Feminism is a movement of theories that share the same goal of defining, establishing and achieving equal political, economic, cultural, personal and social equality for women in education and work. Feminism was born to defend the rights and role of women in society as the development of culture and social norms and values ​​increasingly differentiates women and men. To promote feminism many writers wrote novels, plays and other literary works and through them feminism grew. Other ways have been adopted to give rise to feminism such as campaigns and so on. But through writing, feminism was becoming a sensitive issue, and the novelist and playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton once wrote: “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Only through writing would people's mentality change. In the Victorian era the plight of women was a shame and to change this stereotyped way of life, the famous feminist writer Jane Austen tried to change the Victorian society through her works by writing the novel Pride and Prejudice which brought a drastic change to that time. The Victorian era was also known for another writer, Charles Dickens, who doesn't actually talk about feminism, but in his novel he highlights the complexities, difficulties, situations and malpractices that women were inflicted on and how they survived. Both Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities carry forward the idea of ​​feminism, and as GD Anderson, the Australian feminist activist, said, “Feminism is not about making women strong. Women are already strong. It's about changing the way the world perceives strength.” Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In the novel Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen promoted feminism mainly through Elizabeth and other female characters in the novel. It is a novel that tells of a woman who does not have the right to choose a husband. According to culture, the innate will be cousin, if there is no son, the woman or girl will get nothing. In this case, a woman is considered a weak creature. Even a woman does not have the right to choose her couple. Friedan states that women returned to their homes to abandon their work to men, this mystique reduced women's identity to sexual and social passivity. Women must always kneel before men because men are superior. But in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet denies this norm. In addition to Elizabeth's romanticism and individualism, Austen presents her heroine's struggle to find a place within the conservative and social institution of marriage that was included in Victorian society despite her rebellious nature. During Elizabeth's struggle, it is notable that she will also emerge as a feminist character. When Elizabeth meets Lady Catherine de Bourgh when the Lady visits Elizabeth's home, Lady de Bourgh confronts Elizabeth about her affair with Mr. Darcy during which Elizabeth tells Lady de Bourgh “he is a gentleman; I am a gentleman's daughter; so far we are equal." This is the first time in the novel that Elizabeth can truly be portrayed as a feminist character. Feminism is an experiment that makes women and men equal, and in this moment when Elizabeth declares herself equal to Mr. Darcy is when Elizabeth emerges as the feminist who had already been highlighted in the previous chapters. From the beginning of the novel, Elizabeth was simply an outspoken woman with many opinions to express and who she was not afraid ofbe suppressed by those around her. She never truly equated herself with men or her oppressors, she never truly paved a true path for herself with her own virtues and ideas for success for her future, unlike Charlotte Lucas who married Mr. Collins with the sole intention of living a comfortable life. The feminism of that time is very different from how it has evolved to the present day. A perfect example of a feminist of the time would be Charlotte Lucas. Charlotte can be seen as a feminist instead of Elizabeth during the early chapters of Pride and Prejudice because of her ability to make firm decisions for herself not based on wanting to live solely for her husband's every want and need. Furthermore, Jane Austen deals with neither. neither the aristocracy at the top nor the poor. Analyze the clashes between the two groups. Since this class was not required to work, its occupations were mainly social, dining, and dancing. The girls belonging to this class were not educated for any profession. But they were expected to be skilled in music, drawing, dancing, embroidery, etc. Since women could not legally inherit their parents' property if they did not marry, they had no financial security. An elderly spinster, in most cases, was neither respected nor properly cared for. So the main aim of the girls was to get married to eligible bachelors. According to Mary Wollstonecraft, “women are not naturally weaker than men, but they appear weak and have a low level of education.” Education is the solution to these mental problems and at that time girls were not allowed to receive any education. For example, Lady Catherine asks Elizabeth. He wants to know who Elizabeth's teacher is. In reality, Elizabeth does not have a teacher. Then, Lady Catherine is surprised when she hears Elizabeth's response. However, her husband Darcy is an educated man. In this case, there is gender inequality in the form of education. Man has the right to learn and study well in an educational institution while woman does not have the right to learn and study like man. Fortunately, Elizabeth struggles to deal with discrimination. He omits his stupidity by simply reading. Elizabeth is a feminist who knows how to fight to break away from the stereotype that women are weak and stupid. He can oppose the patriarchal system by learning and studying through reading. Besides that, all the female characters except Elizabeth conclude that if a woman has mastered all her duties of becoming a good wife, she has become a perfect woman, except the nurturing skill which was considered a waste of time. Darcy also supports the idea of ​​The Perfect Lady. Darcy's desire for a "handsome" shows the mentality of English upper class men who consider themselves superior to women and women should be as beautiful and alluring as they want, not just men, upper class women were also used to classify other women. Thus, Mr. Darcy is like other men in society despite being presented as a nice gentleman. However, seeing Elizabeth come alone through the streets, sweaty with her dress and shoes soaked in mud, his opinion of women changes. He sees Elizabeth as the one who dares to challenge the rules and regulations meant only for women. “Walking three miles, or four miles, or five miles, or whatever it is, above the ankles, in the dirt, and alone, completely alone! What could he mean by that? It seems to me that he displays a kind of abominable presumptuous independence, a very urban indifference to decorum. The quote above says that Elizabeth is an independent woman. It is the representation of a strong girl. However, he can walkalone for five miles. The road is slippery due to the rain. Furthermore, in the story, the woman is neglected by her husband, William Darcy. Darcy does not want to accompany her and he is also not interested in Elizabeth. Darcy's attitude shows that this is the representation of female discrimination. Even if the woman is discriminated against by men, she can act as a strong woman. She can do what man cannot do. Furthermore, the woman in the story is physically stronger than the man. The man has nothing to do but the woman can walk alone on a distant road. This is feminist reflection. A feminist can leave the house while a man can leave the house even if she has to be alone. Austen created the character Elizabeth in a feminist way to reveal the atrocities that are committed against women. By reading and analyzing Elizabeth's character, women begin to realize their worth and to support feminism many writers wrote about feminist society changes. The first book dedicated to Austen as a feminist is Margaret Kirkham's Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction, which argues that Austen dramatizes the concerns of the feminist enlightenment of her day such as Mary Wollstonecraft. Elizabeth's criticism and mockery of men in the novel expresses her views on a patriarchal society, explained by Marxist feminist theory. The concept of Marxist feminism, discussed by Donovan, is based on a patriarchal worldview that holds that society is controlled by men. Explain that women are always looked down upon and with feminism the status of women will increase and this was only possible through literary works. He also says that women are at the mercy of men. But Elizabeth does not respond to this statement. She fights against this patriarchal society and manages to persuade Mr. Darcy, a powerful male figure, to change his view of the world and women. Although Austen's critique of society still follows a feminist literary tradition, her character's portrayal illustrates an ever-evolving personality who fights against society's stupid and evil norms. Another writer who wrote about the deterioration of women is Charles Dickens. In her novel A Tale of Two Cities, she wrote about the situation of women and their difficulties in abiding by the rules in the male dominant society. The women in the novel are a simple reflection of the female characters in Pride and Prejudice, with the exception of Elizabeth. Since both novels are written in the Victorian era, they possess the same traits of women present in the society of the time. Women at the time of "A Tale of Two Cities" had a very specific role in society. Regardless of social class, women were expected to marry, obey their husbands, and raise children. Very rarely did women have jobs and most remained at home. However, women played a vital role in the French Revolution, participating in brutal mob actions and often inciting their own riots. Lucie Manette is Doctor Manette's daughter and Dickens' depiction of the perfect woman. Lucie is a compassionate young woman. Dickens describes his view of his father by saying, "She was the golden thread that tied him to a past beyond his misery, and a present beyond his misery: and the sound of his voice, the light of his face, the touch of her hand, almost always had a strong beneficial influence on him.” Dickens presented Lucie in the way a woman should be and this was not the case in society. Her presence alone has a positive influence about her father. She is not only loved by her father but also by "hundreds of men" for her sweet nature, the young lady saysPross, the most significant of whom are Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. Lucie has such an influence on Sydney Carton that she is no longer the same person she was at the beginning of the story. His love for her leads him to sacrifice his life so that Lucie and Darnay can be together. Lucie is Dicken's perfect representation of both how he believed women should be and how society believed women should be. A man should be attracted to a woman not by her talent but by her intelligence and her calm and sweet nature just in the case of Sydney Carton. He loves Lucie so much that he dies for her to always remain in his heart for eternity. Madame Defarge, on the other hand, is a totally different type of woman. Being the wife of a rebellion leader, Madame Defarge is deeply twisted in the Revolution. Throughout the book she is seen knitting and, at first glance, it would seem like a normal female duty. However, Madame Defarge is not knitting a scarf or sweater, but rather making a list of people she believes must die for the Revolution to succeed. By taking Madame Defarge's knitting and making it an act intended to incite violence, Dickens shows us that she is a perversion of a normal woman. Madame Defarge is also obsessed with revenge. Her brother was killed by the Evremonde family and because of this she is consumed by hatred. He decides to kill the entire Evremonde family, including Darnay and his new wife Lucie. His hatred would be Lucie's death. When Madame Defarge goes to kill Lucie, she finds Miss Pross and after a fight between them, Madame Defarge is killed by her own gun. The actions and personalities of Lucie and Madame Defarge are crucial to understanding what happens to each of them at the end of the novel. Lucie was only good to people and as a result she marries the man she loves. Madame Defarge is just vengeful and hateful. The malice she harbors and the desire for revenge cause her to die at the hands of Miss Pross. Dickens does this on purpose to illustrate how when women behave as they should, they will find happiness. Consequently, if a woman behaves in an unbecoming manner, she will only have bad luck. Dickens also describes the other women in the novel as nurturing life or destroying it. Mothers play a particularly important role in this regard, as Dickens distinguishes between natural mothers and unnatural mothers. Women like Darnay's mother, Madame Evrémonde, and Lucie's mother, Madame Manette, represented mothers who die young but leave their children with a sense of conscience and love. Madame Evrémonde's exhortations for Darnay to atone for the family's wrongdoings, for example, motivate him to risk his life to help others. Lucia is also a natural mother, who raises her daughter and protects her from danger. The women of the Monseigneur's court, however, represent unnatural mothers, who care so little about their children that they entrust them to wet-nurses and wet-nurses and pretend that the children do not even exist. Similarly, Dickens also portrays St. Anthony's mothers who raise their children as unnatural in that they may spend the day as part of a ferocious mob killing and beheading people and then returning home smeared in blood to play with their children. The behaviors of both aristocratic and peasant women are destructive as they create an environment devoid of love and guidance or drive the next generation into further anger and violence. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get a Custom Essay While Lucie has cute and angelic children just like her and cares for them with love and concern, Madame Defarge has no children, an absence that ironically makes her/44372156)