Hey there, my name is Christine Fahnestock, and I am an English Major, with a minor in Creative Writing.  I don’t necessarily have a favorite author; there are so many wonderful people to choose from and it really changes from week to week.  The past week I’ve been reading a lot of Rudy Francisco’s poetry, if that counts. (If I absolutely must choose someone I’ll think wisely and edit this).

James Fordyce’s “Sermons for Young Women” sets an outline of sorts for the sort of behavior that is expected of women, especially during the time period of “Pride and Prejudice”. I’m leaning more towards the fact that “Pride and Prejudice” seems to sort of be mocking texts or ideals such as those spoken about in Fordyce’s piece—Fordyce advises against women being witty beings, and says “let me proceed to warn you against the affectation and the abuse of [wit]” (398).  Fordyce goes on to say that “[Wit] is especially, I think, dreaded in women” (400).

In Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” we see wit embodied and used quite frequently by one of the main characters—Elizabeth.  In several moments of dialogue between herself and Mr. Darcy, her wit shines through.  An early exchange between Elizabeth and Darcy in chapter XI is perhaps one of the best examples of her wit so far.  Elizabeth says “That is failing indeed! …. Implacable resentment is a shade in a character.  But you have chosen your fault well.—I really cannot laugh at it.  You are safe from me” (91) in response to Darcy discussing his faults, saying that they’re not funny.  Elizabeth’s retort to Darcy’s dialogue is full of wit and irony

It’s the aforementioned language and wit that Elizabeth uses that Fordyce argues against in “Sermons for Young Women”—language like that is believed to cause dread and bad images against women.  In conclusion, I do in fact believe that “Pride and Prejudice” is sort of mocking the ideas that Fordyce argues for.