“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” – Pride and Prejudice Thus begins one of the most famous novels of all times, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Ostensibly, the novel revolves around the various romances and relationships of the Bennet sisters with the numerous men they meet in and around the little village of Meryton. Underneath the superficially frivolous theme of the novel lies an idea far more profound – an idea that has fascinated and eluded story-tellers, poets and painters throughout the ages – the idea of perfect femininity. Pride and Prejudice is a novel by a woman, written for and about women. It is full of female characters, the good and the bad, the smart and the stupid. The lives and times, joys and sorrows, vices and virtues of these women fill the pages of Austen’s masterpiece, painting a picture more realistic and beautiful than any modern photograph. Yet, by the end of the novel, we are left with one question – which of these women is the best of all? Which of them should be held up as the role model for all young women to follow? Who represents perfect womanhood? The concept of perfect womanhood, and by extension perfect manhood, in combination forming nature’s perfect pairing, has been the subject of art and philosophy since times immemorial. In Hinduism the concept of ‘Ardhanarishwar’ can be seen as the perfect conjoining of man and woman. Adam and Eve of Christianity represent the Abrahamic ideal of perfect gender roles. In Pride and Prejudice, there have been two main candidates for perfect womanhood, Jane and Elizabeth, the two eldest Bennet girls. Many critics have seen in Jane the ideal of Regency womanhood – sweet and agreeable and most importantly, submissive. I do not think, however, that Jane Austen had any intention of holding Jane up as an ideal. On the contrary, the novel is full of instances