Marxist Theory in Jane Austen.

 Marxist Theory in Jane Austen.

Marxist’s theory stated that people lives are the product of their financial 

conditions. Material conditions and historical circumstances actually shape the 

society. He can manipulate the major institutions like government art, education and 

politics who having the ownership of the means of production. According to Marx 

one worse effect of capitalism is the commodification which means placing the value 

of articles not on the basis of utility but on the power through which it impresses 

others.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen illustrates the idea that how society and 

even people’s attitude are shaped by wealth, class and marriage, the chief concerns 

of Marxism. Jane Austen continuously represented the discrimination and humiliated 

attitude of upper class towards lower class. She portrayed the class struggle by 

representation of middle class continuously struggling in order to deny the thinking 

that they are not inferior as upper class always thinks and treat them.

The beginning lines itself are the clear projection of the society in which the 

novel was being written. The readers took no time to think that society was material 

based with common materialistic social psyche and the social attitudes were driven 

by wealth. The highest element which represented the peak of Marxism is the 

marriage as a bargaining.

Austen portrayed Darcy and Elizabeth at an equal status at the end because she wanted 

to present the idea that it is not wealth but intellect which keeps one’s identity even 

in the material based world.

5.1 Is Jane a Marxist?

Jane Austen was the member of a society which had very strict rules about 

code of conduct and which held great emphasis on class and social status. The period 

of late 18th and early 19th century society of British history was strongly patriarchal. 

Women’s educational and professional life was not necessary. The only choice for 

them was marriage and marriage was the only source to secure their future. Marriage 

concerns not about love but it was just the way to secure social and financial survival.

Marriage is the one difficulty which Austen’s protagonist had to face. Her heroine’s 

main difficult situation was whom they would marry. Women had no rights to own 

property or wealth. They were entirely depended on the males either in the character 

of father, brother or husband. They were not free for their survival in the society. And to attain a secure social and financial career they marry to the persons belong to 

landed gentry. That’s why critics is of the opinion she reflects of her own ambition to 

have a lot of money through her protagonist.

 Austen’s did not represent working class in her novels. One can estimate from 

it the society of that time that’s how much importance was given to lower classes at 

that time. There were no dialogues related to servants. There was no difficulty for a 

Marxist critic in applying the Reflectionism here. According to Reflectionist theory 

the text reflects the society whose product it is. The application seen here is no 

speaking characters from lower classes. It seems that the socioeconomic conditions 

were guarded by upper classes. It was a strong fact that the upper class was not 

ignorant of the conditions of lower classes because they require a number of servants 

to run and maintain their houses. It means to say that they are associated with them 

all the time then how can the upper class be quite ignored of their social plight. It was 

quietly right to say that they ignore them intentionally. The holders of grand states 

like Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy certainly had a lot of servants who work day and 

night to maintain their glory and splendor.

Here the important question is that Austen intentionally ignore the working 

class. But through reliable knowledge came to know that Austen’s letter to her family 

showed that she was interested in issues related to her servant’s lives. She was in class 

companionship of Ann Sharpe. Actually Austen presented to her readers what they 

wanted. Almost they were from upper classes and already know the realities of the 

society. In actual life they had no interest in the circumstance of their servants. They 

seldom wanted to study about their servants. Jane Austen painted the realities of 

society that’s why she had given no importance to lower classes. Here one can see a strong application of Marxist theory where the upper class had the complete the 

dominance over literature.

According to Jane Austen the readers have keen interest in her writings and 

commonly they belonged to upper class and the one strong reason that the education 

was not accessible for people of working class. That’s why there is no depiction of 

matters related to this class.

 In short the focus of the novel is the class. Although the communist manifesto 

was published later in (1848) while pride and prejudice published earlier in (1813) 

but the novel had all the elements of capitalism which Marx and Engels formulated. 

It is not definite that Austen was Marxist but she wrote her novel projecting all the 

elements of Marxism prevailing in her society. In the opinion of some critics her 

novels are only the illustration of domestic issues. Other’s is of the view that she 

represented conflicts and people’s attitude towards money and materialistic manners. 

It is doubtful that either she is Marxist or not. It is a strong fact that Marxism was not 

present in its formulated form when she wrote but at the same time it is very important 

to understand that what Marxism is actually. It is not a set of written clauses. It is an 

attitude reflecting the class struggle and money based thinking in human psyche and 

human psyche is same as God has created all the men equal. So, it is upon reader to 

judge either, she is a Marxist or not.