Jane Austen and women's emancipation

This questions are based on the same novel I wrote in the past entry: "Pride and Prejudice". In this post, I'll answer some questions about the context of production of the book.

1. What degrees of emancipation and/or conservative reinforcement of 18th-Century family values does Elizabeth Bennet's marriage to Mr. Darcy support?
She was quite liberal, and this was demonstrated in her pride and way of living life as a free woman, something inconceivable in those times.

2. What attitudes to marriage does 'Pride and Prejudice' convey? What other options did Elizabeth Bennet have?
Throughout all history, women had to marry, otherwise they wouldn't survive. As this is a novel that wants to change the society's prejudices about women, it focuses on demonstrating a love story with a happy ending, with the only difference to other romantic stories being a more feminist way of thinking.

3. How does the introduction made by Vivien Jones affect your reading and approach to the novel?
It helps us with the context of production and tells us what the book is about, but without mentioning the end or something like that. It's quite common that, when you ask about a book to somebody, he or she tells you the end, but I don't really think this is appropiate, because you slay all the intentions of the reader to continue with its labor.



4. How could the social circumstances and contexts of 'Pride and Prejudice' apply to different cultures and contexts today?
As I said in the last post, I personally think that these topics are inherent to humans. Therefore, even if hundreds of years passed from the moment this book was written till today, I think that these kind of themes will never be let aside.