With reference to Austen's Pride and Prejudice, explore how Austen portrays transgressive women in the patriarchal society of her novels?
1800's Britain was a difficult time for women to express themselves with patriarchal conventions being the norm throughout the country. This is especially true in the context of the upper class women in British society; whom were expected to conform to certain rules of being a lady, which will have undoubtedly dominated their entire lives and ways of thinking. Within the context of Jane Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice', we can see both conformity to such - rules through characters such as Mrs Bennet in her quest for suitors for her daughters - and a rejection of them through characters such as Elizabeth Bennet, who rejects marriage proposals from more than one man. This was unheard of in Regency Era England, and so the character Elizabeth Bennet must be seen as Austen's primary portrayal of a woman attempting to break free from her class and patriarchal limitations, a woman transgressing class and society.
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