[Pride and Prejudice] Mary's Pride and Prejudice

Letter

On the second day of the wedding, they received a letter from Jane. Jane visited Sister Bingley the day before yesterday, but she did not meet Mr. Bingley. However, Mary could still see the meaning of loneliness in her words. If she really didn't have expectations, she didn't have to bother to explain.

In addition, Jane also visited Mrs. Nash. Although they only met a few times, their friendship was maintained in the subsequent correspondence. This time Jane went to London, and Mrs. Nash was overjoyed. She is a lonely woman , Mr. Nash is very busy all day long, either going to the construction site or meeting the Prince Regent, but Mrs. Nash is very displeased with the Prince Regent who is full of fat. Most of the time, she would rather stay at home alone. Jane is very understanding and often Going to visit her further deepened the friendship between the two of them.

At the same time, Mary kept a correspondence with Mr. Alfred. Alfred expressed his regret that Mary could not come to London immediately after Christmas. He also wanted to take Mary to the Parliament House to attend the debate.Sir Chamilly's motion was finally submitted, and Mr. Alfred also canvassed votes among members of parliament for this. Fortunately, Sir Chamilly's proposal attracted the attention of the parliament, and finally the proposal was passed. Many newspapers The news was reported, and it was widely believed that the need for criminal law reform had been initially established.

Mary wrote to congratulate Mr. Alfred. She knew that he had contributed a lot to this matter. Although the final result of the bill proposed by the congressmen was to promote the development of the country, the process was full of various political conflicts and compromises of interests. Due to his background, Mr. Alfred knows how to deal with it very well.Mary also asked him to convey her congratulations to Sir Chamilly, and she believed that the abolition of the death penalty on a large scale would eventually be fully achieved.

There was also a women's rights petition that appeared in the newspapers, that is, the petition signing activity mentioned by Miss Edwards, which was reported in lengthy newspapers in the Times.

A countess who signed the petition published a signed petition in the newspaper, which read: "I am a woman, but I have inherited a title from my ancestors, and I run my fiefs like a man. , take care of our tenants, pay all the taxes that should be paid, I can say with no shame in my heart that I have fulfilled the obligations to the king, the responsibilities to the country, and the responsibilities to society that any gentleman should fulfill. Moreover, All my tenants, servants, and friends agree that I do better than many men."

"I hereby ask the King to give me the same rights as a man, and Congress to give me the rights that a man should have, and I ask this right, not only for myself, but for many who will benefit from it. People. I have had many embarrassments as a woman, but if I exercised the rights of a gentleman like a man, this embarrassment could be avoided, and thus benefit my household, servants and friends, and even myself. Strangers I don’t know. But because I don’t have that right, I have no right to disagree or agree on many things, and I can’t help people I can help at all, because I’m not a man.”

"I ask to enjoy the rights of a man, just as I have fulfilled the duties of a man!"

Elizabeth read the article several times, and she expressed her opinion: "Many places are very moving, but I am afraid it is still difficult to impress the king and the parliament."

Mary also thinks the same. Today's Britain is a country that emphasizes benevolence, compassion, freedom and equality, but in fact, things that are not benevolent, not compassionate, not free and not equal are happening every day in any angle of this country.

Although the countess is a nobleman, she has many privileges that ordinary people do not have, but in the world of nobles, she is still restricted and discriminated against.In this article of hers, a lot of space is devoted to describing herself. Although this arouses sympathy, it cannot elevate her height and make her behavior more noble and rational, so it is easy for people to regard her situation as It is a personal matter, an individual matter.

So the next day, many supporters of patriarchy began to fight back in the newspapers.

"Men perform men's duties and enjoy men's rights, women perform women's duties and enjoy women's rights. The difference between men and women is God's law, and gender differences have created differences in the division of labor in society. If this law is forcibly broken, we must will be punished by God."

"If a countess is going to be a countess, is the wife going to be the husband? Does the servant have to be the master? Our society runs on the cogs of order, and without that order society breaks down , what we’re dealing with is chaos.”

"Suffrage is a matter of national politics. It's the most important thing in the country. I can't imagine a woman who faints, panics, and shouts at every turn to elect the ideal MP. They will only vote for those who show their heads. A standout comedian, a national priority will become a beauty pageant, it will only be a farce."

"Women are supposed to stay home and do their job and do other things, but now they're giving up their jobs to compete with men, it's like a cook throwing away the rolling pin and picking up the whip Compete with the coachman, and the result is only to drive the carriage into the stinking ditch."

This kind of argument that belittles women and regards women as vassals and slaves has aroused fierce resistance from women's rights activists, and a debate on women's rights has begun.

After seeing these articles, Elizabeth wrote an article and sent it to The Times, which was published the next day.

Elizabeth's article was a level higher than that written by the female nobleman. She linked the improvement of women's status with human development and social progress, and immediately made the feminist movement taller.

"People think that women are irrational. Most people think that women are superficial and ignorant. They either care about food and clothing or compare each other all day long. But please pay attention to the fact that for thousands of years, most women have been educated like this, Their job is to dress up, to compete, to be admired like canaries in a birdcage. It is because they have been taught to be so shallow that many women become shallow. We have reason to believe that once we educate men like If we educate women in the same way, they will surely achieve as much as men."

"Children are the future of mankind. In our social education, the mother's education of children is the first and most important. And a well-known truth is: a humble teacher can never educate noble students, just as a clumsy craftsman can never It is impossible to carve a perfect work of art."

"If women are humble by nature, we absolutely cannot agree with this. There have been many outstanding and brilliant women in our history. I don't need to list them one by one. Since they can achieve such achievements in a confinement environment, then There's no limit to what women can achieve if they have access to a more relaxed environment."

"We keep half of the country's population out of the law. Because of discrimination, they have no opportunity to receive a university education, enjoy human rights, and have no opportunity to create social value. Such a huge social resource is wasted in vain. If they can Participating in society, the value they can create will be immeasurable."

Mary couldn't help admiring Elizabeth's article. This sister raised the feminist movement to a new height, which resonated with many people.For this reason, the editor forwarded many letters to Elizabeth, and many feminists cited Elizabeth as a confidant.Miss Edwards also wrote to Elizabeth, inviting her to join their women's association.Mary thought Elizabeth would agree, but unexpectedly she declined the invitation.

Mary was very confused, and Elizabeth explained: "The women's association is full of aristocratic women. Although they pursue women's rights, they are somewhat different from my habits. Anyway, whether I join the association or not, I will firmly support women's rights. You don’t have to pursue this kind of identity recognition.”

Her statement was also forgiven by Ms. Edwards. Although she regretted that Elizabeth could not become a member, she still sent two commemorative badges to Elizabeth. I don’t know what kind of material this badge is made of. It is a profile of a lady, wearing a long skirt and holding a parasol.It is said that people from the Women's Association distributed many such badges, and those who supported the women's rights movement would pin it on their clothes.Two badges, one for Mary and one for Elizabeth.

Mrs. Bennet didn't know that Elizabeth's article had been published again until she saw this kind of badge. Take the initiative to tell her which newspaper your article was published in.And Mrs. Bennet is by no means a person who likes to read newspapers, so she thought her daughter was already exhausted.

Although Elizabeth's article was published this time, she was very proud, but what was even more surprising was that she actually said something to Elizabeth: "You spoke from my heart, Liqi, well done! Women are not shallow by nature, we also know a lot of profound knowledge and life philosophy, whoever looks down on women is doomed to suffer from women!"

When Mary heard her mother's words, she couldn't help but look at her with admiration. She didn't expect Mrs. Bennet to be quite rebellious. No wonder she gave birth to a daughter with such a rebellious spirit as Lydia.

Thinking about it, Mrs. Bennet was always ridiculed by Mr. Bennet on weekdays, and she was not unaware of it, and she must be full of anger in her heart.Mr. Bennet is a typical look down on women. Of course, he is very enlightened. His nature is also in favor of women getting more education, and in favor of women having their own ideas, otherwise he would not like Elizabeth so much.But at the same time, he looked down on those stupid women, such as Mrs. Bennet and her two young daughters. He looked down on their ignorance and was unwilling to educate them.In the original book, because Mr. Bennet underestimated Lydia and turned a blind eye to her inappropriateness, he finally got his little daughter to give him a big blow, and he suffered a big loss from a woman!

Kitty saw Mary's badge and borrowed it for a day, and then took it off and returned it to Mary after she was satisfied. She said that this kind of badge is not good-looking at all, so she doesn't care about it.Mary despises her: it's not rare to take it all day!In fact, Kitty just used it to show off, to show off the popularity of London with friends nearby. It is said that in their opinion, this kind of activities held by noble ladies are all kinds of high-end!Mary is speechless...

But it seems that Miss Edwards' situation is not bad. Mary thought that the old Duke Edwards would strongly oppose this kind of movement and would get angry with his granddaughter.However, Alfred said in the letter that after the old duke found out about his granddaughter's outrageous words and deeds, he really made a fuss for no reason, but oh, the stubbornness in the blood of the Edwards family seems to be born. Many grown men are strong enough to stand up to their grandfather's wrath and argue their case.

The old Duke Edwards is an old-fashioned person. He had never paid attention to the girls in his family before, but after this battle, he was shocked to find that there was such a rebellion in his family. The experience of the family, of course, this time we must be cautious.

It wasn't just because of the illegitimate child incident that he kicked Colonel Edwards out of the house in the first place. What kind of a big deal is this kind of thing in high society?The more reason is Colonel Edwards' rebellion and rebelliousness. He is simply incompatible with the upper class, and he is contrary to his grandfather's temperament. The two of them have to fight each other almost every day.After kicking his eldest grandson out of the house, the old Duke did not regret it, but Lord Adrian has been trembling since he became the heir, and he did not make any big mistakes. Not only did the Woodhouse family not object to changing their daughter's fiancé On the contrary, he was very much in favor of it, and the old prince was already on the verge of riding a tiger, so he had no choice but to make mistakes.

He intends to make up for his eldest grandson. As long as Colonel Edwards is willing to come back and apologize to him and admit his mistakes, the old Duke has already prepared a sum of money, which is enough to make Colonel Edwards live comfortably for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, this eldest grandson still does not give him face. , the old duke refused to take the initiative to bow his head, and the grandfather and grandson remained in a stalemate.

Now that what happened to Miss Edwards, the old Duke has learned his lesson. He is not a warm person, nor does he value his granddaughter very much, but this does not mean that he is willing to lose these children.

Now that the old duke has agreed not to force his granddaughter to be betrothed to the man he likes, Miss Edwards, though happy to be out of this annoying engagement, has not resigned from the Women's Association, and she is still active in pushing for women's right to divorce, she said As long as a woman does not have the freedom to divorce for a day, she will never marry.The old duke is busy with official duties and has no time to argue with her about this, and he doesn't think highly of women in his heart, thinking that as long as there are enough outstanding young people to make her fall in love, then the grand plans and great wishes she made today will naturally come to naught, so he also I don't care.

Miss Edwards was like a wild horse now, no more restraints.

Mr. Alfred asked Mary when she would be able to return to London. Although she didn't say it literally, Mary still read a hint of missing, which made her feel a little strange.