Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a novel centered on women. The contrast between Austen's strong female protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, and the theme of marriage as a driving force throughout the novel suggests that, for an author whose life was independent of a man, Austen was providing social commentary on women in society and could therefore be seen as a challenge to traditional female roles. This is especially important when taking into account the time period in which the novel was produced. Austen was writing at a time when feminism was not a developed idea. As a writer she was considered very unusual for not marrying and not having a career, something that was contrary to the upper-middle class view of women as domesticated, submissive housewives. Therefore, although Austen can be seen to conform to the view of gender stereotypes, it is possible to see the emergence of feminist attitudes in the way Austen presents strong female protagonists. In Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" there are no fewer than thirteen female characters, in contrast to the seven male characters who appear throughout, suggesting that Austen challenges traditional female roles by writing a female-centered novel. To some extent the males in this novel are controlled by the females. Caroline Bingley's controlling attitude towards her brother in her affection for Jane seen in volume 3, chapter 18 where "Miss Bingley's congratulations to her brother, as the wedding approached, were all that was affectionate and not sincere" suggesting with the word "insincere" that her brother has gone against her wishes, her behavior reflects this. This is supported by Mrs. Bennet's insistence from volume 1, chapter 1, that her husband "must visit h... middle of the paper... Bennet becomes the protagonist whose unusual actions place her out of social context." and who does not fit any of the four main female stereotypes, it can be suggested that Austen challenges to some extent the idea that women are subsidiary to men. However, the main concern of most of the characters is marriage and how to achieve it. Structurally the novel ends with marriage and this is seen as the resolution as women are completed by marriage. For example, Lydia Bennet is seen as a restored woman only after she marries Mr. Wickham and as a reader this is the end of her story: her marriage resolves her journey. It is in this that, despite the appearance of strong characters such as Lizzie, Austen does not challenge traditional female roles as the novel's conclusion focuses on the characters achieving fulfillment through marriage..