Jane Austen: Proto-feminist or not so much?

     This is a difficult question to answer. While many of her ideas seem to be progressive, I don't believe she advocates for change. Also, it seems that for every character going against the societal norm, there is a character embracing it. For example, Mrs. Bennet is driven mad in trying to marry one of her daughters while Elizabeth simply does not want to marry for money. On the other hand, we have Lydia, a young, naive girl who flirts and chases soldiers, in stark contrast to her sister Jane, who seems happy to take on the duty-because that's what it is made to be-of marrying. In my opinion, she seems to be critiquing women, and not necessarily the society that they live in. The book begins by explaining that a man with money must absolutely want a wife, though the events of the novel prove that it is quite the opposite. Women spend their lives trying to find a man with a good fortune. Marriage has become an economic act, rather than one of love. Marriage and class are inextricably related in this novel. A woman must marry an upper-class man in order to be well-off, as opportunities for women were scarce. Also, men are expected to marry within their class, as Darcy so nicely puts to Elizabeth during the first proposal scene. Elizabeth's ideas are certainly progressive. She passes up on marriage to a wealthy man, not once in Mr. Collins, but also to Darcy. Absolutely unheard of, right? Though Elizabeth eventually does marry Darcy, it is obviously for love, rather than money. I do not think the movies really address this idea of a feminist main character. I agree with another poster that the best depiction of this would most likely be Bridget Jones, who, after a breakup with Darcy, becomes independent and focused on herself. I believe it was probably easier to take this liberty with a modern version, because it's not only more acceptable, but possibly more believable for a woman to act in such a way in today's society.
     While reading an article about Austen, an essayist brought up the fact that women who go out of society's norms in Austen's novels are typically punished. Example being Lydia Bennet, who is forced to marry "a rogue" as she called him. I thought this was an interesting point that I hadn't thought of.

As for Austen herself, she never married...so maybe she was an early protofeminist herself, but as for Lizzie Bennet, I don't think so.
While many hail Austen and pride her on her feminist writings, many others totally disagree. Maybe we'll never reach a unified answer.