Prikaz ženskih likova u romanima Ponos i predrasude, Uvjeravanje i Emma Jane Austin

Jane Austen is one of the most famous women writers of the nineteenth century. Her novels Pride and Prejudice (1813), Emma (1815), and Persuasion (1818) deal with the position of women and their social expectations, most of which are related to marriage. The protagonists of these novels represent a unique response to those expectations, which is a product of their way of thinking. Women in the nineteenth century did not have much choice when it came to their future. They could either get married or become governesses if they were educated enough. Their life was shaped mostly by their families which tried to find them a husband who would support them. Austen’s heroines Elizabeth, Emma, and Anne are self-reliant and uncenventional women who marry the men they love. The other characters, such as Lydia and Mrs. Bennet represent women whose ultimate goal in life is connected to marriage. Charlotte Lucas represents women who marry out of necessity and Jane Fairfax embodies the women who are strong and ready to do anything in the name of love. Accordingly, all those women represent different female responses to social norms and to their own position in the society.