02.04.2013 Views

Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Bourgh advises everyone on everything, considering<br />

herself an ultimate expert, a privilege stemming from her<br />

position as heiress with the intimation of past Norman<br />

governance.<br />

Madame Duval represents the worst of women involved<br />

in the ups and downs of the eighteenth-century marriage<br />

market, in her youth hawking her beauty and charm,<br />

covering her bawdy barmaid roots in order to seduce<br />

wealth and power from a susceptible young man as quickly<br />

as she could. Lady de Bourgh, on the other hand, reminds<br />

us that the Norman Conquest continues. Her guidance and<br />

advice are critical to understanding her as an<br />

authoritative descendant, albeit through marriage, of<br />

Norman victory. She represents what the eighteenth<br />

century considered as wrong with women having power.<br />

Unlike Mrs. Selwyn, who is able to save the day for<br />

<strong>Evelina</strong>, Lady Catherine de Bourgh tries her hardest to<br />

ruin the day for Elizabeth Bennet in order to push her<br />

own private agenda.<br />

Further, Madame Duval and Lady de Bourgh share a<br />

fading beauty only they cannot bear to lose. They are<br />

widows with no power in the market to remarry. Though<br />

they have money and power, they are still irrelevant in<br />

patriarchal, patrilineal England. They are symbols of

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!