Essay — Elizabeth Bennet as a heroine

Component 2, Section B — 19th-century novel (40 marks)

How does Austen present Elizabeth Bennet as a different kind of heroine in Pride and Prejudice? Write about the novel as a whole. (40 marks — AO1 + AO2 + AO3 + AO4)

Mark scheme — banded:

Band	Marks	Descriptor
5	33–40	Perceptive, conceptualised, sustained argument; integrated AO3; sophisticated AO4.
4	25–32	Thoughtful, well-supported analysis; clear AO3; controlled AO4.
3	17–24	Clear understanding and some analysis; some context; mostly accurate AO4.
2	9–16	Some understanding; descriptive rather than analytical; limited context.
1	1–8	Simple, narrative response; minimal analysis or context.

Indicative content: Elizabeth refuses Mr Collins's proposal in defiance of economic prudence; refuses Darcy's first proposal (Ch. 34) on moral grounds — "you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry"; her wit is her weapon — uses irony as men in the novel use property; she walks three miles "in dirty stockings" to visit Jane (rebuke to feminine "delicacy"); confronts Lady Catherine as an equal in Chapter 56; revises her own prejudice on reading Darcy's letter — the heroine is allowed to be wrong. AO3: contrast with conduct-book heroines of the 1790s–1810s (Fordyce's Sermons, mocked in the novel by Mr Bennet); Wollstonecraft's Vindication (1792) advocated women's reason — Elizabeth embodies it.