Life for the young ladies in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” Essay

Life for the young ladies in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† was very different to how life is today in the 21st century. I hope to compare the lives of women living in these times and find if life really was easier in the time of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. To decide this I will discuss the aspects of class and the social system, education, entertainment and leisure, transport and marriage that affect these young ladies. In the book â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† there are very obvious class distinctions and strict separations between working classes and upper classes. The strictness of this class separation was such that Darcy felt he would be betraying his family to express his true feelings for Elizabeth Bennet, who he thought to be of a lower class than him. It was not acceptable in the upper classes and aristocracy for someone to have to work for their money. The Bennet ladies were in a difficult position as they were still considered to be high middle class, but did not have enough money to support themselves and to be passed down to them from their father when he died. The Bingley sisters scorned those who worked or â€Å"were in trade†, and those who had no â€Å"worthy connections†. All the characters who appear in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† seem to be very sure of what they believe their place in the order of society is. Moving around the classes was difficult and unusual because the status was inherited. Today we no longer have these severe class differences, and so who young ladies mix with has much less to do with class, what your connections are or how much money you have. Education is also another major difference between how young ladies live today and how they were living in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. When Jane Austen was writing middle and upper class girls were taught to read and write and may have learnt another language, usually French. Young ladies would not have been expected to have any further education but would have been far more highly thought of had they been accomplished in music than they would have been if they were well educated. Caroline Bingley when talking about ladies’ accomplishments says â€Å"A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the †¦ word†. Even if a young lady wished to get a better education she would have found it very difficult as universities were not open to women and she would not have been able to further a career. Today everyone is entitled to an education and many young ladies go on to have a further education. There are now many more career opportunities for educated women as they are seen equal to men and an educated woman is not thought unusual. Throughout the book the young ladies seem to have a limited amount of entertainment and leisure activities. The Bennet sisters had no entertainment out of the home unless there was a Ball happening in Meryton, and this would only happen when there were officers in the town. Young ladies were not meant to go anywhere public without a chaperone and so this also limited what they could do. The Bennet sisters amused themselves with reading, embroidery and music, having not much else to occupy their time. In the 21st century there are far more things available to entertain young ladies. Much of their time is taken up by education or paid work, neither of which were applied to the ladies in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. The range of activities available to spend free time doing has greatly increased and with the amount of transport now available, getting from place to place is no problem. Transport appears to have been quite a problem to the sisters in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†. Walking was the easiest way to travel, a horse and carriage was used for longer distances. Compared with the transport in the 21st century this was all very slow and moving around the country was a major undertaking. It takes most of two days for Elizabeth to return to Longbourn from Derbyshire after hearing about Lydia and Wickham, â€Å"They travelled as expeditiously as possible; and sleeping one night on the road, reached Longbourn by dinner time next day.† Although we do not know exactly where Longbourn is we know that it would not take that long to complete this journey using todays transport. Almost all the excursions in the book have had to have been planned around transport and how easy the travel is. We would find it strange today for people to have to plan quite short journeys solely on the ease of transport†¦. Communications have also changed considerably. In â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† the only form of communication apart from word of mouth was letter writing. Today we have the telephone, mobile phones, text messaging and e- mails. Most of the views about marriage illustrated in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† have changed. This is what is said about Charlotte’s views on marriage â€Å"Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want.† Marrying for love was an ideal, but not always practical. The ladies in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† were unable to support themselves, so often had no choice but to marry someone who they may not have loved but was suitable. Elizabeth Bennet, however, is very strong in the view that she will only marry for love, and condemns Charlotte for marrying for money. In the 21st century it seems expected for ladies to marry for love. I think that one of the reasons views on marriage have changed so dramatically from the writing of â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† to 21st century is that women are now able to support themselves. There is no longer much need for a woman to marry a man only for financial reasons as women can now have a carreer and earn equal amounts as men. I do not think that life for the young ladies in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† was easier than life is in the 21st century, but neither do I think that it is simpler for young ladies living today. I think that aspects of the lives of the Bennet sisters was simpler than that of the lives today, but I also think that in some areas of their lives things were more pressured and difficult. The young ladies in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† were expected to have very simple aims in their lives, to find a good husband and have a family. Today young women are expected to attain a good education, maybe going onto higher education and start a carreer. They are expected to pursue this carreer and get married then start a family. However, transport and communications in the 21st century are far easier and simpler than those in â€Å"Pride and Prejudice†.