| Sumario: | This essay analyzes Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in dialogue with consent discourse through her nuanced examination of marriage and courtship, considering how she critiqued sexually inappropriate behavior through characters like Wickham and Collins and modeled behaviors for cultivating consensual relationships through couples like Elizabeth and Darcy. Though published two centuries ago, Austen maintains a foothold in the literary and cultural canon because her work, which helped carve a niche for women in the literary marketplace, has crafted enduring models of both heroic and toxic masculinity that still resonate with women's experiences of sexual misconduct. Examining how Pride and Prejudice engages with consent discourse challenges readers to consider how her heroines continue to amplify women's voices as agents of consent.
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