A study of the use of satire to express feminism in the novel pride and prejudice

• Main Author: Yung, Samantha Kah Khei
• Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: PE English
• Online Access: http://eprints.utar.edu.my/265/1/EL%2D2011%2D0807669%2D1.pdf; http://eprints.utar.edu.my/265/

Austen was well known for her use of satire and was often suspected of feminist tendencies within her work, which provided a gap worthy of research as there were several studies concerning Austen’s use of satire and existence of feminism in Pride and Prejudice separately, but not as inter-related elements. This thesis was focused on the study of the use of satire to express feminism within the text of choice, Pride and Prejudice penned by Jane Austen. The study made use of several sources of information and studies that were conducted based on Austen’s use of satire and hints of feminism in Pride and Prejudice, synthesising the information into a single coherent foundation for the content analysis. Utilising naturalistic observation and in-depth analysis revealed that the use of satire did express feminism within Pride and Prejudice, in all sorts of aspects including narrative, theme, characters and settings. Discussion of the analysis led to the observation that feminism could be expressed without the use of satire, but satire was necessary to enhance the expression and appreciation of feminism. Conclusively, it was seen that Austen’s life and writing skills had a great influence on how feminism was perceived in Pride and Prejudice.