WS 101 - Feminist Heroines Essay PDF

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Essay on feminist heroines for Professor Kaplan's Introduction To Women's Studies course....

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WS 101 Professor Kaplan 18 October 2016 Feminist Heroines In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession the main characters have become unconventional heroine not only in their own stories but in society as well. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is based during the British Regency time period, meaning that a woman’s life was for marriage. Being born under her father until she was given away to another man for marriage, a woman had little to no rights for herself. Austen created a female character that posses various values and personalities that a woman of this time was not meant to have. Austen’s female heroine began to pave the path that women are more than able to be valued members of society. Elizabeth Bennet, the female character Austen puts a lot of weight on throughout her novel, shows that a lower class woman has the knowledge, honesty, and wit to rise above the poor image society has given not only herself but also the rest of woman-kind. It is almost as if, in short, Pride and Prejudice is a story about Elizabeth’s journey in overcoming the obstacles society, her family, and her future husband set forth in front of her. In the final quarter of the novel, Austen gives the reader clear examples of where Elizabeth dismiss the era’s socially acceptable gender roles. One of these examples is the memorable encounter between Elizabeth and the rich aunt of her future husband, Lady Catherine. Unlike a normal woman, Elizabeth refuses to obey Lady Catherine and says to her:

“I am only resolved to act in that manner, which will, in my own opinion, constitute my happiness, without reference to you, or to any person so wholly unconnected with me,” (Austen 338). Elizabeth takes a stance where class and social prejudice has no ability in defining herself, and therefore gives herself freedom from Lady Catherine’s concerns. And to this, Lady Catherine replies: “It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world,” (Austen 338). In this short interaction, the reader can see that Elizabeth has the confidence to speak her mind. She is a woman who refuses to look upon people and value things just because society says so; she believes she has the ability to judge her own values. On the other hand, Lady Catherine is shocked that a woman could act the way Elizabeth is and continues to make class a very important aspect of marriage. Now, Byron Hurt wrote an essay titled Feminist Men in 2011 relates to Elizabeth even though he discusses his own journey on understanding the greatness of feminism. After explaining to the audience how he got involved in the world of feminism he said, “I learned that feminists offered an important critique about a male-dominated society that routinely, and globally, treated women like second-class citizens. They spoke the truth, and even though I was a man, their truth spoke to me,” (S. Shaw 716). Now, even though he wrote this decades after Pride and Prejudice was published, he is talking about Elizabeth, as she is one to speak the truth about her beliefs and thoughts.

I picked that part of Lady Catherine and Elizabeth’s conversation because not only does it show Austen’s ways of making Elizabeth a feminist character, but it also challenges the socially constructed idea of marriage during this time. While Austen shows the reader that marriage should be based on love and acceptance, rather than social images and beliefs, she also is showing the reader that even independent women find their way to marrying a man. To say the least, Austen does an exceptional job in effectively forging the idea that women have the ability to be independent yet she ineffectively ends the novel by allowing Elizabeth to give up some of her independence when she marries. Lauren Baghdo, a student in a Women Studies class, created her own understanding of this novel as well. She wrote, “At that moment of her professing her love to Darcy, Elizabeth gives up her prior beliefs; agreeing to marriage ensured her no right to property, ensured her a new last name, ensured her of her wifely duties yet to come, and ensured her that she was moving up on the social and economic ladders,” (Baghdo 3). While I did express that Elizabeth did give up some of her independence when she married, I only believe she gave up some and not all. For a woman who had turned down this gentleman once before in giving him her hand in marriage, and as a woman who has broke many social norms I do not believe she would give up these prior beliefs nor do I think her future husband would make her. On a similar note, George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession casts sight on degrading images society had given women. As a writer who was fascinated with society’s inequalities, Shaw uses Mrs. Warren’s Profession to draw attention to the idea that prostitution may be caused solely by treating women so poorly that they have no where else to turn in order to keep their lives together.

While the title of Shaw’s play may represent the life of Mrs. Warren, the play really represents the relationship Vivie has with her mother and how it has shaped who she is and who she will become. Vivie is a young woman who has given herself an unconventional personality. Like Jane Austen’s character Elizabeth Bennet in the novel Pride and Prejudice, Vivie is a woman who refuses to accept the roles society has given her due to her gender. This is show in various ways through her rejection of marriage and her refusal to take care of her mother. Shaw is demonstrating feminist ideals through Vivie, which is why many refer to her character with the term “New Woman.” It is immediately clear to the reader that Vivie is an educated and independent woman, something that was very rare in the era she was living in but helps shape the course of Shaw’s play. Anna Quindlen wrote Still Needing the F Word in 2003 to explain how the word Feminist was still being devalued and considered inappropriate. Now, there has been over 100 years between the publishing of Mrs. Warren’s Profession and Quindlen’s reading and yet things seem like they have barely changed. In her reading, Quindlen explains how a report from Duke University concluded that, “ ‘Being ‘cute’ trumps being smart for women in the social environment.’ ” (S. Shaw 46). There is a clear relation between this passage and the character Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Vivie was meant to be a heroine in that she was independent and educated, she was meant to show her audience that now only did women have a right to do these things but they had the ability to also achieve in them. Still Needing the F Word is the society Vivie lives in while Quindlen is Vivie trying to eliminate stereotypes. Now in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Vivie and her mother started as almost strangers and while their visit did teach them a few things about one another, it did not mend their relationship.

While Vivie had first understood the logic behind her mother’s survival decisions, she did not accept her decision to continue work in the prostitute business. And after this news got out, Vivie knew her only option was to leave. While talking to her mother about her decision to return her monthly allowance, she says: "I am my mother’s daughter. I am like you: I must have work, and must make more money than I spend. But my work is not your work, and my way is not your way. We

must part. It will not make much difference to us: instead of meeting one another for perhaps a few months in twenty years, we shall never meet: that’s all," (G. Shaw 284).

Vivie explains to her mother that she was raised to be educated and independent, and now it is time to use those traits with full force. While her mother has given her such a great opportunity in both school and the workforce, Vivie knows it is time to eliminate her dependency on Mrs. Warren. Shaw once again brings out the characteristic of Vivie being a “New Woman,” setting her as a woman who believes in feminism. This is also where Shaw makes his heroine character different then those in past novels. Unlike Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, Shaw did not the play end in a way Vivie had to give up her independence. It is clear through the whole play that even though both women have become successful in their own ways, they have both become victims of society, a place where women are forced to make decisions that are not necessarily looked greatly upon. While dangerous at the time, Shaw made the issues of women inequality visible, as well as the strength woman had to diminish them. Shaw’s play also uses his female characters to show how even when women go against society’s beliefs, they are still able to succeed. Vivie was raised by her single mother, who happened to have a profession in prostitution. Mrs. Warren tried to be a barmaid but was wearing

herself thin and was not making enough money to support herself, so she had no choice then to switch lifestyles. According to Kristen MacNeil, “By choosing a “respectable” job in society, [Mrs. Warren] was disrespecting herself. Especially as a single mother, by making her profession prostitution she was able to give Vivie a high education and higher end lifestyle; something that would have never been possible if she worked a “respectable” women job her whole life,” (MacNeil 3). Prostitution has many bad images, but as Mrs. Warren puts it, “What sort of mother do you take me for! How could you keep your self- respect in such starvation and slavery? And what’s a women worth? What’s life worth? Without self respect,” (G. Shaw 250). She understands that even though he job was not respectable in society’s standards, she was able to respect herself because she was able to support herself and her child. As a woman who grew up as a poor child, she wanted to allow her daughter to have a better lifestyle. Shaw portrays Mrs. Warren as a woman who does not care what others think of her, she cares about what she thinks of herself and if she believes she is doing the right thing then she should be happy. Shaw may not be portraying this mother figure as Jane Austen portrayed Mrs. Bennet in Pride in Prejudice as the mother who wanted her daughters to follow all that society has set out for the female gender, but he is effectively showing that women should be able to respect themselves, be strong enough to believe in themselves, and be able to support the lifestyle they want to live. Marlise Ritchter wrote Sex Work as a Test Caser for African Feminism in 2012 and her studies and ideas closely relate to the beliefs of Mrs. Warren. Sex work, which is also know as prostitution, is looked down upon or considered illegal in many societies. However, just like Mrs. Warren the African women involved in this see it only as a “financial arrangement” where a customer pays for a service. Ritchter wrote, “Sex workers across Africa make it clear that their profession relates to ‘sex that is paid for’ and that it is a service that is rendered and their job

should be respected,” (S. Shaw 532). While not everyone may agree, sex work and prostitution are respectable to people and it is unfair to judge them because they are working to support themselves and their family. Jane Austen, Byron Hurt, George Bernard Shaw, Anna Quindlen and Marlise Ritchter all write about the importance of feminism and how it changes our society day after day. The female characters in Jane Austen and George Shaw’s novels strive to be independent and break out of the roles society has set forth for them. They both effectively show the reader that women have the ability to be educated, independent, and strong. While Austen ends her story by marring the female heroine she created the reader can still believe that Elizabeth will continue her willingness to speak-up. Overall, reading these novels and short essays has allowed me to understand that sometimes women need to make choices in order to survive and make a difference in society, because needing a man is not always the answer.

Works Consulted Austen, J., & Jones, V. (2005). Pride and Prejudice. New York: Penguin Books. Baghdo, Lauren. “Essay #1 Draft.” Women’s Studies, sec. B. Quinnipiac University. October 13, 2016. MacNeil, Kristen. “The Fight for Rights.” Women’s Studies, sec. B. Quinnipiac University. October 13, 2016. Shaw, G. B. (n.d.). Mrs. Warren's Profession. Wildside Press. Shaw, S. M., & Lee, J. (2015). Women's voices, feminist visions: Classic and contemporary readings....