Topic > The Literary Analysis of Pride and Prejudice Through an Early Renaissance Prism

Interpretations of literature will always fluctuate between authors, critics, and readers. Literature is a mirror that reflects many different images, thoughts and messages to the reader. The beauty of looking in the mirror is that each viewer sees a different image, a different interpretation of what is initially there. Pride and Prejudice is no exception to this observation. Jane Austen's novel has attracted many literary audiences across many centuries because this book, in many ways, is a social commentary on good manners. His work is officially classified as a realist novel popularized during the Romantic period. Although the novel was successful in its time period of the early 1800s, the work needs to be examined in the early Renaissance period, which began around 1400. Seeing the novel in a different time period may be helpful to see if the The novel's original contents will still be in place. If Jane Austen's novel had been written during the early Renaissance, there would be many stylistic and content changes in her work. These changes would have been influenced by notable early Renaissance texts and authors such as Baldassarre Castiglione, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Thomas More. There is no concrete evidence to formalize the claims made in this document. Speculations and inferences will be drawn from inferences of the Romantic era and the early Renaissance. While Pride and Prejudice was originally written and published during the Romantic period, Jane Austen's fiction would be written very differently in the early Renaissance in terms of style and content. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Having Pride and Prejudice transformed into an early Renaissance text means that change is inevitable. There are many aspects of the novel that will be affected once Jane Austen's novel is seen through the eyes of an early Renaissance man/woman. Character and paternity will definitely be affected. Education and religion will have been affected by the change in the novel. Clothing and wealth will be things that will be rethought once the novel is seen in a new light. Gender and language will also undergo important differences. These new changes that await Pride and Prejudice are based on interpretation, perspective, point of view, influence, and imagination, all of which are components of the mirror of literature. To begin this interpretation of Austen's work, the gender roles of the authorship and the characters would be changed if Pride and Prejudice were an early Renaissance text. For example, the narrator of Pride and Prejudice would be different in the early Renaissance period. The Romantic period was an exciting time, especially for women, as large numbers of literary works began to be written by women and read by women (Lynch and Stillinger 13). This surge of women in literature has increased the literacy of women around the world. Female success began to rival male success for the first time in the history of literature. However, the early Renaissance period was dominated by men. This meant that most famous authors were men. Therefore, Pride and Prejudice would most likely have been written by a male author. This male author would have the option to transform the novel to create more space to focus on the male characters (like Mr. Bennet or Mr. Darcy). This inference is drawn from the fact that the famous stories of theEarly Renaissance focused on male characters trying to climb the social ladder (Cleland). For example, The Prince was written by Machiavelli with the intention of teaching male audiences how to achieve and maintain political power (which was a major theme of early Renaissance works). The early Renaissance theme of political power would therefore discredit the theme of love present in Pride and Prejudice. All inclusive Overall, these inferences show that Elizabeth and Darcy's feminine visions would become a masculine vision with a masculine focus of superiority. Having the narrative from an early Renaissance male point of view therefore catalyzes other literary changes in Pride and Prejudice. If today's audiences assume that early Renaissance authors decide not to accept the idea of ​​the main character being male, then the possibilities for Elizabeth the character to be changed are very clear. For one thing, it's known that Elizabeth is an inherently intelligent character, as is her sister Jane (Knapp). That said, since Elizabeth is an intelligent and active character in the Romantic period, she would be an intelligent character even if the text were an early Renaissance piece. In fact, Elizabeth and her sister Jane would be humanists. Ultimately, a humanist believed in the idea of ​​a well-rounded education that would make him an active person in society, for the benefit of society (Cleland). This statement could therefore justify Elizabeth's (and Jane's) inherent intelligence. Having this love of education as a pillar of their interests would explain how they make their decisions in the novel. Another aspect of society that would influence Elizabeth's character would be religion. Since Jane Austen's novel lacks religious characters. Early Renaissance authors would incorporate religion into the novel as their time period was experiencing the Protestant Reformation. Elizabeth would have married a member of the clergy (not Darcy) because this was normal during the early Renaissance (Cleland). This difference in Elizabeth's evolution as a character in Pride and Prejudice would appeal to early Renaissance audiences. Although Elizabeth would have transformed according to early Renaissance conventions, there are many other conventions that could impact other characters in Pride and Prejudice. To conclude the stylistic interpretations of Pride and Prejudice, one final element to examine is the suggestion that Austen's characters would have different views of wealth and dress in an early Renaissance setting. Jane Austen's Romantic-era novel depicted women and men who sought marriage and wealth as a means of success. Primarily, this portrayal of women appealed to Romantic audiences, but the same cannot be said for early Renaissance audiences. The female and male characters in the early Renaissance depiction of Pride and Prejudice would have focused more on the art of achieving sprezzatura. This term derives directly from the early Renaissance text The Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione. The art of sprezzatura was the act of making harsh human actions seem easy and was a quality sought after by men. Possessing the nonchalance of sprezzatura, she (typically) made men appear well-rounded, successful and desired ("Castiglione sulla Sprezzatura"). In the original Pride and Prejudice, Darcy explained that he wanted a woman to possess many talents and human traits when he says the following: A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and modern languages, to deserve the word; and beyond all this, he must possesssomething in the air and in the way of walking, in the tone of voice, in the way of speaking and in expressions, otherwise the word will be only half deserved. (Austen 76) Darcy's desires sound very in tune with early Renaissance disdain because he wants someone, a woman, to have many qualities that seem to emerge seamlessly. The early Renaissance valued social rank resulting from positions held and authority, rather than the idea of ​​simple wealth and property prized by the Romantic public. Therefore, the early Renaissance depiction of Pride and Prejudice would include male and female characters vying for sprezzatura to gain and maintain power in society rather than characters seeking marriage and property. Even stylistically speaking, the characters' clothing would have been different if Pride and Prejudice had been written in the early Renaissance period. The original novel and various adaptations (such as films for example) depict characters from this period in very elaborate clothing. Fancy dresses, corsets, complicated hairstyles, beautiful dresses and sparkling jewels are just some of the clothing choices made for the characters in Austen's novel. However, if the novel was set in the early Renaissance period, there is a possibility that the characters could be dressed very simply and discreetly. This deduction is drawn from the direct plot of Thomas More's Utopia. In this work there is a statement that states: “Fine clothes were not respected in that land, silk was despised, and gold a sign of contempt; so the utopians always came in the simplest clothes. (More, Lynch and Stillinger 612). While this may not be a completely accurate portrayal of what Austen's original characters might have looked like, speculations from More's fiction fuel this imaginative concept. Early Renaissance audiences valued their image by power, not by the material things money could buy (Cleland). These possible early Renaissance stylistic choices that could be implemented in Pride and Prejudice come from a combination of inferences and assumptions of authors from famous eras of the past that would persuade the change in the Romantic era novel. Pride and Prejudice would have major changes in how the narrative looks. from its original form if it were placed in the hands of an early Renaissance author. For starters, the Romantic era was known for its new interest in poetry. Romantic era audiences were “simply crazy about poetry” (Lynch and Stillinger 11). Although Jane Austen's fiction is not poetry, audiences need to understand the era in which Jane Austen's work challenged the Romantic norm and became popular. Novels in this period were not as popular as poems. The Romantic period, “focused on works of imagination, nonfiction prose forms” (Lynch and Stillinger 22). These beliefs of the Romantic Age would not have held firm with the views of the early Renaissance. Early Renaissance works tended to be intellectual exercises and came in the form of guides, manuals, and short stories. Additionally, works from this period would tend to be more abstract than the Romantic period (Cleland). All the differences mean that Pride and Prejudice would perhaps have been conceived as a more abstract manual. Austen's original work could also be rethought to be about family life as it was a popular topic discussed in the early Renaissance. Changing Pride and Prejudice to a more family-focused work might mean focusing more on the relationship between Elizabeth and her. 2016.