Marriage As A Social Contract: Patriarchy, Economic Dependency, And Female Identity In Jane Austen's Novels
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Abstract
The importance of this research paper is to explore how Jane Austen creates the idea of marriage as not only romantic connection, but instead a socially confirmed contract created by male power, economic need, and class division within society. By carefully reviewing the texts of Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion, I believe Austen wrote about and also commented on the social structures of Regency England. Within this context, Austen’s heroines act as quiet resistance to oppressive gender systems. By using feminism and Marxism, along with genetic structuralism, and new research (i.e. from 2021 to 2023), I will show that Austen illustrates the relational existences of men and women and how this serves as an important political commentary on coercive systems of power, ownership, and sex. Finally, I will establish that Austen’s feminist literature remains socially relevant to current conversations about gender equality, female agency, and larger issues of social justice.
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