Watch this clip and consider how attitudes to women are presented here Starter: What definitions of femininity or the ideal woman do we encounter in ‘Pride and Prejudice’? 2 min thinking time then all round write using the whiteboards: write/say  pass

Identify and evaluate Austen’s intended message about the ideal Regency woman Understand how Austen portrays a range of female characters, particularly Jane Bennet Explore how Austen represents aspects of Regency England’s ideal woman L.O. to explore how Jane Austen portrays femininity in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and evaluate the roles of female characters.

Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners Austen’s portrayal of women: four key areas

Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners Austen’s portrayal of women Team task: You are going to visit four topic areas around the room. For each topic area you have some key quotations to explore. Together, you are going to work with the quotations to help you explore our central debate: Is Jane Bennet the ideal woman in Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’? What conclusions can you draw about attitudes to women in P&P? How do your findings support the debate about Jane? How important do you judge this to be on a scale of 1-10? What makes you think this? What complicates these conclusions?

Beauty Mr Bingley says Jane is “the most beautiful creature [he] ever beheld” Miss Bennet is reputed to be the local beauty Mr Darcy says of Elizabeth “She is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me” Mr Collins choice of Bennet sister for a wife is decided by seniority and beauty: "Elizabeth, equally next to Jane in birth and beauty, succeeded [Jane] of course.” “He began to find [her face] rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes.” “I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow” Mr Darcy in “admiration of the brilliancy which exercise had given to her complexion” Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners

Accomplishments Miss Bingley: “A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word [accomplished] will be but half-deserved.” Elizabeth Bennet replies: “I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.” Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners

Money Elizabeth reflecting on Wickham’s change of affections to Miss King: “…her vanity was satisfied with believing that she would have been his only choice, had fortune permitted it. The sudden acquisition of ten thousand pounds was the most remarkable charm of the young lady to whom he was now rendering himself agreeable” Elizabeth worrying about Lydia “She has no money, no connections, nothing that can tempt him to – she is lost for ever.” Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners

Manners Miss Bingley talking about Elizabeth: “Her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence… She really looked almost wild.” Darcy’s letter criticises “the total want of propriety so frequently and almost uniformly betrayed” by Mrs Bennet, her three younger sisters and occasionally Mr Bennet. Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners

Back at your ‘home’ tables, review all of your evidence and ideas, preparing for your assigned side of the debate. Ideal woman Beauty Accomplish ments MoneyManners Against For Against For Against For WHITEBOARD

Yes – link to qualities e.g. admired for beauty, her reserved manner, polite behaviour Yes – some of the accomplishments of women No – she doesn’t come with a fortune, needs to ‘marry well’ herself No – EB heroine – less beautiful, more unconventional, Austen champions this kind of woman No – other female characters might be more desirable by Regency standards, e.g. CB has money and accomplishments; GD is an admirable woman with talent and riches (provided no one finds out about her indiscretion aged 15 with Wickham) Is Jane Bennet the ideal woman in Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’?

Reflection: What is your opinion of women in ‘Pride and Prejudice’? Understand how Austen portrays a range of female characters Explore how Austen represents aspects of Regency England’s ideal woman Identify and evaluate Austen’s intended message about the ideal Regency woman A whole spectrum of female characters is presented with authentic qualities. The female characters are judged harshly by Regency society’s strict expectations. Elizabeth Bennet is the heroine and Austen uses her to challenge conformity to Regency standards of beauty and femininity. Austen portrays how intelligence can triumph over beauty in an esteemed Regency woman. Women are portrayed to have one function: to marry well. Most of the female characters are portrayed as frivolous and foolish. Austen portrays Jane as the ideal Regency woman with her beauty and agreeable countenance. Women are objectified and valued only for their money, manners, skills and beauty. None of the male characters in P&P appear interested in women’s personalities. Copy the phrase you most agree with and develop it with your reasons why.

Name the 4 attributes by which women are judged in P&P. 1 What is your opinion – is Jane the ideal Regency woman? Why? 2 What do you think Austen is trying to show us about women of the time? One perceptive sentence! 3