'Pride and Prejudice'

I've never hidden my disdain for Jane Austen. There's the distinct possibility that my attitude toward the author is based on the fact that she's so regarded by people for the sole reason that she's a woman being successful during a day and age when women were used for baby making and social events.

Although this is true, I think it's more demeaning to rate her based on her ovaries rather than on her writing, which I don't think is all that great and her stories, is stinks of second-rate Shakespeare and romantic-comedy.

The most interesting theme in Austen's works is her treatment of the women in her stories. Most are well-educated and witty, not needing a man to justify their existence and yet they're emotional and wrought with a certain amount of conflict in their hearts as they battle what they feel and the societal constraints placed on them. The women think they're above love, marriage and whatnot, but they're just as much part of the machine as anyone else. Look at Elizabeth spurning the preacher man as if she holds some sway on her decisions and then going cuckoo over Darcy in a matter of days.

As if Austen is saying any inequality and lack of opportunity for women was as much the fault of the woman as it is the man. The woman that finally realizes that men are just penises will break the cycle.