Compare and contrast the writers presentations of Beverly (Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party) and Mrs. Bennet (Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice) as warped reflections of the societies in which they live.

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Kate Hamp

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Compare and contrast the writers presentations of Beverly (Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party) and Mrs. Bennet (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) as warped reflections of the societies in which they live.

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party are both critical studies of their societies. The characters of Beverly and Mrs. Bennet  are tools used to demonstrate what is wrong with society. Beverly’s pitiable class aspiring attitudes are tantalising to the point in which her behaviour enrages the audience, she illustrates how formidable this new capitalist society appears in aspiring to wealth.  Mrs. Bennet’s behaviour is more subtle, her main occupation is for arranging her five daughters to marry well rather than improve her own social status.

At the time that Abigail’s Party and Pride and Prejudice were written, society was under great change particularly in the 1970s. Britain was embracing a world of consumerism and capitalism. Abigail’s Party is set in the 1970s and was written in 1977. In 1963 the Equal Pay Act was passed followed by the Equal Opportunities Act in 1972. These laws had a large impact on society: they were particularly significant to the breaking down of traditional class and gender barriers, with wealth and consumerism becoming dominating factors. This change resulted in Margaret Thatcher’s government of 1979 which brought drastic changes to society introducing privatisation which led inevitably to a divided capitalist society (Beverly was a prime example of the people at this time who wanted to shrug off their class roots and aspire to greater wealth).

  During most of Austen’s life, Britain was at war with revolutionary France, and at home England was seeing the massive upheaval of the developing industrial revolution upon the traditional agricultural economic way of life. None of this is portrayed however in Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen’s rural middle class society feared the newly acquired wealth of the developing industrial cities, which similarly produce consumerism and new found materialism.

Mike Leigh presents the character of Beverly as essentially materialistic and boastful neither of which are admirable qualities, but in some respects it is reflection of this new society. This is presented to us in Act 1 when Tony and Angela have just arrived, “This is the suite I was telling you about” (LEIGH, 1977, 12).  This shows that she has already bragged to Angela and Tony before they had even entered her home. Leigh shows her as desirous of moving into a higher social class and she is shown as being centred on money. The 1970’s was the peak of the Women’s liberation movement which enabled women to have equal rights and opportunities to men in working conditions. Beverly is not an example of this it is clear that she maintains the role as housewife whilsts her husband appears to work extremely hard.

Leigh’s characterisation of Beverly is grotesque, she is an extroadinary character in the play; she is dominant over all the other characters. It appears here that Leigh’s purpose for the character Beverly is that he wants us to be horrified by her and therefore this wealth and class aspiring society. Leigh presents her to us as director; she initiates the majority of the conversations and pushes them in which direction she wishes. When others do attempt to start a conversation they are struck down by Beverly’s overpowering tone. Beverly is also a puppeteer in the play and the other characters are on her strings. Beverly does not even attempt to hide the fact that she wishes to be at the centre of every conversation and situation, her domineering exterior overshadows both her husbands and her guests and she doesn’t want to conceal this. She uses the other characters as tools to appear even more supreme.

Jane Austen’s is more subtle in her presentation of Mrs. Bennet. Austen introduces Mrs. Bennet light- heartedly initially; this is apparent from Mr. Bennet’s reaction to Mrs. Bennet’s behaviour: ‘You want to tell me I have no objection to hearing it’. Mr. Bennet’s reaction to Mrs. Bennet is comical, however we later learn that Mr. Bennet uses humour not just as a defense to his wifes character but also to limit discussion with his wife on such topics such as the girls future husbands. Mrs. Bennet’s  interests in the higher classes is to find partners for her daughters, she is concerned with her families social status but this was the norm at the time, it was ‘the business of her life to get her daughter’s married’ (Cecil. D., A portrait of Jane Austen 1978). The novel allows narrative comment of its demonstration of nineteenth century domesticity. Mrs. Bennet’s situation has serious overtones in that if her daughters do not marry well, they will not only be homeless after the death of their father but will have little money or social standing. Jane Austen presents this situation satirically but it is a critical study of the society in which they lived. During the 19th century, women were of small importance and status in society; the only success available to them was to marry well and secure a comfortable life unless a woman came from extreme wealth; Georgiana Darcy for example “Mr Wickham’s chief object was unquestionably my sister’s fortune, which is thirty thousand pounds”. The position of women is a prevalent theme in Jane Austen’s work both Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, with the underlining truth that, unless women marry well they were liable to incur poverty and social mockery. Feminist critiques of Pride and Prejudice would argue that Mrs. Bennet’s character is so vulgar because Austen wanted to show her as victim of the position of women at the time; that without a male sibling girls were left with nothing if they didn’t marry.

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Initially Austen’s presentation of Mrs. Bennet is quite manipulative with regard to her actual effect. Our impression of her is she is a comical character, a silly woman who is a figure of ridicule. As Austen introduces her firstly as a light-hearted character, her vulgarity unlike Beverly’s is disguised, and instead built up and developed throughout the novel. This is emphasised when she hears of Mr Bingley’s arrival in the area and becomes set on him marrying one of his daughters: “My dear Mr. Bennet” replied his wife. “How can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am ...

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