Abstract

The concept of women empowerment has now been considered to a prerequisite for sustainable development of any given society. But this bitter truth has been ignored for generations till the end of the eighteenth century. The concept of ‘feminism’ can broadly be treated as the twentieth century phenomenon that comes to the mainstream narrative in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Until the early period of nineteenth century women were compelled to endure discrimination due to the dominance of patriarchy. Though this issue had been the subject of some of the prominent writers of the early nineteenth century, women were hardly granted any freedom of choice or expression. The present paper will focus on the theme of suppression of women, and their exploitation & deprivation as depicted by Jane Austen in the novel Pride and Prejudice. The novelist’s dealing with the question of women rights can be considered to be the precursor of feminist movement that gained legitimacy in the last decades of the nineteenth century. Austen uses her writings to change the mindset of her readers by portraying her characters as independent, strong, wise and bold enough to claim more equitable access to socio-political and economic power.