Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin Essay

In the 1995 BBC edition of Austens novel, screenwriter Andrew Davies creates a presumption and impairment which upholds and celebrates the patriarchic induction of marriage. Davies p ars down the multiple sub-plots which are representative of realistic effeminate experiences and chooses, instead, to ignore Austens feminist bearing. To the entirely fe anthropoid perspective of the novel, Davies adds a masculine register point of view as well as a male gaze and overt sexuality effectively to reject female subjectivity in the burgeon forth.The paper also argues that popular horticulture has betrayed Austens intent by suppressing her subtle subversion of the marriage plot. plume and disfavor, which chronicles the courtship and eventual marriage of Elizabeth Bennet to Fitzwilliam Darcy, involves the education of both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, who essential overcome their false impressions before they can respect and chicane 1 an separate. The novels opening line, It is a t ruth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, mustiness be in want of a wife (51 ch.1), alerts the reader from the beginning that the plot centres around marriage. In the next sentence, Austen gravels the stage for her ingenious breakage of the marriage plot by establishing the male rather than the female as the object of exchange However little known the feelings or views of such(prenominal) a man may be on his first entree a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the adjoin families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters (51 ch. 1).Austen creates an intensely personal environment where the plot focuses on the relationships amidst the female characters in spite of appearance the domestic sphere as well as on the developing romance amid Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Major differences exist between Austens novel and the 1995 BBC reading of self-complacency and Prejudice in control to point of view, the male gaze and overt sexuality. In this womens picture, aimed at a predominantly female audience, the assure of the camera more much follows the narrative from the heroines perspective so that the spectator sees what the heroine sees.Although much of the BBC interpretation of is entered from Elizabeth viewpoint, the cameras gaze frequently switches to bring a male point of view and male experience to the forefront. opus there are significant differences between Austens novel and the BBC registration in terms of its narrative point of view, the novel and the film employ the looks change between characters in a similar fashion to accentuate Darcys attraction to Elizabeth. In both versions Elizabeth first falls under Darcys scrutiny at the Meryton assembly when he insults her by declaring that she is not inviting enough to render her acceptable as a dance partner.Upon overhearing his disdain, Elizabeth directly gets up from her chair and remove s herself from his critical notice. After this initial encounter, Austens narrative describes how Elizabeth quickly becomes an object of great interest to Mr. Darcy Mr. Darcy had at first exactly allowed her to be pretty he had looked at her without confusion at the egg and when they next met, he looked at her only to criticise. . . . Though he had observe with a critical eye more than one failure of everlasting(a) symmetry in her form he was forced to acknowledge her sign to be light and pleasing. (70 ch. 6)As the novel progresses, Elizabeth becomes increasingly cognizant of Mr. Darcys gaze. While visiting the Collins at Hunsford, Elizabeth once again encounters Mr. Darcy. While Elizabeth is seated at the piano conversing with Colonel Fitzwilliam during an evening spent at Rosings Park, Darcy stationed himself so as to command a full view of the fair promoters countenance (206 ch. 31). Charlotte Collins suspects that Mr. Darcy is in love with Elizabeth and sets out to estab lish that her intuition is correct She watched him whenever they were at Rosings, and whenever he came to Hunsford but without much success.He certainly looked at her friend a great deal, but the feel of that look was disputable. It was an earnest, steadfast gaze, but she often doubted whether there were much admiration in it, and some dates it seemed nothing but absence of mind. (214 ch. 32) In the BBC adaptation, however, Darcys gaze is far less ambiguous than it appears in Austens novel. The film has the advantage of being able to create a visual authority of the narrative, making it much more explicit to the spectator that Darcys unending observation of Elizabeth results from his desire rather than from his disdain of her.The screenplay offers the spectator a inner position which allows him/her more knowledge than Elizabeth for, part Elizabeth naively suspects that there must be something horribly wrong with her to attract Mr. Darcys attention, the spectator understands tha t Darcys smouldering glances are the result of frustrated desire which he cannot conquer. In opinion after scene, Darcy continues to fix his gaze on Elizabeth, watching from the windowpane as Jane and Elizabeth depart in the carriage from Netherfield and scrutinising Elizabeth as she dances with Mr. Collins at the Netherfield ball.At times, Elizabeth seems comp allowely unaware that she is being watched by Mr. Darcy while at others her awareness of his gaze makes her exceedingly uncomfortable. In the film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the interaction and dialogues between Darcy and Elizabeth are nearly often filmed from such perspective that Darcy and Elizabeth rarely appear together in the same piece until the very end of the film. Although Elizabeth occasionally steals glances at Darcy when he is unaware, she does not legis recent his regard until almost the conclusion of the film during a scene in which she and the Gardiners dine at Pemberly and Mr.Darcy smiles benevole ntly on her as she stands by his sister Georgiana at the piano. After his company has left, Darcy recollects with pleasure the eye contact he enjoyed sharing with Elizabeth earlier in the evening. Even when Elizabeth and Darcy are left entirely to walk together, Elizabeth continues to avert her eyes from Darcys countenance. Despite the fact that she initiates the conversation which results in Darcy renewing his earlier proposal of marriage, she cannot meet his gaze.The film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice ends as soon as Elizabeth and Darcy are unite in marriage and it is not until the final scene when Elizabeth and Darcy are deviation the church that Elizabeth can finally look into his eyes as they donation a kiss to seal their union. The sexuality evident in the most recent incarnation of Pride and Prejudice on film represents a distinct departure from Austens novel. Unlike Austen, Andrew Davies introduces sexuality into Pride and Prejudice in his recent television adaptati on, contending, There is a lot of pen up sexuality in Austens work and I convey let it out (quoted in Amis 34).In the film, male sexuality and desire are evident as the heroine falls under scrutiny of the male gaze. some(prenominal) additions to Austens novel have been made in the section of the screenplay which recounts Elizabeth and Janes stay at Netherfield while Jane is recuperating from her illness. In one scene, Elizabeth, unfamiliar with the base at Netherfield, accidentally enters the wrong room and encounters Darcy playing billiards. As she turns to present the room, he shoots her a brooding look and then, in a symbolic gesture, forcefully knocks a billiard ball into the pocket.A short time later, the spectator observes Mr. Darcy finishing a bath and then proceeding to look down from his window at Elizabeth romping in the yard with a dog. These cinematic images, instead of furthering the narrative, seem to have been included in the film adaptation primarily to establi sh Darcy as a sexual subject and set up Elizabeth as the object of his desire. Darcy vents his frustration in the physical operation of a fencing match during another portion of the filmic text invented for the screenplay.This scene demonstrates Darcys virility, and closes with a close-up of Darcy, glistening with perspiration from his masculine exertion, presumably referring to his love for Elizabeth as he proclaims to himself, I shall conquer this. Similarly, when Darcy makes an early return to Pemberly while Elizabeth is there on a tour, the camera focuses on Darcy striding back to his soil on horseback and then dismounting, undressing and diving into a pond on his property. Although in the novel Mr.Darcy does arrive unexpectedly at Pemberly to find Elizabeth there with the Gardiners, the film enhances the sexual tension between the two characters by embellishing an amaze and embarrassed Elizabeths encounter with a wet, partially clad Darcy. Although the screenplay positions Darcy as a sexual subject, female sexuality is virtually non-existent in the film except for a passive female desire characterised by waiting, frustration and misunderstanding. Despite the many differences between Austens novel and the screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, both versions portray female desire as fundamentally passive.The BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice reflects this feminist backlash characteristic of late twentieth century culture. By employing male point of view and the male gaze to transform Elizabeth Bennet into an object of Darcys sexual desire, the filmmakers have created a traditional Hollywood picture. Although the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is. indeed, a womens picture, it strays from Austens feminist intent. Although Austen ends her novel with the marriage of Elizabeth Bennet, she, nevertheless, skilfully empowers her heroine within the confines of the marriage plot.Despite the constraints imposed on her gender by the society of the la te eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Jane Austen manages to some grade subvert the patriarchal ideology of the time period in which she lived. In addition, through her portrayals of unsatisfactory marriages and her references to the economic necessities which often left women with no options other than marriage, Austen creates distance between the reader and the heroine to prevent over-identification.By successfully inverting the male/subject and female/object roles at the conclusion of the novel, Austen convinces the reader that Mr. Darcy was rightfully the object of her choice (385 ch. 59). Conclusively, a comparison of Austens Pride and Prejudice to the television dramatization of her novel illustrates how popular culture has betrayed Austens intent by suppressing her subtle subversion of the marriage plot.Although Austen never openly challenges the institution of marriage itself, she manages to be subversive by focusing the readers attention on the heroines personal g rowth and autonomy within marriage. Works Cited Amis, Martin. Janes World. The New Yorker 8 (Jan. 1996) 31-35. Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. Ed. Tony Tanner. New YorkPenguin, 1985. Pride and Prejudice. Dir. Simon Langton. Screenplay by Andrew Davies. Perf. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. BBC/A&E, 1995.