Similarities and Differences of Female Characters in Wieland and Northanger Abbey - Essay Example

The Similarities and Differences of the Female Characters in Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland or the Transformation and Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey Although Charles Brockden Brown’s novel, Wieland or the Transformation, was published in 1798, its feminine characters are worthy of comparison to Jane Austen’s novel, Northanger Abbey, which was published in 1803. Both Brown and Austen’s novels offer portrayals of women in romantic fiction stories who fall prey to love, but are eventually bound to suffer. In the aftermath, the female lead character reunites with the male lead character, and they end up loving each other, happy with the life they have always dreamed to live. However, Brown through his lead character, Clara, presented a love story that intertwined to a series of horrendous events; events that are frightening for a woman, but are provoking her to becoming a heroine. Austen, in another way, created a somewhat fairytale love story that does not involve deaths or tragic events, but an ordinary and yet inspiring story of love that is destined to prevail against all odds. Nevertheless, Austen was able to add a bit of gothic fiction in the novel by making Catherine’s character an archetype of a novel fanatic, who considers herself as a heroin and sees the real world like the world in fiction. Brown and Austen’s passion in writing is manifested in their ability to make a romantic story that catches the attention of readers. Their novels, although written during the olden days, have not yet been forgotten because these have enthralling scenes and exciting turn of events that are able to capture the emotions of the readers through its characters. For instance, in Clara Wieland and Henry Pleyel’s love story, there is the involvement of religious fanaticism and mystery that made their story, not like the usual. Clara was trapped in the shadows of her deceased father who had a world of his own through the religion that he founded himself (Brown ch. I). When the father died, Clara and her brother Theodore had to deal with the things occurring in their place, especially the strange voices that seem to disrupt their quiet life (Brown). Uncanny things are occurring, but Clara is left with no other choice, but to accept the weird happenings to live a normal life and pursue her intention to confess her love to Henry Pleyel. Diversely, the love story of Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney in Austen’s novel is more inclined to the reality. Despite Catherine’s obsession to gothic novels, the romance between Catherine and Henry is like those that happen in the typical love story scenes in the movies, a woman from a not so well off family falls in love with the man of her dreams; the family of the men objects to their relationship, but in the end, their love for each other shall prevail. Still, in this typical romance story, Catherine, in spite of her pure love, is also left with no other choice, but to leave Henry behind by reason of General Tilneys animosity. Brown and Austen applied different approaches to the story, as a whole, particularly in playing with the emotions and characters of the lead female characters. Clara embodies the character of a woman, who is a victim of a situation that places her life in misery. Perhaps, Brown wanted to emphasise the helplessness and innocence of Clara through scenes of death, which have indeed affected her view of life, and her trust toward other people. The depiction of women, as weak and innocent beings in romanticism, was argued by Mary Wollstonecraft in her Vindication of the Rights of Women. According to Wollstonecraft, women are oftentimes deprived with their rights in romantic writings, and are obliged to pattern themselves upon the demands of men, which are unjust to women. In Catherine’s case, Austen used a style that did not make her look like a victim of an awful situation. Instead, Catherine was this innocent girl, who despite her weaknesses and vulnerabilities maintained her composure and sanity. As it may be, the difference between the personalities of Clara and Catherine is due to the gender of the authors who wrote the two popular novels. Brown was a man, and Austen was a woman, and their beliefs and principles in life possibly bear no resemblance. Therefrom, the argument of Gilbert and Gubar, in their popular, literary criticism, The Madwoman in the Attic, regarding the “pen as a metaphorical penis” may do justice to these differences with the woman being disadvantaged and the man being in control of things (3). Conventional gender representations were common in early romance writing. The characterisation of feminine figures in novels usually picture women in their conservative clothes, being pursued by men and not much like a brave lady warrior who is willing to die for her countrymen. Long ago, it was different because feminism was rampant, and women writers struggled to create feminine figures who will not be an object of brutal demands (Alexander 5). Apart from the characters of Clara and Catherine, there were other female characters in the two novels, who also present representations of women who have been enslaved by love, in particular, by the men whom they love. For instance, in Brown’s novel, Catharine Wieland was murdered, by her own husband Theodore Wieland, the brother of Clara Wieland (ch. XVI). Catharine’s role in Brown’s gothic horror novel is again the conventional wife and mother whose only sin is to love Theodore. The sister of Henry Tilney, Eleanor Tilney, also lived a difficult life for loving the man whom her beloved father cannot accept. For this reason, Eleanor had to hide their relationship not to let her father separates them. Eleanor’s only sin is to love a man whom his father thinks is not worthy of her love. Catharine and Eleanor suffered the consequences of their love, but Catharine died due to her man’s insanity while Eleanor’s sacrifices paid off as she was able to be with the man that was destined to be hers, hopefully, in perpetuity. The most evident similarity in the novels of Brown and Austen is the literary genre they have chosen to construct their ideas, and that is gothic horror. Gothic horror is usually linked with paranormal romance, but in reality, it is an “atmospheric type of literature” (Morris). In traditional gothic novels, a naive woman plays the part of the lead character, who is eventually captivated by a good looking-man, who hides his past (Morris). Brown and Austen have chosen places such as Pennsylvania and Northanger Abbey as the setting to justify the gothic theme of the novel. The setting together with the characteristics of the female characters make up two different stories, one that narrates religious fanaticism and the other one with gothic fanaticism. Religious fanaticism in Weiland led to the uncertainty of Clara. Clara was caught in the middle of believing or doubting the cause of her father’s mysterious death (Bernstein). Indeed, Clara was skeptical about everything compared to his brother’s certainty. Brown made her character appealing by making her the narrator instead of the other characters (Bernstein). Clara was emotionally burdened, and the best way to emphasise this circumstance in the novel is by means of making her the narrator. Gothic fanaticism in the Northanger Abbey led to Catherine’s overenthusiasm of gothic novels to the point of making it seem like the reality. However, Catherine’s experiences in Bath opened her eyes to the real world that is far from the things happening in the gothic novels. Her ignorance as an ordinary young woman during that period later on diminished as Catherine Morland grew up as a lady with a pure heart. Austen was able to provide her readers with a view of what a woman can and cannot do during the period when it was written, of course through the character of Catherine. The most significant difference in the characters of Clara and Catherine is their way of handling things occurring in their present lives. Their outlook in life was shaped by the past that they had gotten into when they were younger. Since Clara had unpleasant memories of her past, she was haunted by it, thus making her life more miserable. Clara became vulnerable to the deceptive nature of Carwin because she has allowed herself to be haunted by the past. She did not move on and continued to dwell on the mysterious death of her mystic father. This gives a lesson about the past; in not dwelling on the past, but in moving on in order not to be affected by sudden, bizarre happenings such as hearing odd voices that are acting as if it was one’s conscience. Catherine, on the other hand, came from a Christian family, whose beliefs and values seem to abide by what is acceptable to society. Catherine’s upbringing made her strong amidst the difficulties in dealing with other people outside their home. Eventually, she found true love in the person of Henry Tilney, who gave up all he had to marry and begin a new life with her. The horror in Wieland and humor in Northanger Abbey also distinguished the characters Clara and Catherine in both novels. The horror theme of Wieland led to the forming of Clara’s character as someone who is doubtful, fearful, and helpless; a stereotype of feminine figures in early romance writing. While Catherine, although angelic and kind, also had this ignorance in her that made her character appear as if she had no knowledge, is uneducated, and is only capable of being a truthful wife. Undeniably, the stereotyping of feminine characters in early literary works provoked female writers like Wollstonecraft, Gilbert, and Gubar to create their own piece of writing that will criticise such unfair practices. Wollstonecraft even argues the prejudices of men in grumbling about the impracticality and caprices of women when, in fact, they do not even appreciate womens passion and pampering. Nevertheless, Austen in her Northanger Abbey did make the character of Catherine stand out by centering the story on her journey to love. While Brown, despite his masculinity and affinity to gothic horror, managed to make Clara’s character worthy of attention by making her the narrator and only survivor of the terror that struck her family. Therefore, both Clara and Catherine embody the characteristics of women in the society, emotional, fragile, sensitive, and weak, but are forgiving even if they get hurt by the ones they love. Clara’s love for Henry Pleyel and Catherine’s love for Henry Tilney were all worth the sacrifices for, and in the end, their love for each other prevailed. In this day and age, the edge of a woman against a man is still subject of much debate. What society often argues is the capabilities of women in doing things that men think they are only capable of doing. In the past, especially during the eras of Brown and Austen, romance writing was used as an instrument to practicing gender representations. Feminine figures in novels were usually created to embody the role of women in society. However, the representation of female of characters was dependent on how the author sees a woman in his or her own judgment. For a male author, such as Brown, the female characters in his novel was given roles that represent women as the delicate sex who are vulnerable to deceit, but are also capable of resisting such things. On the other hand, for a female author like Austen, the female characters in her novel represent women as innocent, and yet committed in things they want to pursue. Apparently, the similarities of Clara and Catherine outweigh their differences. Notwithstanding all the sufferings they have gotten into for the sake of love, Clara and Catherine survived and lived a meaningful life. Certainly, women are weak; women are emotional, demanding, and unpredictable, but behind these flaws are the facts that they complete a man’s life. Without characters like Clara and Catherine, novels will not have a happy ending, and love stories will not be able to capture the significance of love against all odds. Works Cited Alexander, Meena. Women in Romanticism: Mary Wollstonecraft, Dorothy Wordsworth, and Mary Shelley. Savage, MD: Barnes and Noble Books, 1989. Print. Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey. Project Gutenberg, 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . Bernstein, Jessica. "Dr. Bernsteins Intro to Charles Brockden Browns Wieland (Part 4)." Professor Bernstein. YouTube, 8 Nov. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. . Brown, Charles Brockden. Wieland; Or The Transformation. Project Gutenberg, 2008. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. . Gilbert, Sandra, and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1984. Print. Morris, Tracy. "What is Gothic Horror?" suite101.com. Suite101, 29 June 2009. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. . Wollstonecraft, Mary. “A Vindication of the Rights of Women.” Bartleby.com. Bartleby Bookstore, 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. . Read More