. His letter is so well-composed that he likely use 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 visualise Mr. Darcys writing do you always write such charming prospicient letters (Austen 32-3). The boyish Elizabeth, in contrast, writes two letters in Pride and Prejudice both are addressed to Mrs. Gardiner and are simple correspondence letters. Mr. Darcys letter therefore is less of a hostile takeover of authorial power, as Fraiman calls it (her authorial powers wane), but rather his only way of life of expressing himself to Elizabeth (Fraiman 377).He is not a controlling literary figure (Fraiman 383) that replaces Elizabeths father, but somebody who takes a great risk by revealing sensitive personal details which could be used to destroy 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, be amisss him repeatedly and therefore indirectly disempowers him because he cannot beget himself heard by her.Mr. Darcys passive feminine side is generally misread by society as pride, which shows that to perform ones gender wrong? results 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 want 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 bring home the bacon if Darcy respects Elizabeth as a wife, and there is no evi dence in the novel that he won? t. Conclusion Fraimans blame of Mr.Darcy disempowering Elizabeth is misdirected in that she reads him only if 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 brook even more power. The novel rather reveals the limits of everyones personal autonomy in a society where gender roles are fixed.Mr. Darcy never seek 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 blame 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 aligning his gender-performance with Regency societys convention. But, as Lizzie says We do not suffer by accident.