Not Too Light And Bright

Résumé: Women in Regency England suffered from various forms of marginalization and oppression. They were denied equal rights to men and were treated in harsh ways that did not suit human beings. Amidst such circumstances, Jane Austen lived and wrote. Through her pen, Austen condemns and criticizes the unfair treatments that women received in a patriarchal imperial society. Women, at the time, were slaves in all but name. So, this study aims at showing that Austen's novels, namely, Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Persuasion (1817), vividly depict the suffering of women via drawing a parallel between the conditions of slaves with that of women. However, for Edward Said, Austen is considered as one of the western writers who promoted for the imperial project through their literary production. This study counter argues Said's stand by confirming the opposite, which is to prove Austen's anti-imperialist stand. It sheds light on Austen's analogous technique in highlighting women's suffering and slaves' suffering through the metaphor of slave trade and marriage market. As such, this research combines both Feminism and Postcolonialism to demonstrate Austen's awareness and criticism of patriarchy and imperialism. It turns out that the overlapping relationship between Feminism and Postcolonialism gives Austen's novels a new dimension in which Austen appears as a postcolonial feminist authoress par excellence.

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