Evolutionary Psychology and Austen

The critical essay you read this week for Pride and Prejudice  is typical of literary criticism in that it applies a theory outside literature to literary characters.  Do you think that is a valid critical method (this one specifically, but also in general)?  Can you impose a reading (a heuristic) on fiction?  Is the fact that the Bennet sisters marry well proof of the validity of  evolutionary psychology?

Austen the Feminst (?)

Can you classify this novel as a feminist novel--one that is concerned with women's issues and the limitations society sets for women?  What evidence is there in the novel to suggest that Jane Austen or her narrator or Elizabeth Bennett is a feminist?  Remember that the story is about marriage.  While it may not be the stated object or goal of ALL the women in the story to get married, what other options in life do they have, according to the novel?  What else can these upper class women DO?