[오만과 편견]에 나타난 희극적 전복성

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the correlation between the comic elements and author's feminist perspective in Pride and Prejudice, one of the most popular novels of Jane Austen. As Audrey Bilger properly observes, at a time when overt feminist statements could ruin a woman's reputation, comedy enables certain authors to “smuggle” feminism into their writing. Among the above mentioned authors is Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is the most remarkable as a subversive novel among her writings for its feminist tactics and the comic elements, which have offered the consistent popularity to Pride and Prejudice. The comic elements include irony, parody, satire, and unconventional characters, etc. The women characters deviating from the feminine ideals are also created with the purpose of criticizing the society. For instance, the heroine of this novel is without strict class consciousness, and in this sense, very unconventional. Another female character, though minor, laughs and makes the conventional sense of virtue worthless by committing improprieties. In short, the tactics employed in Pride and Prejudice compose a double vision in the novel and contribute to making Pride and Prejudice a subversive comedy. There are basically two conflicting standpoints in the novel. While the first-person narrator pretends to conform to the values and views that suppress women and their self-expression, the other persona inherent in the novel assumes critical attitude toward the ideological pressure on women. In particular, the literary device of irony enables readers to laugh at and criticize the absurdity and injustice inherent in the patriarchal society which distorts the femininity and in which women are supposed to be inferior to men in their social status.