Kristina Nilsson
Bachelor’s Thesis
EN3203
Autumn 2008
Supervisor: Jakob Winnberg
Examiner: Lena Christensen
The Accomplished Woman – No Changes Accomplished?
A Comparison of the Portrayal of Women in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and
Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones
Abstract
In this essay I compare the notion of the accomplished woman in Jane Austen’s Pride &
Prejudice and Helen Fielding’s novels about Bridget Jones. My claim is that the notion of
the accomplished woman that Austen described 200 years ago is still very relevant and
not much different today as reflected in Helen Fielding’s narrative in Bridget Jones, but
also that both authors satirically describe the pressure that is put on women to reach the
ideal of the accomplished woman. I initially discuss feminist literary theory, and then I
analyze the following characteristics and ideas which make up the accomplished woman:
Physical appearance, Education & Knowledge, Marriage & Having Children, Career
and Skills, Status & Class and Manners & Behaviour. This essay shows that the notion of
the accomplished woman is still very much present and in some cases, like physical
appearance, the pressure on women to reach this ideal has actually gotten worse. Both
Jane Austen and Helen Fielding use irony and satirically describe the pressure on young
women as a way of actually criticizing their contemporary societies.
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................... 4 1. Theoretical Background.................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Feminist Literary Theory .......................................................................................... 5 2. Analysis of characteristics and ideas which make up the accomplished woman ........... 7 2.1 Physical appearance................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Education & Knowledge ......................................................................................... 10 2.3 Marriage & Having Children ................................................................................. 12 2.4 Career and Skills..................................................................................................... 16 2.5 Status and class....................................................................................................... 18 2.6 Manners & Behaviour............................................................................................. 22 3. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 24 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 27 3
Introduction
[N]o one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass
what is usually met with. A woman must have thorough knowledge of music,
singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word;
and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and
manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the
word will be but half deserved. (Austen 26)
This is a passage from one of the most beloved novels of the last centuries, Pride and
Prejudice by Jane Austen. With themes like love, happiness and unhappiness it is a
timeless classic. One of the other central themes of this novel is what it is that constitutes
the “accomplished woman.” We are informed of these ideas through the narrative and the
characters in the novel. One might think that these ideas are only applicable to 19th
century England but this is not so. Helen Fielding’s hugely successful novels about
Bridget Jones are modern day rewrites of the same novel where this notion of the
accomplished woman is still ever present, which is quite remarkable as the novel has
been brought forward into 20th century England. The success of Fielding’s novels
confirms that she has struck a chord with people and managed to have an impact on
popular literature: especially on what is known as “chick-lit”. If we consider that a great
many years have passed since Austen’s days and that women have gained many rights,
owing a lot to the feminist movement, such as establishing themselves in the political
sphere and the right to equal pay, it is extraordinary that this notion of the accomplished
woman still lives on, as reflected in Fielding’s novels. Has the connotation of the role of
women, of what a woman should be, been so deeply imprinted into our culture and
heritage that when a female author 200 years later describes the accomplished woman
once more, she is a mirror image of the first one?
Indeed, this essay will show that the notion of the accomplished woman that Austen
described 200 years ago is still very relevant and not much different today, as reflected in
Helen Fielding’s narrative in Bridget Jones. I demonstrate this by going through the
following points for further analysis: Physical appearance, Education & Knowledge,
Marriage & Having Children, Career and Skills, Status & Class and Manners &
Behaviour. Another important aspect is to show that both authors use irony and manage
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to satirically describe the ideal of the accomplished woman and thus criticise it. As this
essay deals with representations of women in literature I will analyze the narratives in
accordance with feminist literary theory, more specifically from an Anglo-American
feminist point of view. I will also analyze similarities and differences in the concept of
the “accomplished woman” within Pride and Prejudice and the novels about Bridget
Jones in order to see how, or if, it has changed over time.
Firstly I go through the theoretical background, focusing on feminist literary theory;
then I analyze the characteristics and ideas that make up the accomplished woman; and
after that a conclusion will follow.
1. Theoretical Background
1.1 Feminist Literary Theory
Although “feminism” is a relatively new term, the ideas of women’s equal rights and
worth have been around for a long time. Many people believe that it started with Mary
Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women which was published in the
1790s, but this is not so. There have been many outstanding women throughout history
who have presented these ideas; Mary Astell, for example, published A Serious Proposal
to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest in 1694, where she
encouraged women not to accept their position as inferior beings to men, by showing that
they had moral equality. Another woman worth mentioning is Lady Mary Chudleigh,
who wrote The Female Advocate; or A plea for the just Liberty of the Tender Sex, and
Particularly Married Women. Being Reflections on a late Rude and Disingenuous
Discourse delivered by John Sprint; this was a response to Rev. John Sprint, who was
convinced that women’s souls were not equal to those of men. She also published The
Ladies’ defence in 1700, in which she also questions women’s assumed spiritual
inferiority (Kirkham 3-9).
However, A Vindication of the Rights of Women was to have a major impact when
presenting feminist ideas; Jane Austen herself agreed with Wollstonecraft on the point
that conservative writers “render women more artificial, weak characters, than they
would otherwise have been” (Gilbert & Gubar 116). We can also see that Austen in all
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her novels examines female powerlessness that underlies monetary pressure to marry and
the ignorance of women being denied formal education (Gilbert & Gubar 136).
Since the women’s movement in the late 1960s, images of women in literature have
been a very important matter for feminist critics. It is the representation of women which
has had such huge impact in terms of satisfactory versions of the “feminine” and
legitimate feminine goals and aspirations (Barry 121-122). Gilbert and Gubar played a
huge part in putting women authors in the spotlight with the publication of The Mad
Woman in the Attic in which they, for the first time, tried to identify “a separate tradition
of women’s writing” (Rooney 100). There has however been an issue of the type of
theory feminism is connected to and this has caused many divisions. The “French”
division of feminism is explicitly theoretical and closely connected to post-structuralism,
thus, the literary texts are never representations of reality, or an imitation of voices
expressing personal experience. Instead, their focus lies on language and psychology or
psychoanalysis (Barry 125). In direct contrast to the views of the “French” feminists we
find the Anglo-American version of feminism, which has always kept a key interest in
concepts like theme, motif and characterisation. They appear to agree with the
conventions of literary realism, and “treat literature as a series of representations of
women’s lives as experience which can be measured against reality” (Barry 124).
Therefore I will first and foremost analyse this essay from an Anglo-American point
of view, as literature often says something about the general culture and its values. I also
compare Jane Austen’s writing with popular ideas expressed at the time to see if there is
any clear influence on her writing.
As mentioned previously, the representation of women in literature has been very
important to critics during the last 40 years (Barry 121-122). When the Bridget Jones
novels were published they created a debate within feminist theory. Kelly Marsh’s article
Contextualizing Bridget Jones discusses the various opinions that have been raised
regarding them; ranging from that they “present an image of contemporary women that
contradicts all that feminists have worked to achieve” to that they are “one of the most
stinging indictments of feminism to come a long in a while”. She also states that all of the
critics she has studied have assumed “a basic anti-feminism in the novels” (Marsh 53-54).
Marsh further claims that Fielding should be credited “for having constructed a satire of
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feminism” (Marsh 54). I will claim, in this essay, that Helen Fielding, by using irony and
satire, criticises the pressure and the demands being put on young women in society
through her narrative (which can still say something about the world we live in).
2. Analysis of characteristics and ideas which make up the accomplished
woman
In this part I will examine certain characteristics and ideas which are connected to this
notion of the accomplished woman. I have picked the following points for further
analysis: Physical appearance, Education & Knowledge, Marriage & Having Children,
Career and Skills, Status and Class, Manners & Behaviour. I will analyse how they are
reflected in the narratives in order to compare them “then and now”, that is, to examine
whether there are similarities or differences. The analysis will also involve reflecting on
the importance and impact of these characteristics and ideas on the characters’ lives, that
is, the consequences of not meeting the standards of what an accomplished woman
should be.
2.1 Physical appearance
In all of the novels the issue of having good physical appearance is ever present. In Pride
& Prejudice it is Jane Bennet’s beauty that first attracts Mr. Bingley and leads him to
converse with her, which results in him falling in love. This is despite the fact she is from
a lower class and perhaps not the most suitable partner for him, according to the people
closest to him. It appears as though had she not had the beauty Mr. Bingley would have
been less inclined to engage in any form of courtship with her. Mrs. Bennet on the other
hand is convinced that her daughter Jane could not have been “so beautiful for nothing”
(Austen 234) as she, by marrying Mr. Bingley, can rescue all her sisters from misfortune
as they stand to inherit nothing. Jane’s sister Elizabeth is initially discarded by Mr. Darcy
at the ball as she is “not handsome enough to tempt”(Austen 7) him – her lack of beauty,
in his view, makes her unworthy of his attention, which is quite ironic as he ends up
falling head over heals for her. But this is also part of the fact that “Austen’s artistic
choices emphasise Elizabeth’s intelligence and humour […] rather than her physical
appearance” (Murphy 27) thus making the heroine a character with more depth. This can
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also be seen as a demonstration of the influence of Enlightenment feminism on Austen’s
writing as it argued that women had just as much worth as men and encouraged women’s
“powers of rational understanding and reflection” (Kirkham 4).
Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice is another character that is pitied for her
appearance. “It is a shame she is not more handsome” is a comment often made despite
everybody saying how nice she is. Mrs. Bennet, in particular, never hesitates to point this
out to people; for example she tells Mr Bingley that, “Oh! Dear, yes;-but you must own
she is very plain. Lady Lucas herself has often said so, and envied me Jane’s beauty […]
one does not often see anybody better looking” (Austen 30).
Charlotte’s appearance is actually an obstacle to her getting married; the narrative
indicates that she has not been given offers because of it (until Mr. Collins comes along),
and thus she has remained unmarried, which at the age of 27 did not bode well (Austen
85).
Additionally, in Pride & Prejudice there is more focus on what can be said to
reflect the more Georgian ideals of appearance such as complexion and beauty of eyes.
There is also a lot of focus on whether or not someone looks healthy or sickly, which one
can claim was an important aspect of those times when health care was not as developed.
Jane Austen manages particularly in this novel to ironically describe how men fail to see
women as the “accountable beings they are” (Kirkham 92), especially by focusing on
only appearances at first.
In Austen’s days the beauty described is that of a natural kind, whereas it appears to
be something that can simply be moulded, changed and created in the 20th century as
described in Bridget Jones: “Being a woman is worse than being a farmer – there is so
much harvesting and crop spraying to be done: legs to be waxed, underarms shaved,
eyebrows plucked, feet pumiced….” (Fielding BJD 30). Bridget clearly represents those
women who are scared of just being themselves, fully believing that who they are is not
good enough: “Wise people will say Daniel should like me just as I am, but I am a child
of Cosmopolitan culture, have been traumatized by supermodels and too many quizzes
and know that neither my personality nor my body is up to it if left to its own devices”
(Fielding BJD 59).
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Furthermore, in Bridget Jones’s world, flaws in appearance are the main cause of
everything going wrong – not just the issue of finding a man – but everything; “Oh God,
what’s wrong with me? Why does nothing ever work out? It is because I am too fat”
(Fielding BJD 181). The idea seems to be, as Kelly A. Marsh suggests, that Bridget buys
into the “ideal of the perfected self” (Marsh 60), which is very common in our day and
age, that is, if she perfects herself by changing everything else will fall into place. The
issue of weight is introduced as a very important matter in the Bridget Jones novels (as
women are constantly reminded that the ideal woman is skinny), and this is something
that she continuously obsesses about: “I was 9st 4 when I went to bed, 9st 2 at 4 a.m. and
9 st 5 when I got up” (Fielding BJD 74). Helen Fielding manages to satirically describe
modern western women’s obsession with weight partly by letting Bridget weigh herself at
4 a.m. but perhaps even more so when Bridget, for once, actually reaches her ideal
weight. Her friends react as she appears to not be herself and they say they thought she
looked better before, which bursts Bridget’s bubble containing the idea that she is now
perfected: “Eighteen years of struggle, sacrifice and endeavour – for what? Eighteen
years and the result is ‘tired and flat’. I feel like a scientist who discovers that his life’s
work has been a total mistake” (Fielding BJD 107). This information “comes as a shock
to her, as she is fully invested in this kind of self-improvement” (Marsh 62).
Helen Fielding’s satirical style of reflecting today’s calorie counting mania is
clearly noticeable in her account of Bridget’s diary entries of weight, alcohol units and
calories. One day 1500 calories can be called disastrous whereas the next day we can see
“[a]lcohol units 12, cigarettes 57, calories 8489 (excellent)” (Fielding BJD 111).We can
note that Bridget, by doing this, is actually trying to justify herself as opposed to improve
herself (Marsh 60-61). What is more, we can also detect irony in that Bridget’s life
revolves around these shallow things but all of a sudden she claims: “Our culture is too
obsessed with outward appearance, age and status” (Fielding BJD 82). Even so she
quickly reverts back to her ways of obsessing about trying to perfect precisely these
things. It is a constant obsession which appears to be very hard to change as reaching the
ideal of “perfect” physical appearance is essential when it comes to being regarded as an
accomplished woman.
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Therefore we can conclude that there is still a lot of focus on appearance, then as
now although the opinions of what is beautiful have changed over time. In both novels
however there are characters whose physical appearance does not meet with the time’s
standards of the accomplished woman, and it is said to have a major impact on their lives
albeit sometimes, like in Bridget’s case, very exaggerated and extreme. In some ways, the
pressure of looking good reflected in the Bridget Jones novels is even worse than in Pride
and Prejudice; the women do not only get judged by men but they are also much harder
on themselves when it comes to appearances.
Still, if you cannot rely on your beauty, having a good education and knowledge
may make up for it; it is definitely an important aspect in Pride & Prejudice and both of
the novels about Bridget Jones.
2.2 Education & Knowledge
In Pride & Prejudice we are constantly reminded of the importance of books and
education. Upon meeting Lady Catherine, Elizabeth is questioned regarding her and her
sisters upbringing which is somewhat unusual, particularly in relation to their education,
which makes Lady Catherine exclaim: “Five daughters brought up at home without a
governess! – I never heard such a thing. Your mother must have been quite a slave to
your education. Elizabeth could hardly help smiling, as she assured her that had not been
the case “(Austen 112).
Afterwards Elizabeth explains that they were all encouraged to read; but she herself,
is described as a character who is “not a great reader” (Murphy 34). The person who has
really taken reading to heart is her sister Mary. Mary lives for her books and is often
quoting important passages which she feels are appropriate to the occasion, making her
appear educated and knowledgeable. The irony is that she does not appear to understand
the actual meaning of her quotations as she is the sister who most rarely leaves home to
go travelling or take part in any social events. This way Jane Austen manages to reflect
the irony of seeing education and book reading as a very important element of being an
accomplished woman when the meaning of it is reduced to nothing, as women were often
prevented from taking part in such occasions where this information and knowledge
would have been useful. They were never considered equals no matter what their abilities
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(Kirkham 84). This again also clearly reflects the influence of Enlightenment feminism
on Austen’s writing as the main practical concern it argued for was adequate education
for women (Kirkham 4).
Bridget Jones, however, struggles with feeling uneducated and not very
knowledgeable compared to her posh and glamorous colleagues. At a book launch she
makes the mistake of saying that she actually likes the TV programme “Blind Date” and
that TV should not be all about the old classics. This is ridiculed by her closest colleague:
“ Bridget is one of these people who thinks that the minute the screen goes back on Blind
Date is on par with Othello’s ‘hurl my soul from heaven’ soliloquy, she said, hooting
with laughter” (Fielding BJD 101).
These situations lead Bridget to reflect over everything she is not (Marsh 59). When
she is confiding to her boss and lover Daniel that she was so disappointed with not being
accepted to Manchester University he too cannot help but making fun of her:
“Anyway…, he started laughing, …there is nothing wrong with a degree
from…from…(he was so amused now he could hardly speak)…Bangor” (Fielding BJD
166). However this is following the narrative of Bridget putting her foot in it trying to
impress Daniel and her colleague Simon with her input and knowledge on their
discussion about football and footballers being arrested for throwing matches: “I know
it’s a thuggish way to behave, but as long as they didn’t actually set light to anyone I
don’t see what the fuss is all about” (Fielding BJD 58).
Helen Fielding manages to show in her narrative how women can be ridiculed for
lack of knowledge and education even today; one can claim that Daniel is a
representative for men who, even in our day and age, sneer at women who have educated
themselves and that there are still men who do not really want women to be on an equal
educational level to them. She successfully describes a certain sense of “powerlessness”
in Bridget’s life (Marsh 60). Furthermore, Fielding has in this way demonstrated the
difficult situation that some women can find themselves in; if she is uneducated she is not
regarded as an accomplished woman, and if she has a degree she can still be met with
derogatory attitudes from some men, who do not want to accept that women are on an
equal level, and therefore do their best to strengthen the glass-ceiling. Furthermore,
Fielding has demonstrated this by using the somewhat “exclusive” topic of sports as a
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stereotype of something men are supposed to know more about and that Bridget is
stepping into male territory which is not appreciated. Bridget’s lack of knowledge is
ridiculed and her aspiration of trying to impress them is crushed – leaving her humiliated
and, one can even say, deemed as an unaccomplished woman.
Bridget’s inferiority complex regarding these matters leads her to turn to countless
amounts of self-help books to understand the mystery of men and why they act the way
they do (Salber 2/12/08). But these prove to offer very little help and actually make
Bridget more confused; as Mark Darcy puts it: “You do realize you’re building up the
largest body of theoretical knowledge about the behaviour of the opposite sex in the
known universe. I am starting to feel like a laboratory animal” (Fielding BJER 59).
This way Fielding demonstrates and ironizes the fact that if Bridget had put half the
time and effort into reading normal books she might not have had any issues of feeling
uneducated, but still she chooses to read books like “Why Men Feel They Want What
They Think They Want”, “The Rules” and the quite conflicting “Ignoring The Rules”
(Fielding BJER 215), all of which actually prove to complicate her relationships with
men, and just like Mary in Pride & Prejudice she is actually left none the wiser.
So why do so many of the female characters have so much pressure on them to look
attractive and being able to show that you are knowledgeable and well educated? Well, it
is quite simply because of the need to prove themselves accomplished and worthy to
capture the interest of a man in order to get married and have children.
2.3 Marriage & Having Children
1
Marriage and having children is an extremely important element in all of the novels in
order to be considered to be an accomplished woman. There is a strong theme in the
novels of the pressure to find a suitable husband; in Pride &Prejudice this is necessary in
order for the women to secure their futures economically and socially as they did not
have the right to inherit, making it impossible for them to support themselves. Mrs.
Bennet is over the moon when Mr. Bingley shows an interest in Jane, as this very
1
For an in depth analysis of the marriage plot aspect in the novels one can read Lina Widlund’s essay
entitled “In search of a man” written at Södertörn University College in 2004. The essay also touches upon
some of the issues I raise in my essay throughout.
http://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:16121
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advantageous marriage will secure all of the sisters’ futures because of his wealth. The
importance and seriousness of this is reflected in Elizabeth’s refusal to marry her cousin
Mr. Collins, who is to inherit everything the Bennets own. Her mother is absolutely
enraged at this and blames Elizabeth for not having the rest of the family’s interest at
heart and threatens to have nothing more to do with her (Austen 76-78).
Elizabeth’s refusal of Mr. Collins and her heated debates with and initial refusal of
Mr. Darcy is a way for Jane Austen to create a “courtship balance between them;
something which can be regarded as a critique of the absence of equal courtship in early
nineteenth-century between men and women” (Ferriss 83). It is also, in my view, quite
ironic of Jane Austen to demonstrate that Elizabeth, by not succumbing to the pressure of
her family (her mother in particular) of marrying the first one to make her an offer and by
this staying true to herself, is in fact the one who ends up in the most advantageous
marriage – which was the objective of her mother all along. She also ends up with the
added bonus that she genuinely knows and loves her husband as opposed to simply
marrying for money or security. In that sense, it is a “stronger love” (Wiltshire 119).
Many feminist critics do not like Jane Austen’s reliance on the marriage plot in her
novels – the choices left to the heroines are either marriage or death. But if we keep in
mind the reality in which women lived at the time “it is quite unreasonable to wish
Austen had depicted happy, fulfilled unmarried women or to revile her for her failure to
imagine a rosier future for women outside of marriage” (Mooneyham White 8).
Furthermore, Mrs. Bennet is also extremely competitive with regards to her
daughters compared to other children. As mentioned previously, Jane’s beauty is at the
centre of her boasting; there is no one who can match her. Even the scandalous elopement
of Lydia and Mr. Wickham, which really risks the happiness of all her other daughters (as
they will never be married with a “fallen sister”) (Ferriss 74), means nothing once the
marriage has been patched up between the two following a huge payment from Mr. Darcy
to Mr. Wickham. Mrs. Bennet instead rushes to tell everybody that her daughter has been
married at the age of 16, which, in her view, is a huge success despite the fact that
everybody knows of the scandal.
We can also see the importance of marriage and having children in the novels about
Bridget Jones; there is an open lifestyle-war between the “Smug Married Couples” and
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the “Singletons” – the latter being the category Bridget and her closest friends belong to.
Bridget is sometimes invited to dinner over at her friends’ Magda and Jeremy, where she
is often the only single person amidst the “smug marrieds.” Every time Bridget is
bombarded with questions as to why she is single, why she cannot keep a man and this
results in her stating: “Such occasions always reduce my ego to size of snail…” (Fielding
BJD 39). The pressure Bridget is under to defend her “singleton” lifestyle during these
dinner parties is nothing compared to the pressure put on her by her mother and her
mother’s friends. Bridget’s mother is extremely worried at the prospect of having a
spinster daughter: “I mean, it must be a terrible time, with no partner on the horizon and
that biological clock ticking away” (Fielding BJD 136). To her, there should not be any
difficulties in getting a man if Bridget really wanted it: “You girls are just so picky and
romantic these days: you’ve simply got too much choice” (Fielding BJD 195). This way,
Bridget’s mother also manages to make Bridget feel guilty about not having found a man
(Marsh 58).
If there is no support for her lifestyle with her closest family, Bridget is outraged at
finding that there is actually a public debate going on about people in her situation,
following an article by “smug married journalist”: “They’re young, ambitious and rich
but their lives hide an aching loneliness…When they leave work a gaping emotional hole
opens up before them…Lonely style-obsessed individuals seek consolation in packeted
comfort food of the kind their mother might have made” (Fielding BJD 244). Again, this
reflects the ideal of marriage in society, “singletondom” is simply not good enough, and a
woman can not be deemed accomplished until she has found a man and gotten married.
The Singletons have always claimed that they are part of a modern urban lifestyle
and this article offers no support for them. Helen Fielding manages to depict very doublestandard feelings in the narrative, on one hand the singletons fiercely defend their right to
live as they please and say they are single by choice: “Women are staying single because
they can support themselves and want to do their careers” (Fielding BJER 299).
However, their main conversations are about relationships and men, and quite often the
issue of marriage – they are “consumed with finding suitable men” (Salber 6/12/08). We
need not look further than the self-help books to confirm this as they are all about how to
get a man and live happily ever after. Olivia Murphy mentions these conflicting
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tendencies in her essay “Books, Bras and Bridget Jones”, using the example of when
Bridget has resolutely decided not to; “Sulk about having no boyfriend, but develop inner
poise and authority and sense of self as woman of substance, complete without boyfriend,
as best way to obtain boyfriend” (Murphy 32; Fielding BJD 2).
Perhaps Fielding uses this to show that many women nowadays adamantly want to
stand their ground as independent single women but secretly they are looking for
someone to share everything with and marry. Once again, the ideal reflected in the media
and in society in general is for women to marry and that they are not truly accomplished
until they do.
Having children is another extremely present issue in Bridget Jones’s life. At almost
every party or family gathering she is at one point met with the sound “tick-tock-ticktock” (Fielding BJD 172), referring to her biological clock, and “So what are you going
to do about babies, Bridget?” (Fielding BJD 301) is a question asked frequently. The
narrative makes it clear that this issue is important to Bridget too, as she often refers to
her “childbearing years” (Marsh 67). However, it is also clear that Bridget does not find
any of it particularly amusing: “Heart was sinking at thought of being late and hungover,
surrounded by ex-career-girl mothers and their Competitive Child Rearing” (Fielding
BJD 69).
The particular use of “ex-career” girls is quite interesting, as Fielding reflects
women’s current inability to be competitive in their jobs whilst raising young children.
This has led them to upstage each other when it comes to bringing up their children and
boast about their talents and progress, not entirely dissimilar to Mrs. Bennet’s behaviour
in Pride & Prejudice.
It is clear from the narratives that marriage and having children is still very
important, particularly from a social point of view in order to be regarded as an
accomplished woman. However, the need to get married from an economic perspective
(for western women) has diminished as women can have careers and support themselves.
It is rather, as previously mentioned, more important from a social point of view – it is
reflected as the most socially accepted status for a woman. In addition to this, so many
questions are asked if a woman is not married that it appears as though there must be a
particular reason for it – it can never be by choice. Bridget and her friends clearly “show
15
the tenuous position of women who accept the fact that they must be married to achieve
social acceptance. […] Finding mates in a world where single women outnumber
available men is just as important for Bridget’s coterie as it was for Elizabeth Bennet’s
sisters, friends and acquaintances” (Salber 2/12/08/) and it is regarded to be quite an
accomplishment once they do.
What other important aspects of the female characters’ lives are noticeably having
an effect on them? Well, they are certainly judged and compared to other women when it
comes to the skill-set they have.
2.4 Career and Skills
What does it mean to be accomplished in certain areas, that is, to have particular skills
and be successful at it? In Pride &Prejudice there is, for obvious reasons, not any focus
on a career as such but rather quite detailed descriptions, perhaps reflecting the opinions
of the time. This is made very clear when Mr. Bingley’s sister Caroline Bingley tells
Elizabeth her opinion of what is required, in her view, to be considered an accomplished
woman:
[N]o one can be really esteemed accomplished, who does not greatly surpass
what is usually met with. A woman must have thorough knowledge of music,
singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word;
and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and
manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the
word will be but half deserved. (Austen 26)
Elizabeth disregards this, stating that “I never saw such a woman” (Austen 26). The
character who is at the centre of skills and accomplishments described in the novel is Mr.
Darcy’s younger sister Georgiana. Her skills on the Piano Forte and other
accomplishments are widely spoken about and admired. Elizabeth on the other hand
when questioned by Lady Catherine admits to only being able to play a little and not
being particularly good at drawing; in these descriptions Jane Austen has somehow made
Elizabeth’s character the opposite of what a truly accomplished woman should be. In
addition one can argue that Austen criticizes the “customs of her age” by not making
Elizabeth stand out with any particular talent (Kirkham 82). Instead, Mary is the one of
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the Bennet sisters who continuously works on perfecting and developing her skills on the
piano but, unfortunately, with devastating consequences. During a ball Mr. Bennet must
stop her from performing as she is being ridiculed by others for her lack of
accomplishments – making Mary a representative for the pressure put on women by
others to be truly accomplished but failing (Austen 69). Jane Austen again though, by
having Elizabeth Bennet as a heroine, makes other qualities such as “Elizabeth’s
intelligence and humour” (Murphy 27) more important and in this way she criticizes the
“skill-accomplishments.”
In Bridget Jones a successful career is essential to be deemed accomplished –
especially if you are a singleton woman without a husband and children. Bridget is
envious of her friend Jude, who is a very successful businesswoman (Murphy 32).
Bridget, on the other hand, is stuck in a crazy office with a slightly mad cocaine using
manager, who orders Bridget to slide down a fireman’s pole in a miniskirt. Bridget
realizes that she is not in an ideal job and wishes to move on to better things in order to
keep her sanity: “I’ve got to find another job, it’s really undermining my sense of
personal dignity and self esteem. I need something that will allow me to make serious use
of my talents and abilities” (Fielding BJER 65).
The importance of having a successful career is further illustrated by Bridget
constantly comparing herself to others. She appears to include her career in her goal of
perfecting herself (Marsh 60). Bridget’s ex “Waspy” informs her that he has got a new
girlfriend and Bridget immediately starts imagining her as a woman who is accomplished
and perfect in every single way, regarding looks, career etc: “Have never met Waspy’s
Intended of course but imagine giant thin blonde rooftop giantess-type who rises at 5
each morning, goes to gym, rubs herself down with salt then runs international merchant
bank all day without smudging mascara” (Fielding BJD 191).
Helen Fielding describes Bridget as a representative for all women who struggle
with not being considered accomplished and who have low self-esteem: “I’m no good at
anything. Not men. Not work. Nothing” (Fielding BJD 224).
It is clear that both Jane Austen and Helen Fielding satirically describe the need of
skills and (in Fielding’s case) careers; Austen by giving excessively detailed descriptions
of skills, manners and even ways of walking, through the words of Miss Bingley, which
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border on the absurd. She also does this by making her heroine, Elizabeth, the one who
appears to have the least amount of “skill-accomplishment” but who still ends up the
most successful in all other aspects.
Fielding on the other hand, manages to do this by placing Bridget at a ridiculously
crazy workplace, by which Bridget is bound to compare herself to other women who are
more successful and thus reflecting the importance of a good career. We can clearly see
that in both cases, then and now, it is all about living up to the expectations of others; the
characters are not only trying to perfect themselves in order to please themselves – it is
just as much about impressing others. Elizabeth Bennet sticks out as the exception to the
rule and serves as a role model for women to not feel pressurized into being “perfect”.
John Wiltshire argues that Fielding’s novel “switches and changes [...] to meet similar
ends” because of the time span between the two novels (Wiltshire 2). This statement is
true; there is no longer pressure on women to have skills like drawing and dancing in
order to be accomplished, and Fielding has managed to change this aspect into the hunt
for the successful career. However, as Wiltshire also rightly observes, both of the authors
have successfully “explored the pressures on young women to conform to the
expectations of their culture” (Wiltshire 2), in this case: being successful at what they do
in order to be regarded as an accomplished woman – regardless of it being drawing or
running an international merchant bank.
Apart from the importance of skills and a career we can detect that the female
characters are judged on the basis of what status and class they belong to. It is clearly a
part of the accomplishment requirement; they are judged by others but also, more
importantly, they are actually judging themselves.
2.5 Status and class
In Pride and Prejudice there is a constant struggle for those of a lower class, particularly
the women. Jane Bennet finds the love of her life in Mr. Bingley, who is upper-class and
made to question his choice of Jane because of her status and family. Although she is
treated with respect at first by Mr. Bingley’s sisters, it is still made clear to her that she is
not good enough for Mr. Bingley. If we consider the words stated by Miss Bingley about
what constitutes an accomplished woman (for example; “thorough knowledge of
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music”[...] “and the modern languages” […] “she must possess a certain something in her
air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word
will be but half deserved” (Austen 26)), these indicate aspects of skills that perhaps were
not freely available to “common” people – basically singling out upper-class women as
the only ones with a true chance to be fully accomplished. Once it is clear that despite all
of this, Mr. Bingley will still marry Jane, it is considered to be a most advantageous
marriage as the whole Bennet family are affected in a positive way; not just by having
one of their own members becoming upper-class but also through the connection they
have to the married couple.
In his initial proposal to Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy makes it clear that he has been
hesitant to make an offer of marriage due to her inferiority and “of its being a
degradation”(Austen 129). This clearly indicates that because of Elizabeth’s class and
status she cannot be considered accomplished enough to be a suitable match for him. The
importance of class and status in the female characters’ lives is also clearly illustrated by
Lady Catherine’s reaction to the rumours she has heard regarding Mr. Darcy’s pending
proposal to Elizabeth. She turns up unannounced at the Bennets’ house and is very rude
when she accuses Elizabeth and her family of having spread these rumours and takes
great pleasure in telling Elizabeth that Mr. Darcy is in fact engaged to her daughter:
“While in their cradles, we planned the union: and now, at the moment when the wishes
of both sisters would be accomplished, in their marriage, to be prevented by a young
woman of inferior birth, of no importance to the world, and wholly unallied to the
family!” (Austen 238). The insults do not stop there and Elizabeth is reminded of her
youngest sister’s scandalous behaviour in eloping with Mr. Wickham:
I know it all; that the young man’s marrying her, was a patched-up business,
at the expense of your father and uncles. And is such a girl to be my nephew’s
sister? Is her husband, is the son of his late father’s steward, to be his brother?
Heaven and Earth! - of what are you thinking? Are the shades of Pemberly to
be thus polluted? (Austen 240)
Elizabeth tries to defend herself by saying that she is “a gentleman’s daughter” as this
term is like a “designator of social status” (Wiltshire 118).This clearly points out that
status and class are an important aspect in women’s lives, particularly when it comes to
19
being regarded accomplished enough for marriage. Jane Austen manages to describe this
very vividly but in a most ironic way through Lady Catherine’s behaviour. Lady
Catherine is by far the richest, most influential and most well off character in the novel
yet she is the one who is the most insolent to people. Believing herself to be superior by
birth to all others she deems it within her rights to put forward her opinions, regardless of
how insulting and unwelcome they are, and behave in any way she pleases. John
Wiltshire considers her to be a “caricature” as she does not deal with the “world of
others’ feelings” (Wiltshire 103). Austen manages to show that money is certainly not
something which makes someone have a good character. Therefore, we can discern
certain amounts of criticism towards the social hierarchies in society and how people are
judged based on their class. The novel instead gears towards overcoming “class
distinction” through Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth (Mooneyham White 94).
In Bridget Jones we also see reflections of class and status but with a slight
difference as they are often centred on politics. The novel is set in the 1990s, when Tony
Blair is up for the Prime Minister’s post and there is a certain working-class pride
sweeping the nation – it is reflected as “the great rising up of we, the nation” (Marsh 6869; Fielding BJER 165). Albeit that Bridget has some warped expectations of the new
Prime Minister’s curvy wife: “Maybe Cherie (Blair) will now use her influence over new
prime minister, who will order all clothes shops to start producing clothes that will fit
attractively over everyone’s arses” (Fielding BJER 167).
Bridget Jones considers herself to be very knowledgeable and accomplished when it
comes to the topic of politics but her opinions as reflected in the narrative gives a very
black and white view: Labour is good and the Tories are bad. When Mark Darcy
challenges her opinions all she can say to defend herself is that “voting Labour stands for
being left wing” (Fielding BJER 45). This seems to indicate that Bridget has completely
embraced the Labour wave sweeping the nation; it is, in her view, the correct opinion to
have – and she is shocked to find that Mark Darcy does not share her view.
In addition to this, there is certainly the same storyline of the more common family
(The Jones’s) socialising with the more upper-class family that is the Darcy’s but it is not
really seen as anything strange or that remarkable. However, there is a lot of comparison
going on in the narrative, particularly from the people who do not belong to the upper
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class. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy are celebrating their ruby wedding and have invited everybody
they know to celebrate at their house, or rather, mansion: “Bit showy, isn’t it? Said Una
the second she was within earshot, pulling her stole huffily around her shoulders. I think
if you take these things too far it gets a bit common” (Fielding BJD 228-229).
Bridget is initially worried that the difference in class will prevent her from being
together with Mark (Ferriss 82). Once they are together she still questions her own status
and class; she displays a constant need to impress others to make them think she is just as
good as they are. For example, at a dinner party she will serve “Char-grilled Tuna on
Velouté of Cherry Tomatoes Coulis with Confit of Garlic and Fondant Potatoes”
(Fielding BJD 256) Thinking this menu will impress everybody her aspirations are quite
clear: “People will flock to my dinner parties, enthusing, It’s really great going to
Bridget’s for dinner, one gets Michelin star-style food in bohemian setting. Mark Darcy
will be v. impressed and realise I am not common or incompetent” (Fielding BJD 256).
Again, we can see that Bridget tries to perfect herself by becoming something she really
is not; in this case, everything an upper-class accomplished woman should be (Marsh 60).
Bridget’s mother, just like Mrs. Bennet, is trying to marry her daughter off to a man
with a higher status, mentioning his wealth the first time she talks to Bridget about him:
“He’s one of those top-notch barristers. Masses of money” (Fielding BJD 9). Who would
be more appropriate than Mark Darcy as a son in law? He is “available, rich, successful,
the son of old friends” (Salber 2/12/08); obviously this indicates that it is desirable for
one’s daughter to marry someone of a higher status which means that the whole family
will be even more “connected” to someone from a higher class.
We can therefore say that the issue of class and status is very much present in both
of the novels and does form part of the “accomplishment criteria”. This is however far
more evident in the case of Pride & Prejudice, where it appears that a human being’s
worth (not just the women’s) depends on their status and which class they belong to. In
the case of Jane and Mr. Bingley we see that what they feel for each other is not enough;
other people oppose it just because of class. Jane Austen has put forward clear criticism
in the novel regarding this, by making Lady Catherine the most rude and obnoxious
character despite being the richest, that is, other aspects of a person should carry far more
weight than status and class. Similarly, Helen Fielding reflects a more modern society
21
that certainly still has class differences, but there is no boundary as to whom one is
supposed to marry because of it. However, marrying someone who belongs to the upper
class is still reflected as something desirable. In addition to this, it is Bridget who appears
to be putting more pressure on herself to be someone she is not, by trying to conform to
her own idea of what is proper for the upper class in order to be regarded as an
accomplished woman: as opposed to this being a demand from people around her.
Another extremely important aspect of the accomplishment criteria in the novels is
the way in which women behave and also how well mannered they are – and the
consequences thereof. This proves to be something that they are continuously judged on,
and it can actually affect their lives considerably.
2.6 Manners & Behaviour
If we return to the words of Miss. Bingley’s character in Pride and Prejudice, paying
particular attention to “she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of
walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half
deserved” (Austen 26) we can clearly see that manners and behaviour play an essential
part in whether someone is to be considered an accomplished woman.
In Pride and Prejudice the future of particularly the two elder of the Bennet sisters,
Jane and Elizabeth, stands and falls with the behaviour of their younger sister and their
mother. As previously mentioned, the scandalous elopement of Lydia and Mr. Wickham
endangers the possibility of any of the other sisters to marry. Her behaviour will bring
“humiliation” and “misery” on all of them (Austen 185), especially endangering the
liaison of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. This is one clear example of how one woman’s
behaviour can affect the whole family. Furthermore, Mrs. Bennet plays her part in, albeit
unknowingly, ruining the prospects of her main objective, which is to get her daughters
married; this is because her attempts to marry them off to aristocrats are absolutely
shameless (Ferriss 72). Her behaviour in general causes troubles as well. For example,
she misunderstands Mr. Darcy and his opinion of the countryside and makes some plump
remarks which embarrasses her daughters (Austen 29) and certainly does not make Miss.
Bingley think highly of her. Whilst amusing herself with teasing Mr. Darcy about his
forthcoming marriage to Elizabeth it leads her to comment on Mrs. Bennet: “I hope […]
22
you will give your mother-in-law a few hints, when this desirable event takes place, as to
the advantage of holding her tongue” (Austen 35) which indicates that Mrs. Bennet’s
remarks have really made a bad impression, and also reduces her daughters chances of
being regarded as accomplished because of their family.
It should also be mentioned that Elizabeth fails to make an impression herself at
first; her behaviour is described by Miss. Bingley as having “that little something,
bordering on conceit and impertincence” (Austen 35). It seems as though Jane Austen
has taken the opportunity to not “render women more artificial, weak characters, than
they would otherwise have been” (Gilbert & Gubar 116), by making Elizabeth a strong
character who does not pay much attention to what other people think of her but stands
up for her opinions – even if it makes her appear impertinent and affects other peoples
opinions of her as an accomplished woman.
This is further demonstrated by the quite ironic fact that it is bad behaviour and
manners which lead Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to each other. It is all centered around the
“confrontation” of “social power” in Elizabeth’s and Lady Catherine’s meeting (Wiltshire
120). The rude behaviour of Lady Catherine when arriving unannounced at the Bennets’
house, and her subsequent derogatory remarks, are what make Elizabeth think that she
still has a chance of happiness with Mr. Darcy; and Elizabeth’s refusal to tell Lady
Catherine that she will never enter an engagement with him reaches Mr. Darcy which
makes him propose to her a second time. Jane Austen has in this way, quite ironically,
made ill manners and bad behaviour the cause of a lot of trouble as well as it being a
solution to bringing Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together; however, some critics choose to
look at this union as Austen’s “capitulation” to the patriarchal system (Wiltshire 119).
In the Bridget Jones novels we discern a similar pattern, thus making it clear that
manners and behaviour play an important part in the accomplished woman criteria.
Bridget’s constantly putting her foot in it by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, for
example: the football remark and her behaviour at the book launch. This, in combination
with constant drinking and partying, makes many people think she is not very
accomplished. If we compare the novels we can clearly see that Bridget’s character is not
entirely different to that of Lydia’s. As Cecilia Salber points out: “Lydia Bennet, for
example, would fit right in with Bridget’s group of women” (Salber accessed 2/12/08).
23
Furthermore, Bridget’s mother, similarly to Mrs. Bennet, risks the good reputation of
Bridget’s father and Bridget herself when she lets her new found boyfriend Julio run off
with the entire neighbourhood’s savings – which was supposed to be invested in time
shares. The Bridget Jones novels clearly follow the same pattern as Pride and Prejudice
in that it is bad behaviour that ironically brings Bridget and Mr. Darcy together; Mr.
Darcy gets involved in recovering the money – and Bridget’s mother - and by doing so he
wins Bridget over, and rescues her family from becoming outcasts in their
neighbourhood. Even so, Bridget’s dependency on Mark Darcy “to solve her problems is
noted by her critics” (Marsh 66).
This is very interesting and further confirms that things have not changed that much
relating to how women are supposed to behave and what is deemed acceptable for an
accomplished woman.
3. Conclusion
The accomplished woman criteria are clearly noticeable in Pride and Prejudice and the
novels about Bridget Jones. Women back in 19th century England were judged on:
physical appearance, education and knowledge, marriage & having children, career and
skills, status and class, manners and behaviour just as much as is reflected in the narrative
in Bridget Jones and 20th century England.
Physical appearance is an important part of the accomplishment criteria as some
women, like Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice, is judged so hard that it affects her
chances of getting married and securing a future for herself. Bridget Jones blames her
appearance, especially her weight, for things that go wrong and it appears that things are
even worse now when it comes to being judged on appearances. Both Jane Austen and
Helen Fielding have successfully described this phenomenon satirically; Austen by
making her heroine Elizabeth someone whose other qualities, such as humour and
intelligence, get priority over beauty and Fielding by making Bridget’s character realise
that all of her problems are not solved once she reaches her ideal weight: there are deeper
underlying issues.
Education and knowledge play an important part in all the novels; In Pride and
Prejudice it is desirable to know foreign languages, reading books but Austen criticises
24
the lack of formal education available for women – particularly through Mary, who never
really properly understands what her books are about, it is all theory and no practice.
Similarly, Helen Fielding describes the importance of education and knowledge for being
considered accomplished; Bridget’s humiliation at not having a proper degree but also
how some men, represented by Daniel, seem to still oppose women’s higher education. In
this way Helen Fielding criticises the current society: a woman is not deemed
accomplished if she has not got a formal education but she is still not taken seriously by
many men even if she does.
The hunt for the perfect man to marry and to have children with is certainly a
central theme in the novels. We see a change in terms of that women no longer need to
marry for economic reasons as is so clearly reflected in Pride and Prejudice but that it is
still very important for reaching social acceptance as we see in Bridget Jones. Both
authors satirically describe this; Austen by letting Elizabeth refuse offers of marriage,
even though her family depends on it, but who still ends up in the most advantageous
marriage. Fielding shows this by reflecting a society in which women appear so adamant
to be independent but still talk of nothing other than men and marriage. All of the novels
make it clear that women are deemed to be unaccomplished until they have found a man
to marry and have children with.
Skills like drawing and dancing are no longer a requirement for women to be
accomplished – Helen Fielding has instead chosen to reflect these criteria through
women’s careers; Bridget is jealous of her female successful friends and she is constantly
comparing herself with them. Both authors manage to reflect that being good and
successful at what you do is a criterion women need to live up to in order to be
considered an accomplished woman.
When it comes to status and class it is a very important factor in Pride and
Prejudice, Elizabeth is not deemed good enough for Mr. Darcy because of it. Austen uses
irony by making Lady Catherine, the richest of all of the characters, the most rude and
insulting character in the book: clearly stating that belonging to the upper class does not
make a woman accomplished. In Bridget Jones it is Bridget that puts pressure on herself
to try and conform to her own idea of what is upper class; she seems to think that she will
get more respect for it and be regarded accomplished but the irony is that no one around
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her is asking this of her. Fielding successfully manages to show that people nowadays
socialize regardless of class and that it is mostly the people from the “lower” classes that
compare themselves to people from the upper classes, such as Una and Bridget.
Manners and behaviour appear to be equally important in Pride and Prejudice and
Bridget Jones. All of the main female characters stand to have their lives considerably
changed for the worse because of the way other women around them behave; thus
making manners and behaviour part of the accomplishment criteria. Ironically, both
authors have two heroines who may not behave exactly the way society wants them to,
but end up very happy indeed – perhaps we can sense criticism from both authors against
how women are judged so much harder than men on the way they behave.
It is clear that many things have changed for the better when it comes to women’s
rights and women’s status in society in general. However, this essay has shown that the
notion of the accomplished woman is still very much present and in some cases, like
physical appearance, pressure on women has actually gotten worse. Both Jane Austen
and Helen Fielding use irony and satirically describe the pressure on young women as a
way of actually criticizing their contemporary societies and this links the two novels
across the two centuries that separate them.
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