Elizabeth Interpretations

From reading the text, there are a few interpretations I've made of Elizabeth. One is that she can be a gossip, shown when tells everyone that Darcy said she is 'not handsome enough to tempt me', with the narrator saying 'she told the story however with great spirit among her friends'. Darcy was new in town so she immediately gave everyone a biased view on him by telling them this, not letting them form their own opinions, with her gossiping being the possible reason for Darcy being thought of as 'disagreeable' and 'horrid' by people such as Mrs Bennett.

Elizabeth it seems is interested in love more than marriage. Love for her is important, shown when she says to Charlotte 'if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it', referring to Charlotte's plan on getting married, showing that just getting a husband is not important to her, it is love that she wants.

She also seems quite sarcastic, shown when she answers that she began to love Darcy from 'first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley', when we in fact know that Elizabeth does not wish to marry for money, but for love, shown in the previous paragraph. Earlier in the novel, when she believes Mr Darcy to be rude that 'Mr Darcy is all politeness', again showing her sarcastic side.

Jane Austen

Austen was socially quite well connected among the 'middling rich'. She would likely have had a similar status to the Bennett family within Pride and Prejudice. Austen herself nor her sister ever married, and this could influence how Mrs Bennett in Pride and Prejudice was tremendously pushy to get her daughters married, as her own mother may have been like that.

Austen also had irregular teaching at school, so was often taught at home, at times by herself from books. Such heavy reading may have possibly influenced her aspirations of becoming an author.

Austen frequently attended social gatherings, which often meant dancing either at someone's home after dinner or organised dances at assembly rooms in the town hall. Such events have clearly affected her work. In Pride and Prejudice, much of the socialising and meeting new people was done at arranged dances.

Rossetti and Pride and Prejudice Plan - Points of View

Last lesson, we created an essay plan to discuss Points of View in Rossetti's work as well as in Pride and Prejudice.

In Rossetti's work, we came up with a few ideas for Points of View. In Cousin Kate, one idea was 'Society's View', which were represented by 'the neighbours', who call the narrator an 'outcast' for having sex out of wedlock, yet call Kate 'good and pure', event though she has done no different to the narrator except get married before having sex.

Another view was Rossetti's view, which could have been represented through the narrator, which could be shown through the fact that it is written in first person. The narrator believes there is nothing wrong with sex out of marriage, because as a result of it, she has her son, who is her 'pride'. She goes against the classic fallen woman idea.

There is also a feminist view, found in Pride and Prejudice, Goblin Market and Cousin Kate. In Cousin Kate, the man ruins the narrator's reputation, while he has no negative consequences. The narrator was merely his 'plaything', which he could 'cast aside' as he pleases, making her an unclean thing. In Goblin Market, 'Goblin Men' are the only men in the whole poem, so are representative of all men. The Goblin Men break up the women, who are close and slept 'cheek to cheek'. They make Laura a fallen woman, her hair 'grew grey' and she grows old. In Pride and Prejudice, men have ownership over women. However, women can resist, unlike in Rossetti's work, as marriage proposals are declined by women.

Pride and Prejudice Major Event Timeline

'Are Women Heroic...' Essay Plan and The Convent Threshold

Over the last few lessons various things have been discussed. One was the idea of whether the women in Cousin Kate are heroic. Our task was to write a plan for the essay question 'To What Extent Do You Agree That the Women in Cousin Kate Are Heroic?'. I was not there during that lesson, however, I have read other people's plans and copied up people's work so I do have some ideas.

Agree

• The narrator faces injustice from society yet comes out on top as she has her 'pride', which is her son, someone who will look after her. She stays strong and is not the traditional 'fallen woman'.
• Kate makes something of herself by marrying a Lord. She is a social climber and shows that poorer people can make something of themselves.
• The narrator recognises her wrongdoing and feels regret - 'shameful life'.
• Cousin Kate has moral high ground as she did not have sex before marriage, unlike the narrator.

Disagree

• Cousin Kate has material desires, abandoning her family for riches and property of the Lord.
• The narrator is fooled into sex.
• The narrator is bitter towards Cousin Kate.

The Convent Threshold was another Rossetti poem we looked at. After reading through, we were asked 'How Does Rossetti Tell the Story in the Convent Threshold?'. The poem is extremely confusing and hard to interpret but a few ideas did come out of our group's discussion.

The idea of heaven and earth was important. The imagery of heaven in lines 25 and 26 is unpleasant, with lines such as 'wrenched limb from limb', whereas the earthly imagery is beautiful, with phrases such as 'milk-white' showing purity, and 'golden windy hair' showing youth. Earth may seem so beautiful due to the narrator's lover being there and since he is not in heaven, heaven becomes the narrator's hell.

The narrator's conflict between religion and man is also noticeable. The narrator says 'my lips still turn to you', raising connotations of love and making the reader expect her to kiss the man, however, the next line is 'my livid lips that cry, Repent!', showing that she instead wishes him to repent his sins so he can be in heaven with her. She is struggling between him and religion.