Performing Gentlemanliness: Social Recognition and the Making of Masculine Authority in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

Abstract

Since the emergence of feminist Austen criticism, Pride and Prejudice has most often been read as a novel concerned with women’s agency, marriage, inheritance, and the unequal distribution of social power. These approaches have transformed our understanding of Austen’s fiction, yet their emphasis on women’s negotiations with patriarchal authority has left masculine authority itself comparatively underexamined, and gentlemanliness frequently appears as a stable social category rather than a contested cultural achievement. This article argues that Austen treats masculine authority as a problem of social recognition rather than inherited privilege. Focusing on Fitzwilliam Darcy, George Wickham, William Collins, and Charles Bingley, it examines how competing performances of gentlemanliness acquire, lose, and renegotiate legitimacy. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and Raewyn Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity, the article demonstrates that gentlemanliness functions less as a natural consequence of class position than as a continually negotiated social practice whose authority depends upon public recognition, ethical conduct, and cultural intelligibility. Through close textual analysis, it shows that Austen repeatedly separates rank from legitimacy, exposing the instability of identities that appear socially secure. Darcy’s moral development, Wickham’s manipulation of reputation, Collins’s dependence upon institutional authority, and Bingley’s sociable masculinity collectively reveal that masculine legitimacy is never guaranteed by wealth or lineage alone. By repositioning masculine authority at the centre of Austen’s social critique, the article contributes to Austen studies, masculinity studies, and contemporary discussions of gender performativity.

Keywords: Jane Austen; Pride and Prejudice; masculinity; gentlemanliness; gender performativity; hegemonic masculinity; Judith Butler; Raewyn Connell.