A sociedade em Orgulho e Preconceito, de Jane Austen

Jane Austen foi uma realista que pintava o quotidiano da sociedade provinciana com fidelidade e precisão. Sua tela era um tanto restrita; aplicando "grandes verdades a pequenas cenas", a Srta. Austen retratava o limitado mundo dos vilarejos do interior da Inglaterra, em pequena escala. Seus personagens ganham vida através do discurso e da ação, a mesas de chá e em lojinhas de aldeias. Eles são desenhados com astúcia e sabedoria, revelando um conhecimento tão profundo sobre a natureza humana que chegam a tomar importância universal. Sem nunca abandonar o espaço de sua própria experiência, ela escreveu suas histórias tranqüilamente entre suas atividades domésticas, delineando a cena local com delicadeza e humor. É difícil dizer que a Srta. Austen pertence a uma época específica o charme de seus romances é atemporal (JAFFE, s/d).

É assim que Jaffe inicia seu guia de estudos a Orgulho e Preconceito (1813). Quando Jane Austen escreveu suas obras, entretanto, o gênero romance já havia alcançado certa maturidade e conseguia unir “o mais alto grau de realismo social e intricação psicológica” (EAGLETON, s/d) de forma equilibrada.
Nesta mesma época, em parte, devido à turbulência nas colônias, surge a necessidade de o Estado inglês consolidar seu poder e o romance teve um papel indireto neste projeto por transmitir valores ingleses e britânicos, quando essas noções eram questionadas em seu próprio território e em revoluções políticas no exterior.

Os romances tratavam, respectivamente, segundo Eagleton, da esfera pública, quando eram escritos por homens, ou do espaço doméstico, quando eram escritos por mulheres, como as obras de Jane Austen. Eagleton parece, então, concordar com Jaffe neste aspecto: o mundo representado nas obras de Austen estava restrito aos vilarejos e mesas de chá ingleses, em pequena escala.

A preocupação com o quotidiano, o comportamento moral e o alcance universal das obras de Jane Austen, reconhecidos por esses teóricos, porém, transformaram-se em solução cultural para problemas políticos até mesmo no século seguinte:

A empobrecida experiência das massas, empobrecimento este criado pelas condições sociais, pode ser suplantada pela literatura: ao invés de trabalhar para mudar tais condições [...], pode-se realizar provisoriamente o desejo de alguém por uma vida melhor oferecendo-lhe Orgulho e Preconceito (EAGLETON, 1995, p. 27).

A concepção tradicional de moral presente nas obras de Austen, que compreende ações e não sentimentos, ultrapassa o ambiente doméstico em que são representados e alcança o espaço público, uma vez que essa concepção envolve também a responsabilidade e o dever social das classes mais altas em relação às mais baixas.

O enredo de Orgulho e Preconceito estrutura-se sobre a concepção kantiana de moral a partir dos conceitos de orgulho e vaidade:

“[...] Vaidade e orgulho são coisas diferentes, embora as palavras sejam freqüentemente usadas como sinônimos. Uma pessoa pode ser orgulhosa sem ser vaidosa. O orgulho está mais relacionado com a opinião que temos de nós mesmos, vaidade, ao que gostaríamos que pensassem de nós” (O&P, p. 18).

O tom reconhecível em suas obras, especialmente em Orgulho e Preconceito, traz para a narrativa o “sotaque que pertence à sociedade” (EAGLETON, s/d, p. 106) criticada nos romances de Austen. A ironia que se revela em palavras ou ações de personagens representa a preocupação em “defender um modo tradicional de vida em oposição a intrusos ou subversivos do próprio meio” (idem, p. 107).

As linhas inicias do romance revelam traços da história e do enredo: a preocupação com a realização de um casamento socialmente vantajoso, que aparentemente se relaciona apenas com o espaço doméstico, mas se torna relevante para a concepção de moral tecida na obra.

Embora a ascensão social de muitas mulheres solteiras dependa de um casamento bem-sucedido, o matrimônio não é questionado, mas as razões que levam a ele, como o interesse financeiro. O casamento deve ser realizado, segundo a moral das obras de Austen, observando-se os valores intrínsecos dos seres humanos, cuidando para que o casal tenha os mesmos ideais e nível cultural.

Tudo isso pode ser percebido na relação estabelecida entre o Sr. Darcy e a Srta. Bennet, que inicia baseada naqueles conceitos de orgulho e vaidade: a recusa em dançar com Elizabeth revela a preocupação (vaidade) de um homem de classe superior ter sua imagem associada a de uma jovem em posição social inferior.

Mais tarde, o primeiro pedido de casamento revela essa preocupação e fere o orgulho da jovem, que representa a importância do bom julgamento. “A condenação apressada de Elizabeth Bennet em relação ao Sr. Darcy” (idem, p. 111) revela como o orgulho do próprio bom senso pode levar ao preconceito.

A leitura da carta, mais adiante, mostra a mudança não somente de uma opinião, mas de paradigmas que devem pautados na moral. O perdão para o Sr. Darcy, porém, só ocorre a partir do momento em que ele assume suas responsabilidades decorrentes de sua posição superior na pirâmide social e obriga Wickham a se casar com Lydia após a fuga, em segredo.

Assim, a moral, de acordo com as obras de Austen, realiza-se por meio das ações e se torna relevante devido ao contexto histórico de crise, cujos efeitos aparecem nas narrativas, como Orgulho e Preconceito, em personagens que, à semelhança da malha social da época, fazem parte de “uma trama densa, da qual nada pode ser removido” (FORSTER, 1974, p. 52) e representam forças sociais da época.

Embora os desafios internacionais da Inglaterra, como as guerras napoleônicas, não sejam retratados, a movimentação das tropas inglesas – os regimentos – e a presença de soldados, como Wickham, demonstram a perturbação desse período.

Jaffe afirma que Austen pintava o limitado mundo do interior inglês, mas Eagleton, que a considera restrita à esfera doméstica, reconhece que “é difícil encontrar um tópico mais central para a história da Inglaterra do que isso. [...] A família em seus dias era a sociedade [...]. No século XIII, algumas centenas de famílias possuíam um quarto das terras cultivadas na Inglaterra” (EAGLETON, s/d, p. 115).

A sociedade rural, ainda de acordo com Eagleton, era o ápice de toda a vida rural, que incorporava os melhores valores da sociedade inglesa. A cena local, pois, a que Jaffe se refere é um dos espaços mais importantes para a economia da época e a universalidade a que se refere é reflexo do tratamento estrutural que recebe o elemento moral.

Outro aspecto que merece atenção é o fato de Orgulho e Preconceito desconstruir o conceito de espaços privados e públicos, ao mostrar como o comportamento moral que tem origem no seio familiar pode influenciar a vida social.

REFERÊNCIAS

AUSTEN, J. Pride and Prejudice. London: Penguin, 1994.

EAGELTON, T. The English Novel: an introduction. [s/l]: Blackwell Publishing, s/d.

_____. Literary theory: an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.

FORSTER, E.M. Aspectos do romance. Tradução de Maria Helena Martins. Porto Alegre: Editora Globo, 1974.

GOODWIN, S.W. Knowing better: feminism and utopian discourse in Pride and Prejudice, Villette, and “Babette's feats”. In: FALK JONES, L.; GOODWIN, S.W. Feminism, utopia, and narrative. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990.

JAFFE, B.P.; NELSON, R. Romantic prose: Jane Austen from Pride and Prejudice. In: _____. English Literature III: new dimensions in literature. [s/l]: McCormick-Math, s/d.

From page to screen: Pride and Prejudice adaptation to cinema

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-->The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast how society and the characters in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice¹ were depicted in the 2005 film adaptation. It incorporates information on the Adaptation Theory, passages of the novel and its correlative scenes in the movie in order to provide a context for understanding inclusions/exclusions and shifts in the perspective.

In Pride and Prejudice, society was divided into a class system rooted in family connections and wealth. Although the narrative reveals a critical judgment of the assumptions and prejudices of the upper classes and satirizes haughty and snob people, it also ridicules the poor and their misbehavior. Class mobility is limited and there is a strong sense of ranks, which is also present in the film adaptation.

The novel begins with one of the most famous sentences in Literature: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (P&P, p. 05), which introduces the plot and summarizes the story. It actually reveals the preoccupation with a socially advantageous marriage and its meaning gets clear when the reader checks the next sentence: “However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters (idem, ibidem).

As it is observed later in the novel, a single woman needs to find a successful marriage to rise in the social scale, which unfolds matrimony as the main goal throughout the story.

The movie, directed by Joe Wright, begins by introducing the space where it takes place and the Bennets. That conflates the opening of the novel, the descriptions of the family's routine and surrounding, as well as the main characteristics of the personages: Elizabeth walks reading whilst her sisters Lydia and Kitty giggle “He's single!”

Pulverness explains that reading and watching a film involve setting propositions about the next part or how the story will develop. That, however, can only be achieved if   

Both narrative fiction and narrative film give their audiences a strong sense of place,     making use of recognisable, often actual, locations. As well as places, we like to feel     that we recognise characters, and in both  novel and film we measure the success     of their representation according to the psychological consistency of their behaviour. 

The first Pride and Prejudice scene works as an acquaintance to the viewer and introduces the same ideas of the novel. The subsequent dialogues are taken from the book, but there are elements which do not belong to the narrative introduced in the adaptation. However, they are added only to emphasize the humor and a character's trait, such as when Mary asks “who's got warts?” during their conversation about this single Mr. Bingley. 

The first part is, according to Pulverness' categorization, a literal translation because “it renders the novel as faithfully as possible in a different 'language'”. Though there are some additions, the viewers will tend to approve of it for the adaptation has stayed close to their source material.

However, some elements of the narrative may be neglected in the adapatation: such as the style or even the mood”. As an alternative, the director may introduce a shift. In Pride and Prejudice, to maintain the leading contents, the director moved topics of the narrative to the characters speech:

Nothing could be more delightful! To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love; and very lively hopes of Mr. Bingley’s heart were entertained. (P&P, 09)

[...] “And so ended his affection,” said Elizabeth impatiently. “There has been many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!” “I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love,” said Darcy. “Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.” Darcy only smiled; and the general pause which ensued made Elizabeth tremble lest her mother should be exposing herself again. She longed to speak, but could think of nothing to say [...] (P&P, p. 37)

Elizabeth Bennet: And that put paid to it. I wonder who first discovered the power of poetry in driving away love?
I thought that poetry was the food of love.
Elizabeth Bennet: Of a fine stout love, it may. But if it is only a vague inclination I'm convinced one poor sonnet will kill it stone dead
Mr. Darcy: So what do you recommend to encourage affection?
Elizabeth Bennet: Dancing. Even if one's partner is barely tolerable.

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-->In the screen speech, Elizabeth has a “summary” of her main ideas and incorporates lines of the narration. That is important to keep the atmosphere of the novel and to draw the characters’ personalities. Mr. Darcy needed to ask that question to have his interest and challenging attitude displayed. Elizabeth's answer, in turn, had to be witty to settle her position regarding her interlocutor. 

So, these shifts brought a certain amount of psychological description that readers expect and enriched the adaptation. The changes may also imply other traits of the novel. The critics have argued that Austen's novels overlook lower classes and servents seem pleased with their position. This lack of interest, however, reflects the society behavior towards this same class:

The dinner too in its turn was highly admired; and he [Mr. Collins] begged to know to which of his fair cousins the excellency of its cooking was owing. But he was set right there by Mrs. Bennet, who assured him with some asperity that they were very well able to keep a good cook, and that her daughters had nothing to do in the kitchen. He begged pardon for having displeased her (P&P, p. 53-54).

Mr. Collins: And what excellent boiled potatoes. It's been many years since I had such an exemplary vegetable. To which of my fair cousins should I compliment the cooking?
Mrs. Bennet: Mr. Collins, we are perfectly able to keep a cook.

-->The allusions to employees in the book relate only to their daily activities, which may reflect the way society viewed the lower classes. Any reference to the family houseworking is not considered a merit and Mrs. Bennet highlights their competence to pay for servents. 

In the novel passage, the narrator employs the adjective “good” to emphasize her pride, which is not necessary in the film because the actress performs the script using different tones of voice.

In the movie, however, the audience can see this maid and is aware of her name – Betsy, which is only pronounced once when the girls are getting dressed for Mr. Bingley's ball.

Althoug this post has already argued over shifts  and inclusions there is one type of inclusion which has not been addressed: when the narrator describes the scene, but does not mention what the characters have probably said:

“[...] If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes are unchanged, but one word from you will silence me on this subject for ever.” Elizabeth, feeling all the more than common awkwardness and anxiety of his situation, now forced herself to speak; and immediately, though not very fluently, gave him to understand that her sentiments had undergone so material a change, since the period to which he alluded, as to make her receive with gratitude and pleasure his present assurances. The happiness which this reply produced, was such as he had probably never felt before; and he expressed himself on the occasion as sensibly and as warmly as a man violently in love can be supposed to do. (P&P, p. 281-282)

Mr. Darcy: You must know, surely you must know, it was all for you. You are too generous to trifle with me. I believe you spoke with my aunt last night and it has taught me to hope as I had scarcly allowed myself before. If your feelings are still what they were last April, tell me so at once. My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your fellings had changed, I will have to tell you, you have bewitched me body and soul and I love...I love... I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on.
Elizabeth Bennet: Well then... [takes Mr. Darcy's hands and kisses them] Your hands are cold.
Mr. Darcy: [nods]

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The second marriage proposal is driven by the narrator's descriptions which may not satisfy the modern viewers when it is adapted into a movie, which can be misinterpreted either because they believe novels and films have essentially distinctive properties or because the director did not interpret the passage correctly. 

Actually, those properties are functions of their historical moments and not of the media themselves. Even “a man violently in love” should express his feelings sensibly. The strategy adopted was to make Mr. Darcy stammer before confessing his love and wish not to be parted from Miss Elizabeth.

A good adaptation highly depends on the written script, which is an interpretation of a literary work, and on the actors' interpretation of this script. So, the film must be seen as a possible reading/interpretation of the work prior to it and not as an inferior version of the novel

The binary oppositions that poststructuralism has taught us to deconstruct should be applied to this field in order to fight  conceptions like literature versus cinema, high culture versus mass culture, original versus copy.

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Pride and Prejudice plot summary

Do you like Jane Austen? How about reading a Persuasion analysis?

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Jane Austen's Persuasion >> An analysis

A struggle for utopia in Jane Austen’s Persuasion

The Romantic novels can be organized in three groups: the Gothic Romance, the novel of purpose, historical novels and the novel of manners. Although Jane Austen falls into the last category, she transcended it and became one of the greatest novelists of that time.

Persuasion is the last novel written by the author and was published after her death, in 1818. Centered on a story about a postponed love, the book depicts the British class system of that time and offers a critique of the narrow-mindedness of the ones who lived according to it.

Unlike many novels, Persuasion is about how the main characters work around and within their society. Forster (1969) states that they all operate together and if the “plot made greater demands on them than it does they would still be adequate” because every action in the story reveals new traits of the characters.

The title of the novel reflects the main theme in the story. Firstly it evokes Lady Russell’s act of persuasion impinged upon Anne Elliot, who was convinced to refuse Wentworth’s marriage proposal, and all the acts of persuading the other. Secondly it refers to the fact that the characters are persuaded by their own beliefs. Finally it implies the persuasion some characters suffer due to the revelation of old feelings and traits of personality.

Jane Austen is acknowledged to be a manner novelist who made sarcastic remarks on society, women’s social status and family. Many critics say that Austen’s prominence is related to her witty view of women’s condition. However there is more to say about the author and her last work.

Persuasion is considered by some a continuation of Pride and Prejudice. In fact, both novels are similar because their heroines end up in resembling marriages: Elizabeth and Anne board on a relationship that seems to gather respect and equality between the partners. The novel also share features with Northanger Abbey, such as the space: both are partly set in Bath.

Although apparently the novel is only about how a love story was postponed, the plot also reveals utopian traits which can be noticed in the gaps between the established order and the desirable one. As a feminist reading, Persuasion is “concerned with the day-to-day practice of living” (GOODWIN, 1990, p. 01) and includes a struggle to improve the human condition.

The feminist utopia is not related to a society based only on reason, such as the one described by Thomas More. It has something to do with persuasive acts to achieve a better condition without approaching a naïve utopianism. Pure ideology collapses when it finds reality, whereas the response to the current social order leads to a systematization

There are other features of utopian thinking and the most typical is the visionary end. However the “utopian discourse is not confined to any specific narrative or discursive form” and that can be noticed in Persuasion. The utopian aspect is not restrictedly connected to the end of the story.

Goodwin (1990) cites Bloch to argue that even the happy ending, as the one in Persuasion, can be utopian because this same ending happened based on a conflict between dystopian elements and improvement.

Persuasion’s ending may misguide the reader:
Her spring of felicity was in the glow of her spirits, as her friend Anne's was in the warmth of her heart. Anne was tenderness itself, and she had the full worth of it in Captain Wentworth's affection. His profession was all that could ever make her friends wish that tenderness less, the dread of a future war all that could dim her sunshine. She gloried in being a sailor's wife, but she must pay the tax of quick alarm for belonging to that profession which is, if possible, more distinguished in its domestic virtues than in its national importance. (AUSTEN: 1994, p. 254)

It is not in the characters’ marriage that one finds the feminist utopia and the reason for that does not reside in the possibility of a sudden alarm. The tax Anne has to pay is only due to her husband’s profession. The marriage in the end is not the turning point for utopia, but Anne’s change.

Seven years prior to the beginning of the story, Anne Elliot, as a nineteen year-old girl, is persuaded to quit the person she loved. The respect she feels for Lady Russell and the belief in the woman’s sense seem enough to persuade her not to marry Frederick.

When Anne finds her family and herself before an imminent poverty, she realizes it is high time they all changed their lifestyle. Years after being persuaded, Anne has a chance to show her best qualities as well as the constancy in her affections. All this is sufficient to persuade Captain Wentworth to restore his admiration for her.

Anne’s matureness is more evident when Lady Russell presses her into marrying Mr. Elliot. Having found out his true intentions, she understands how persuasion can be dangerous. Thus only feeling more confident, she is able to convince Frederick that she is worth his affection, as it can be observed in the following passage:

Captain Harville was beginning to say, when a slight noise called their attention to Captain Wentworth's hitherto perfectly quiet division of the room. It was nothing more than that his [Wentworth’s] pen had fallen down; […] “Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. […] the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything. […]I believe you equal to every important exertion […] while the woman you love lives, and lives for you”. (AUSTEN: 1994, p. 235-236)

The details of this quote show how Anne changed and how Wentworth was persuaded. In these lines, the reader can see that utopia, in Persuasion, lies in the discourse of the novel and can also be perceived during Anne’s social development. She learned how to present her opinions, not allowing the others (such as the books) to guide her decisions anymore, and gather respect.

Wentworth, in turn, leaves the pen, which represents the history, the choice and the fate. The moment he accepts he still loves Anne, Wentworth lets her guide him. Anne becomes the responsible for the pen. The pause that exists between the time when he stops writing and when he resumes his activity reveals the moment that he surrendered.

So the novel’s closure does not symbolize the feminist utopia in Persuasion. The marriage is only a result of Anne’s social development. As it was argued, a feminist utopia strives for the improvement of the human condition, which is, in the novel, Anne’s (and other characters’, such as Lady Russell) improvement.

REFERENCES
AUSTEN, Jane. Persuasion. Crydon: Penguin Books, 1994.
FORSTER, E. M. As pessoas (parte II). In: _____. Aspectos do romance. Tradução: Sérgio Alcides. S/L: Globo, 1969.
GOODWIN, Sarah Webster. Knowing better: Feminism and Utopian discourse in Pride and Prejudice, Villette, and Babette’s feast. In: JONES, Libby Falk; GOODWIN, Sarah Webster (ed). Feminism, Utopia, and Narrative. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1990.
GRIFFITH, Benjamin W. Major novelists: Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott. In: _____. Study keys to English literature. Nova Iorque: Barron’s Educational Series, 19


Here's another text of mine concerning utopia: http://letrasufal.blogspot.com/2007/07/animal-farm-as-utopia.html

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