“ ‘Eliza Bennet,’ said Miss Bingley, when the door was closed on her, ‘is one of those young ladies who seek to recommend themselves to the other sex by undervaluing their own,’ ” (Austen 29). In Pride and Prejudice, author Jane Austen criticizes and ridicules traditional female roles and attitudes through the main character, Elizabeth Bennet. She challenges the contemporary society’s expectations for her as a woman and is self-reliant and rebellious. Elizabeth’s lack of an …showed first 75 words of 1143 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1143 total…of the utter ridiculousness of the expectations that women are to fulfill. Likewise, Austen’s criticisms are not meant condemn women as sneaky, inconsequential, and unaccomplished; instead they are aimed at the unjustly constructed limitations placed on women’s position in society. Pride and Prejudice is a feminist novel because the censures on femininity in the story and characters find fault only in the repression of women through the inequitable standards that they must uphold.