Jane Austen`s pride and prejudice : a reflection of british society as the result of industrial revolution in the late of eighteenth century - USD Repository

  

JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: A REFLECTION OF

BRITISH SOCIETY AS THE RESULT OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

  

IN THE LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS

  Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

NI KETUT HERNI PRABAWATHI

  Student Number : 034214135

  

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2008

  

This t hesis is dedicat ed t o

I da Sang Hyang W idhi W asa M y beloved parent s

  M y beloved sist ers and brot her M y wings

  

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

  Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi Nomor Mahasiswa : 03421413

  Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberian kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

  

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A Reflection of British Society as the

Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late of Eighteenth Century.

  beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal: 13 Februari 2008 Yang menyatakan Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi

  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  In finishing this thesis, the writer should pass many processes and she realizes that they could not be passed if there were no help from others. How glad she is when this thesis was finished and she expresses her gratitude to all people that directly or indirectly have given a hand her study during her study in college for four and a half year in finishing her undergraduate thesis. She would like to thank:

  1. The owner of this life, Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa. She thanks Him for His magnificent works and endless miracles in her life. She deeply believes that He makes everything wonderful for her in a perfect time because He never leaves her alone.

  2. Her advisor, Dra. Enny Anggraini, M. A., for guidance and valuable advices to her. She thanks her for patiently read, reread and suggest many ideas during the writing process of this thesis.

  3. Her co-advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum, for giving her some suggestion in this thesis.

  4. Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum., for lending her The Oxford Companion to Philosophy .

  5. Her great family: her beloved parents (I Ketut Bangli and Ni Ketut Sayang), Sisters (Ni Kadek Veni Iriani, S.E., and Ni Made Yunny Kurniawathi, S.T.

  ), and brother (I Ketut Agus Widhi Yoga Nugraha), for their many years of love, support and prays. They truly are angels.

  6. The heart of Bali, for these magic words “When there's no one else look inside yourself just trust the voice within then you'll find the strength”.

  7. I made Ari Mahendra Dwi Putrawan, S.T., for his wings are always around her. She believes that she needs him every time because without his wings, she feels so small. God must have spent a little more time on him as a great present for her.

  8. Wahyu Adi Putra Ginting, for all supports and kindness that always comes in time and for coloring her life. He is ‘such’ a beautiful disaster.

  9. Her cousin, I Ketut Pica, for being the best cousin in the world.

  10. Diva-team, Moli, Michelle, Mbak Ocha and Ninik, for all supports and laughter. They are beautiful, that is for sure!

  11. The twins, Mei and Dik Ari, and Mbak Nina, for the simply love, care, and wonderful moments. She thanks them for giving her the tears of joy for all of the pleasure.

  12. Her friends in the 2003 English Letters especially Sastra Mungil

  Community . She thanks to Nani and Leni (they are the best), Inop, Maya, Ike, Sondang, Dewi, Afrill, Agnes, Intan, Cisil, Cita, Clara, Ony, Abit, Tio, Demus, Muji, Daud, Mando, Dean, Yacko, and Bigar. Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Title page .............................................................................................................i

Approval page ....................................................................................................ii

Acceptance page............................................................................................... iii

Dedication page………………………………………………………………….iv

Lembar Pernyataan Persetujuan Publikasi Karya Ilmiah Untuk

Kepentingan Akademis ………………………………………………………….v

Acknowledgements ...........................................................................................vi

Table of Contents .............................................................................................vii

Abstract .............................................................................................................ix

Abstrak ................................................................................................................ x

  

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................1

A. Background of the Study............................................................1 B. Problem Formulation .................................................................4 C. Objectives of the Study ..............................................................5 D. Definition of Terms....................................................................5

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW......................................................6

A. Review of Related Studies .........................................................6 B. Review of Related Theories ..................................................... 10

  1. Theory on Character and Characterization..........................10

  2. Theory of Setting ............................................................... 12

  3. The Relation between Literature and Society...................... 13

  4. British Society in the late Eighteenth Century ....................14

  C. Theoretical Framework ............................................................ 21

  

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ................................................................ 23

A. Object of the Study .................................................................. 23 B. Approach of the Study ............................................................. 25 C. Method of the Study.................................................................26

CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS............................................................................. 28

A. The Analysis on the Society in Pride and Prejudice ................ 28

  1. The Analysis on the Society through Setting ........................ 29

  2. The Analysis on the Society through Characters...................31

  B. The Reflection of British Society As the Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late eighteenth Century……………….….. 42

  1. The Existence of Class distinction .....................................42

  2. The Rise of Materialism .................................................... 50

  3. The Rise of Individualism .................................................. 58

  

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .......................................................................67

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................ 73

APPENDIX: Summary of Pride and Prejudice……………………………… 75

  

ABSTRACT

  Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi (2007). Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A

  

Reflection of British Society As the Result of Industrial Revolution in the

  . Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of

  Late eighteenth Century Letters, Sanata Dharma University.

  In this thesis, the writer is going to analyze the society that is reflected in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as a result of Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century. There are two objectives presented in the novel, namely (1) to describe the society of Pride and Prejudice and (2) to figure out in what ways the novel depicts British society as the result of Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century. The writer conducts a library research and utilizes the Sociocultural- historical approach to know further about the society and its history as the background of the story.

  After conducting the analysis, it is found that, as the answer for the first problem formulation. The description of Pemberley house as one of the setting of places in Pride and Prejudice shows how the luxury becomes an important aspect for the upper class people. Meanwhile, the description of the society through characters is indicated by the existence of upper class and middle class society. Upper class, as depicted in the novel, tend to be arrogant, hypocrite, and full of pride (Caroline Bingley and Lady Chaterine de Bourgh). However, there are also the upper class people characterized in the novel who commit positive acts in maintaining their social class (Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley). Meanwhile, it is found that there are two types of middle class people depicted in the novel: those who feel satisfied with their condition since they regard that they should have equal position in society (Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Bennet) and those who feel unsatisfied with their condition and tend to permit many ways to make their position equal with the upper class people (Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, and Mr. Wickham).

  Fulfilling the second objective of the study, the writer finds that the existence of class distinction, the rise of materialism, and the rise of individualism are the effects of industrial revolution towards the British society reflected in the novel. The existence of class distinction is reflected in the attitudes and actions of the upper class people in showing their superiority to keep their existence as high class people. In addition to that, the attitudes of middle class people in trying to be equal in every values of life to the upper class as the result of class struggle can also be considered as an indicator of the existence of class distinction. As the result of economic condition in Industrialization, The rise of materialism is reflected through the condition of the society and the characters in viewing marriage as business contract or finding a wealthy husband or wife as a way to secure their finance. The rise of individualism is reflected in Elizaberh Bennet’s perspectives on marriage, education, and position for women in the society.

  

ABSTRAK

  Ni Ketut Herni Prabawathi (2007). Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice: A

  

Reflection of British Society As the Result of Industrial Revolution in the Late

  Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, eighteenth Century. Universitas Sanata Dharma.

  Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa masyarakat yang digambarkan dalam novel Pride and Prejudice karya Jane Austen sebagai dampak dari revolusi industri pada akhir abad ke delapan belas. Ada dua objektif dalam skripsi ini, yaitu (1) untuk memaparkan kehidupan masyarakat dalam novel dan (2) untuk memahami bagaimana novel tersebut menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat Inggris sebagai dampak dari revolusi industri pada akhir abad ke delapan belas. Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka dan pendekatan sociocultural-historical guna memberi gambaran mengenai sejarah yang melatar belakangi cerita.

  Setelah melakukan analisis, sebagai jawaban dari permasalahan pertama, diketahui bahwa masyarakat digambarkan melalui seting dan tokoh-tokoh yang ada dalam cerita. Gambaran rumah Pemberley sebagai salah satu seting tempat di novel yang menunjukkan bagaimana kemewahan menjadi aspek terpenting bagi masyarakat kelas atas. Sementara itu, masyarakat melalui tokoh-tokoh ditandai dengan adanya pembagian masyarakat kelas atas dan menengah. Kelas atas, seperti yang digambarkan dalam novel, cenderung arogan, munafik, dan penuh keangkuhan (Caroline Bingley and Lady Chaterine de Bourgh). Terdapat juga kelas atas yang digolongkan sebagai orang-orang dengan perilaku positif dalam menyikapi kelas mereka (Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley). Sementara itu, terdapat dua golongan menengah yang digambarkan dalam novel: orang-orang yang puas dengan kondisi mereka karena menganggap kelas menengah mempunyai kedudukan yang sama di masyarakat (Elizabeth Bennet dan Jane Bennet) dan orang-orang yang tidak puas dengan kondisi mereka dan cenderung menghalalkan segala cara untuk menyetarakan kedudukan dengan kelas atas (Mr. Collins, Mrs. Bennet, Charlotte Lucas, and Mr. Wickham).

  Dalam menyelesaikan objektif kedua, penulis menemukan bahwa eksistensi perbedaan kelas, peningkatan materialisme, dan peningkatan individualisme adalah dampak dari revolusi industri terhadap masyarakat Inggris yang tercermin dalam novel. Eksistensi pebedaan kelas direfleksikan dalam perilaku kelas atas dengan menunjukkan kekuasaan mereka sebagai bentuk mempertahankan eksistensi. Di samping itu, perilaku kelas menengah yang mencoba sejajar di setiap aspek kehidupan menjadi sebuah indikatordari eksistensi perbedaan kelas. Sebagai dampak ekonomi dari era industri, Peningkatan materialisme direfleksikan melalui tokoh-tokoh dalam memandang pernikahan sebagai kontrak bisnis atau pencarian suami atau istri yang kaya sebagai jalan untuk menjamin keuangan mereka. Peningkatan individualisme direfleksikan dalam pemikiran-pemikiran Elizabeth dalam menyikapi pernikahan, pendidikan, dan status sosial.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Novel is one of modern literary genres (Rohrberger and Woods, 1971:

  19). By reading a novel, readers can get many things. Readers can get many pleasures, experiences, knowledge, and many values of human life. Reading a novel, readers can understand what is told and described by the author of the novel. In a novel, readers can find some aspects which are similar to those of a real life. They are, for example, society, people/characters, and their problems. Human beings are destined to live in a society, which is the same as a character in a novel. A character in a novel must also live in a society.

  Wellek and Warren in The Theory of Literature say that literature is the representation of life, or in other words, literature represents life. Life has a large measurement which covers a social reality (1956: 94). In other words, everyone is able to produce, or create, a work of literature depending on both temporal and spatial location where she or he lives. A dramatist, like a poet or a novelist, is creating his own language of his work, the work whose basis is from his own experiences. Furthermore, the language will express the life if it is stated in the performance’s term. Any kinds of changes in the society will also influence the artistic sense of art. Austen’s Pride and Prejudice clearly shows the way of life on the society in the late eighteenth century. Seeing the time in which Jane Austen wrote the novel, it is doubtless that the way Austen created the society in the novel wa considerably influenced by the condition of the society at that time. The late of the eighteenth century, according to Arnstein in Britain Yesterday and Today; 1830 to

the Present , was the time in which England faced the Industrial revolution.

  Arnstein said that Industrial revolution was in contrast with the previous age, the Victorian era; years of prosperity of agriculture and social harmony between classes. The social life such as: the necessity for a high degree of Individualism at home, free trade abroad, and progress in human affairs were accepted uncritical by the society. Many Britons, but never all, lived in balancing between a pleasing sense of self-confidence and complacency (1984: 71).

  On the other hand Arnstein adds, industrialization had come to be accepted as a way of life and the predominance of an urban civilization assured, it was becoming clear that the economic revolution would bring not social confusion and bloodshed, nor even an easily discernible ‘triumph of the middle classes’, but instead a far more gradual and peaceful readjustment of social groups and a widespread survival of habits, occupations, and in institutions from earlier centuries (1984: 72).

  From a brief explanation about the condition of England in the late eighteenth century above, it can be seen that Industrial revolution influences the society. The change of the society in terms of attitudes, ideas or perceptions, and even morality, tends to become some prominent effects. Society, as Jane Austen shares in this novel, is the society that holds an important rule in every aspect such as, hypocrisy, social class, and marriage, as the answers of unstable condition at that time. Pride and Prejudice is a reflection of British society in the late eighteenth century that Austen explores with romantic atmosphere. Social life is undoubtedly illustrated in this novel by each personal character. In Society in the Novel, Langland states that the famous opening of Pride

  , for instance, establishes a description of a society immediately: ‘It

  and Prejudice

  is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife” (1984: 26). The irony here is that society needs to perpetuate its structure through marriages among those of a certain class, and an individual needs to realize himself in that same institution that assures society’s continuance.

  Moreover, in her book she mentions the aspects of society criticized in Austen’s novels:

  Social events – parties, balls, assemblies, dinners, enable us to measure individual moral natures and growth as when Darcy applauds Elizabeth’s And Jane’s behavior at the Netherfield Ball, recognizing that ‘to have conducted yourselves as to avoid any share of the like censure (which has fallen on parents and sisters), is praise no less generally bestowed on you and your eldest sister, than it is honorable to the sense and disposition of both (1984: 28)

  From the quotation above we can say that through social events: parties, balls, assemblies, dinner, give us opportunities to measure individual moral nature in which individual merit is revealed, explore, and evaluated. Darcy recognized that the way Elizabeth and Jane conduct themselves in good ways can avoid any censures which has fallen on parents and sisters because of their bad behaviors.

  The temporal background of Austen’s novel is the late eighteenth century that indicates a particular period of era where people are trying to have a good status or financial security, for instance through marriage, to maintain their hard life because of the tension condition of Industrialization that influence their class, financial, and social life . Pride and Prejudice is a pursuit of human welfare to face the industrialization period that change some social aspects in the society.

  Pursuit constructs a concept of thinking such as to start keeping in their mind that land gives its owner social status, but its financial value lays less in farm products than in the coal or iron that might be found beneath. It brought people at that period of time to a kind of depressive circumstance and forced them to do anything for their financially good life. They even committed embarrassing things to reach their aims.

  Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an appropriate work to analyze. By using the historical background in the late eighteenth century as a guide, the writer tries to explore the condition of society in England in the late eighteenth century. In what ways the society is reflected in the novel, is a question which the writer tries to answer related to the problems in her thesis.

B. Problem Formulation

  Based on the background the writer formulates two questions as problems to answer in the analysis, these two questions are;

  1. How is the society in Austen’s Pride and Prejudice described?

  2. In what way is the British society in the late eighteenth century reflected in the novel?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  The research mainly aims to answer the two problems stated in the problem formulation above. In brief, this thesis aims and understands further about the society in the novel through setting and characters that occurred in the British society’s life in Pride and Prejudice.

  The second point is to know in what ways the condition of British society is reflected in the novel using the historical background of England in the late eighteenth century.

  D. Definition of Terms

  1. Society According to Elizabeth Langland in Society in the Novel, society in the novel is an imitation of an outside world (1984: 5). Respectively, the concept of society in a novel also shares the same quality with the real people. Society in a novel is a construction of life in a piece of literary work, which of course, represents the real life

  2. Industrial Revolution According to Arnstein in Britain Yesterday and Today; 1830 to the , Industrial revolution is the development of Britain into industrial

  Present

  societies in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (1984: 73). Britain becomes a great country with a capital city of two and a half million inhabitants with huge factory towns and gave significant effects toward the social life of British people.

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Jane Austen was born on 19 December 1775. Before she had reached

  seventeen, she had written many sketches, short comedies, and tales. Around the year of 1796 she began her first novel; Lady Susan. Shortly afterwards, she started , entitled in its version Elinor and Marianne. In 1796 she

  Sense and Sensibility

  finished First Impressions which she later developed into Pride and Prejudice followed by Northanger Abbey (Susan), Persuasion, The Watsons, and Emma. which later was developed into Pride and Prejudice is

  First Impressions,

  usually considered to be Austen's most popular novel. The novel, published in 1813, is Jane Austen's earliest work, and in some senses is also one of her most mature works. The original version of the novel was probably written in the form of an exchange of letters. This novel creates Elizabeth Bennet as the heroine, who makes the work perfect. She provokes women to show their existence in society and to prove that all characters are the same in the universe (Society in the Novel, 1984: 10)

  Sanders in his book entitled The Short Oxford History of English , states that the upper-middle-class world of Pride and Prejudice is seen

  Literature

  as being secured in its value, its privileges, and its pride. It is a society which defines itself very precisely in terms of land, money, and class (1984: 369). Pride has its own character as a novel which is influenced by the

  and Prejudice

  6 condition when Jane Austen wrote the novel. Undoubtedly, many values in the society such as land, class, and money, occur to create an excellent work.

  Sanders also writes that Pride and Prejudice is first impressions, illusions, and subjuctive opinions or prejudices that give way to detachment, balance, reasonableness and, more painfully, to humiliating reassesment. More cleverness, wit, or spontaneity, though admirable in themselves, are never allowed to triumph without being linked to some steadier moral assurance (1984: 370). Jane Austen’s book attempts to illustrate, to interpret, and to understand life more fully. Jane Austen’s writing contains an element of disagreement when she presents a society with the situation around them that is full of admiration for land, money, and class without considering it to the steadier moral assurance.

  Pride and Prejudice is not only a great novel to read but also an interesting

  work to be analyzed. Here, the writer reviews four deep analyses about Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice done by students of English Letters Department and students of English Department of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. They analyzed elements in the novel such as theme, biographical background, feminism, and motivation of marriage. They were approved and successfully defended.

  Studying about theme through the plot and the character of Pride and , Sriyatun, in her thesis The Study of Theme Developed from Plot and

  Prejudice

  , states that the plot of this novel

  Character in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

  is the chronology of the events, which have been related closely to the main character. As the primary character, Elizabeth dominates all happenings from the

  8 beginning to the end of the work. She is the key of the forming of the central idea.

  The theme itself is “a middle class young woman with good principal personalities succeeds in arising her self-respect and reducing the discrimination performed by the highest class” (2000:58).

  In addition to Elizabeth Bennet character, Sriyatun says that Elizabeth has made her own life meaningful with her strengths and weaknesses. She has intelligence and her way in viewing of something is a little bit different from other girls of her age. When she is certain that what she does is right, with confidence, she will be encouraged to keep on doing it.

  Giving opinion about ‘Marriage’ as one of the central topic, Chatarina Sri Lestari, in her thesis The Influence of Jane Austen’s View toward Motivations of

  

Marriage in England in the Late Eighteenth Century upon Elizabeth Bennet in

  Pride and Prejudice, says that both financial and social motivations are the main motivation of marriage existing in the society of the novel. This makes marriage misleadingly becomes a woman’s chief aim. However, the motivation of marriage in which marriage should be best based on the mutual feeling, understanding and respect, influences Elizabeth Bennet (2001: 57).

  In Dwi Utami’s An Analysis of Austen’s Biographical Background in

  

Writing Pride and Prejudice, it is stated that the character of Elizabeth Bennet in

  has similarities to the character of Jane Austen. Jane Austen

  Pride and Prejudice

  is a middle class woman. Though not precisely the same, Jane Austen really uses some fragments in her own life that share to the content of the novel (2000: 53).

  Discussing about the practices of feminism which appear in the novel, Nurmala Citra Dewi, in her thesis The Practices of Feminism as Seen Through

  , says

  Elizabeth Bennet, the Main Character of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

  that Elizabeth can prove that she can resist the connections which society seems to be prescribing for her and make a new connection of her own. One is not made in response to society’s controlling power but freely to make her own decision according to the dictates of their judgment, reason, and emotions (2003: 58-59).

  By seeing those deep analyses about Pride and Prejudice, the writer finds that some of existing comments seem to talk about the influences of Jane Austen toward the main character, Elizabeth Bennet: how some elements in Jane Austen’s life occur in the character of Elizabeth. Other theses focus on the development of the main character as the central discussion of their thesis and the setting as a supporting element in analyzing the characters without restricting what kind of setting that the writer dealt with. Meanwhile, the writer in this thesis intends to discuss more about the condition of British society that is reflected in the novel related to the historical background of the late eighteenth century in England. In the novel, the writer will explore the society that faced Industrial revolution which economically and socially gave many influences to their life. Jane Austen is taking social problems which happen as the effects of the Industrialization reflected in Pride and Prejudice.

B. Review of Related Theories

  To support the study, that would deal with the topic of Jane Austen’s Pride : a reflection of British society in the late eighteenth century, the

  and Prejudice writer would like to use some necessary theories as follows.

1. Theory on Character and Characterization

  A person in a dramatic or narrative work who naturally possesses moral, dispositional, and emotional qualities that all are reflected in the dialogue and the action among the person is a definition of character according to Abrams in A

  (1993:20). It is obvious that the character’s

  Glossary of Literary Terms

  appearance in a literary work can extremely help the readers understand what is really going on in the literary work, as well as what qualities lie behind their representation.

  In understanding the characters, the readers should know what the character says, what the character does, what other characters say about the character, and what the other characters do. These elements are very important to analyze the characters (Barnet, 1988: 712). This theory can be utilized since the basic characteristics of the character can give us clues to understand the character and it also determines the further actions of the characters in the story.

  According to Stanton, the term “character” can be the actors in the story and the characteristics of the characters. Also, the actors have the relationships with the characteristics they have (1965: 17). It can be assumed that the people appearing in a story with their behaviors and thoughts are the characters. They are related to each other and they have the main character to be the focus while the plot and conflicts come, arise, and are solved.

  Discussing more about character is as important as discussing the characterization. Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature state that characterization is the creation of playwright’s imagination about character as real human being, so that they exist for the audience or reader as lifelike (1986: 81). In creating a character, the author usually uses real human, completed with his behavior and attitudes as a mirror to form and characterize the character. The readers will imagine the characters as well as they think about the real human.

  Characterization refers to the representation of person in narrative of dramatic works (Baldick,1991: 34), while Perrine mentions that character in a story can be presented through direct presentation and indirect presentation (1974: 68-69). In direct presentation, the author simply tells the readers about the characters of the story. He tells the qualities of the characters in exposition and analysis, or in the other hand, he has someone else in the story who tells us what they are like. In indirect presentation, the personality of the characters can be more convincing, as it is shown by speaking and action he or she teaches (1974: 68-69). It means that there are many ways to represent a person in the story. It can be direct presentation and or indirect presentation that guide the reader to know the person deeply. Exposition, analysis, and the use of other characters telling about the imaginary person are known as direct presentation, while indirect presentation can be seen from the actions and statements of the characters

  Holman and Harmon also state that character and characterization are related and cannot be separated from each other. The author always reveals the characters of imaginary person in the story, and then it is called characterization. In other words, characterization can be defined as the creation of imaginary person so that they exist for the reader as if the people in real life (1986: 81). It means that, in the novel, the characters’ actions and interaction, albeit fictional, can actually be the same as what happens in real life.

2. Theory of Setting

  In a literary work such as novel, setting is very important. Guth, in his book The Literary Heritage says that setting is the time and place of the events of a story. Often the setting helps shape the characters and events. Village or city, north or south, poor or wealthy neighborhood, mountain country or coast—all these help decide how people live (1981: 729). It means that the setting of a story may create an event in which the characters are involved. They help decide what people will be like and what is the most important thing in their lives.

  Holman and Harmon in A Handbook to Literature, describe setting as the physical, sometimes the spiritual background against which the action of a narrative (novel, drama, short story, poem) takes place (1986: 465). Holman and Harmon give some elements to make up the setting. They are:

  a. The actual geographical location, its topography, scenery, and such physical arrangement as the location of the windows and doors in a room.

  b. The occupation and daily manner of living of the characters. c. The time/period in which the action take place, for example epoch in history/season of the year.

  a. The general environment of the characters for examples religious, mental, social and emotion conditions through which the people in the narrative move (1986: 467). According to De Laar, the action of a novel or a plot must take place somewhere and sometimes even shape it. The characters in the novel do things like people in the real world. De Laar also mentions the setting as scene, which has functions in the novel. (1963: 172). Furthermore, he says that, like the characters of the novel, scene must be drawn somehow from real life. Setting has or important function in identifying the type of a novel because through setting the author can create events and characters in the novel. In writing a novel, the character’s behaviors and attitudes are related to the setting. An author may decide kind of characters he or she wants to be created based on the place and time he used as the setting.

3. The Relation between Literature and Society

  Dobriner in his book Social Structures and Systems; A Sociological Overview, states that society is similar to community in which a survival system and the totality of relationships which it subsumes can theoretically go on forever. However, society is more inclusive than community in that functional interdependence (1966: 255).

  According to Wellek and Warren, Literature has a social function, or ‘use’, which cannot be purely individual. Thus a large majority of the questions raised by literary studies are, at least ultimately or by implication, social question; questions of tradition and convention, norms and genres, symbols and myths (1956: 94).

  Wellek and Warren add that the actual relation between literature and society is divided into three divisions of problems questioning about how far literature is actually determined by or dependent on social condition, on social changes and development. Those three divisions are social life of the author, the social content of the work itself and their influence on the literary work of the society (1956: 95). It means that the relation between literature and society can be clarified by the explanation of social life of the author, social content that occurs in a literary work and also effects that are caused by literary work of the society.

  Since every writer is a member of society, he can be studied as a social being. The writer has been a citizen, has pronounced on questions of social and political importance, and has taken part in the issues of his or her time.

4. British Society in the Late Eighteenth Century

  A change in the society also influences the literature. The late eighteenth century is marked by engine discoveries in which the society’s life concerns about land, money and class as the result of Industrial Revolution happened in Britain. Then, to relate the society with literature is not too difficult because both of them have struck contemporaries as outward and visible sign of the spirit of age

  (Rogers, 1987: 327). The society, which is influential in the authors work, becomes one part of the work itself. The novel, Pride and Prejudice, can also be said as a mirror of British society in the late eighteenth century.

  Then, related to Pride and Prejudice, the world is like a reflection of changing society in Jane Austen’s era. The late eighteenth century was the time when British society faced a new condition in their life that was contradictory to the previous condition. The condition is described as the time when Victorian period, the time when agriculture played an important role in the British society, was replaced by Industrialization, a manufacturing system. This changing influenced the society to adjust their life for survival and it created many changes in terms of attitudes, behaviors, and the goals of life. The condition and the changes that occurred in the society in England in the late eighteenth century will be explained clearly sub-chapter.

a. Industrial Society

  After Europe left the Romanticism Era, Revolution Era began in 1849 which was also described as a period of the Classical Age or Mid Victorian in the nineteenth century, the phase of middle class domination, comfortable bourgeois virtues, industrialism and free trade, political stability with an undercurrent of working class distress. Victoria is the personification of the bourgeois virtues that reigned only in Great Britain, but can lead Great Britain into the industrial age (1966: 257)

  According to Bowyer and Brooks, Industrialization is a changing in a system of manufacture with the system of machine in factories congregated in newly industrial cities (1954: 13). Properties became transformed from a symbol of rank to an instrument of power growing steadily in strengths and effectiveness as the result of Industrial Revolution, Britain becomes ‘the workshop of the world’. In 1855 onward, a market and increasing excess of imports over the world’s carrying trade were rising and Britain capital was earning greater dividends by financing developments overseas, especially in South America, China, Africa, Canada and Australia, and also Europe because Britain developed in the engineer of railway system. Supplying and exporting machinery and materials Britain also helped other countries equip their industry and transport.

  Ralf Dahrendorf in his book Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society, states that there are consequences of industrialization, both positive effects and negative effects. Before industrialization, British society’s life was presented in term of wealth and poverty, domination and subjection, property and propertylessness, high and low prestige. Thus it might appear as if all the industrial revolution affected was to replace old social strata by new ones; landowner and nobility by capitalist, laborers and small peasants by proletarians (1959: 4-5)

  There are some changes of the condition in the British society as the result of Industrial Revolution: a. The Existence of Class Distinction In many circumstances, class distinction existed strongly. The extreme difference between wealth and poverty, comfort and squalor were clear. Buckler,

  Hill, and McKay state that the living conditions among social classes in Britain were very different (1981: 1066). According to Moore, there was a huge gap between the rich and the poor. The invention of the steam engine and the machines for manufacturing gave way to many distinctions (1963: 5). In the emerging industrial society, the traditional idea of class diversity which was concerned with birth, manners and learning, was weakened by the divisions of society on the basis of income and occupation. Therefore, the social classes based on the income and occupation arose gigantically: the upper class, middle class, and working class. i. The Upper Class The Upper class was the richest class that had the influence upon the economic, politic, military and intellectual policies. The Upper family lived in luxury and idleness. A prosperous English family or the Upper class people, spent more than $ 10,000 a year (1966: 102). It spent their income on ten servants: a man servant, a cook, a kitchen maid, two housemaid, a serving maid, a governess, a gardener, a coachman, and a stable boy. They enjoyed music and theatre in luxurious hall every weekend and spending on food was great because the dinner party was this class’s favored social occasion. ii. The Middle Class The Middle class composed mainly of the most successful business family from banking, industry, and large commerce. The large number of servants was a very important indicator of wealth and standing for the middle. The sign of real wealth in a middle class household was a male servant. Food was the largest item of the households budget. They usually would settle the dinner party once a month. Food and servants absorbed about a half of the income. Education was another growing expense as middle class parents tried to provide their children with ever-more-crucial advanced education (1966: 114) iii. The Working Class Many members of the working class were people whose livelihood depended on physical labor, who did not employ domestic servants as the upper and middle class who had levels of livings and education. They were usually recent migrants who came from rural areas to the city. Domestic service was hard work at low pay with limited personal independence. For the full-time general maid in a lower-middle-class family, there was an unending routine by baby sitting, shopping, cooking and cleaning. (1966: 125)

  b. The Rise of Materialism According to Honderich in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, he states that materialism is the attitudes of someone that is connected with the bodily pleasures, or the possession of material goods, or else with such things as money, thought of as a means to such pleasures and goods (1995: 531). A materialistic person pursues desires and passions which must be identical with something material contains money and material possessions.

  Since Industrial Revolution occurred, the economic life changed constantly and rapidly. Economy grew faster than ever before, but economic progress and the prosperity merely could be felt by the upper and middle class who were landowners and employers. On the contrary, it constituted the year of suffering and deprivation to the poor, or working class, who lived under pitiful condition and under the power of the elite class.

  Wilbert E. Moore in his book Social Change states that for economic organization, Industrialization entailed a reduction in the proportion in agriculture.

  The application of modern methods to agriculture reduced the direct labor demand for production but increased unskilled workers in developing industrial societies.

  This condition rose minimum and average per-capita income for unskilled workers (1963: 99).

  Since human laborers lost their job and income, their life was even more depressing. Only had the upper and middle classes benefited material wealth. It means that the sense of prosperity was not shared by all the people. The upper class wanted to gain money in order to be richer. By having a lot of money, the upper class will be more respected by other people, particularly people who were lower than their social status. Meanwhile the lower or working class merely wanted to gain money in order to improve and support their financial life, so they could live in a proper way.

  This economical factor forced people to find ways for the sake of financial security. Marriage can be a choice for both men and women in England to obtain that financial security during this era. They based their choice on the most profitable one. It was also supported by paternalism system in the society. Any property that a woman possessed before her marriage automatically became her husband’s. This raised a phenomenon that a man married a woman only for the sake of the woman’s money, and a woman marries a man who has large fortunes for her financial security.