October 16 Post

1a) "Austen is often happy to follow the Cinderella plot, and to make a happy ending out of marrying her heroine to a man notably above her in income and social prestige" (McMaster, 117).

1b) "You were disgusted with the women who were always speaking and looking, and thinking for your approbation alone.  I roused, and interested you, because I was so unlike them" (Austen, 378).

2. How have I not realized the strong similarities between Pride and Prejudice and Cinderella before reading this article?!

3. The above question is more of an exclamation than a question.  I am slightly disappointed in myself that I never drew a comparison between these two literary works before now.  Obviously there are differences between Cinderella and Pride that one can argue, however, those are not the focus of this piece.  It is the similarities that have garnered my attention in regards to this exercise.

The first most glaring similarity is the idea of the less than desirable female protagonist inadvertently attracting the attention of  a noble male from upper society despite the over the top attempts of other more socially presentable women to become the object of this attention.  Great. What does this mean?  In Pride, Elizabeth draws the attention of Darcy, despite the many efforts of Miss Bingley to win him over.  In the story of Cinderella, the evil step sisters try to steal the prince's affection by trying to convince him that the glass slipper belongs to them.  In both cases however these vain attempts by other women actually push the desired male figure towards our protagonist, and the protagonist wins out in the end.

The second main similarity is this idea of a happy ending.  In so many literary works, especially ones that I have been reading this year (including Othello), there is no happy ending.  In fact most of these stories end in suicides of the main character.  However, in both Pride and Cinderella, the protagonist lives "happily ever after" with their love.  

Although I could write ten pages about the similarities between these two works, I decided to cover the two biggest as designated by my personal opinion.  Other similarities include character traits and specific events, however, this is simply too much to cover in this particular forum.