Women's Autonomous Identity and the Role of Sexual Selection in Female Choice of their Partners in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre

Abstract

In the human world, according to the evolutionary psychology of mate choice, both men and women are active participants in the selection of a long-time partner. As one of the main concepts of evolutionary psychology is to survive and eventually propagate genes, the balance between partners which derives from both parties initiation to cooperate, plays an important role. This thesis focuses on four women characters (Charlotte, Elizabeth, Jane, and Bertha) from Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre, their process of selecting partners, and how evolutionary fruitful is their relationship. The reviewed articles in this research support that the evolutionary approach has affected the character's decision of selecting their partners. Alongside these articles, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has been used as a framework. Based on these articles and theories, this thesis has demonstrated that women’s autonomous identity and sexual selection have the most dominant role in determining the partners of these characters in Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. Moreover, this research will give a new direction to other researchers to see women's choice of partner selection and the possibility of a successful marriage in literature from evolutionary psychologists’ perspectives.