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Pride and Prejudice

SUSAN FRAIMAN (ESSAY DATE 1989)

SOURCE: Fraiman, Susan. "The Humiliation of Elizabeth Bennett." In Refiguring the Father: New Feminist Readings of Patriarchy, edited by Patricia Yaeger and Beth Kowaleski-Wallace, pp. 168-87. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989.

In the following essay, Fraiman views Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice as a father figure for Elizabeth Bennett and therefore reads the novel as transferring patriarchal power from one generation to the next as Elizabeth passes from her father's care to Darcy's.

I belong to a generation of American feminist critics taught to read by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) both focused our regard on women writers of the nineteenth century and formed in us invaluable habits of attention. It alerted us to eccentric characters,...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Jane Austen (Letter Date 18 November 1814)
   2. Jane Austen (Novel Date 1817)
4. General Commentary
   1. Mary Lascelles (Essay Date 1939)
   2. Margaret Kirkham (Essay Date 1983)
5. Title Commentary
   1. Emma
   2. Pride and Prejudice
   3. Mansfield Park
6. Further Reading
7. Copyright

1. Jane Austen
2. Feminism